Facebook ads didn’t teach me this in theory.
Experience did.

I’ve been running Facebook and Instagram ads for over four years now. In that time, I’ve tested offers, creatives, audiences, and strategies across different campaigns and businesses. In a specific period alone, I managed and tested over $30,000 in ad spend, and every dollar taught me something new.

Some campaigns worked immediately.
Some failed quietly.
All of them sharpened my understanding of what actually drives sales.

This article isn’t about hacks. It’s about the patterns I’ve seen repeat themselves when Facebook ads work and why most businesses struggle when they don’t.

A Quick Note on Experience vs Theory

Most advice around Facebook ads sounds good on paper. Very little survives contact with real budgets.

Running ads consistently over several years forces you to confront reality:

• What people actually click
• What they ignore
• What builds trust
• What burns money

The principles below come from execution, not assumptions.

1. Stop Making Your Ads Look Like Ads

One of the fastest ways to kill performance is by making your ad look like an ad.

Here’s why this matters.

In any market:

• A small percentage of people are ready to buy now
• A larger group is researching
• An even larger group is problem-aware but undecided
• And most people aren’t actively thinking about buying at all

When your ad screams “Buy now,” you’re only speaking to the smallest group — the same people every competitor is fighting over.

What worked better for me over time was treating ads as content first.

Ads that blend into the feed, educate, clarify, or reframe a problem perform better because they don’t demand a decision immediately. They invite attention. They create familiarity. They give people a reason to stay connected.

Sales rarely happen on the first contact.
They happen after trust is built.

2. Don’t Target Everyone: Enter a Specific Conversation

Broad targeting doesn’t create scale.
Relevance does.

Over the years, I learned that effective targeting starts before Ads Manager. It starts with research.

You need to understand:

• What your ideal customer is already struggling with
• What they’re searching for
• What they complain about
• What they desire but haven’t articulated clearly yet

Once you know this, targeting becomes intentional.

Instead of randomly selecting interests, you enter:

• Interests are tied to their daily behavior
• Pages they follow
• Topics they actively consume
• Habits that signal intent or aspiration

The goal isn’t to chase people.
It’s to meet them inside a conversation they’re already having with themselves.

When your ad language reflects that inner dialogue, attention feels natural not forced.

3. Use Interests and Behaviors as Signals, Not Guesses

Facebook’s algorithm is powerful, but it doesn’t read minds. It reads signals.

Over time, I stopped treating interests and behaviors as checkboxes and started treating them as instructions.

Good targeting asks:

• What does this person spend money on?
• What content do they engage with?
• What behaviors suggest readiness or buying power?

For example, premium offers require signals of value sensitivity, not just demographics.

When your targeting reflects real-world behavior, the algorithm does what it does best: find more people like them.

Precision here saves budget and improves lead quality.

4. Awareness Ads Are a Strategy, Not Wasted Spend

One of the biggest mindset shifts I had was understanding that not every ad should sell immediately.

Awareness and traffic campaigns often get labeled as “wasteful,” but that’s usually because they’re misunderstood.

Awareness ads do something critical:

• They introduce your message
• They warm up cold audiences
• They create familiarity before asking for commitment

People buy faster when they’ve seen you before.

Running awareness ads allows you to:

• Retarget viewers
• Build lookalike audiences
• Lower conversion costs later

Jumping straight to sales without warming people up often leads to frustration. Awareness is not delay, it’s preparation.

5. Treat Ads as an Investment System

Ads should never exist in isolation.

Over time, I realized that ads work best when they’re part of a system:

• Clear messaging
• Strong content
• A logical journey from first contact to decision

Good ads amplify what already works.
Bad systems just burn money faster.

Consistent testing, patience, and clarity turn ads into assets — not expenses.

6. Send Traffic to Something Worth Trusting

No ad can save a weak destination.

Your landing page, website, or profile must reinforce the promise your ad makes. Clean design, clear copy, and strong positioning matter more than clever words.

People decide whether to trust you in seconds.

High perceived value doesn’t come from hype.
It comes from clarity and confidence.

7. Sales Happen Through Conversation, Not Pressure

After years of running ads, one thing became clear: the best sales don’t feel aggressive.

For service-based businesses, consultations work because they allow understanding before pitching.

When someone feels heard, selling becomes alignment, not persuasion.

Confidence matters here. Price with clarity. Explain value with certainty. Let trust do the heavy lifting.

Final Thoughts

Facebook ads are not magic.
They’re multipliers.

When strategy, messaging, and patience align, results follow.

Everything I know about ads today came from doing, not waiting, not guessing, not theorizing.

Want Help Running Ads With Clarity?

If you want a clearer approach to Facebook ads based on real execution, you can book a strategy session with me.

We’ll look at:

• What you’re currently running
• What’s limiting your results
• What to fix first
• Improve or run profitable ads for you.