Why ads are not a magic solution with Britt Holmes | Ep. 49 Content Magic with Lindsay Smith

In this episode of Content Magic, I'm welcoming ad expert, Britt Holmes. She's the founder of Merit Media and specializes in Meta ads as well as TikTok and Google.

We talk about what makes an ad campaign work and what doesn't, the common misconceptions about online ads, the importance of cohesive branding and strategies for small businesses to get the most out of their marketing budget.

Whether you've ran successful ad campaigns or have been thinking about playing around with ads, you're going to want to listen to this episode. Britt shares tons of tangible tips you can use immediately!

04:16 Ads have become complicated to manage alone.
08:23 Verify social media, landing page before advertising.
10:51 Boosted posts less effective than full ads.
15:46 Start small, prove concept, expand gradually, be intentional.
17:23 Meta increases awareness; Google targets specific locations effectively.
23:01 Embraced colourful, fun branding over corporate dullness.

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CONNECT WITH BRITT!

Instagram: @meritmediainc
Website: meritmedia.com

Lindsay [00:00:00]:
So is that, like, the biggest misconception about people that come to you about ads, or just like, oh, I tried it, it doesn't work?

Britt Holmes [00:00:06]:
Yeah, that's a pretty big objection that we definitely get, because it's not like a seasonality thing, but every once in a while, it, like, something happens and everyone's like, I need ads.

Lindsay [00:00:18]:
If you have an online business, you're creating content. And the way you create content is more important than ever. It's really noisy out there, and learning to stand out is the only way. Hey, I'm Lindsay, and I'm the host of the content Magic podcast, all about being an entrepreneur and creating kick ass content to market yourself and your business. I have a not so secret superpower for copywriting, marketing, and content. And I've helped hundreds of folks just like you show up with a ton of confidence in the online space. I've been doing this content thing for 20 years, and I believe the real magic is a combo of intuition, creativity, and strategy. You can create content for your business without losing your mind, I promise.

Lindsay [00:01:03]:
So tune in every week for tangible content tips, inspiring guests, and some real spicy opinions. Probably mine. Ready to dive in? Let's go. Well, hello, friends. Welcome back to content magic. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I'm very excited to welcome my friend, Britt. Hi, Britt.

Britt Holmes [00:01:25]:
Hi.

Lindsay [00:01:27]:
How are you?

Britt Holmes [00:01:28]:
I'm just great.

Lindsay [00:01:29]:
Okay, so we're going to be talking about ads today. And, Britt, I'm going to get you to introduce yourself. So where are you? Who are you, and who do you help?

Britt Holmes [00:01:42]:
Awesome. I'm Brit Holmes. I'm located in Newmarket, Ontario, so about 45 minutes north of Toronto. And I own an agency called Merit Media, and we help small businesses run their digital ads on the Internet. So anywhere from Facebook, Instagram, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok. Basically, if you can pay to get a click, we're your team.

Lindsay [00:02:08]:
So tell me, how did you become a person who works for themselves or has their own agency?

Britt Holmes [00:02:16]:
Great question. So I was like the standard checkbox kind of person. Went through to school, made sure I got the job before I finished school, started working in corporate agency life for a large number of years. Worked my way up to the top, and I was like, yes, I've made it. This is now my life is like, I've done everything I'm supposed to do. I'm going to have all this time and money and do all this great stuff. I also had two kids under two, and I was working 16 to 18 hours a day, sometimes six days a week. So that wasn't realistic.

Britt Holmes [00:02:53]:
Basically ended up in a real good burnout situation. A little bit of a rage, quit and decided I was going to be a sugar cookie decorator. That lasted a day because I have no patience and there's no way I could make up a vp level of income very quickly with the cookie business so slowly fell back into marketing and realized that I didn't hate what I did, I just simply hated working all of the hours of the day. So I started doing a little bit of white labeling for some agency partners and now I work also directly with small business owners.

Lindsay [00:03:33]:
That's awesome. The cookie decorating for one day, that reminds me of when I was in university. I was on the rugby team for one day. I was like, this is terrible. I don't want anything to do with running or hitting people. Bye.

Britt Holmes [00:03:48]:
Yeah, my cookies tasted great, but they looked like my toddler made them. So, I mean, it wasn't a solid career choice, really.

Lindsay [00:03:56]:
Zero experience, to be fair. You know, even when my kids decorate the cookies, it still tastes delicious. Yeah. Just not as aesthetic.

Britt Holmes [00:04:10]:
Maybe there's like a marketing play I can do there. Shitty looking cookies that taste good.

Lindsay [00:04:16]:
Yeah, exactly. That could be your tagline. I'm sure there's a market there, so. Okay, so let's get back to the ads thing. So something. And like, I know we talked about this like a minute ago before we started recording, but back in the day, 20 years ago, when I worked full time in advertising, I was often, some of the things, some of the tasks I was given as a copywriter was like writing Facebook ad copy and then, like, a designer would have to make a little image. And I feel like things have shifted a lot since then because one, now it's like the metaverse of doom. And I think doing, and I see this a lot in like, my local Hamilton entrepreneur group, it's always like, oh, can someone help me with ads? Can someone help me with ads? Because I think it's like, very complicated to manage on your own.

Lindsay [00:05:16]:
Do you concur?

Britt Holmes [00:05:17]:
Yeah. I think that the biggest thing that I find with small businesses that are starting to run their own ads is they think it's a set it and forget it type of thing. And they also, there's a lot of trust that goes into these vendor platforms to not essentially screw them over when in reality, like we always said when I was working in agency life is like Google, Facebook, they're not your friends. They're trying to get money from you. And they make these, like, in Google, they have smart campaigns, but what ends up happening is they're, like, targeting the entire country or world, and then people are like, well, that didn't work. And it's like, well, yeah, you have $300 and you're targeting the entire population of Canada. Of course it's not going to work. So we have a lot of that happening.

Lindsay [00:06:06]:
So is that, like, the biggest misconception about people that come to you about ads, or just like, oh, I tried it, it doesn't work?

Britt Holmes [00:06:13]:
Yeah, that's a pretty big objection that we definitely get because, you know, everyone, it's such a, it can come and go in business world of, like, a hot topic. And I've noticed that there's really, like, waves that come in and I can't predict them. Like, it's not like a seasonality thing, but every once in a while it, like, something happens and everyone's like, I need ads. So when that does happen, people are like, oh, I can just do it myself. That's the one market of it. The other market is, is we have people that are experts, but not actually experts, experts in that. Like, they watched a YouTube video, realize that digital marketing is cool and you can make lots of money off of people because they don't understand it. And then they start marketing, like, at these really low cost offers.

Britt Holmes [00:07:03]:
And again, it's the same thing. They don't have a skill set to understand. Like, when you're a small business, you have to be really intentional with what you're targeting. Like, you basically are looking at one person and building your entire marketing campaign off that one person because your budget's tight. And, like, it's just one of those things where there's so many different factors that are playing into it, but a large portion of the time, campaigns are run very poorly and then they are extremely expensive with zero return. And then clients or small businesses are like, well, those are shit. And it's a really big uphill battle to be like, they're not shit. You're just doing them wrong and kind of have that conversation.

Lindsay [00:07:44]:
Yeah. And I think there's, like, a lot of frustration. Right. And I agree that there's, like a, I ran one ad once, and it was kind of a failure. But to be, to be fair, I don't think I did it right. I had help with it. But where, and this is the other thing, too, right? I think there's this, you know, like you say, there's sort of, like, ups and downs where people go through phases of like, oh, my God, I need ads. I need ads, but where the ad is going to is the other part of the equation.

Lindsay [00:08:16]:
So if your ad is like, if you're clicking through to something shitty, then it's not going to convert.

Britt Holmes [00:08:23]:
Yeah, 100%. So when we're working with clients, we kind of go through a few criteria and it's like, do you have a social media presence? Because I always say that that's like your digital business card nowadays. So even if you are running an ad, people are going to fact check and make sure that you're legit. The other thing is, do you have a landing page that actually answers the questions of, like, if somebody's seeking out a certain service, like, are they going to a service page? Does that service page already convert for you and you just want more traffic? If that's the case, yes. Then yeah, let's do ads. But if you have a website that you're not converting on, maybe start there, figure out how to make that work, and then go to ads. Once you've kind of, like, I always look at it as like you're doing everything right now. Let's just give you a megaphone and get more people.

Britt Holmes [00:09:15]:
Like, it's not a band aid solution to getting your sales in, because ultimately, if your experience on the UX side is shit, then it's not going to help you. You're again just going to burn money. Another thing, too often that happens is that we have the ability to track actions on a website. So if you're running a campaign and you're not tracking what's happening, what's the point of running it? Because you're not going to know. Like, a click to a site is one thing, but a click to a site and then knowing that you get a lead is significantly different and highly valuable and.

Lindsay [00:09:56]:
Yeah, and I like what you said about how, like, if it's already converting, then that's the place to create an ad. Because if you have a shitty landing page, or you have whatever it is, if you're a service based business, if you're a product based business, whatever it is, like, if you don't have your website optimized or the landing page optimized or whatever, right? Like, and as a copywriter, you know, I edit people's landing pages all the time, or about pages or whatever it is, and I can see where there's some discrepancies. So I think that's, you know, I love what you said. It's just like a magnifying glass. So choose the thing that's already converting and then create the ads.

Britt Holmes [00:10:38]:
Yeah, for sure. I said that's how we've got to do it. Yes.

Lindsay [00:10:43]:
Okay, so creating an ad versus a sponsored post. Not samesies. Can we talk about that?

Britt Holmes [00:10:51]:
Not same, sis. So a boosted post is essentially something that you write organically means basically you're just writing it and not paying for it. So you would write your posts like you would any other one, and then you have the ability to basically reach more people in your network, but it drives back to your Facebook or Instagram page, so you're not driving them to your site, which means that you're kind of just keeping them in the same platform and hoping that they do something. Boosted posts aren't really my favorite simply because it doesn't really get action in the same regard that you would if you were doing an actual fill out ad campaign on meta. Because what that entails is basically writing messaging that's tailored to whatever it is your goal is. So if it's getting consults or product sales, that type of thing, it's tailored towards that and you're driving to the place where they're actually going to be able to take the next step. So it's a deeper funnel play and it provides you with that greater, like there's greater value because you're actually getting a result out of it. So definitely my recommendation is if you're doing ads, actually build it full out and do it properly.

Britt Holmes [00:12:09]:
Because boosted posts are kind of just a band aid solution.

Lindsay [00:12:13]:
Yeah. And I think it's right. And I've done it randomly. Like boosted, random post. Just be like, sure, let's see what happens. And your numbers go up and you're like, oh, cool. And then that's it. And that's where it stops.

Lindsay [00:12:26]:
Right? Nothing, pretty much.

Britt Holmes [00:12:28]:
It's like, gives you a little ego boost, and then you're like, well, that costs money. I'm always so cheap about it. I'm like, I didn't make money off that. That sucked.

Lindsay [00:12:40]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so a couple of things. When you talk, when you say small businesses, are you working mostly with, like, service providers or brick and mortar type peeps or product based business or like a melange?

Britt Holmes [00:12:55]:
We kind of work with everything. So the team that I have here is all pretty corporate trained. So they've been, and I say that meaning, like, they were trained by the people at Facebook, at Google, that type of thing. We have experience because all of us are agency based, that we had experience working in all different sectors. I would say the majority of our client base right now is service based and, like, digital products, that type of thing. We have a lot of that. We have a few product based businesses. I think that oftentimes, product based businesses, businesses just lean more heavily on organic social and don't really dive into the paid ad space.

Britt Holmes [00:13:32]:
But I think it's definitely a huge opportunity for them.

Lindsay [00:13:36]:
Yeah, that's interesting because, like, product based businesses often, you know, if you think about, like, Instagram, it's often like a sort of a portfolio of their goods, if you will. Right. Like, I'm just thinking of like two or three that I follow, and that's kind of how they roll. And then it's always kind of like you could, you know, you know, you know, you can just go to their, the link in their bio and shop immediately, whatever it is the thing that.

Britt Holmes [00:14:06]:
They had, for sure. Yeah, I think that, like, the, the cool part about the ads part of it, because we can get in, like, uploading shopping feeds into the ads and stuff like that, it's going to allow businesses to reach different audiences versus, like, just their same user base, which is why I'm like, there's opportunities. Take it. But it's generally a harder sell, I find, with, with product based businesses.

Lindsay [00:14:32]:
And so, and like you said, like, boosting a post. I don't know what I spent. $20 something.

Britt Holmes [00:14:39]:
Yeah, it's cheap.

Lindsay [00:14:40]:
Yeah. So what is the, like, let's say I'm a, like, just one person. I'm a solo, whatever, printer. I hate that term. But I said it. There it is. So what could I, let's say I have like a, I don't know, an evergreen training of some sort on my website. And it's like, you know, the funnel is to sell one of my programs or something.

Lindsay [00:15:09]:
What would I expect to spend on an ad campaign?

Britt Holmes [00:15:14]:
It can really vary. And that's one of the things that we would go through in discussion. But what I like to do is I always start small. So if you have an existing client base that you're aware of, then what we would do is look into that and be like, okay, well, where are these people currently? Because they are your active, existing clients. So we kind of build a Persona around them. Starting small just because most solopreneurs don't have huge marketing budgets and they want to make sure things work before they dive full into it. That's the biggest thing. People are always like, I'll give you whatever you want if you can make me money.

Britt Holmes [00:15:46]:
And I'm like, okay, cool, let's do that, but let's start small. Prove concept and expand. Prove concept and expand and kind of go from there. So generally it's like, look at your existing client base, build it on that, write the message so that speaking exactly to that person and then watch what happens and then continually grow from there. So that's kind of our approach and that's one that's been tailored specifically for small businesses because we don't have, like, I'm the same, we don't have all this money just rolling around. So like, if you were focusing on a few towns, I'd say like, yeah, let's do like $300 a month proof concept, expand, that type of thing. So because with Google as well as meta, so Facebook and Instagram, there's not really any minimums like there are, but they're quite low that it's like, okay, well, we can start wherever we need to start. It's more so being extremely intentional of who we're going after and being realistic about that, it's like one of the standard things like I had said before is people will be like, I have $500.

Britt Holmes [00:16:51]:
And they're like, we're going to target all of Canada. This is going to be great. And it's like, okay, but like, any time you're thinking about a budget, you have to always think of total budget divided by 30 days. And then it's like, okay, well, how many potential clicks could you get with that budget? And then from that be like, well, that would be like a town or like whatever it is. So that's kind of how I try to explain it out of.

Lindsay [00:17:15]:
And so why would someone choose like a Google Ad over a meta ad or vice versa?

Britt Holmes [00:17:23]:
Yeah, there's so many different factors. So the top level answer is they all play very well together because with your meta, people aren't necessarily looking for your product, but they're going to see it and kind of pique that interest, whether they take that in that initial action then, or if they just happen to remember and find you later. The cool thing is when we're doing in tandem, it's like we increase that awareness on meta and then people might forget, might not act right away. All of a sudden they're on a Google search seeking it out so they can play hand in hand together. Generally what we say is if it's a client that is looking to increase their awareness, we generally want to stay on the meta side of things just to kind of get their name out there and then in time add in that Google Play as well. If it's more of a brick and mortar location, then we want to stick more so on the google side of things more heavily because we can be very targeted with who we're going after and hitting a very specific radius so we can put in a postal code and be like, we want to talk like we only want our ad to show 10 km around this physical location and go from there. So again, it's a lot of looking into what the existing user base is of a brand and kind of tailoring it to what the brand needs to thrive.

Lindsay [00:18:50]:
P's we're both in Canada and we use kilometers, we don't use miles if you're in the US listening. Okay. So going back to being able to like use copy for these types of ads, is that how major of a player is what you write in your ads?

Britt Holmes [00:19:13]:
It does a pretty good job of playing. So what we try to say is that we all want it interconnected because the way that the Google algorithm, basically the Google robots, they want to see that the people like there's your bidding on a keyword that is leading to an ad that is speaking to the same thing, which is then driving to a landing page that again is speaking to the same thing. So giving them a consistent user journey. So what we tend to do is it's not so cute and showy, especially on the Google side of things. It's more so extreme brand copywriting where it's like, this is what you have on your website, this is how you talk, this is what your offer is, we're going to write that exactly thing on Google and then that's consistent. And then Google sees it as like a cost saving and they give you, they pay you back the cost savings for making sure that it's a good user experience. On the Facebook side, you can be a little bit more fun with it. But for the most part, I like to keep our brand messaging pretty in line with what people are going to on the webpage because we want to make sure that the journey is complete and they're not getting to the website and being like, what the hell? Like, this messaging was so fun and now their website's boring.

Britt Holmes [00:20:26]:
So just like making sure that it just is all really connected. But again, I think that it's more so people are like, oh, I like that. And then they continue to click the ad and go through. So it is important, but flowery messaging is not really great for us.

Lindsay [00:20:46]:
Okay, so now you're speaking my language where your brand tone is the same all the way through.

Britt Holmes [00:20:52]:
That's right, yeah.

Lindsay [00:20:53]:
Okay. I love that. And also, and I think, and I had this conversation recently with somebody about, like, you know, she was saying, like, you know, the way she speaks in one platform is very, like, professional. The way she speaks on a different platform is kind of more clever. So we were having this conversation of like, can you have different brand tones across different platforms? And my two cent was like, no, you have to sound the same everywhere you go. And I think the way you set, like, my experience was with meta ads and, you know, I was quite clever with my copy, you know, or just like, true to my own brand voice. I love what you said about that because to me that means that your brand tone or your brand voice has to be sort of like synonymous everywhere you show up.

Britt Holmes [00:21:47]:
Yeah, for sure. Like, I feel like that's very much the case, like, for a while. And I think that if you feel like you have to transition brand voices, maybe you're not speaking in one area as you are, because that's something that I always found between the agency as well as like, my personal brand. Like my agency, one I always thought like, oh, I had to be like, stiff and stuffy and like, whatever, and had very corporate looking branding and stuff like that. And I was like, this is not me. I'd get on calls and people would be like, whoa, you're not the same person. So I think it's like, show up who you are as you are authentically. And I think that that's going to come through.

Britt Holmes [00:22:27]:
Of course, if you have multiple employees and stuff like that, that starts to evolve over time, but at the same point it's like, okay, so make the one a little bit more formal, but then have a personal brand if you want to kind of get funky with it or whatnot. So I wouldn't, yeah, go crazy on differentiating across platforms.

Lindsay [00:22:47]:
And I think, and I feel like you and I have talked about this. Last time we talked like you were kind of feeling like you were outgrowing, you know, the, your online brand, and you were kind of like, yeah, I feel like I need to shimmy this up a bit.

Britt Holmes [00:23:01]:
Yeah, it was the most boring brand because I live behind this corporate veil where it's like, you're not allowed to be human almost, right? So it's like, oh, I'm gonna choose the boring colors and the stiff lines and the standard, like, corporate trained tone because that's what people like. And in reality, I'm like, well, this audience that I've managed to build are all very fun loving, down to earth, understandable. Most commonly, women that I'm like, this doesn't make sense. Why am I trying to be this thing that I'm clearly not? I clearly burnt out on corporate pretending I was this thing. So now we're just leaning into full out crazy. So my brand colors, they're like, the branding team that I worked with were awesome. And they're like, so you want every color? I'm like, yes. They're like, but we're going to do four primary colors.

Britt Holmes [00:23:59]:
And then you have many other accent colors. I was like, fine.

Lindsay [00:24:04]:
Everything.

Britt Holmes [00:24:05]:
All the colors. Like, I blame the girls. Like, everyone's always like, why is there pink in your branding? I'm like, because my kids and I'm a girl, mom. And, like, through and through, that's my new identity. But I'm like, secretly red's my favorite.

Lindsay [00:24:18]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. My whole website is hot pink. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I fully leaned into it and I just was like, all my pictures that I did, my hair was pink. I was like, yeah, so, right. And then I feel like once you sort of, like, do it, you're like, oh, why didn't I do this before? I know. Anyway.

Britt Holmes [00:24:40]:
And it's like, for me. And I'm like, maybe I just, like, made this brand for my own interests, right? But I'm like, I don't like my old post that was like, they're boring. They don't make me want to read them. Whereas now I'm like, whoo. Bright colors, shiny like icons. This is fun.

Lindsay [00:24:56]:
Yeah, fun. Okay, more fun, everyone. Britt, where can people find you and how can they work with you?

Britt Holmes [00:25:05]:
Yes. So you can find us mostly on instagram is probably the easiest place I find with small business owners. So Erit Media, Inc. I also have it. Homes live is my personal brand. And we start packages for small businesses at dollar 500 a month for management and kind of skew from there based on the complexity of what you need.

Lindsay [00:25:27]:
Amazing. Thank you for coming and for sharing your smartitude.

Britt Holmes [00:25:32]:
Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

Lindsay [00:25:35]:
That's it for us today, everyone, and we'll see you next time. Toodaloo. Thank you so much for listening. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share this episode on social media. And don't forget to tag me on Instagram. Lindsaysmithcreative. And if you do all three, I'll be your best friend forever and invite you to all my birthday parties. That's it for today, and I'll see you next time.

Britt Holmes [00:26:00]:
Bye.