Everything You Want to Know About Meta Ads (Juicier Version) with Alice Björkstrand [BONUS]
I went from ads-scared to Ads Princess, and I have better questions for Alice this time around
Remember when I logged into Meta Ads Manager for the first time, didn’t know a damn thing, and basically needed Alice to explain what an ad even was?
That was Part 1.
This is Part 2, and a lot has changed. Like, I’m-getting-hundreds-of-people-on-my-email-list-every-week-on-a-low-budget changed. Ads Princess Era is officially in session, and Alice Björkstrand is back to answer all the questions I didn’t even know how to ask the first time around.
For the Beginners Who Are Still Scared
If you’re brand new to ads and completely overwhelmed — I was you six months ago, so I get it.
Alice’s advice is to stop giving yourself a hard time, break it into the smallest possible steps, and start with $20 a day for two weeks. That’s roughly $280 to get enough data to actually know whether something is working.
Your goal cost per lead is between $2 and $4. Hit under $2, and you’re winning. Creeping above $4, and it’s time to look at your messaging.
You do not have to spend a fortune for ads to be worth it. That’s a myth we’re leaving behind.
The Three Types of Ads (And What Each One Does)
Lead gen ads drive people to your freebie and onto your email list. This is where 70-80% of your budget should go.
Visibility ads grow your Instagram following. A dollar or less per follower is completely doable here. These can run in the background basically all the time.
Retargeting ads are your sales push. They go out to warm audiences — people already on your email list, people who’ve visited your website, your engaged Instagram followers. Run these for about two weeks at a time, once a quarter or so. Keep an eye on your frequency score. Once someone’s seen your ad close to 10 times, turn it off.
What Ad Creative Is Actually Working Right Now
Speaking-to-camera reels are still killing it across every type of campaign. B-roll with a hook as a text overlay works great too. And, surprisingly, carousels are having a full comeback; Alice is seeing them perform really well right now.
The format that’s working best is a founder story carousel. Literally the same photo of you, slide after slide, with different text telling your story. Something like: I noticed this gap in the industry. So I built this. Here’s what it taught me. Here’s where you can get it.
Native Instagram text, no Canva required. And it works for lead magnets, low ticket offers, retargeting — all of it.
The Curiosity Ad vs. The Direct Ad
You need both.
The curiosity ad hooks people without spelling out exactly what they’re clicking on. Something like stop sending your website with a disclaimer — no mention of a course, just a line that makes the right person go oh, that’s me. They click, they land on the page, and they figure it out.
The direct ad speaks to people who already know they have the problem and just need the solution. Something like rewrite your website copy so you can finally start making money from it, $750. (Which, for the record, is an incredible price for the best website copywriting course on the internet!)
Different people are at different stages of awareness. Some know they have a problem but not the solution. Some know exactly what they need. Your ad strategy should speak to all of them.
Targeting Without Losing Your Mind
Meta is going to go outside of your targeting anyway. The algorithm is that good, so stop worrying over which exact interests to choose.
For a business-owner audience, Alice recommends targeting relevant software (Canva, Mailchimp, Squarespace, Adobe, Shopify), entrepreneurship and small business interests, and — this one’s a gem — Instagram business profile admin under behaviors.
That tells you they’re actually running their own business. Way more useful than job titles, which have tiny audience sizes because who even fills that out?
Put in what makes sense, and let Meta do its thing.
Uploading Your Email List — And What To Actually Do With It
Lookalike audiences — where Meta finds new cold people who are similar to your list — used to work really well and just... don’t anymore the way they used to. Alice doesn’t recommend starting there.
What DOES work: uploading your list and using it as a warm retargeting audience. These people already know you because they’re on your list, so hit them with your sales messaging.
(Just make sure your privacy policy covers the use of subscriber data for advertising purposes before you do this.)
The Low Ticket Sweet Spot
If you’re running ads to a low ticket offer, Alice’s recommendation is to keep the price at $50 or under, with the sweet spot sitting somewhere between $27 and $45.
If you’re running ads for a $27 product, you’re probably going to see roughly a 1x return on your ad spend. Which means you’re basically breaking even on the ads themselves.
That’s not a bad thing if your offer ecosystem is solid and that buyer goes on to purchase something higher ticket. But if you want to make more from that low ticket offer directly, add an order bump at checkout. Something complementary, easy to say yes to, that brings the average order value up.
And for the record, Alice does NOT recommend running ads cold to high ticket offers.
Retargeting for high ticket — yes.
But cold traffic straight to a $2,000 offer — no.
Ads for Service Providers Specifically
Alice actually said ads for service providers are her favorite — more so than e-comm — because it’s just easier to make more money.
The best place to start as a service provider is a lead magnet ad. And the lead magnet needs to be positioned as the thing your dream client needs before they’re ready to hire you. What are they googling at 11 pm before they even know they need someone like you? That’s your freebie.
Alice also mentioned adding a free audit inside your email funnel — something like reply to this email, and I’ll give you three quick tips specific to your situation. It’s not scalable forever, but it converts like crazy because it bridges the gap between freebie downloader and paying client.
Every single time I have a one-on-one call with someone, something converts. Every time. There’s something about actually feeling supported by a real human that makes people want to keep working with you.
The Appetizer Theory
A lot of people build their lead magnet backwards. They take their main offer, shrink it down 10%, and call it a freebie, but that’s not how it works. Your lead magnet isn’t a mini version of your offer — it’s the thing your dream client needs right before your offer makes sense for them.
I call this the Appetizer Theory. When you go out to dinner, there are three types of people at the table:
The appetizer-only person. They download your freebie, DIY the thing, and move on. They were never going to buy anyway. They just wanted the Longhorn Firecracker Chicken Wraps and called it a night. (If you don’t know what those are, I am so sorry for you, they are life-changing.)
The apps AND dinner person. They download your freebie, try to do the thing, realize it’s harder than they thought, and come back to hire you. This is your person. I was this person when I downloaded a freebie about uploading custom fonts to Dubsado and immediately was like okay no, I need to hire her.
The skip-the-apps person. They see you have a freebie, understand what you do from it, and go straight to buying.
The goal is to build a lead magnet that pulls in the second and third type of person. The tiny win they’ve been dying for that naturally leads them to realizing they need you.
Think about what questions people are already asking you. What do they need to have figured out before they’re ready to work with you?
If You Only Have $1,000 and It Has to Count
Put the majority into lead gen. Full stop. Get people onto your email list, then email that list a lot. That’s where the sales actually happen.
Alice’s rough breakdown: 70% lead gen ads, 10% visibility ads, 20% retargeting. If you’re in a launch, concentrate that retargeting budget into a focused two-week window and push hard to your sales page. More eyes on a good sales page equals more sales. It really is that simple.
The Pre-Launch Timeline That I’m Stealing Immediately
Six weeks before your launch event — a live masterclass, a webinar, whatever — start running lead magnet ads related to the topic you’re teaching. Run those for four weeks. Then two weeks out, switch to ads driving signups straight to the live event.
By the time doors open, you’ve got a warm audience that’s been nurturing for a month AND fresh cold leads who just signed up excited. Then hit everyone with two weeks of retargeting while the cart is open.
This goes on my calendar the second I’m done writing this.
Point of the Story
Your lead magnet isn't supposed to be a mini version of your offer. It’s supposed to be the thing your dream client needs before your offer. Get that right, build a funnel that actually sells, and the ads will do the rest.
ALICE LINKS
— Follow Alice on Instagram and Threads
— Check out her website
— Subscribe to her newsletter
— Check out her course for meta ads, Flow
— Grab her plug and play funnel toolkit
— Alice’s walkout song
BTL LINKS
— Use code “MILLIONAIRE” for $100 off my website copywriting course, Site Series Sprint.
— Join the Point of the Story community on Slack.
— Leave feedback or episode requests in our Suggestions Box.
— To stay up to date with all things Point of the Story, follow on Instagram and Substack.
— Follow me on Instagram, Threads, and Substack.
— Subscribe to my newsletter Tuesday Table of Contents for one marketing tip, once a week.
— Check out my website betweenthelinescopy.com.
OTHER LINKS
— Blog post: “10 More Important Ways To Measure Your Success Than “$10K Months”
This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz.