Today, Mike is joined by Sam Piliero, founder of The Moonlighters, a marketing agency helping brands scale profitably. Sam and his team break down why most brands struggle to scale their ads, and how small fixes in strategy can make the difference between them running ads that are burning cash and ads that enable firms to scale profitably.

Sam explains how to use AI for marketing, work out what strategy is right for your company and which ad platforms are providing the best exposure and ROI, right now.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Small changes in strategy can take you from burning cash running ineffective ads to spending a lot less while seeing sales soar.
• AI combined with manual oversight is now an effective way to craft, monitor and tweak ads.
• The new Meta UI is going to be transformative.
• The number of campaigns you should be running changes as you evolve.
• Nurture your existing customers but dedicate most of your budget to customer acquisition.
• Setting up your pixels and using that data is vital. 
• At the start, be everywhere. Gather the data, then focus on the platforms that work best.
• Leverage all of the channels in the G Suite (Google).
• Right now, there are lots of opportunities on X for small businesses.
• Include as many formats as possible in each ad campaign to increase your placement levels.
• People resonate with stories.
• Analysing your ROI is essential. Sam explains exactly how to do it.
• Drill down into what times of the day/week convert best for you.

BEST MOMENTS

3:19 "he next six months, we're going to see an acceleration of the use of some of the AI tools." 

5:46 "You have to really focus on what's actually functioning the best today, and then focus on six months, nine months, then a year from now." 

7:22 "Allow the market to iron things out, be a little bit later in adopting these new things." 

9:55 "Companies that scale successfully evolve their customer acquisition model."

12:38 "Early days, it's okay to have even just one or two campaigns." 

17.20 “Facebook and Google are the best converting platforms, period, right now.“

21.01 “Almost every time the geo-located campaigns are outperforming the E-com side because we are targeting a specific cohort of people.“

25.35 “Whenever big advertisers remove themselves from an ad platform, the cost of advertising decreases drastically.”

26.43 “If you spend the same amount across the board, e.g. $1,000 you would typically be seeing Facebook and Google outperform.”

32.05 “The more value you put in a piece of content, the more views it gets.”

33.16 “Virality is not only unique, it is actually earned.”

42.00 “Don't overreact to slight adjustments in the ad account.”

51.29 “Always focus on minimizing wasted ad spend and reallocating that ad spend to the best possible place.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://themoonlighters.com/techgrowth

https://www.youtube.com/@SamPiliero

Social - @SamPiliero

ABOUT THE HOST

Meet Mike, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and visionary with over two and a half decades of invaluable experience in founding and scaling successful tech start-ups. Mike brings a wealth of firsthand knowledge, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and tech professionals.

As a host, Mike is dedicated to sharing actionable insights, strategies, and stories gathered from conversations with industry leaders, innovators, and experts. With a remarkable ability to distil practical wisdom from guests, Mike curates engaging discussions that resonate with both aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals.