New ads and more spend, same ugly vibes

Author

Grow A Newsletter
January 16, 2025 • Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Current subscribers: 31

Howdy to the 4 new subscribers since my last post yesterday.

Welcome back to everyone else, especially to the ducker 🦆 who rated yesterday’s post as “mid.” This post will be better because of you.

But first, I received another sponsor! If you’re interested in the newsletter below, please support me by clicking the ad link to check it out. I’ll earn $1 per unique click.

Learn how to make AI work for you

AI won’t take your job, but a person using AI might. That’s why 800,000+ professionals read The Rundown AI – the free newsletter that keeps you updated on the latest AI news and teaches you how to use it in just 5 minutes a day.

Growth

Since my last post yesterday, I have launched two new sets of ad creatives and increased spending from $5/day to $10/day.

You can check out the ads on FB here:

I know, they’re basic and they’re ugly. But I don’t think it matters.

If you’re reading this, it’s because you care about real, no-fluff insights into newsletter growth and monetization—not flashy design trends or perfectly polished ads. (Good thing, because I’m not a designer 😅.)

The goal is simple: create ads that feel like the newsletter. No fake polish. No frills. Just the kind of stuff that pulls in readers who actually stick around.

These two ads just launched, so my next post will include an update on their performance.

Another thing, I realized I haven’t shared how I’m setting up my Meta ads campaigns yet, so here’s a quick breakdown.

And I mean quick—because it’s super simple and exactly how you should set yours up too.

  • One campaign with Cost Caps and Campaign Budget Optimization (not ad set budgets).

  • Ad sets (as few as you need) targeting the USA with automatic placements and Dynamic Creative turned on.

  • Whenever I launch new ads, I duplicate an ad set and swap in the new creatives.

For context, I managed $2 million in Meta ad spend last year and launched nearly 1,000 new ads. Every single campaign was set up this way.

Income

$4 from an earlier newsletter sponsor and a potential $2 from Sparkloop! Thank you to whichever of the 4 new subs signed up for other newsletters using my Sparkloop link today.

Expenses

$141.

Profit & Loss

Down $137.

My Profit & Loss doc contains all income and expenses to date.

Thanks again for reading. Talk tomorrow! 💌

—SS

Support this newsletter for $0

How was today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.