Agency or DIY? When to Hire (or Fire) Your Meta Ads Agency

When Denise founded Slappa's Thongs, Australia's original arch-support thong brand, she was simply looking for comfortable, supportive footwear during pregnancy. What started as a personal need turned into a business that has stood the test of time, built on innovative design, authenticity and a commitment to doing things differently. But building an original product doesn't come without challenges. Over the years, Denise has dealt with copycat competitors, the pressure to discount and the constant expectation to scale. Rather than following what everyone else was doing, she made intentional decisions about how she wanted to run her business, from staying self-funded to stepping away from traditional Black Friday sales. One of her more surprising marketing experiments involved increasing prices instead of discounting them. The reverse pricing campaign created urgency, encouraged full-price purchases and delivered results with minimal ad spend. Alongside this, Meta ads, email marketing and authentic founder-led content have played an important role in growing the brand. We're revisiting this conversation because Denise's approach to building a profitable, sustainable business is just as valuable for eCommerce founders today. In this episode, Megan and Denise talk about: - How Denise turned a personal need during pregnancy into Australia's original arch-support thong brand - What makes Slappa's product design unique and how Denise approaches copycat competitors - Why showing up authentically, even through unpolished videos and personal messages, helps build customer trust - Why Denise decided to step away from Black Friday sales and constant discounting - How a reverse pricing campaign encouraged customers to buy at full price - Why Meta ads remain an important part of Slappa's marketing strategy alongside email and organic content - How Denise has built a sustainable, self-funded business without giving in to the pressure to scale Learn more about Denise: Slappa's Thongs Website Learn more about working with us: The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now. Hire me and my team to run your ads. Learn more. Learn how to run your own ads. Click here. Learn more about your host: Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Goodkind Media. As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University. Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads. Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn

When Carol opened The Shoe Garden in Brisbane in 2012, she was recovering from burnout and building something she knew women needed: fashionable, colourful shoes for longer feet, starting at size 10. Mainstream retailers offer women with longer feet very few options, so Carol's customers don't just buy shoes from her. They light up, and some even tear up, when they finally have real choice. Carol's niche and loyal customer base still didn't make marketing easy. After radio ads and other efforts that didn't deliver, she started working with Lume Marketing in 2024 to run Meta ads. Comparing the year before ads with the last financial year, the results were: - 79% growth in online sales - 45% increase in new customers - Around 600% return on ad spend In 2026, Carol went a step further. She completed our 8-week program and now runs her own ads, handling the tracking, analysis and optimisation herself. In this episode, Megan and Carol talk about: - How Carol built a business serving an underserved niche - Why consistency and repetition keep you top of mind with customers - Why Carol first chose to outsource her ads, and what made her ready to take them back in-house - How one-on-one training lets you apply what you learn to your own data and circumstances, beyond the general advice that's everywhere - How Carol's historical data from her time as a client gave her a head start when she took over - Why you need to either learn to run your ads well or hire experts, because doing neither stalls growth Learn more about working with us: The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now. Hire me and my team to run your ads. Learn more. Learn how to run your own ads. Click here. Learn more about your host: Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Goodkind Media. As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University. Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads. Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn

"Until you test, it's just a guess." You've probably heard Megan say it a hundred times — but most small businesses are still testing their meta ads the wrong way, which means they're not really testing at all. They're just guessing with extra steps. In this episode, Megan breaks down the 5 most common testing mistakes she sees, and what to do instead so your data actually tells you something useful. In this episode, Megan covers these mistakes: Testing without a strategy behind it — Throwing AI-generated creative into ads just to "see what happens" without checking it aligns with your brand and offer first. Testing rubbish still gives you rubbish. Trusting the Meta dashboard as the source of truth — Why every platform wants to claim credit for the same sale, and why your website and sales numbers matter more than what Meta tells you. Not checking that the pixel is actually tracking correctly — A real example of a client whose purchase pixel was triple-firing, making an $18 cost per purchase look like $6. Testing too many things at once — Why changing your creative, landing page, and offer all at the same time makes it impossible to know what actually worked. Panicking and adding more instead of reading the data — When results dip, the instinct is to create more. Often the real answer is hiding in the data already — like the account that was losing money until the data pointed straight to a landing page fix. Plus, two real case studies: an account that started losing money (and what the data tells us to do about it), and a client who set a target of 100 memberships, tested the plan, and sold 104 while spending 20% less. Learn more about working with us: The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now. Hire us to run your ads. Learn more. Learn how to run your own ads. Click here. Learn more about your host: Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Lume Marketing. As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University. Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads. Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn

This week Megan welcomes Lume Marketing account manager Britt Brown for her very first podcast appearance. Britt manages a rotation of Lume clients and brings 20+ years of marketing experience to the chat, including running her own family business. The pair dive into one of their favourite team-meeting topics: marketing tactics. In this episode they discuss the Labubu craze, and what it can teach small business owners about the psychology behind why we buy. From there they unpack how the same tactics show up again and again throughout marketing history, from Prime energy drinks to the 1950s diamond ring campaigns that convinced the world "a diamond is forever." In this episode Megan and Britt cover: How Labubu's blind box format created mystery and anticipation Why manufactured scarcity (and real scarcity) drives FOMO, and how FOMO is really just anticipated regret The role influencers played in turning a toy into a cult object What happened to demand once Pop Mart scaled production from 50,000 to millions a month Social proof in action, from bootleg resellers to a packed restaurant with a line out the door How Prime drink used the same playbook, targeted at kids, and why that's a whole ethics conversation on its own Why consumers aren't as easily fooled as brands think, and the difference between a genuine limited drop and a "fake" one How small businesses can borrow these tactics authentically, without needing Pop Mart's budget or scale Real examples: Mecca's loyalty program and reward emails, Britt's Cardera Coffee subscribe-and-save, and the power of a great "About Us" page Why brand story and community will always outlast a discount code, and why tactics are "the gravy, not the meat and potatoes" People and brands mentioned in this episode: Rebecca Sparrow -- Goodkind Media client and how Britt found Megan Welds and Wood -- small business Megan purchases a floating shelf from Cardera Coffee — Goodkind Media client subscribe-and-save coffee brand, cited as an example of community/social proof driving a sale Labubu / Pop Mart — the toy craze that anchors the episode's discussion of scarcity, blind boxes, and hype Prime (energy drink) — co-founded by founded by Logan Paul and KSI (in the episode Megan says "Logan brothers or whoever it was".) Aldi — mentioned re: their toy/collectible packet promotions and kids trading them at school Coles — mentioned alongside Aldi re: bonus ticket promotions Mecca (beauty retailer) — used as an example of loyalty programs, birthday freebies, and purchase-triggered incentives Shein — mentioned twice: once re: knockoff Labubu dolls, once re: fast fashion ethics/pricing Chanel — mentioned as an example of a luxury bag Labubus were being attached to Showpo — fast fashion brand founded by Jane Lu, used as an example of selling "the vibe" not the product Learn more about working with us: The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now. Hire us to run your ads. Learn more. Learn how to run your own ads. Click here. Learn more about your host: Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Lume Marketing. As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University. Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads. Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn

Everyone talks about ROAS like it's the holy grail of ad performance. But according to chartered accountant and business strategist Fi Johnston, it might be one of the most misleading metrics in your business. In this episode, Megan sits down with Fi Johnston — founder of Peach Business, host of the Money Secrets podcast, and a business and finance strategist with 16 years in business — for a refreshingly honest conversation about what actually happens when businesses turn on meta ads, and why the number on your ads dashboard rarely tells the full story. Plus, Fi shares exactly how she turned a $900 ad spend into $18,000 in revenue. Fi has a unique vantage point: she works both with agencies running meta ads and with the business owners spending the money, which means she sees the front end of the ads and the back end of the balance sheet. Her take? A lot of businesses reach for ads to fix a problem ads were never going to solve. In this episode, Megan and Fi cover: Why "my ads look great but my bank account doesn't" is more common than you'd think Why ROAS in isolation can be a dangerous, misleading metric — and what to look at instead How fixing your website or landing page can outperform "fixing" your ads Why meta ads should amplify a good business, not rescue a broken one The relay race analogy: how ads, website, email and customer service all have to run their leg properly How Fi overcame her dislike of meta's business ethics to use ads as a tool she controls, rather than one that controls her The real story behind Fee's $900 ad spend that generated $18,000 in revenue — including the landing page overhaul and the "meat and potatoes" video that halved her cost per lead Why simpler is almost always better: Fee's "shit or get off the pot" landing page redesign How to know if you're ready for ads (hint: you need to already know how to get people to take action organically first) Why treating your organic content like an ad — and your ads like a post — makes both stronger Whether ads can help you re-engage existing or lapsed customers, not just find new ones If you've ever felt confused by ad reporting, or wondered whether you're actually ready to invest in ads, this episode will help you get clear on the numbers that actually matter. Learn more about working with us: The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now. Hire us to run your ads. Learn more. Learn how to run your own ads. Click here. Learn more about your guest: Fi Johnston is a chartered accountant and business and finance strategist, and the founder of Peach Business. She's spent 16 years working with purpose-led business owners who take a balanced approach to people, planet and profit, helping them get clear on pricing, marketing strategy and team needs so their business can grow sustainably. Fi hosts the Money Secrets podcast and shares weekly insights through her email, The Peach Weekly. Connect with Fi on Instagram @peachbusiness or listen to Money Secrets wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your host: Megan Winter is a meta ads expert, an experienced ADMA and AMI-awarded marketer and founder of Lume Marketing. As an early-adopter of digital marketing and social media advertising, she has consulted to global brands owned by Heineken and Lexus, has taught hundreds of small business owners at The Facebook Ads Academy, and presented on digital marketing at Bond University. Now, her passion is helping ethical, purpose-led brands achieve more income and impact with high-performing meta ads. Connect with Megan on Instagram @meganwinter or LinkedIn