Chapter 14: Common Pitfalls for Beginners — Saving your Tuition

1. Pitfall 1: Obsessing over ROAS on Day 1

Reality: The algorithm needs time to find your buyers. Early spend is the cost of buying data. If you demand high ROAS in the first 48 hours, you might kill a future winner.

2. Pitfall 2: Over-adjusting (The “Anxiety” Tweak)

Reality: Modern ads (Meta/Google) rely on AI. Every time you change a word or a dollar, the AI resets. Frequent changes ensure your ads never exit the learning phase.

3. Pitfall 3: Blindly Following “Auto-Suggestions”

Reality: Platforms want you to spend more money, not necessarily make more money. You are the owner of the business; the platform is the seller of traffic. Evaluate every “suggestion” against your profit margins.

4. Pitfall 4: Treating Ads as a “Life-Saving Drug”

Reality: If your product is bad, ads will only accelerate your failure by telling more people it’s bad. Marketing is a lever: it amplifies the good, and it amplifies the bad.

Next Chapter: Chapter 15: Boundaries and Limitations of Online Marketing. What ads cannot solve.