The 10 Commandments of Facebook™ Paid Advertising

Do you run ads on Facebook™ or Instagram™? Then, these Commandments will help you get better results.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering, “Why should I listen to this person?” Here’s why. I personally manage over $2 Million a year in Ad Spend on Facebook™ and Instagram™. That’s enabled me to learn quite a bit about how to get better results.

So, here are some of the lessons I’ve learned. Every time I “sin” and try to disobey these commandments, I get taught a painful lesson by the Facebook™ Gods. So, let’s dive into it.

TLDR: Summary of The 10 Commandments of Facebook™ Marketing:

Commandment #1: You can’t micromanage a “loser” ad into a “winning” ad.

Commandment #2: Thou shalt ride your winners.

Commandment #3: Thou must combat Banner Blindness.

Commandment #4: Thou shalt monetize your funnel every way possible.

Commandment #5: Short term hacks will always lose to long term strategy.

Commandment #6: Thou shalt not let the ups and downs dishearten you.

Commandment #7: Thou shalt manage for CPR Goals, rather than CAC Goals.

Commandment #8: Marketing is a never ending arms race.

Commandment #9: You never know for sure what will work.

Commandment #10: Anyone can get good at sales and marketing if they put in the work and listen to people with experience.

OK, let’s go into each Commandment a little deeper.

The 10 Commandments of Facebook™ Paid Advertising (In-Depth):

Commandment #1: You can’t micromanage a “loser” ad into a “winning” ad.

It’s true. No amount of media buying management and tweaking can turn an ad that doesn’t convert into a winner. The message either works, or it doesn’t. Overmanaging your ads is not going to improve results.

Here’s an example of this. Every week, I do a big picture check on the sales, spend, and CAC for all my offers. I had an offer that would do great 🙌 one week. So, I’d increase the spend.

The next week, the results would be terrible 😭 and I’d cut spend. This process repeated itself for weeks. And then I started looking at results on a monthly basis. And once I looked at this offer over a longer time frame, I realized that offer converted about 70% as well as the other offers.

So, I stopped micromanaging the ads, and instead started targeting my ideal CPR Goal. The results still swing widely. But, since I’ve dialed in my CPR Goal, for the most part, the results come in on track over a monthly basis.

Commandment #2: Thou shalt ride your winners.

Despite all the people online who talk about their one magic funnel, sales process, etc that is “crushing” it right now, here’s the harsh truth about marketing.

It’s hard to create a winning ad, funnel, or sales process. Winners take a lot of hard work and persistence.

So, once you find a winner, ride it like crazy. When I see a new ad convert, I scale up the spend right away. If that winning conversion sticks, the next thing I do is Image Scale it some more. And, I continue to scale it for as long as it converts.

So, ride your winners:

One Sales Funnel can bring in millions of dollars in revenue. Yes, “One Funnel Away” is true. One good funnel can support you for the rest of your life. I’ve seen single funnels bring in millions of dollars in revenue.

I’m sure that some of the funnels I’ve helped create have brought in over $10 Million in revenue. I haven’t run official numbers on that yet.

One Ad can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. My single best ad has brought in over $768,872 in revenue the last time I checked.

Now, that was with Image Scaling, Dynamic Headlines, and email sales. So, I’m not talking about one single ad with one single image, etc. But, the same main Ad Body Text was in all the ads and the email.

One Ad Image can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. Some of the images I’ve used have brought in over $200,000 in revenue profitably.

And, sometimes they can boost the results of a proven ad that’s already been running for a while. For example, I recently Image Scaled a proven ad that had already brought in over $31,000 in revenue.

I stumbled across an image that matched perfectly with the Ad’s Big Idea. and it converted like gangbusters. Over the next 40 days, that ad has brought in over $76,204 in revenue from this one image. I’ll admit, this sounds crazy. But, it’s true.

Commandment #3: Thou must combat Banner Blindness.

Banner Blindness Explained. You may be thinking, “What is Banner Blindness?” Let me explain. Banner Blindness is when your reader’s brain automatically blocks out your ads. It’s there, but they don’t even see it.

The Human Brain is super smart and must focus on what’s important. So, it blocks out unnecessary stuff you see, sounds, etc.

Here’s an example of how Banner Blindness works. I visit Weather.com several times a day, and I rarely notice the ads. Below is a screenshot of Weather.com.

I’ve probably looked at those two big ads several times. But, I only now noticed them – because I’m looking for them for this blog post.

4 Ways you can Combat Banner Blindness.

• Create ads that don’t look like an ad. I know there’s a trend with some people running ads that start out saying “This is an ad.” They may work, but my gut just says “They’re wrong.”
• Avoid using “Stock Photos.” Yes, I use Stock Photos all the time. But, I try to avoid the cliche ads with people smiling like freaking morons. I’ve noticed my best converting images don’t look cliche.
• Use images that are shocking, but not in a bad way. A good example of this is the old Dancing Cowboys Ads for Lower My Bills. By the way, Lower My Bills was acquired for $330 Million in 2005. I don’t know about you, but ’ll happily create some awful looking ads for $330 Million!
• “Professional” Images don’t work as well as “Real Life” Images. One of my clients has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting a specific funnel on Facebook. And, we found that the best-converting image for this funnel was a “Real Life” image with a random carpenter cutting a piece of wood with a saw in the background. All the other high-converting images looked “professional.” But, this “Real Life” Image had a higher spend and Click-Thru Rate than the “professional” Images.

Here’s an example of a “Real Life” Image. This Youtube Video just popped up in my feed. It’s from some guy trying to sell the next way to start an Amazon Business. 🙄 I’ve seen it a couple times, so it must be working.

Notice the random guy in the background looking at his computer. That’s what a “Real Life” Image looks like!

Commandment #4: Thou shalt monetize your funnel every way possible.

Nowadays, everywhere you turn, people are moaning and groaning about rising costs. “Ermigosh, CPMs are skyrocketing,” they scream out with wailing and gnashing of teeth.

I was talking to a marketer the other day about his ads. “I was going thru some of my old marketing I did when I first started advertising on Facebook, and I can’t believe it even worked,” he told me.

I think that’s because there was less marketing competition on Facebook back when he first started. Now, it’s way more competitive! His CPMs have increased about 50% in the 8 months!

Either way, marketing is going to get more and more competitive. Which is why you must do everything you can to increase your Average Customer Value.

Here are a few ways you can increase your Average Customer Value:

Sell them more stuff:

• Back End Products.
• Add On Services.
• Email cancelled customers to see if you can get them to sign back up.
• Email cancelled customers to sell them other products/services.

Sell memberships – rather than just one-time products:

• Add back-end memberships to your front end products.
• Turn one-time products into subscriptions.
• Work on Retention.

Monetize the heck out of your email list. Your email list can be 30-40% of your total sales. I manage email lists that bring in millions of dollars of sales every year. So, I know quite a bit about email marketing. Here are a few ways you can get more sales from your email list:

• Email daily and sometimes multiple times a day.
• Switch your offers up constantly.

I’m shocked at how many respected marketers left money on the table by not emailing – only to start emailing when IOS14 came out.

Monetize your funnel every way possible:

• Upsells.
• Downsells.
• Bumps.
• Salespeople.

I know I’m missing things here, but I think you get my point. I’m an Ad Expert, not a funnel or retention expert.

Commandment #5: Short term hacks will always lose to long term strategy.

It seems like every day, another guru is rolling out their crazy new Facebook Sales Hack.

Here are some of the “hacks” I’ve seen recently:

• Go live on Facebook every day. I saw a guru talk about it, and claim: “I’m doing it and it’s working like crazy.”
• Create a Warm Audience on Facebook with Free Content, and they will be more receptive to your Paid Offers. One well-known Facebook Ad Guru talked about this for a while like it was the “Bomb.” Two of my clients tried it… and it “Bombed” on them. We wasted countless hours trying it out and it was a complete bomb. He may be smart. But, he doesn’t have all the answers.
• Video Marketing. I’m always seeing people talk about it. “Ermigosh Video Marketing is so amazing,” they say. Well, one of my clients tried it, and it didn’t work.

Bottom line: a one-time “Hail Mary” Hack won’t fix your sales. So, stop trying to “hack” your way to success. And instead, focus on improving your ads, funnels, offers, sales emails, back end offers, upsells, downsells, etc. Use new ideas to improve those things.

Commandment #6: Thou shalt not let the ups and downs dishearten you.

Let’s face it. Life has a lot of ups and downs. You’ll see the same thing happen with your Facebook™ Ads.

One day you’re cranking in sales hand over fist. The next day nothing is working. At the end of the day, they all tend to even out.

One month I had one horrible sales day and cut the ad budgets hard. As a result, I got behind on spend goal, didn’t spend my entire ad budget, and missed my sales goal. All because one day my numbers were horrible.

So, now I use 3-Day and 7-Day Trailing Averages to remind myself that the amazing days balance out the horrible days.

Sometimes, the downs are outside of your control. Marketing can be seasonal. There are some months where everything goes right, and you can do no wrong. Other months, everything goes wrong and nothing works.

The best way to overcome the downs. Make your marketing so powerful that the ups outweigh the downs. Develop a “New Normal” of high converting ads, sales funnels, etc. This is possible, but it just takes time. Over time you will build a library of Winning Ads that will carry you thru the bad times.

Appreciate the ups when you get them and stop taking them for granted. I’ve seen people make millions in business and then they complain about losing $20,000 one month. They got so used to winning that they stopped appreciating it.

Commandment #7: Thou shalt manage for CPR Goals, rather than CAC Goals.

Let me start by explaining what CPR and CAC mean:

• CPR is the “Cost Per Result” for a Facebook™ Ad. The “Result” is your conversion goal for the ad – whether it be a click, opt-in, lead, webinar registration, etc.
• CAC is the Cost to Acquire a Customer.

So, why manage for CPR Goals, rather than CAC? Because it’s more effective and easier. And, that’s especially true if you have a longer funnel like a Webinar or Salesperson Funnel.

When you run ads, you can see the CPR results real fast in Facebook’s Ad Manager. But, the Sales – and CAC Results – will take more time. And, they fluctuate more according to your webinar or salesperson’s close rate.

Over time, you will see that most funnels tend to convert at about the same rate. I like to look at all my funnels on a monthly basis. They do fluctuate up and down. But, I’ve found that certain funnels convert better than others.

Based on this, I know what CPR Goal I want for each funnel. Then, I try to hit that CPR Goal, and the CAC Goal usually works itself out.

Commandment #8: Marketing is a never ending arms race.

Very few businesses can “rest on their laurels” and survive long term. Just look at Wal-Mart. In the 1990s, they took over the retailing world. Small retailers went out of business right and left. And everyone considered them the 800 lb “invincible” Gorilla.

Well, now there’s a new 800 lb Gorilla on the scene: Amazon. They’re taking sales away from Wal-Mart, Target, and other retailers.

I know that I rarely visit stores like Wal-Mart, Target, etc. If I need a non-grocery item, I prefer to buy it from Amazon and save time visiting a store. Now, Amazon is on track to overtake Wal-Mart in total sales by 2025.

Your marketing will decline over time:

• The Marketing Platforms will change.
• The Marketing Platforms will slap you.
• New traffic sources will come out.
• High-Converting Sales Funnels will eventually go lame or lose their potency.
• High-Converting Ad Copy will eventually go lame or lose it’s potency. I’ve found that most high-converting ads are like Craigslist Posts. They start at the bottom (in the CPR Ranking) and work their way towards the top over time. How fast they work towards the top depends on how good they are. You can counteract this by cycling your ads in and out. But, eventually that stops working.

So, what’s the moral of the story?

You must work constantly to improve your marketing:

• Improve your Sales Funnels.
• Improve your ads.
• Improve your images.
• Improve your products.
• Improve your sales processes by doing things like hiring salespeople, etc.

Commandment #9: You never know for sure what will work.

Sometimes I’m surprised at the marketing angles that work. I have a gut instinct on what will work and what won’t. But, I never know for sure what will work. I’ve had an “amazing” new ad bomb. And, I’ve seen ads I hated bring in lots of sales.

Which is why you should be willing to try new things. And, I’m not the only person who thinks that. Robert Collier, one of the best marketers of all times, agrees with me. He made thousands of sales with letters that opened with: “Will you do me a favor?”

The letter then asked the reader to try out a new raincoat he was selling. That letter brought in over 20,000 rain coat sales.Wow! Maybe I should use those words in a Facebook Ad!

Commandment #10: Anyone can get good at sales and marketing if they put in the work and listen to people with experience.

Are you tired of reading about people who “crush it every time?” Or, who never have a failure? 🙄 Their stories are myths.

Marketing is competitive. You’re competing against the best of the best when you advertise on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and other Advertising Platforms.

• You’re competing against your competition’s best ads – out of the 20, 50, or 100 different ads they’ve already tested.
• You’re competing against your competition’s best Sales Funnels – out of the 5 to 10 they’ve already tested.
• You’re competing against your competition’s best offers – out of the 2, 5, or 10 they’ve already tested.
• You’re competing against your competition’s best funnel optimization strategies – out of the 2, 5, or 10 they’ve already tested.
• You’re competing against your competition’s best monetization strategies – out of the 2, 5, or 10 they’ve already tested.

In many cases, they’ve optimized their email list for extra earnings. So, they can afford to spend more to get a customer than you can because they’re making extra sales from email. That’s the bad news when it comes to marketing. Fortunately, there is good news.

Here’s the good news. You can gain a huge competitive advantage over time:

• Once you’ve tested out 50 different ads, your ads will be way better than most of your competition’s ads – and definitely better than a newbie competitor.
• Once you’ve tested out 10 different Sales Funnels, your funnel will be better than most of your competition’s funnels – and definitely better than a newbie competitor.
• Once you’ve tested out 10 different offers, your offers will be better than most of your competitors – and definitely better than a newbie competitor’s offer.
• Same thing for funnel optimization.
• And… once you’ve been marketing for a while, you’ll build up an email list that will bring in low cost sales month after month. Your email list can provide you with 30-40% of your sales and give you a huge cost advantage over a newbie competitor. And, since so many “good” marketers don’t email regularly, when you do email right, you’ll also have a big advantage over them.

If you put in the work, then you can build an amazing business.

So, that wraps up this blog post. If you have any questions, then post them in the comments section below.

Sincerely,

Ben Curry
The World’s Best Ad Copywriter

About the Author
Ben Curry specializes in helping marketers get more sales from their Facebook™ and Instagram™ Ads WITHOUT increasing costs.

He has created many high-converting Facebook™ Ads that brought in six figures in revenue. A few have brought in over a million dollars in sales each. Many are still running today.

In addition, he has personally managed over $2 Million in ad spend on Facebook. His ad management strategies have generated more sales – while lowering Customer Acquisition Costs – at the same time.