“Creative strategist” isn’t just something you add to your profile cause it’s trending.

If done right, the creative strategist is beating heart (brain) of a fast growing marketing department.

But there are levels to this. 6 of them.

So lets take look at the evolution of a creative strategist, starting with level 1, which you may have just hired….🤔

Level 1 Creative Strategist:

👍 You know what a good thumbstop looks like.

🤖 You can prompt AI to write scripts but can’t tell if they are good.

🫤 You signed up for a creative strategy course... got halfway through.

🫡 You can crank out serviceable scripts using AIDA, PAS, and FAB frameworks. Level 2 Creative Strategist:

📁 You’ve got a swipe file of ads to copy.

🗣️ You can pick out great reviews and comments.

🤳 You know how to “native-ify” direct response scripts.

📱 You have a feel for what’s already saturating people’s feeds.

🧠 You follow @SarahLevinger but haven’t cracked any of her book recs yet.

🙉 You work for a brand that doesn't care if the trending sounds you use are copyrighted or not (they are).

Many people really hate @andrewjfaris's Meta Ads creative testing methodology.

And they should.

I'm convinced that a bad testing methodology is one of the biggest ways ecomm brands stagnate growth at best and funnel money down the drain at worst.

Let me explain... 🧵

https://twitter.com/andrewjfaris/status/1795455011553415587

1. 🧵Faris claims his cost capped CBO structure forces new ads to compete with existing ads and only relative performance matters.

He's got this backwards.

An ad account shouldn't have one bidcap or costcap number that all ads are subservient too.

Top of funnel audiences are harder to convert than lower funnel. Non-core demos are harder to convert than core demos.

The best "performing" ad in your account is likely a lower funnel static or video. It does a great job of hoovering up all the demand that other ads creative.

But trying to pit higher funnel creative against lower funnel creative is insane and unhealthy.

We actually see this a lot. Strict cost controls bends the entire account into a few statics that work best on lower funnel audiences, new creative can't compete and the funnel doesn't get refreshed, forcing higher and higher bids on "top performers" and stagnating the entire account.

What you want is the opposite of what Faris describes. You WANT creative to find it's own specific audience. It may not be as profitable as your "top performer" but if it's close, it will absolutely be adding contribution margin to your bottom line.

Or you can toss that contribution margin because the ad doesn't cannibalize your top performer. Your choice.

How to turn ChatGPT into an INTERROGATOR and question 650 customers at once to pull out the juiciest insights and answers. 🤖 👇 Where do you find 650 customers to ask their opinion? Reviews.

They've already given it.

We recently wrapped a creative strategy for a brand which includes interviews and market research, but customer reviews can be overwhelming, especially when there are so many.

Monday productivity thread!

This one will be controversial and you might think I'm psychotic... but it works. 😈

So far we found some time with @getclockwise and blocked it with @getAkiflow

Now to actually get sh*t done.
It's the hardest part.
5 tools I used to keep focus I have a hard time focusing on tasks for longer than 10 min. My mind just wanders.

But I make it work with a suite of tactics that keep me locked in.

The first is the New Tab redirect extension.
When I open a new tab, it's redirected back to my notion task list.
A reminder...

In 2022 we had 63 inbound requests to work with us.

We signed with 6.

Here are the 4 reasons we say NO to most potential clients. 1. Price.

Not gunna lie, we are more expensive than most agencies. We started with no minimums in 2021 and now it's... getting up there. You get what you pay for and we always deliver a ton of value but...

This is also just supply and demand.

Successful creative isn't just hooks and thumbstops.

Brands need killer market positioning to stand out. The hooks will flow from there.

Whenever we start with a client we run through this exercise to distill the most resonate messaging possible.

Let me and Eminem show ya... We are looking for the overlap between all three circles, but its not easy to get there.

Through interviews and market research we make a list for circle.

We always start with the easiest one...

Are you running a BFCM sale?

🛑 Don't pause your popup! 🛑

We just doubled our email/sms opt-in rate from 9% to 21% with this tactic that will only take you 60 seconds.

There are only 3 steps 👀👇 Step 1:

We use a two-step "micro-yes" popup so we just change the language from the default "11%" to the BFCM language "up to 40%".

Dupe the current popup and send it to a new list as well.

There is 3 Fridays left before Black Friday.😬

Here is a look at our multi-part BCFM to XMAS plan that we run EVERY YEAR.

Because it works EVERY YEAR.

It's both retention and acquisition focused, margin friendly, and maximizes Q4 revenue.

It all starts with... A volume-based discount in early Nov.
Buy 3 get 15% off.
Buy 10 get 30% off.
Buy 15 get 40% off.

All of these are margin safe.
Do people buy 15? YES.
Our messaging during this time is heavy on gifting.
A gift for 🎁 everyone 🎁 on 🎁 your 🎁 list.

No better way to spend a Wed afternoon than with the funniest Adtopsy ever. 🤣

Ya boi @DaveRekuc came on to talk skincare, contribution margin, and pepperoni pizza. (He's a complicated man)

Key timestamps below 👇 Another split Adtopsy Challenge.

Bambu Earth is on the operating table and there were some fascinating points about
👂sound design,
🏃‍♂️pacing, and
💰price anchoring.

If you are in skincare and need new ideas, here ya go.

We took this brand to mid 7-figures last year.
Now on pace to double it this year.
No easy task in this climate.

There are two main factors that made all the difference.
They WEREN'T account structure or even creative.
It's something we rarely talk about in DTC....🧵👇 In january we made a huge list of small 1% to 5% improvements that could be made across the marketing stack and put them all in notion.

This isn't stuff that would just 'happen' during our usual marketing activities. Improvements, tests, changes... they all need planning...

Ok I have to say something....

There is a creative metric that some of you are optimizing for and it's ruining your ads performance.📉

It's called the Thumb Stop Ratio.

We need to 🛑STOP🛑 with the weird, wacky, and wild thumb stops. Let me show you the data... Here is the data on ad with a crazy thumb stop.

They are lighting the product on fire. It's wild.
The Thumb Stop Ratio is 64%! That's an insane number at that level of spend.

A successful ad right?... well... what's that other metric? 🤔

Ok listen up.

Do you use Google Drive for creative... but also hate it because the UX/UI is liquid garbage? 🤬💩🤢

I'm about to CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER in just 2 minutes.

Let's go 👇 There is a program no one seems to know about called Google Drive File Stream.

You install it from some random support article here.
support.google.com/a/answer/74911…

Just do it. Mac or PC. Takes 60 seconds, and watch what happens 👇

Here it is #marketingtwitter

The thread of all threads.

I asked 32 of the top marketers on Twitter for their best single tactic.

Something fresh.

Something actionable.

Something that could beat all others and win $10,000 in cash and prizes 👀

#MMTB22

Let's get into it 👇🧵 First, some context:

The @triplewhale #MMTB22 is an invitational tourney where top marketers compete for:

🤌 $2k in cash from @klaviyo, @Marpipe_HQ, @Optmyzr, and @hashtagpaid

🧠$5k in knowledge from @andrewfoxwell

🐋$3k in services from @triplewhale

🏆 Eternal glory

also👇

Looking for a new podcast?
Maybe you just want to hear my tweets in your ear?

I had a great convo with Josh on the @Rhodes2Wealth podcast.

We got into:
💸 How we grew our agency to $1.2M in the first 12 months.
💰 Working with 9-fig clients
🧠 Bagpipes and neuroplasticity
👇 📈 How I "invented the marketing infographic"
🦠 What to do when you go viral
🔥 FireTeam's origin, and what makes us different
🤑 How to get those first few clients
🤞 Why case studies are the "North Star of all dishonesty"
🐦 Why all agencies should tweet
👇

Been thinking about retention and email open rates.

I think we’ve got it backwards.

An open rate of 30% isnt “great”.

It means we chosen the wrong comms method for 70% of our customers.

This aint about subject lines or deliverability.

It’s about comms alignment 👇 Brands acquire customers via paid social. Those customers have chosen social as their action path.

Why are we following up with email or sms?

Comms for those customers should be through paid and organic social.

Want to play with fire? 🔥

We are growing, and need a mix of talent to fan the flames.

✅Contractors
✅Freelancers
✅Part-time
✅Full-time

If you have any of the below skills 👇, or some overlap, we have 7 questions to see if there is a spark between us. 🧨 Skills/Roles:

👩‍🔧 Email/SMS technical skills. Setting up and deploying campaigns and flows. Maybe little strategy too.

👩‍💻 Copywriting skills. Particularly email, but ads and website copy is needed too. Empathy required.

👇

Yo dog, I heard you like shot-for-shot breakdowns of creative with actual data.

Well lets do it! (breakdown in comments)

Stats on this vid for Jan 👇
Spend: $42k
Thumbstop: 45%
Avg watch time: 8 sec
Unique L-CTR: 1.18%
See-more rate: .82%
1min+ watch rate: 3%
FB ROAS: 1.66
TOF This shot has traditionally worked as a thumbstopper for the account, but I wanted to bump it up by adding a "tik tok comment" overlay. I think these are perfect for some needed context and framing. They also make the content look more native. 👌

What a great round of #BuyersBracket matchups. Some blowouts and upsets! All great tactics.

Here are your Elite 8 matchups.

8⃣ @BrocktonConwell 🆚 5⃣ @JoshJDurham
3⃣ @AkvileDeFazio 🆚 7⃣ @wimonsool
1⃣ @herrmanndigital 🆚 5⃣ @herrmanndigital
3⃣ @zachmstuck 🆚 7⃣ @PhilKiel Prize update:

@andrewfoxwell has donated one copy of his latest Testing Course to the winner. That's $397!

Thank you! 🙏

foxwelldigital.com/courses/testing

So many great media buyers in here with killer tactics.🏀

But while there can be only one #BuyersBracket winner...

...the real winner is YOU, who is about to have a brand new bag of tricks to try out.

Let's take a look at the 🔥 these fine folks are bringing to the dance. 👇 "Element UGC" by 1⃣ @social_savannah

UGC is authenticity in its purest form. Harvest the raw material, refine (edit) it until its highly concentrated video. Then slap some TikTok captions on there and use it full funnel.

Struggling with Facebook Ad performance?

Is ROAS declining?

There are only 283 issues to diagnose!

But this thread will help you narrow it down, AND THEN FIX IT.

Let's get started. 👇 ROAS is just the last stop on the line. A poor ROAS is usually due to a poor CPM, CTR, or CR. So let's figure out which one is not working right.

My CPM has risen or is too high!
Click here to diagnose. 👈 CPM, or the cost of your ads, depends on a lot of factors, both under your control and out of your control. Click on any of these clues to diagnose. 👇