Podcast Episode: Ads That Work, Messaging That Hits: A Real Talk with Jackie Muscat

Let me guess – you’ve been told that all you need to do is create a digital product and run ads to it, right? Just throw some money at Facebook, watch the sales roll in, and call it a day.

Well, I’m about to burst that bubble for you because that advice is exactly why most people are pissing their money away on Meta ads and getting nothing in return.

Today I’m sharing my conversation with Jackie Muscat, a Meta ads expert who’s been running ads since 2018 and has seen every mistake in the book. She’s the woman who took my ads from disaster to a 2X ROAS, and what she’s about to tell you will completely change how you think about paid advertising.

The $10K Lesson That Could Save Your Business

Here’s what nobody tells you about Meta ads: 90% of your success has nothing to do with clicking buttons in Ads Manager.

Jackie put it perfectly: “Learning how to click buttons and create a physical campaign in Ads Manager is relatively easy. That’s why a lot of people claim that they do it. The bit that isn’t easy is working out how to take what you’ve got, make it sound curious-inducing, exciting, build rapport, and do all these subliminal things in a tiny little ad box.”

Translation? Your ads are failing because your messaging is beige as fuck.

I learned this the hard way. I was paying an agency several thousand dollars a month to run my ads, and they were tanking. Not just “not performing well” – they were actively losing me money while I watched my bank account drain.

When Jackie looked at my setup, she didn’t start by tweaking my audiences or adjusting my budgets. She went straight to the messaging and said, “Here’s your problem.”

Why “I Help Women Feel Confident” Is Killing Your Business

Let’s talk about the messaging that makes me want to throw my phone across the room. You know what I’m talking about:

• “I help women live their best life”
• “Transformational results for inner confidence”
• “I help you feel young again and energized”

Stop. Just stop.

Jackie breaks down exactly why this doesn’t work: “If someone comes to me and says, ‘I’m a life coach and I offer women transformational results for inner confidence,’ I’m like, ‘Oh God, how do I make that exciting from the other 74 ads that are saying the same thing?'”

The problem isn’t that you’re wrong – it’s that you’re forgettable. You’re wallpaper. You’re beige content in a world that desperately needs some fucking flavor.

The Tom Hardy Test (Yes, Really)

Here’s Jackie’s brilliant example that will change how you think about customer research forever:

“If you sent me a survey that said, ‘Do I want to marry Tom Hardy, yes or no?’ I would obviously tick yes. If you asked me in person, and particularly if you asked me after a couple of wines, trust me, my answer just wouldn’t be a stagnant yes – it would be vile details of how much I want to marry him.”

This is the difference between survey responses and real conversations.

When you actually talk to your ideal clients – not send them a Google Form, but get them on a call and ask real questions – you get the raw, sticky underbelly of their problems. That’s where your messaging gold lives.

The Health Coach Example That Changes Everything

Jackie walked me through a perfect example that illustrates this beautifully. Most health coaches targeting women in perimenopause would create messaging like:

“Hi, I’m Jackie and I want to help you live your best life. I want to help you feel young again and youthful and energized.”

Boring. Forgettable. Ineffective.

But what if you knew that your ideal client isn’t just dealing with “low energy”? What if you knew that her hormones are so screwed that she has zero libido, her husband is getting frustrated, and she feels guilty because she wants to want him but just can’t make herself do it?

That’s the messaging that stops scrolls.

“I know I don’t want to be like this. I feel guilt about being like this. I want to be with my husband, but I just can’t make myself do it. That’s the shit I want,” Jackie explained. “I don’t want ‘I’ve got low energy.'”

The Slingshot Strategy

I always tell people to imagine their messaging as a stone in a slingshot, aimed directly at the center of their ideal client’s forehead. When it hits them right there, they go “Oh shit, what was that?” and they keep reading.

But if you hit one inch to the left, one inch to the right, or it whizzes by their ear, they just think “What the fuck was that? That was annoying” and keep scrolling.

Your messaging needs to be that precise.

Why Most People Aren’t Built for This

Here’s some real talk that might ruffle feathers: Not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship. And definitely not everyone is cut out for the level of thick skin required to run Meta ads.

Jackie nailed it: “If you are so afraid of Suzy from accounts commenting on your posts because you have a side hustle, you either need to get real or you need to get out. Because once you start running ads and people have an opinion about every fucking thing that you do, if you can’t handle it from just some small fry, it’s just gonna be magnified.”

The rewards are worth it, but only if you can accept that:

• Everyone gets shit in their comments
• Everyone gets judged
• Everyone has imposter syndrome
• Everyone feels under-confident sometimes

The difference between people who succeed and people who quit? The successful ones don’t let that be the reason their messaging is beige.

The Numbers Don’t Lie (But You Need to Know What They Mean)

If you’re going to run your own ads, you absolutely must understand your numbers. Not all 47 metrics in Ads Manager – just the ones that actually matter.

Jackie’s key metric for beginners: CTR link click (click-through rate for link clicks)

For cold audiences, you want this to be at least 1%. If it’s wildly under 1%, your ad isn’t resonating with people. Stop thinking about sales – you’re not even getting people through the front door.

But here’s what most people miss: Ads have a journey. Your ad’s job is to get clicks. Your landing page’s job is to convert those clicks. Your sales page’s job is to close the deal.

If your CTR is 3.28% (like mine was recently) but you’re only getting 2-3 sales, the problem isn’t your ad – it’s what happens after the click.

The Real Chicken and Egg Problem

“There needs to be some level of validation that happens with your offer,” Jackie explains. “An easy way to get that is with ads. But at the same time, really we want to get that from people who have spent a little bit of time with you because they’re the lowest hanging fruit.”

The solution? You either have time or money.

• If you have time: Do the organic work first. Build partnerships, go on podcasts, test content, understand your audience for 6-12 months.
• If you want the shortcut: You can pay for validation, but understand you’re fishing in the Atlantic Ocean with a tiny worm instead of a friendly pond with eager fish.

The Agency in Your Pocket Solution

Not everyone needs to become a Meta ads expert. Jackie’s created something brilliant called “Agency in Your Pocket” where her team does 90% of the work – writing ads, designing creatives, auditing pages, helping with copy – and you just create the actual campaigns.

Why this works: You get expert-level strategy and execution without the full agency price tag or the learning curve of doing it all yourself.

The Bottom Line

Your Meta ads aren’t failing because you don’t know how to click buttons in Ads Manager. They’re failing because you haven’t done the hard work of understanding your ideal client on an intimate level and crafting messaging that speaks directly to their real problems.

Stop looking for shortcuts. Stop trying to ChatGPT your way to messaging clarity. Start having real conversations with real people who have the real problems you solve.

And remember: You don’t need millions of followers to have a successful business. You need your people – the ones who are magnetized by both who you show up as AND how you can help them.

The question isn’t whether you should invest in ads. The question is whether you’re brave enough to say the thing that needs to be said, even if it makes some people uncomfortable.

Because here’s the truth: The longer you wait to say the fucking thing, the longer it’s going to take you to build an audience.

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Ready to dive deeper into building your digital empire? Subscribe to Beyond the BS and follow me on Instagram @the_no_bs_newyorker. Connect with Jackie: @jackie.muscat

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