How can you be an in demand ad manager without a marketing background?

So a bit about my background, I never had a marketing degree and I’ve gone from making $12 an hour as an ad manager to seven figures in the time that I’ve been running ads.

So how does that happen? Well, there’s a few things that we’re going to talk into, but first of all, a bit about me, if you don’t know me, hi, my name’s Jody, by the way. And I used to be a receptionist, just worked in a government department or a secretary you might say, and then stopped work to have a family.

After that, I needed to look for something that allowed me to work at home with the family, because kids would get sick and I’d have to call in and I couldn’t go in. So I thought, well, what’s something that’s at least going to give me school holidays with the kids. So I don’t have to worry about daycare during that time. So at that point, I thought I could be a teacher aide, perfect choice. Right? You get school holidays with the kids, it’s all sweet, but then yes, the kids still do get sick. You still need to have days off. And when I was surrounded by 55 year olds in the playground, I realized pretty quickly, this was not the gig for me.

So I looked for what I could do working from home and all of them, behold, I became a private investigator. So it seems a bit of a jump. Yeah, I’ll give you that. But that’s where I ended up from there. I fell into the world of online marketing and Facebook. I was just drawn to it. I just loved the way that you could just do, run ads or communicate with anybody anywhere in the world. They gave the little person the opportunity to present like the big Coca-Cola’s of the world. So I just loved it. And that’s where I landed.

So for the last six years where I’ve been running Facebook ads and I started off at $12 an hour, not knowing much at all, going back into what we used to call power editor, which was like blows your mind. Pretty confusing stuff to where I am now, six years later, having earned seven figures, running ads for clients. And what I’ve discovered in that time is yes, you don’t need a marketing degree. And as I have rubbed shoulders with hundreds and thousands of ad managers around the world, as I’ve coached them and worked alongside them,many of them, many of them majority, do not have marketing backgrounds. They’ve got very similar backgrounds to me. They used to work in corporate until, you know, they had kids and it was time to look for something that had a bit more family life balance. There’s bankers, there’s HR managers. There are military spouses as well.

So a great variety of people who have ended up now running ads for clients that never had a marketing degree. So what is that common thing? Well, one of the common things is that they had the desire to have that family life balance, that they could work from home, generate income, that they didn’t have to be, you know, knocking door to door,inviting friends over for a barbecue, not that there’s anything wrong with that. That’s so good, but some of us, that’s not what we’re designed for. And so how could they be able to leverage working from home and generating income? Well, Facebook ads were a great way because it’s such an in demand, service that businesses all around the world need.

Like I’ve worked with people in Canada and the UK and, uh, where else over in France and Australia and just all around the place and with team members there as well, uh, India and the Philippines and where else is there? I’m sure there’s a lot of others, but as you can see, it’s a global community global opportunity. So while you could start a Facebook ad management business with businesses that are all around you, you can tap into that global business pool and doors just open up for you.

But what are the things that you need as a great in demand ad manager? Well, I remember taking on a new team member one time and showing her all the ins and outs of Facebook ads and all the data gathering that goes with it. And she said at the time, Whoa, this is so much more than I thought with ads. I thought it was just getting some pictures and putting some, you know, ad copy together. There is so much more to it, but that’s okay. You can learn all of those skills. And it’s a very simple process to be able to do what you need to do is to be able to understand that there is a customer journey that it’s not just a matter of throwing up an ad and then getting people to opt in and buy straight away.

We need to take them along a journey of awareness, where they first get to discover the business or the brand, uh, to consideration and then to purchase. And you can do that with your ads, bringing them in so that they start to see that, Oh, this business, I never saw this business before. What are they all about showing them some more ads that they can, consider what it is that you’re offering, and then you convert them to a sale now to understand all of that and that process, it really comes back to you and being a hungry learner. That’s the biggest thing that I see, like with people who are successful at running Facebook ads, because it’s an ever changing platform. And these people that are really successful are ones that are looking to continually learn and update.

And they’re not perfectionists either, but they have an eye for detail so that they can easily see and understand, uh, what’s necessary as they put the ads together, they know to check what boxes that need to be checked to launch the ads and they follow a simple process or a system to be able to just run ads for various different clients. So having that eye for detail is one of the best things as an ads manager, and then also being able to look for and understand the data.

So that’s where those industries that I mentioned before, like where secretaries and receptionists those a type personalities and those ones that love, or who have been working in an office or corporate work do really well at being Facebook ad managers, people who are creatives can also be great Facebook ad managers as well because coming up with the ideas and the strategies and the stories and the hooks that you can use use for your clients as you launch ads is a very,very powerful thing because it’s that messaging. And it’s that ad copy that really draws people into an ad. If you don’t have great ad copy, then your ads, even while you might follow, um, all the checkboxes and set the thing, everything up correctly, they may not convert. So it’s being able to learn and continue to want to learn.

And then also having that discipline, that’s a big thing working from home that you do have to have that discipline and that drives yourself because you don’t have a boss there breathing over your shoulder, it’s up to you to step in and do the work. And with the people that I’ve been working with over the years, that even with little kids at home. Sure, it’s been a challenge, especially now with COVID and having to look after the little kids at home, but you still have that flexibility that you don’t have to go out anywhere that it is all here at home. And you can work earlier in the morning and a bit later at night and you get what you need to get done

So yeah, being a great ad manager, it involves learning. It involves having a great eye for detail. It involves communication as well. Being able to communicate with your clients. That’s one of the biggest things as I talk to clients, and what I tell other ad managers is you need to have great communication. So if you do like communicating with people, if you do like talking with people, then again, that’s going to be a great benefit for you being an ad manager that you can help to build. That really helps to build the relationships with your clients for the long run. So you get good clients and you work for a long time together because you’ve established that trust and that relationship.