Hey!
Welcome back to this week’s edition of Growth Levers, where you get:
3 things happening in the newsletter world
2 pro tips to improve your ads and thus improve your CPA
1 winning newsletter ad and a breakdown of why it worked
Let’s get into today’s edition and see if you can find a lever to pull:
3 Things You Should Know
📄 beehiiv’s new ToS might be the first one you shouldn’t blindly scroll past and agree to…very interesting commentary from Adam Ryan here. The irony is not lost on me that this newsletter was sent via beehiiv.
🤖 Substack adds AI-generated content detection. This happened earlier in the week (forgive me for my Saturday send), but it’s very important. At the same time, I don’t think it will change that much. My take here.
📈 The World’s Biggest Newsletter List. Cool list here with lots of familiar names (myself or my agency have been involved in the growth of 4 of the newsletters on this list) and many of you may not have thought they were as big as they are! Spots 1-3 have some crazy numbers 🤯
2 Meta Ads Pro Tips
Tip 1: Run Your Ads Through Other Creators' Pages.
If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you know I recommend running ads from the founder's personal page. This takes that one step further.
Meta's Partnership Ads tool lets you run the same ad copy through a different trusted voice, a guest writer, a niche creator, or another newsletter operator's page. They grant ad permissions without you needing admin access or a new page.
When your founder's angle starts fatiguing (frequency climbing, CPAs creeping up), refreshing the messenger resets the viewer's pattern recognition. You reach your audience in a new way.
Tip 2: Turn Off Advantage+ Standard Enhancements on Your Video Ads.
Meta defaults to auto-applying "enhancements" on your video ads, things like color and brightness adjustments, text overlays, and background music you never asked for.
If you're running raw, phone-shot selfie videos (which you should be), these enhancements make your intentionally unpolished video look produced and “ad-like”. That defeats the point of making an ad that looks like regular content.
In the ad creation flow, find "Advantage+ creative" and manually toggle off the enhancements you don't want.
BONUS: I created a Loom recording that walks you step-by-step on how to adjust this when you're building any ad set moving forward. If you want me to send it to you, reply to this email with the word "LOOM", and my team will send it over.
1 Winning Ad
Newsletter: Your Next Breakthrough (Mark Manson)
This is version 2 of the doctored podcast format.
What Makes It Great:
V1 needed two people to simulate a conversation. V2 lets the subtitles carry the exchange while one person talks through the pitch (even easier to produce).
The first panel does its one job. "People give way too many f***s." That sounds like an actual podcast moment more than ad copy (obviously). If someone reads that, the next three panels walk them through the value prop in order (best to use one idea per image).
Don’t come for me, but you don't need a real person for this. AI image tools can generate a realistic face and you can run this exact format without filming anyone. Write 5 copy variants for the template and let the data pick the winner. No we did not use AI for this example above.
Before you go, here’s how I can help:
If you’re a newsletter operator running ads already and need a full hour to chat with me through the struggles, questions, or possible optimizations. I have 1 out of 3 monthly slots still open. You can book the call here and have me for an hour to run through anything you think will make an impact in your newsletter ads.
My agency runs the entire paid newsletter growth process from A-Z for newsletters coming from Mark Manson, The Daily Upside, James Clear, Tangle News, you get the point. If you want us to step in and run the Meta ads process for your newsletter, you can apply here to work with us in just 2 minutes.
That's all for today. I'll see you back here next week!