Our Thought Leadership AdSpend ROI // LIVE EVENT: Clay's UGC Strategy // Recordings of Previous Sessions

Hey RB2Bers -

Hello from sunny Menorca!

Here’s a hilarious moment when my daughter Emma got mad at her babies while pushing them to the beach.

I was off this week, but RB2B did not take a breather.

Here’s a link to our Baremetrics, for those of you following from home.

I also hosted my FAVORITE live show so far Tuesday with Jessica Zweig who talked about how to create a personal brand.

It went very differently than I thought it was going to go.

Instead of talking about how to write for linkedin, she emphasized the fact that the most important thing is to nail your story with maximum authenticity.

Then tell it with clarity, constancy, and consistency.

These are not just buzzwords, and this can (and should) be done by anyone.

I’d highly recommend watching.

Here’s the recording.

Here’s a link to her book, where she gives all of the frameworks to create your own personal brand from scratch.

Our LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ad Performance

I’ve spent $3,891 on Linkedin ads and driven 9,155 clicks at an average CPC of $0.43.

We’ve acquired 88 free RB2B users for $40.43 who (at 9% free-to-paid) are $444 CAC, and over $2.5k LTV (5.6x ROAS).

Here’s the breakdown:

BACKGROUND:

I started working with Understory last month.

Ever since Samantha McKenna told me she was:

1. Running LinkedIn Thought Leadership ads
2. Getting SUPER cheap clicks back to a landing page
3. Retargeting those cheap clicks with RB2B and booking demos

I have been wildly intrigued.

But I had ONE hesitation...

Would these ads negatively impact my organic reach?

There was only one way to find out.

_______

THE PLAN:

- $10k media budget month 1
- Mix of my posts, other peoples’ UGC
- Mix of CTA (hard, soft, AND no CTA at all)
- 4 Audiences: Sales, Marketers, Founders, LeadGen Agenices

Understory went at it, and we had our first bi-weekly meeting last Monday.

Here were the results as of July 11, 2024:

- $3,891 media spend
- 9,115 clicks
- 11% CTR
- $47.14 CPM
- $0.43 CPC
- 88 conversions
- 40.43 cost per free user
- 9% free-to-paid conversion rate
- $444 CAC
- $2,586 Baremetrics LTV (this will be higher as churn drifts down)
- 5.6x ROAS

Question: Am I overstating ROAS by counting view-through conversions?

_______

Meanwhile, here are my organic impressions by week:

5/17 350,000
5/24 420,000
5/31 383,000
6/7 430,000
6/14 350,000
6/21 165,000 <<<<< Linkedin TL ads started 6/26
6/28 238,000
7/5 175,000
7/12 275,000

Question: Would you be concerned about this drop?

Did anyone else see a similar drop around this time?

_______

INSIGHTS:

1. The SALES persona is $284/conversion.

I’m not surprised, they can’t buy our tech, marketing does

2. The FOUNDER persona is the cheapest conversion - 22 at $33.33.

I’m also not surprised, they are my real die-hard fans, and they move quickly

3. The Outbound Agency persona had the MOST conversions - 37 at $33.96.

This audience has the best potential for UGC virality with us.

4. The posts about SALES drive the most conversions, but NOT from salespeople.

_______

TAKEAWAY:

I’m captivated by the concept of Thought Leadership ads.

The fact that you can create a piece of content that you KNOW LinkedIn loves...

Then put AD SPEND behind it…

If you can create great organic content that your prospects love, NOBODY, no matter how big, can compete with your ability to generate awareness.

This is the ultimate leveling force between the little guy and mammoth brands.

And makes the ability to create great organic content the most powerful force in the world today.

What would I do if I had zero followers and were just getting started?

I’d start posting.

Every day.

Not for engagement, not for leads, not for deals.

I’d post because the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll find your voice.

And in 2024, finding your voice gives you the keys to the kingdom.

Here’s a link to the VERY ACTIVE comments.

Clay’s Incredible UGC Strategy

Everyone thinks Clay is paying 50+ creators $1,000/mo to get 100’s of pieces of UGC posted each week. They’re WRONG.

Here’s 4 things they don’t realize, and they are Clay’s best kept secret:

1/ Clay content performs better than any other content for a “Clay Agency”.

This is hard to appreciate, and we’re seeing something similar with RB2B. The standard loom video going through an automated workflow is just great how-to LinkedIn content. Some of them border on wizardry … Like the “Send an automated AI video to an anonymous website visitor” SendSpark flow.

2/ Clay content - by performing so well - actually helps the agency grow.

These leadgen agencies find their customers by posting on LinkedIn. Better performing content = more reach = more customers, full stop. Clay doesn’t have to pay the creators because the content that the creators make about Clay grows their business faster than anything else.

3/ Clay can be a managed service that the agencies run on behalf of the brand.

Here’s a big one, and a big lesson I learned at Retention.com. When your SaaS can be layered on top of an agency as a managed service and increase billable monthly recurring revenue, you will have a much easier time working with agencies than if your SaaS does NOT do that (as was the case with Retention.com … it was just a set-it-and-forget-it).

4/ Clay content makes agencies look smart and cutting edge.

This is more of #1 and #2, but it’s worth mentioning. Looking like the smartest guy in the room is a tremendous competitive advantage for LeadGen agencies.

5/ Clay understands that agencies want visibility and recognition more than anything else.

There are tons of LeadGen agencies, and their offers can seem fairly commoditized. Clay’s email list is over 100,000, and I have no idea how much web traffic they get, but I assure you it’s a ton. Clay understands the relationship formed when they highlight their best partners.

TAKEAWAY

Clay has developed an insanely effective UGC machine.

They’ve harnessed the power of organic social media WITHOUT their founders being influencers.

On the DTC side, I saw Jolie do something similar, but even more prolific.

$0-$50m run rate in 18mo, 3 FTE.
30k pieces of UGC created in 2023.

If you’re interested in learning more, I’m having:

Bruno - the mastermind from Clay - and
Ryan - the mastermind from Jolie

On Inbound-Led Outbound live this week.

We’re going to talk about:

1/ How to create massive UGC machines
2/ What compensation (monetary and otherwise) works
3/ How to measure the effectiveness of your UGC machine

It’s Tuesday at 3pm EDT.

Sign up here.

Inbound-Led Outbound Prior Week’s Recordings

Everybody has asked us for recordings.

We finally have recordings.

I realize the thumbnail and description game is bad.

We’ll fix it.

Click here for recordings of our prior shows.

If you made it this far, as always, thanks for reading.

If you have any comments or suggestions, fire them at me.

As I keep saying, I’m new at this, and really don’t know what I’m doing in the newsletter department.

Have a great weekend, and keep building!

Adam