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Hey, it's Alex. We're hitting LA next week to shoot our new YouTube Series. The bags are packed. Cameras are packed. The video is outlined. Storyboarded. And ready to be shot. I'm telling you right now - this is going to be some of your favorite growth, marketing, and startup content.

And we're throwing a meetup while in LA. I'll share a Typeform in Thursday's NL.

But first, a huge thank you to our partner AddGlow.

This is how I study marketing and bring case studies to your inbox.

It’s the marketing detective method.

And it starts with reverse engineering funnels.

Today, we’ll walk through how I studied Farmer’s Dog’s Meta funnel.

You can use the same steps to deep dive into other brands or your competitors’ strategies.

For Meta, I like to reverse engineer two funnels:

Sometimes you’ll find two different types of ad creative matched with entirely different landing pages.

That’s always worth studying.

TOF & MOF Funnels

Go to Facebook >> Find your competitor via the search bar >> Click their Company Page.

Click About >> Click “Page Transparency” >> Lastly, go to Ad Library.

Scroll to find the oldest active ad in the library.

These are some of their best.

Why?

If an ad has run for over 6 months - it shows one thing... It’s working.

It’s spending efficiently, is ROI positive, and Meta loves it because customers click it.

Learning:

For Farmer’s Dog, their standout ads feature various dog breeds + a 50% off CTA. These creatives are not only scroll-stopping (who can resist cute pups) but also directly appeal to a diverse audience of dog owners.

Next, click the ad to see what landing page it takes you to.

But before we dive into the LP, we’ll visit the time machine.

Copy the landing page’s URL and visit web.archive.org.

Paste the URL into the search bar and hit enter.

Now you’ll see the history of edits made to the landing page over the years.

And you can compare/contrast what changed and stayed the same.

Learning:

Farmer’s Dog’s landing page’s above-the-fold section now vs. a year ago:

What changed (didn’t work):

What stayed the same (worked):

For funnels, I like to map it out using Figma.

I’m specifically looking at:

Looking at Farmers Dog here’s the breakdown:

Re-Targeting Funnels

Next, we’ll dissect their retargeting funnels.

If you’re not familiar with retargeting, it’s essentially getting an ad because you visited a site or clicked on another ad in the past. (Because you’re being tracked by the Facebook pixel).

The second set is more targeted or promotes a different offer. All to bring you back to the site.

Make this easier by downloading the Chrome extension “My Ad Finder” to your Chrome browser.

This extension removes everything that isn’t an ad from your Facebook feed.

With that active - I got hit with three retargeting ads from Farmers Dog in seconds.

Each ad funneled me back to “ Build Marley’s Plan” right before the checkout. (My dogs name is Marley).

Learning

And that’s how I studied the Farmer’s Dog acquisition funnel on Facebook. It’s a hidden secret, hiding in plain sight.

Now go follow these steps with competitors in your niche to find out what’s working:

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