Should I hire someone to run my newsletter's Meta ads or learn to do it myself?

Meta ads are the other big thing when you launch a newsletter, next to the content itself. They take time, and getting them right has a massive impact. If you don't know what you're doing, your cost per subscriber can be double or triple what it should be.

A friend running a newsletter in another city quit his ads because he couldn't get them right. Then I helped him, and he started getting subscribers cheaply.

Why does it matter who runs them?

There are layers of Meta ad help, and they are not the same:

1. General agencies that run ads for anyone: small businesses, e-commerce, whatever.
2. Newsletter agencies that are good at ads for national newsletters, like business and tech newsletters.
3. The few people who run ads for their own local newsletters every day.

Each level beats the one before it, because Meta ads are very specific, and the way we do things for local newsletters is unusual.

"I'm only better than them at local newsletters. I'm niche down. They're better at business newsletters and tech newsletters and morning brew and whatever."

What happens when people use a big agency?

Two cases I've seen up close. A local newsletter owner had been using one of the biggest newsletter agencies in the country and came to me unhappy, partly over service and communication. My cost per subscriber came in at half of theirs.

Another person I know runs his own newsletter agency and knows Meta ads himself. He tried outsourcing his ads to see if someone could do better. The outsourced numbers were about three times worse than what he got on his own. If someone hasn't done this exact use case, it doesn't translate well.

I've been doing this daily for about 18 months. That's the whole edge.

What if I can't afford a specialist?

Get your hands dirty. That's the fastest way to learn anything.

• Don't put much money into it. Spend $5 or $10 a day for a week.
• Accept that you won't optimize it perfectly at first.
• Iterate from what you see, and you'll get better.

Be realistic about the start. The odds of getting this right at the beginning are close to zero. Early on, even after about a year on and off, I was only okay at it, and my manager did most of it. If you can, have someone who knows what they're doing run it while you watch it working, reverse engineer it, and launch your own later.

Each brand needs its own setup too: the conversion, budget, audience, placements and ad copy.

What should I expect from whoever I hire?

• Simple ads. Dumb and simple is usually the best path for local newsletters. Some agencies overthink everything to show how valuable they are. Some freelancers I've tried sent me work worse than what I could have done myself. See ugly vs. polished ads.
• Daily attention until something works. In the short term, a lot of tests just won't work. Once something does, you can rest on it for a while.
• An explanation. When I take on a news organization, I explain how to think about Meta ads at a high level instead of running a black box. Telling someone how to do it isn't the same as doing it, so I don't mind sharing how targeting and structure work. The winning creative is the piece I keep for when my team runs the campaign.

What this kind of help costs is in how much Meta ads management costs. Before handing anyone the keys, read how to give a consultant access to your ad account.