Janet is a massage therapist.

After working with patients for a while, she wanted to advertise.

I said, ‘Do you have a proven offer?’

She told me women pay 200 or 250 Shekels for a one-hour session (55/$70.) So I advertised that offer on good ol’ Flakebook with basic targeting:

• Women
• Age 24-65
• Within a 15km radius from our home

Janet invested $250, got 66 leads, 9 new patients, and made $1250 in roughly eight weeks.

A 5X return on ad spend without even considering the long-term value of repeat customers.

Not bad for a new business advertising the first time. What’s more, my mom has no personal brand, no ‘audience’, and knows nothing about marketing or sales. And your basic Linkedin influencer says ‘You must build a personal brand in 2025 or you’re doomed!!’

That’s just nonsense.

People have bought stuff online way before ‘personal brand’ or ‘content’ was a thing.

What’s even more ‘crazy’ is, the ad is an ordinary ‘newspaper style ad’ (in Hebrew):

It basically says, ‘If you suffer from back or shoulder pain, I offer 60-minute Shiatsu treatments for relief.’

That ad tackles an urgent pain point, and that’s why it works so well.

• No ‘viral video’ or ‘content’
• No ‘scroll-stopping’ hook