The Ads Maven, Jenn Possick

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Basic Business AI, a podcast dedicated to simple AI strategies for businesses who don't want to get an advanced tech degree or hire some marketing bro. I'm your host, Josh Thomas and you can find me on all social media at jt. Literally. We bring on regular business owners like you and me to discuss practical strategies, ideas and perspectives around AI without getting too far into the weeds of the tech. BBAI is sponsored by Conversational Funnels. It's the easiest way to get more sales, which is to get more chances to sell. We used one simple conversational funnel to casually book 121 qualified sales opportunities in less than two weeks. In a brand new market where we had zero presence and zero connections, all without spending on ads, doing cold outreach, or posting endlessly on social media. This is the new way to close high ticket clients for 2025. And it only takes minutes to start booking calls. Download the blueprint for free@conversational funnels.com Today's guest is Jen Posic. Jen, the ads maven is an ad strategist, speaker and consultant who helps coaches, courses, course creators and subject matter experts grow their email lists, fuel their launches, and get more clients through Facebook and Instagram ads. Jen, welcome to Basic Business AI. From your perspective, how is AI reshaping the future of your industry? [00:01:26] Speaker B: Yeah, so running Facebook ads, I mean, obviously the algorithm is all AI and it's so interesting to see how the algorithm has grown and evolved over time. Things that I recommended a year ago are totally different from what I recommend now in terms of ads and how to use them and how to set them up and how to create audiences and so much of it because of, because of AI. And so, yeah, I think it's absolutely continuing to change how ads will work. [00:02:05] Speaker A: I've seen a lot of conversations about, well, the algorithm is AI, and then there are AI ad writers, there's AI creative, there's AI optimizing, and there's all kinds of different things. And if we can just stop for a moment and recognize the fact that most people, even entrepreneurs, business owners who've been in the game for a long time, just running ads is a mystery, let alone all the complexities. [00:02:36] Speaker B: 100%, yes. [00:02:39] Speaker A: And so before we dig into too much AI, let's talk about the idea of paying money for eyeballs, which is something that some people are like, that's the only way. And others are like, that terrifies me. I would, I don't know how I would ever take that kind of risk. So let's talk about just getting over that hump first. Then let's talk about how AI might help. [00:03:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting. I actually talk a lot about the signs that, like, your business is ready to run ads, because not everybody is. I don't think everybody should be running ads. There are plenty of people that can grow a business organically. I don't think it's like a. The one and only way. And I think organic and ads work together very well. But I think that if your business is in a place where it's doing well, it's doing its job, you're able to sell, you have the budget for it, and you really just want to scale and make more money, ads typically are the easiest, best way to do that, in my opinion. [00:03:43] Speaker A: And I agree, by the way. There's definitely something about, like, I've got an idea, and I'm going to pay Facebook to get some eyeballs on my idea. And by the end of the day, I will have data on whether or not I'm on the right track or I'm kind of sniffing in the right direction. There's some. There's some magic there that's just like, I just saved myself two months of development by running a couple of ads, and it cost me like, what, 20 bucks or something. [00:04:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think that's absolutely true. Now, I will say, typically, I suggest spending more like 30 a day is like a minimum place to start. But yeah, it's. I mean, as long as you have the budget for it, it absolutely can make sense to run ads, to test and to figure out what's going to really work for your business. [00:04:40] Speaker A: And so now let's. Now let's talk about AI comes in. Now, we'll leave the algorithm out of it for a minute, but let's talk about some other things that have happened in the last year or so with AI, specifically with paid ads. [00:04:57] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's interesting because some of it's like, some of it's great, and some of it's like, okay, this will be better once it's mature. [00:05:09] Speaker A: Oh, that's so cute. You know, it's trying, trying so hard. [00:05:13] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Well, right now when you go to run ads, it'll. You put in your copy and then it'll give AI copy. And the AI copy that Facebook gives you is so far pretty awful. But I do think that over time, it's probably going to start getting better and better. It also uses AI in the figuring out the audiences, so it has a new advantage plus audience where you Put in your audience as suggestions, and then it'll find other people that are going to be similar to your audience. And it's the same type thing. When it first came out, I was a little hesitant about it, and it's gotten better and better over time. And at this point, it works really well for most of my clients. Not all, but most. [00:06:06] Speaker A: And where do you see some breakage on whether it works or it doesn't work? Is there. Is there a trend that you've noticed? [00:06:13] Speaker B: Yeah, so it's interesting. Most of my clients are women, and so I work with some men, but typically they're like referrals. And so for my own ads, if I'm running ads, I put in to show them to women. But then I've been noticing on my ads recently, since I've been using that Advantage plus audience, I'm getting quite a few men signing up for my lead magnet. So it's like, okay, so clearly it's not like even listening to just the demographics. I had a client where he was wanting to run an ad only to gay men, and we put it. We were using an advantage plus audience, and it was showing it to, like, 80% women. He works in weight loss. And so it was like, so many women were signing up for his lead magnet, and it was like, okay, we need to go back to the original audience where Facebook's not trying to show the ad to who they think is going to be most likely to respond. [00:07:08] Speaker A: Which is kind of their job. That's what they're doing. But right when you're not able to kind of cull that criteria, that's an interesting topic. Because what they're trying to do is they're trying to avoid, you know, redlining, discriminating, and that sort of thing. It's like, well, this is your audience. These are the people that want your stuff. Why do you want to work with these guys? Because these guys want your stuff. And it sounds like a little bit of a gray area. [00:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and it's funny because, like, for me, it's like, that works fine because, like, I do work with some men. But in, like, his case where, like, literally the ad was like, all the language in it was so catering to, like, only gay men, that it was like, okay, so, yeah, so we just. We had to change it in that case. So it is kind of. It is kind of a gray line. It really depends on who your audience is and who you work with and who you are wanting to work with. Because not everybody, like this people's services don't always fit for everyone, but sometimes they do. Like, sometimes they can expand. Yeah. [00:08:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's interesting. And, you know, it goes back to the first part of what you said, which is it's. It's all just kind of starting out. It's all new. Like, in 10 years, this will be super refined. [00:08:33] Speaker B: 10 years. [00:08:33] Speaker A: 10 years ago, it was. Ads were really clunky. You know, it was. Maybe it was a little bit of the golden age, but there are a lot of things that you couldn't do that you can do now or that you had to do that you don't have to do anymore. [00:08:46] Speaker B: Well, and even, like, with like, chatgpt and stuff, when I, like a year ago, if a client wrote their ad copy using Chat GPT, immediately I could tell, like, if they hadn't, like, seasoned it and, like, had it really learned their voice, it was so generic and covered with like a million emojis, and. [00:09:07] Speaker A: It was like rocket ship. Yeah. [00:09:09] Speaker B: It doesn't sound like you at all. [00:09:11] Speaker A: And I need you to unleash the secrets of delving into the power. [00:09:16] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. [00:09:18] Speaker A: Of unlocking your true potential, which is. [00:09:22] Speaker B: Basically what the Facebook AI copy sounds like right now. [00:09:25] Speaker A: Yeah, right. Hey, want to spend $2 a click on this crap? Yeah. No, I don't. [00:09:34] Speaker B: Yeah, but it is. It's interesting because it's like, as people understand how to use it more and more, it does sound more like them. And it's not. It's not at the point now that, like, whenever somebody writes copy, sometimes it's like if they use ChatGPT or some type of AI to help them with it, sometimes it really is, like, totally on brand for them and is great. [00:09:58] Speaker A: And so what do you see, let's say five years down the road, where do you see the. The progression of. Of AI for ads specifically? [00:10:09] Speaker B: That's a good question. I feel like I don't even. I don't even know. [00:10:14] Speaker A: I feel like it's going to take a. Take a guess. Nobody, Nobody can hold you accountable for. Nobody's going to dig this episode up in five years. She was wrong. [00:10:25] Speaker B: That's. I mean, gosh, I feel like it's going to continue to make things easier and easier where we have to put in less information. I would like to say that it will mean that Facebook ads are easier for people to, like, run on their own. I actually don't think that that's going to be true, though, because there's still, like. I think the actual ads themselves will be easier, but. But it's still things like placing pixels and like making sure the actual strategy and setup is correct. That will still still be a challenge. [00:10:55] Speaker A: For people because, well, I mean, anybody, technically anybody can run an ad right now and they don't have to know anything. And Facebook and Meta will be very happy to take their money 100%. [00:11:10] Speaker B: And that is why people come to me and they're like, facebook ads have just wasted my money. [00:11:16] Speaker A: No, no, you wasted your money. [00:11:18] Speaker B: Well, that is, yeah, like you definitely have to know what you're doing to run ads and have them be effective. [00:11:24] Speaker A: Yeah. So tell us Jen, who do you serve and how can people connect with you? [00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So I work with a lot of coaches and course creators and wellness professionals to get a hold of me. Jenposik.com I also have an ads checklist. It's the ultimate high profit ads checklist that walks you through how everything you need to have in place in order to run ads. You can find that@jen pasek.com checklist Excellent. [00:11:52] Speaker A: Well, hey, we're going to wrap from here. Thanks so much to our guest Jen Pasek for joining us for a practical conversation about AI and its potential and the future of where it's going with ads. Specifically, you can learn more about what she does by going to Jenposik.com and one more time, the link to that checklist. [00:12:10] Speaker B: Jenpossak.com checklist There you go. [00:12:13] Speaker A: Hey, if you run a business of any size and you have some ideas or strategies around the topic of AI, we'd love to have you on a future episode. We interview business owners of all levels, especially the 90% of us who are curious about AI but not trying to be tech geniuses. You can apply for a future episode by going to basicbusinessai.com and one more time, if you want to stuff your calendar with qualified, motivated, ideal clients who want what you have, download the Conversational Funnels blueprint for free@conversational funnels.com we'll see you next time here on Basic Business AI. By the way, if you like this episode, tell your friends, see you later.