The Weekly Sharpener #130

Make original ads with these 3 steps...

👋 Hey fam!

I'm really excited to share this 👊 Tuesday roundup with you!

Another Add Creative is out and wow does our guest brings so much value! Excited for you to spend some time learning from Andrew Faris (Growth Advisor) who joins us and shows teaches me about learning, facebook ads, and much more.

We dig into a framework on SEO research and how we can flip it for ad creation. This will show you where you can grab inspiration, where your qualitative feedback sits, and how to build a ranking system of what ads + angles to create first.

Finally, we get a killer example from our experts' ad creative that drives impact and a call to arms for CRO.

Hope your ads are scaling and LTV is 📈!

Cheers,

Chase

The Weekly Sharpener #94_Is your brand part of the culture? If not, 😬...

Starting using Pencil to Create winning ads 10x faster with AI.

Special Tip:

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🎙Add Creative

Come and hang with Andrew Faris, a growth advisor who frames up how you learn, what great customers and campaigns look like, and what are the best types of people to work in agencies. (Everyone should use his recruiting strategy)

He has such a clear understanding of what moves the needle, I learned so much!

 Spotify 🎧

Content That Matters 🐐

Why it matters: This applies to SEO but I actually think there's some stellar wisdom in here when it comes to building ads.

Let's break down what the value add is here and how it applies.

Framework:

  • Originality + Accessibility

  • Mechanism to capture demand

Originality can be a double-edged sword if it's not directed at the customer's need or want.

That means research. I mention this often because with the popularization of AI I think the dedication to understanding the customer and meeting them where they are + modeling out where they will is on the road to being forgotten.

With ads you learn about your customers through:

  • Post Purchase Surveys

  • Ad Comments

  • Reviews on Site

  • Competitors Reviews

  • Heat Map Interactions on site

  • Good old fashioned user interviews (do this often)

  • A community - if you have the bandwidth to deliver value.

Post Research you set up your framing of what you can do and what you CAN'T do when creating ads.

Why is this important?

If everything is on the table then there is no real north star.

Build these parameters:

  • How much copy will be in the ad?

  • What USP you will focus on?

  • Will you use social proof or not?

  • Video vs. Static?

  • Ugly or Slick creative?

Research + Parameters = Accessibility because you have considered everything your customers need.

(Note: make sure you compare this to what quant data you have to feel confident moving into the next step)

The last part is going to be less science and more art = originality

You know what has moved the needle, and what hasn't, and now you have the final component that no one else understands.

Your brand standards.

That is where the magic lies.

When using AI, you prompt knowing it will be giving you something you don't expect but still find useful.

If that's not the case and you are making your ads bespoke, think hard.

How does the data I have, sync up with the future customers I want to have or reacquire? What matters that didn't a month ago?

Does your brand use humor? Is it serious? Could a funny ad cut through? The main purpose of this is you need to find your wedge with the customer.

Once you have a list of 5 angles you can go with, then rank the :

  • probability of impact

  • upside the ad could have

  • time to deliver creative

  • needs for landing pages

This will allow you to have a list of the highest impact vs lowest lift angles to start building and testing.

Expert Strategy + Learnings

Some amazing learnings from thought leaders in DTC.

Dylan's CRO Tips 🙌

STOP THINKING "BIG" UX CHANGES MOVE THE NEEDLE THE MOST. We run hundreds of tests a month. Tests with messaging and imaging are outperforming heavy development & UX changes, unless your UX really sucks. Work on understanding your customers better.

For more 🔥 follow Dylan Ander.

Rahul's Paid Media Learnings 🤘

Here's one of the 5 best performing ad styles of the last month.

The Pricing call out

Why I think this works:

Customers are aware of the offer before even clicking on an ad

Breaking down the total cost into a daily cost.

Follow Rahul and reach out to Reach Digital to work with him 🧠

Worth Your Time 🤌

E001: Welcome to The Show, Bootstrapped VS Venture, Salary & Distributions, How Much Lawyers Make, The Value of Bankers, Sharing is Powerful. Featuring Our Fourth Host Mike Beckham.

Listen to this episode from OPERATORS on Spotify. In the world of eCommerce, a legendary WhatsApp group is rumoured to hold the secrets to unimaginable success. The catch? You must have nine figures in revenue to gain entry. The worlds biggest brands have denied its existence for years, until now. Three titans known as "Operators" are leaking the secret contents in an effort to share its wealth of knowledge with people like you. Powered By Northbeam.Visit Northbeam Each of the 9 figure operators use Northbeam to measure everything and scale everywhere. Join our newsletter Record a question or shoutout for the show Request to join our exclusive Facebook group Visit Our Website Follow us on Twitter: Show Twitter Sean (Host) Jason (Host) Matt (Host) Mike (Guest) Finn (Producer) Northbeam (Partner) Show Breakdown Part 1: Introduction to the podcast and its purpose Discussion about entrepreneurship and why it's important Introduction of the guests and their backgrounds Part 2: Discussion about the importance of customer feedback Importance of pivoting in business How to deal with criticism and rejection Part 3: The role of authenticity in business and building a brand The importance of understanding your market and competitors Strategies for scaling a business Part 4: Discussion about raising capital and venture capital The pros and cons of bootstrapping versus raising capital Importance of building relationships in the industry Part 5: Discussion about building a strong team and company culture Importance of finding the right people for the job Strategies for effective leadership and communication Part 6: The importance of having a strong mission and vision for your business How to create and communicate a clear mission and vision statement Strategies for staying true to your mission and values Part 7: Discussion about the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship Importance of having a strong support system Strategies for overcoming challenges and staying motivated Part 8: Discussion about the role of innovation and creativity in business Importance of continuous learning and improvement Strategies for fostering innovation and creativity in the workplace Part 9: Discussion about the importance of patience and long-term thinking in business Balancing profitability and enterprise value Strategies for setting yourself up for success in the future Part 10: Recap of the key topics discussed in the previous episodes Insights and takeaways from the guests Closing remarks and preview of upcoming episodes We Rise Together --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/9operators/message

The ultimate guide to product-led sales | Elena Verna

Listen to this episode from Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career on Spotify. Brought to you by Linear—The new standard for modern software development | Braintrust—For when you needed talent, yesterday | Rows—The spreadsheet where data comes to life — Elena Verna is a leading growth expert with over 15 years of experience in tech. She was SVP of Growth at SurveyMonkey and interim CMO at Miro, where she built high-performing teams that drove significant growth. She recently served as interim Head of Growth at Amplitude and currently advises and is a board member for early-stage startups. In today’s podcast, we discuss: • What product-led sales is • How product-led sales differs from product-led growth • Unpacking common acronyms: PQAs, PQs, PQLs, and MQLs • When and how to consider investing in PLS • Metrics for identifying qualified accounts • The team, data, and tooling required for implementing PLS • Common pitfalls to avoid when adding PLS Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-led-sales-elena-verna/#transcript Where to find Elena Verna: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaverna • Twitter: https://twitter.com/elenaverna • Newsletter: https://elenaverna.substack.com/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Elena’s background and what she’s doing now (07:13) Product-led sales (PLS) vs. product-led growth (PLG) (12:47) How sales solutions can be applied to enterprise-level problems (15:06) Defining enterprise-level problems (17:51) How product-led companies start with PLS (20:30) When to add sales (22:36) Two ways to get to PLS (24:27) Why every sales-led-growth company needs to add PLG (26:50) Two ways you can own revenue (28:37) PQAs, PQs, PQLs, and MQLs (37:17) How to get started adding PLS (42:01) Metrics to identify PQAs (47:00) Why sales should be carefully applied (49:07) Systems, infrastructure, and tooling (50:59) The people and resources required for PLS (53:42) Why you should have a clear ROI for every new hire (55:05) Why product needs to be accountable for monetization with PLS (59:57) Revenue-based goals product teams should have (1:06:28) Common pitfalls startups run into when implementing PLS (1:09:15) Benchmarks and the amount of time needed for implementing enterprise solutions (1:12:04) Using onboarding to profile users (1:13:08) Will AI be the next sales movement? Referenced: • Elena’s previous episode on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/elena-verna-on-how-b2b-growth-is-changing-product-led-growth-product-led-sales-why-you-should-go-freemium-not-trial-what-features-to-make-free-and-much-more/ • Miro: https://miro.com/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Elena’s PLS funnel diagram: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elenaverna_b2b-product-led-sales-guide-activity-7052664130763206658-yxLK/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop • Elena’s memes: https://www.elenaverna.com/memes • Mixpanel Signal reports: https://mixpanel.com/blog/mixpanel-signal-launch/ • Amplitude Compass chart: https://help.amplitude.com/hc/en-us/articles/235147347-The-Compass-chart-discover-your-users-a-ha-moments • Looker: https://www.looker.com/ • Tableau: https://www.tableau.com/ • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ • HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/ • Marketo: https://nation.marketo.com/ • Waitlist for PLG course on Reforge: https://www.reforge.com/programs/product-led-growth Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected]. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

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