The ROAS Illusion

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Ready for another day of staying ahead of the competition in the Growth race?

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In Partnership with Insense

The 3-Step Playbook for Winning BFCM Before October

By October, CPMs can already be 20–60% higher. Brands that win BFCM build their creator roster in September, while costs are lower and there's still time to find proven winners.

Here’s the playbook:

1. Seed now so creators know the product before November. Seed in Aug-Sep and flag organic winners early, since 81% of BFCM collaborations involve repeat creators.
2. Source modular UGC with flexible hooks and raw footage. Refresh fatigued ads without funding another shoot.
3. Run proven creators across organic and paid. Put winning content behind the creator’s handle to carry existing trust into each impression.

Bonus: Connect Ads Manager to Insense’s performance dashboard to identify the creators driving performance, then rehire them before availability tightens.

Insense helps DTC brands scaling beyond $2M build repeat creator rosters and is trusted by Il Makiage, Quince, Huda Beauty, and Monster Energy.

Book a free strategy call to map creator availability in your niche and get $200 toward your first campaign.

💡 Why Your Performance Max ROAS May Be Misleading

A high ROAS doesn't always mean your campaign is generating new demand.

Sometimes, Performance Max is simply capturing customers who were already searching for your brand, making performance look stronger than it actually is.

Here's how to identify the difference.

1️⃣ Understand Brand Leakage Performance Max naturally prioritizes brand searches because they're cheaper, convert better, and help the campaign achieve its ROAS target more efficiently.

2️⃣ Separate Brand From Non-Brand Export your Performance Max search terms and classify them into brand and non-brand categories. This reveals how much of your reported performance comes from existing brand demand.

3️⃣ Measure Two Different Metrics Track both brand share of spend and brand share of conversion value. Looking at ROAS alone doesn't show whether your campaign is creating new customers or simply capturing existing demand.

4️⃣ Protect Your Brand Strategically Brand campaigns still have value if competitors bid on your name, resellers dominate search results, or Shopping ads appear above your organic listings. Don't eliminate brand campaigns without understanding their defensive role.

5️⃣ Test Before Drawing Conclusions Launch a dedicated brand campaign before excluding brand traffic from Performance Max. Then measure results over several weeks before deciding whether your true non-brand performance has improved.

Why It Works

Separating brand demand from incremental demand gives you a clearer picture of what your advertising is actually contributing. It prevents existing customer demand from inflating campaign performance.

The Takeaway

Performance Max isn't necessarily creating all the conversions it reports. Understanding how much comes from brand searches helps you make smarter optimization decisions and measure genuine business growth.

💡 How To Make ChatGPT Write Like You

AI-generated writing doesn't have to sound generic.

With ChatGPT Work, you can personalize its writing style using your own emails, documents, and messages so every draft feels more like you.

Here's how to set it up.

1️⃣ Enable ChatGPT Work Open ChatGPT and switch to the Work mode.

2️⃣ Open Writing Style Settings Go to Settings → Personalization → Writing Style.

3️⃣ Connect Your Writing Sources Link apps that contain examples of your writing, such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Slack.

4️⃣ Let ChatGPT Learn Your Style ChatGPT analyzes your writing patterns, including tone, vocabulary, sentence structure, and overall communication style.

5️⃣ Start Writing Return to Work and ask ChatGPT to draft emails, messages, reports, or documents. Review the output and refine your connected sources if you want the writing to sound even closer to your own.

Why It Works

Instead of relying on generic writing patterns, ChatGPT learns from your own communication style, producing drafts that feel more natural, consistent, and authentic.

The Takeaway

The best AI writing doesn't sound like AI. By training ChatGPT on your own writing, you can create content that saves time while still sounding unmistakably like you.

As we prepare more "Growthful" content, we'd love to hear your thoughts on today's edition! Feel free to share this with someone who would appreciate it. 🥰