1 (2s):
Who’s ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Sales evangelists. Today, we'll be breaking down Facebook marketing and standup comedy. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Andrea Vahl into EOFire Studios. Andrea is a Facebook and Instagram Ads Expert and is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. She also is a standup comedian and produces a show called Moms Unhinged. And today Fire Nation,, we'll talk about Instagram and Facebook ads, how they're always changing. So what's working right now, we're gonna talk about using your areas of expertise in new fields and ways to adjust to the future advances of AI and tech, et cetera, and so much more.

1 (48s):
And a big thank you for sponsoring today’s episode goes to Andrea and our

Marketing Made Simple hosted by Dr. JJ Peterson (52s):
sponsors, Marketing Made Simple hosted by my friend Dr. JJ Peterson is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly make it work. A recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must. Listen, listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts.

1 (1m 15s):
The new year is here and that means it's time to check out NetSuite, the number one cloud financial system, streamlining, accounting, financial management, inventory, HR and more. Right now, Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at NetSuite.com/fire. Andrea say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

0 (1m 44s):
I don't know if most people disagree with this, but a lot of people do. It's that you have to work hard to be successful.

1 (1m 52s):
Fire Nation, work hard to be successful. Is that even a thing? Andrea, what do you mean by this?

0 (1m 59s):
This is something that I used to believe and it, it kind of was definitely something ingrained in me. But over the many years of being an entrepreneur, I have realized that you really should not work that hard. You really need to let your intuition guide you a lot of times and you also need to make sure and prioritize rest. I think a lot of people like just get really burnt out and you need to be investing in downtime and family time and things that help rejuvenate you so that you can do this marathon we call entrepreneurship.

1 (2m 40s):
How about laughter? Does that help? Oh

0 (2m 42s):
Yeah.

1 (2m 44s):
In Fire Nation, that's why Today, we're talking all about Facebook marketing and standup Comedy. 'cause let's be honest, Andrea, Facebook, Instagram, those Ads are always changing the parameters behind the scenes. We know what we're talking about, we don't know what we're talking about. It's working, it's not working. Let's talk about what's working right now.

0 (3m 8s):
A lot of things have been changing with Facebook and Instagram Ads, and one of the things that Facebook is doing is really bringing in more ai, more machine learning, all that stuff, whatever you wanna call it. All the things that are helping actually helping marketers reach the right people. As Facebook does more tracking around the types of people who are doing things like clicking on Ads or buying things. Facebook is learning better and better. What types of people are doing the activity or doing the goal that you're looking for? So things that are working are really kind of wide targeting.

0 (3m 49s):
Making sure that you've got the, the pixel and conversion API set up correctly so that Facebook can do its job and serve the right ad to the right people. So it's doing, you know, you're, it's actually even generating new ad content for you if you want, and allowing that to be a part of your Ads. So you're having different text and Facebook is serving that different text to different people and hopefully improving your results. Not always, but it's always, you always need to be watching that. But the good thing is that all of that AI is working to marketers benefit a lot of times

1 (4m 34s):
As specific as you're willing to get share with us something that's been working for you, like what does that funnel look like, how's it working? Get a little more detailed.

0 (4m 46s):
The other thing that's working really well right now is a lot of text in images. Like for a long time, like previously Facebook didn't want text in images and now that's working really well. So I have a lot of Ads running that are just text only Ads in the image themselves and that's doing well. What else is working? Reel Ads are working really, really well. They, they weren't working quite as well before, but like, you know, short video reels.

1 (5m 17s):
So give us an example, like what's a, what's an ad that you made and how's it working?

0 (5m 21s):
Yeah, so the Ads for clients that I'm running, it's just like a short video reel with images and other things popping in and out. Really bright, bold captions in there, super fun movement that's happening and about a minute long video. And with that it's engaging the audience, you know, bringing them in and getting them to click over. And with the machine learning that Facebook has and the all the AI stuff, we're basically having wide open targeting with some of those Ads where we're just saying, you know, know some basic demographics. Like we're trying to reach women between 30 and 55, for example, there's a woman who does, she helps Christian women navigate relationship issues and we have an ad with her talking about like this training that she's doing, this free training that she's doing and we've got like little images with some of the handouts that she's delivering in the training and we're optimizing around a lead, getting a lead into the training.

0 (6m 33s):
And then at the end of the training, she's talking about a membership that she has. So that's, that's kind of the structure. And then what we're doing on the, for that membership is we're retargeting the people who have been to the website. We're doing kind of more broader retargeting. Anyone who's a warm audience for her, like people on her email list, people who have watched her videos, people who are, you know, have, have landed on our website, things like that. And we're retargeting that for the actual membership side of things. No,

1 (7m 7s):
I've known you for a while and you've always enjoyed making people laugh, so what made you decide to get more into standup Comedy and start doing it on a more consistent basis?

0 (7m 21s):
You know, after the pandemic I was just really feeling this poll. I was really f feeling drawn to doing this. And we were selling out shows and I wasn't doing shows very often and I thought, why am I not doing this more? It brings me joy, it brings the comedians joy and it brings the audience joy. Why am I not, why am only only doing these bigger shows like, you know, four times a year maybe? So I said, let's just, let's just do more, let's just do more of this. And I started booking shows regularly at certain venues and started doing like every other month at a certain venue and then started saying, Hey, we're still selling out the shows, let's try every month at this venue.

0 (8m 3s):
So now I'm just doing more and more shows and it's been super fun. I've actually been using Facebook and Instagram Ads to sell my shows and now I'm also helping other comedians sell their shows with Facebook and Instagram Ads.

1 (8m 17s):
Have you ever completely bombed on a standup comedic stage?

0 (8m 23s):
Oh, oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I bombed in Wichita.

1 (8m 27s):
Let's hear it. Like what does that look like? You get up on stage, you're like, Hey Topeka, how you doing? Like how, like, tell me about it.

0 (8m 35s):
Yeah, so I, this was for a event called World Series of Comedy I was doing and they have events all over the country

1 (8m 44s):
And by the way, Wichita's little school there, their college is called the Wichita State Shockers. And they hate when people make jokes about that. So just, just, just in case you ever go back.

0 (8m 56s):
Alright, good to know. Yeah, I don't think I'm ever going back. Okay,

1 (8m 59s):
Let's hear it. Let's

0 (8m 60s):
Hear it. Yeah, just saying Wichita didn't, didn't enjoy my humor. No. So I, it was a later night show. Everyone's pretty drunk and I do pretty, I do pretty clean Comedy like, you know, I've got a lot of mom humor and it was, it was just, I just feel like drunk Wichita did not get my humor and so I just bombed. It was really bad. It was awkward and I had to stand up there and keep going for the whole seven minutes and it just was, Ooh, that was rough.

1 (9m 33s):
I mean, seven minutes can feel like a long time in that story.

0 (9m 36s):
It really can. It's surprising how long seven minutes can be.

1 (9m 40s):
I mean I keep telling that to Kate, she just doesn't believe me. Alright, Fire Nation. We have a lot more to talk about when we get back from thanking hours sponsors.

Sales Hub from HubSpot (9m 51s):
Are you ready to start your year off with increased revenue, faster growth and record breaking performance? Well, a powerful sales platform can make it all happen. And for that. There's the all new sales Hub from Hubspot. Sales Hub is an all on one platform, thoughtfully built with the tools and insights you need to communicate on a personal level with every lead, prospect and customer. If you're looking for a better way to acquire customers, make smart data-driven decisions, and increase visibility, productivity, and predictability at a great value. Look no further than Sales Hub some of the other platforms out there. Take months and months to learn and integrate. But with Sales Hub, you can be up running and on your way to your best quarter yet in just minutes. I know what you're thinking. Sales Hub must cost a fortune. Nope. It's free to get started and will grow with your business as it scales. And with more than 1300 integrations, And a ton of valuable add-ons, you can customize it to your exact needs with sales. Hub closing deals is no big deal. Head to Hubspot.com/sales to try it for free.

Airbnb (10m 52s):
Have you ever considered hosting on Airbnb? Kate and I Airbnb one of our places here in Puerto Rico and we love it. It not only allows us to share this magical island and our community with those visiting, it's also a great way to earn some extra income. We've had a number of guests rave about how special their vacation was as a result of staying in a place that is so beautiful and that felt like home. This is a big reason why we originally got into hosting. We know what it's like to travel and want to have a place to call home. So we figured why not create that feeling for others. Next month we'll be traveling to meet up with friends on the west coast and knowing how easy it is to host on Airbnb, we're considering putting our own home up on Airbnb while we're away to earn some additional income. Maybe you have an upcoming trip planned as well. While you're away, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com/host.

1 (11m 43s):
The new year is here and that means there's no better time to make sure your books are in order. No more falling behind or feeling like getting one source of truth is impossible. Sound familiar? If this is you, you should know these three numbers. 37,000 25 1 30 7,000 is the number of businesses which have upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle. NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system, streamlining, accounting, financial management, inventory, HR and more. 25 NetSuite is 25. That's 25 years of helping businesses do more with less close their books in days, not weeks, and drive down costs. One, because your business is one of a kind. So you get a customized solution for all of your KPIs in one efficient system with one source of truth, manage risk, get reliable forecasts and improve margins.

1 (12m 29s):
Everything you need to grow all in one place and having everything all in one place is priceless right now. Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at NetSuite.com/fire. That's NetSuite.com/fire. To get your own KPI Checklist NetSuite.com/fire. Andrew, we're back. And listen, most standup comedians are literally and figuratively clueless when it comes to marketing, but not you. How are you using your marketing background to grow your standup brand?

0 (13m 5s):
Yeah, so I am using, you know, some of the organic techniques like putting reels out there, Comedy shorts on, on YouTube and getting, you know, more and more views through that. But then mostly the way I'm growing my shows is through Facebook and Instagram Ads and we're using the Facebook pixel and the conversion API to make sure that we're tracking the sales very specifically. So I'm advertising for the different shows we're optimizing around the purchase pixel and we're just tracking, we can actually see what our return on ad spend is for each of the shows that I'm advertising.

0 (13m 52s):
So I can make decisions on what Ads are working or what shows aren't booking, you know, at a profitable level. And that just makes everything so much easier and it fills the shows. So that's, that's a great thing.

1 (14m 8s):
What would you say is the most specific example you can give about an ad that's working in the standup area?

0 (14m 16s):
I am basically targeting a very tight radius around the venue and I'm using a I, when I was going to Vegas, I used a both a square image and then also did a video and found that the video actually performed much better. It was just clips of the comedians, like really short clips of the comedians with some, you know, music and then really just kind of doing a lot of selling of the show and putting testimonials in the ad itself so that people knew that they were, you know, coming to a good show and they could see some of the reactions of past audience audiences for that

1 (15m 5s):
Artificial intelligence. I mean, it's changing the world in a lot of ways as are a lot of other tech advances. I mean the world's moving at a really fast pace. So what are you planning for the future of your Comedy career, of your marketing career? I mean, what does that look like? What are you getting ready for?

0 (15m 23s):
It's changing super fast. And so you do have to keep up with what, you know, what new marketing tactics are out there. They're coming up with easy ways to make videos now they're, you know, it's easy to create new images and I think You have to be willing to experiment and test some of those, some of those new developments and see if they're right for you, but not. But also make sure that you're not like just switching everything up and throwing everything out that already is working. So just experiment a little bit with some of this and see if it's, it's gonna work for you.

0 (16m 5s):
Just make sure that you're doing it very systematically. So

1 (16m 9s):
Andrew, we've talked a lot about Facebook marketing, Instagram marketing about Comedy, you know about things that are working, things that aren't working. What is a message that you really want to get through to Fire Nation today? To our listeners about the world that we live in.

0 (16m 26s):
It's becoming overwhelming for a lot of people. I know a lot of people who are overwhelmed with AI and all the things that you have to do. And that was part of my message at the beginning was really Do. not try and do it all. Do not try and be in all places. Don't try and say that you've gotta go out there on Google and TikTok and YouTube and Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn, all those things really Focus in and do a couple things well and, and don't worry that you're falling behind or that you know it, that you know you need to keep up with all the very, very hottest latest trends.

0 (17m 10s):
What you need to do is just really keep, keep honoring what is working for you and listen to your intuition and make sure that you're taking some breaks and taking some downtime for you. 'cause I think this world can be a little bit overwhelming.

1 (17m 27s):
Fire Nation, this world can be overwhelming. That's why you need to surround yourself with people you know, you like, you trust 'cause you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And Andrea, what do you want Fire Nation to have as a call to action from you so they can follow you, learn more from you? What's that call to action?

0 (17m 49s):
Call to action is really, I I would say get out there and laugh. Get out there and find some fun comedians that make you laugh, that can, that can, you know, help you see the lighter side of life and give you a little perspective. So that's, that's my call to action to you.

1 (18m 11s):
Fire Nation. As I just mentioned, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with and today you've been hanging out with AV and JLD today. So keep up the heat for links to everything that we talked about, visit EOFire.com, just type Andrea in the search bar. The Shona page will pop right up. Andrea, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks

0 (18m 38s):
John.

1 (18m 40s):
Hey, Fire Nation a huge thank you to our sponsors for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That is why I created The Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your goal in a hundred days. And we're talking step by step. Visit thereedomjournal.com. I'll catch you there. Or on the flip side, Marketing Made Simple hosted by my friend at Dr. JJ Peterson is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly make it work. A recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must listen. Listen to Marketing Made Simple.

1 (19m 20s):
wherever you get your podcasts,

NetSuite (19m 22s):
The new year is here and that means it's time to check out NetSuite, the number one cloud financial system, streamlining, accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, and more. Right now, Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at netsuites.com/fire.