Episode 061: Paid ads aren’t broken, but this is why I’m stepping back

Paid social ads aren’t broken, in fact, they can work very well for the right person! But if you’re looking to hire a paid ads person, that won’t be me. In this podcast episode, I’ll discuss why that is. (Transcript is included below.)

Listen to this episode here:

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, or download the mp3 to listen on your device.

Why I don’t believe one part-time freelancer should manage your ads

I’ve had people think I could provide some support setting up and managing their ads for $500 per month. The honest truth? For all you need to run ads successfully, I think this is too much to ask…

Aside from knowing how to operate the ads platform, there’s also:

• Having the right pages on your website to send people to.
• Accepting that your website might be the missing link in your ads success, and being prepared to spend time/budget fixing that.
• Having proof your audience connects with you — Using your organic marketing and SEO.
• Being able to create scroll-stopping content.
• Knowing what messages to communicate to audience members who don’t know you VS those who already do.
• Knowing what decisions to make based on the data you’re getting.
• Being prepared to spend some money on testing, before you see return on your investment. (Especially if you have little-no sales attributed to your organic marketing strategies.)

Transcript

Hi and welcome. And if you are a returning listener, welcome back.

If you’ve ever thought about running Facebook or Instagram ads for your business, or you’ve been tossing up whether to hire someone to manage them for you, this episode is going to give you a very honest perspective that might save you a lot of stress, and possibly a lot of money.

Because I used to offer social ads management. I did for a few years as both a freelancer and in agencies, and today I want to share why I don’t really offer it anymore, and what I suggest instead, especially if you’re a solo or a small service-based business.

Backstory

So a bit of context first. Between 2019 and 2024, I worked in a number of digital agencies, managing paid social, mostly Facebook and Instagram ads. I also took on a few freelance clients of my own along the way. I love the creative side of it, and I still think paid social can be really powerful, in the right setup.

But here’s the thing. Over time I realized something important, something that might resonate with you if you’re a service-based business owner trying to make marketing decisions.

When you’re small, maybe it’s just you or you and a VA, hiring someone to run ads isn’t always the right move. Not because paid ads don’t work, but because what you really need is more often than what one person can provide.

So when people ask me, can you run my Facebook ads? What they’re really hoping for is, can you make the ads work without me needing to think about it? Totally understandable, you’re busy running your business.

But successful ads require more than just ad setup. It needs more than someone who just knows the Facebook ads back end. You need a strong offer. You need creative. That’s images, videos, words. That’s stop the scroll. You need a sales funnel, follow-up emails, clear messaging, a landing page that converts.

So even if I set up the ads beautifully, it’s not going to work if the other parts aren’t in place.

Is your budget in the right place to hire a paid ads manager?

And let’s talk budget. Because this really matters. If you’ve got, say, 1,500 a month to spend, should you spend 1,000 on management and 500 on the ads? I wouldn’t.

This is why I now point people to more holistic options, where ads aren’t treated in isolation, and they shouldn’t be.

One small indie agency I really respect is the Digital Picnic. They offer social ads management that takes everything into account, your organic social strategy, your email list, your creative assets, your customer journey. They also have a course called social ads mastery. And honestly, if you’re thinking of running social media ads yourself or with an internal team, it’s a brilliant investment. It gives you the full picture, not just how to push buttons in the Meta ads interface, but how to create ads that are part of a broader strategy. They also offer one-off coaching calls. That might be all you need. A focused session to get clarity and direction.

This is why I’m stepping back

Alright, so I wanted to let you all know why I am stepping back from managing ads, managing ads as a freelancer for you.

So well, there’s a couple of reasons. So as I’ve been discussing in this episode, I’m finding that a lot of clients come to me, unfortunately unprepared, and I do really love and appreciate what you’re doing. But there often are people coming to me ready to do ads, but they’ve still got some roadblocks in the way that they haven’t prepared for.

And also, as previously mentioned, there is quite a significant need to be across your organic marketing. So if that’s that you want to do Facebook or Instagram ads, your organic Facebook and Instagram presence really need to be firing on all cylinders. And same goes for Google Ads.

Why Google Ads aren’t working for a lot of businesses

So with Google Ads, you can’t just click a few buttons and have them going, which is what a lot of people seem to expect. You are going to have to have your SEO firing on all cylinders and your website needs to be optimised and user-friendly. So without that, the Google Ads are not going to work very well. And so when people come to me saying that they’ve got like a $500 budget for ads, I could say yes. If I wanted to, I could happily take their money. But I feel like the right thing to do in many cases is to not because with that kind of budget, you can’t just expect ads to run and then also manage updating a website, fixing it, optimising it, or also taking care of your organic social media presence that that ind of thing isn’t going to cut it, unfortunately.

Google Ads are changing, and generally requiring more work and investment

And I also wanted to add that at the time that I’m recording this, the internet is changing a lot. Things are kind of in flux right now. And Google is kind of getting a bit unstable. So this is why I’m kind of hesitant to say yes and go ahead with managing Google Ads. I’m not saying that it’s not worth it, but it is getting trickier. So at this point, I feel like it’s probably for the best that I step back from managing Meta or Google Ads for people at this time.

Is Google Search dying?

When I say that Google is unstable, I don’t mean that Google is going away anytime soon. I still expect to see some results from advertising on Google, especially where perhaps being available in the local area, so being found in your geographic area is important to you.

But what I’m seeing right now is just regular Google search is something that people are consumers are less happy with and people are turning to other places like ChatGPT in order to get like question and answer type stuff. And it’s looking like people are also getting like business and service recommendations and stuff like that elsewhere. So at the moment, I feel like it’s unpredictable. We may start seeing marketers push you more towards like optimizing for visibility on ChatGPT and maybe steering away from Google. So yeah, it’s still a viable place to advertise. But things are changing a lot right now. And if you wanted to get someone to support you with that, I would go to a dedicated specialist team and not like a generalist. Yeah, that’s my take on the state of Google right now.

Getting help with ads

If you’re still interested in going ahead and you want to get that deeper understanding of not just what buttons to press, but also all the extra stuff that you really need to know in order to make it work.

Getting help with social ads (before hiring a paid ads manager)

One of the best places are as I mentioned before, The Digital Picnic. So they offer courses on ads management, and they won’t lead you astray when it comes to all the extra bits that you might not think about.

Getting help with Google Ads

And if it’s Google advertising that you’re interested in, I would advise going and checking out the course by Kaity Griffin called Profitable Promotion. So that also will teach you not just what buttons to press in Google Ads, but all the extra stuff to make things work really well and get the most mileage out of your advertising dollars. So if you’re looking for directions and a deeper understanding and I would strongly suggest getting a deeper understanding of how these things work before you start spending large amounts of money on them. Those are the people and places I would be looking into.

I want you to have support, even if I’m not the one delivering it. If you’re feeling unsure about what next step makes sense for you, whether it’s learning to do as yourself, hiring help, or focusing on something else entirely, I’m here to offer guidance. No pressure, just clarity. Thank you for spending this time with me today. If this episode gave you something to think about, or helped take the pressure off a decision, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me anytime via my website. And if you know another small business owner or a practitioner who’s been wondering about what to do with ads, feel free to send this their way. Until next time, I hope you look after yourself and take good care of your business.

(gentle music)