Molly Pittman – How to Train a Media Buyer and Facebook Ads Manager

Alex:

Molly, what have you brought to Affiliate World today?

Molly Pittman:

What did I talk about?

Alex:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah, so I just wrapped up a session with Ezra Firestone. It was cool. It was different than any session I’ve ever done before. But we talked about how to train people and especially media buyers. I think that a lot of companies out there are working with agencies, which is great. I love agencies, but it’s not for every business.

Alex:

Yeah.

Molly Pittman:

And it’s really important to also think about training people internally. So our session was just about how do you train someone, what do they need to know? Right. And it really boils down to giving them access to the best information possible, the best training possible, and supporting them. Because media buying and Facebook ads is a mental game, you know this right?

Alex:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Molly Pittman:

And it’s like a sport. And if you’re off mentally, it can really affect the performance of the campaigns, right? If you have a bad relationship with money, that can really hurt your ability as a media buyer. And as a boss if you’re applying too much pressure on the media buyer that can actually really affect them. And so we just chatted with a bunch of business owners about how to hire a media buyer and then how to train them and give them time to learn and become the best that they can be. That was my journey. And so yeah, I recommend it for others. And then I’ve got another session coming up where I’m going to roast Ezra. And so I’ve gone through his ad account, everything he did in 2018.

Alex:

Oh wow.

Molly Pittman:

And I have feedback for him. And so that’s the presentation.

Alex:

That’s cool. That should be very interesting.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah, it’s different.

Alex:

But you’ll be soft on him.

Molly Pittman:

Maybe he’s doing pretty good so there’s not much to say.

Alex:

Cool, cool. So overall with the final and overall what you are basically training people on is not many people are talking about like you know those mentally your mental things, right?

Molly Pittman:

Yeah.

Alex:

Because I had a conversation yesterday with one business owner, so they run like $100 million per year, eCommerce company. And so he trained, he’s like media buyers. So he said it takes him like five, six months of training a media buyer, is that the same in your experience?

Molly Pittman:

Yes. Oh it took me a year. So I started at Digital Marketer as an intern and then I learned organic social media. And then I went to Ryan Deiss, the founder, and I said, “Ryan, I want to run Facebook ads.” And he said, “Okay, great. Here’s $1,000 bring me back more money than I gave you.” I did. And then $12 million later.

Alex:

Wow.

Molly Pittman:

But it took me a year to really figure that out. And that’s very much what we were preaching in this session. Because I think a lot of business owners expect to hire a media buyer in the next day. Their business has doubled. And even if you are an incredibly experienced media buyer, it still takes time. When you’re in a new market, you have to learn the psychology of the avatars.

Alex:

Yeah.

Molly Pittman:

There’s so much to figure out. And so it does take time. And that’s a huge mistake I’m seeing business owners make. They’re not giving those people enough time. And so they’re just recycling through a bunch of media buyers and struggling.

Alex:

Okay. So it’s basically focusing on how to differentiate? How do you see that attitude or how do you build that attitude to people to build them into great media buyers?”

Molly Pittman:

Well, they first need to show interest, right? So I don’t think it’s about building it in them. It’s about looking for people that already have it in them. Right?

Alex:

Okay.

Molly Pittman:

And so what I mean by that is, I started with organic social and I fell in love with Facebook as a platform. It fascinates me still to this day, seven, eight years later, I’m fascinated by it. And that’s why “I’m good.” Right? Air quotes, I’m okay at running ads because I’m interested. I love it. I want to know how the platform works. I want to stay up to date. And so yeah, that’s kind of, I think I’m getting off track. Sorry. What was the question again?

Alex:

So basically how do you see that in people?

Molly Pittman:

Okay. And then they show up, right? So for me to go to Ryan and say, “I want to do this”, that showed intensity, right? And so I think it’s already in someone, not the marketing knowledge, but the drive and the desire to be successful. And then that layer with the interest in a platform like Facebook or Google, and being interested in media buying, that’s the perfect match. Right? And then you as the boss, you’re really just there to give them the resources, right?

Alex:

Yeah.

Molly Pittman:

“Here are the latest courses, listen to this podcast.” Right? And to support them in not pressuring them as we talked about earlier. So I think someone shows up that way and then you just give them the resources and the love that they need to continue to grow.

Alex:

For a good media buyer, do you need people to have an engineering kind of mindset? No?

Molly Pittman:

I mean I’m completely opposite of that. I can barely install a pixel. Right? And so I think for a media buyer, the most important characteristics, number one, liking people. So I don’t come from a marketing background, but I love people, I understand people, I’m interested in people, I’m empathetic. That makes me a good marketer because I’m able to put myself in their shoes. Right?

Alex:

Yeah.

Molly Pittman:

So the pixel aside, someone else can do that. The technical stuff that’s really not what makes a good media buyer. A good media buyer is someone that’s good at marketing, okay? And good at understanding people. Because then you’re ad copy, you’re creatives, you’re offers work. I mean that’s what makes the campaign work.

Alex:

So is that like emotional intelligence is more important?

Molly Pittman:

Absolutely. Empathy, emotional intelligence, empathy, all of those? Yes.

Alex:

Cool. And in terms of what you’re seeing happening? Obviously Facebook is getting more competitive, ad cost increase, right? So what trends are you seeing overall with industries that are just bigger companies start to advertise more and smaller companies just simply don’t survive or?

Molly Pittman:

No, no. I know it really all comes down to the business relationship with the market. So it doesn’t matter your size, it doesn’t matter how much you’re spending. If you have a product service message that people are resonating with, so they’re reacting to your ads, they’re commenting, they’re sharing, they’re going over to your websites, spending a lot of time. Those are all indicators that Facebook’s looking at to say, “Is this brand putting stuff out that the market’s interested in?” That’s really all that you need. And so I think there’s a lot of scarcity right now around, “Facebook’s getting expensive.” And it’s like, “Yeah, every ad platform does that.” Right?

Alex:

Yeah, yeah.

Molly Pittman:

And I honestly think it’s a good thing. Not necessarily that it’s getting more expensive. But that Facebook’s continuing to put more indicators and parameters in place to make sure that the ad is actually a good experience for the end user because then the good marketers win. The brands that actually are out there to serve and help people no matter their size, they’re winning. The people that are out there to make a buck and sell whatever they can sell just to make a dollar, they’re being weeded off the platform. And I’m okay with that.

Alex:

Cool. And I mean from my perspective, so we advertise on Facebook a lot and creative from our experience, one of the most important things, right?

Molly Pittman:

Yes.

Alex:

So you work with like digital marketer. How do you structure that creative process? The imagery, the videos? How did you?

Molly Pittman:

Great question. So I always write the ad copy first. So I use something called the Ad Grid, which is a system that I developed in digital marketer and people Google it, they can read all of that.

Alex:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Molly Pittman:

And so the first thing that I always do is establish the avatars and the hooks. So I know the different types of people I’m speaking to. I know the different hooks that I’m using to try to get them to take that action, right? And then from there I write the ad copy. So each cell of this grid, is speaking to one avatar using a hook. So maybe I’m selling a toothbrush and I’m speaking to the mom avatar. And I’m talking about how this will save you five minutes a day, right? So the ad copy is written first. The creative is simply a representation of the ad copy and the hook and everything that I’ve just explained. So once that is finished and I’ve written the ad copy, then I’ll write specs out for the designer.

Alex:

Okay.

Molly Pittman:

So, okay, here’s who we’re targeting, here’s the messaging that we’re using. I do a lot of Google searching because what’s interesting is, with a creative they say a picture says a thousand words, right?

Alex:

Yeah.

Molly Pittman:

And a lot of people don’t like to read. That’s just not how they learn. So your creative needs to be able to portray your marketing message in just a few seconds. So a lot of times what I’ll do is take some of the key words, like the main messaging that I’m using in ad copy and actually Google it and click the image tab and see what those first few images are. Because what’s interesting about that, let’s say we put candy in there, right? Google is going to show us the images on the internet that people have interacted with most in relation to that keyword.

Alex:

Okay.

Molly Pittman:

So let Google tell you what that word looks like. Does that make sense?

Alex:

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Molly Pittman:

So then I start to get inspiration from that. I’m screenshotting, I’m not using those as my creatives, right? But I’m screenshotting, I’m getting inspiration. I’m putting these in the specs for the designer, right? So that she understands visually, “Okay, this is the visual representation of these words.” And then I’ll give her any other direction based off of what I’m looking for. She produces the videos, images, they come back to me. We go through an editing process and it’s done.

Alex:

Wow.

Molly Pittman:

What’s interesting is what I’m finding that works best on Facebook, especially this year, are actually very native-looking creatives. So I’m not working with designers as much as I used to. And I’m using a lot more photos that I’ve shot on my phone.

Alex:

Like selfie?

Molly Pittman:

A selfie or a video or just something that looks like it belongs in the newsfeed. And that is building social proof because-

Alex:

And relevance score.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah, because consumers, they’re used to engaging with those very native-looking creatives. And so that’s been a big shift. It’s nice because it’s a lot less work.

Alex:

Yeah it’s good.

Molly Pittman:

Not as good for the designer, but she still has a lot of other words. But yeah, that’s what’s working for me.

Alex:

That’s good. That’s a whole blueprint. So basically you start from the avatar, it starts from and then you basically like different angles from different people.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah. Avatar, hook, then I write the copy for each avatar using each hook.

Alex:

That’s a whole blueprint.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah. And then I create the specs for the creative and the campaigns ready.

Alex:

Cool. Cool. So what industries, you help them, you work mostly with eCommerce or you work?

Molly Pittman:

Across the board. I mean, my background was information coming from digital marketer. But digital marketer also owns eCommerce companies, so I had experience there. So it’s really both. I don’t have a ton of experience with local businesses. It’s not super scalable, so it’s not very fun for me. I love you local people. But yeah, mostly e-commerce, information, influencers, fun stuff like that. A little bit helping agencies do lead gen. But same thing, an agency might need one lead a day. Right?

Alex:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Molly Pittman:

I love working with the businesses where scale is infinite, right?

Alex:

Yeah. Cool. Cool.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah.

Alex:

Well a pleasure speaking with you. So you’ll be speaking now?

Molly Pittman:

Yeah at 355.

Alex:

Are you excited?

Molly Pittman:

Woo. I’m always excited.

Alex:

How was the flight?

Molly Pittman:

It was good. I actually been in Amsterdam for two weeks, so it was easy.

Alex:

Oh nice.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah. So I flew to New York to Amsterdam. And I’m actually moving there.

Alex:

To Amsterdam?

Molly Pittman:

Yeah.

Alex:

Really?

Molly Pittman:

So I’ll be closer to you guys.

Alex:

Cool. Awesome. I’ll come visit you someday.

Molly Pittman:

Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Alex:

Yeah, thank you very much.