This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
G'day, side hustlers. In this episode, we're gonna help an Aussie side hustler launch an international snack box on a tight budget. Shelly, our listener in Melbourne, she's got her finger on the pulse of a local foodie scene, but needs some help in making the most of a limited ad budget. And let's just hold on right there because paid ads can be a powerful way to reach new customers, but they can also quickly eat up your funds if you're not careful. So should Shelly actually be spending money on paid ads to begin with?
Well, she wants some help or some guidance on how to set up the strategy for paid ads, which we will talk about, but also first things first, is that the best thing you can do when you don't have a lot of money and you're trying to grow a new side hustle? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau, every single day, new episode, all about exploring ideas for making extra money without quitting your job or perhaps making a transition from a job to something else. We've got all kinds of amazing people out there. Let's see if we can be helpful to Shelly.
How can I launch my Australian snack box? That's today's question. Stay tuned, it's coming up in 30 seconds. [Music]
Hi, it's Shelly from Melbourne, listening to a show over in Australia. Here's my idea and my challenge.
The local foodie scene is ripe for my international snack box subscription, but I'm on a shoestring budget. What's the best bang for my buck when it comes to paid ads? And how do I craft messages that'll have foodie lovers signing up in droves? Any tips for stretching those ad dollars? Thanks so much for your show and all you do.
[Music]
All right, Shelly, excited to know about your international snack box. Sounds good, getting hungry, but I'm gonna focus on your question here. And first things first, as I briefly alluded to in the introduction, do you really need to do paid ads? Is that when you mentioned like the best bang for your buck, maybe the question is, is the best bang for your buck doing paid ads? The time to go to paid ads is when your offer is really solid, it converts well, you have a scalable system set up, and all that stuff takes time.
The other good time to do paid ads is when you're just testing things out and you're not really necessarily trying to make a lot of money, you're just trying to figure out what can work. So that's a different scenario than actually trying to grow the business. So one thing happens very early on, and the second thing happens much later. For any other time or any other season, if you don't have a lot of money to spend on ads, like many of our listeners don't, or they don't wanna waste their money, then maybe something else might be better. But of course, I do wanna answer your direct question.
I don't wanna just steer you away from something. That's just my guidance. But since you ask, how do you do it if you wanna do it? The next suggestion I would have is maybe look at some lesser known ad platforms. Everybody spends lots of money on Facebook and Google ads in particular.
Well, meta, so Facebook and Instagram and then Google. But Pinterest, we're gonna talk about Pinterest in a few days. I got another question from a listener. Pinterest, I believe, is kind of an underestimated network for both organic traffic and paid advertising. It costs a lot less than doing those Instagram, Facebook, or Google ads.
And also Amazon, there's also ads on Amazon that you can use. It doesn't always work for every product or every industry, but it's also a little bit cheaper. Well, more than a little bit, it's substantially cheaper. So you might want to think about one of those, especially Pinterest in this case. But whatever you do, define your target audience, create ad campaigns that speak directly to their interests.
And is your target audience adventurous eaters, or are they health-conscious snackers? Those are very different groups, just for example. So whichever it is, or if it's something different, you want to craft some compelling copy that resonates with them. And then one of the most important things for paid ads, an irresistible introductory deal. And you want to make your deal as good as you can, like a discount code, a bonus item, something that is as close to free as possible or sounds as close to free as possible.
And that's how these things scale. That's how startups do it. They try to get people in, they're willing to lose money, they're hoping that people will stay on long enough to make it worth it. Now, as a side hustler, of course, you can't afford to lose money, at least not a lot of money and not for a long period of time. But the general principle still applies, an irresistible introductory deal, the best you can do.
And then start with a small budget, which is helpful since you have one. But the point is, test different ad variations, adjust based on performance. You want to monitor it like a hawk, especially in the first few weeks. Every single day, you're going to get new data. So this is not something you want to put on autopilot and walk away from.
You want to pay attention and adjust on the daily. So that's my advice, Shelly, as whatever you do, I'm always cheering you on, wishing you well. Would love to know what happens. Listeners wishing you well as well. If you've got a question or an idea, you know where to go, sidehustleschool.com or hit me up on social.
I'm there most days. And of course, new episode here every day. This has been 2688, 2688. I'll be back again tomorrow. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
