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Hi Marketing Bestie,

I did footwork drills yesterday because I'm getting back into tennis after 5 months off.

Haven't touched a footwork ladder since college football...and that was over 10 years ago. Those things still give me PTSD.

But I did it today anyway, and WOW. My quick twitch is GONE. Like, completely vanished.

Turns out taking a decade off (plus a baby) really does a number on your athleticism. Who knew?

The grind continues.

Was this email forwarded to you?

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SPARKNOTES FROM THE POD

5 Steps To Unlock Snapchat With Sid Malhotra

Imagine you're spending $50K a month on Meta and Google.

Everyone is.

Your competitors are. Your entire industry is.

And you wonder why your CAC keeps climbing.

Sid Malhotra, EVP at Snapchat, has watched thousands of brands make the same mistake: They assume the biggest platforms = the best platforms.

Wrong.

The reality? 78% of US Snapchatters aren't on Pinterest. 40% aren't on TikTok. Almost 1/3rd aren't on Instagram.

You're missing an entire audience because you're fishing in the same crowded pond as everyone else.

Sid's an engineer turned accidental Marketer. He helped build Facebook's SMB ads business (back before it was even called that). He was the first Head of Marketing at Grammarly. And now he's running Snapchat's SMB business...serving 99%+ of Snap's paying advertisers.

Here are Sid's 5 steps to advertise smarter, in his own lightly-edited words.

1️⃣. Your Next Best Customer Isn't On The Same Platforms As Your Last Customer.

Sid's Take: "Where is your next best customer going to be? And have you been able to connect with them? And equally as you are trying to connect with them, is your competition doing something similar in a much more crowded place?"

Meta and Google are POWERFUL.

But they're also CROWDED.

Every brand, every competitor, every DTC startup is spending money there.

Which means CPMs are skyrocketing. CAC is climbing. And efficiency is tanking.

Sid's team ran the data (because he's an engineer and needed proof):

- 78% of US Snapchatters aren't on Pinterest

- 40% of US Snapchatters aren't on TikTok

- Nearly 1/3rd of Snapchatters aren't on Instagram

That's MASSIVE.

Almost a BILLION users...and they're not scattered across every platform.

If you're only running ads on Meta and Google, you're missing them.

Think about it like this: Gen Z literally uses Snapchat as their primary messaging app. Not iMessage. Not WhatsApp. Snapchat.

They're living their entire digital lives there.

And most brands aren't even showing up.

Takeaway: Ask yourself this question RIGHT NOW...where is my NEXT best customer? Not where my current customers already are.

Look at your audience overlap. Check where you're NOT advertising.

Then test platforms where your competition isn't suffocating the auction.

2️⃣. Efficiency Isn't About Spending Less. It's About Finding Cheaper Inventory

Sid's Take: "We actually went and spoke to independent players in the industry... it's their research of the last one year that's causing us to believe that we are the most efficient customer acquisition channel."

Here's the uncomfortable truth.

Meta and Google aren't getting LESS effective because the platforms suck.

They're getting less effective because YOU and everyone else are bidding against each other.

Sid didn't just claim Snapchat was more efficient.

He went to third-party measurement platforms like Northbeam and Triple Whale. And asked them to prove it.

The data came back clear: Snapchat's ROAS from 1-day to 90-day is increasing the most.

Not decreasing. INCREASING.

Why?

Because the inventory is less saturated.

When fewer brands compete for the same audience, CPMs stay low. CPA stays manageable. And your ROAS doesn't get crushed by auction inflation.

It's Economics 101.

Takeaway: Stop optimizing your campaigns to death on saturated platforms.

Find cheaper inventory FIRST.

Test platforms where competition is lower (Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit) and watch your efficiency metrics improve without changing anything else.

3️⃣. Stop Testing Platforms Like A Performance Marketer. Test Like A Scientist.

Sid's Take: "When you try something new... you need to have a bit of a leap of faith mentality. You need to actually go give it enough time and enough budget for that platform to do its job."

Most brands "test" new platforms by spending $500/day for 3 days.

Then they look at their 1-day ROAS and say "it didn't work."

That's not a test. That's sabotage.

Here's what ACTUALLY happens when you test a new platform:

Week 1-2: The algorithm is learning. It doesn't know your customer yet.

Week 3-4: It starts finding patterns. Performance stabilizes.

Week 5-6: The learning kicks in. ROAS improves.

But most brands pull the plug in Week 2.

Sid's rule: Give a new platform 4-6 weeks with CONSISTENT budget.

No pausing. No panicking.

Let the machine learning do its thing.

And here's the kicker: Don't optimize for ROAS on Day 3.

Optimize for NEW customer acquisition and keep your blended ROAS/CPA as the guardrail metric.

Is it within 20-25% of your target? Great. Keep going.

The platform needs time to learn WHO converts, not just who clicks.

Takeaway: Pick a platform you haven't tested in the last year.

Commit a spend minimum over 4-6 weeks.

Stay the course.

Measure new customer acquisition + blended ROAS and let the algorithm learn.

4️⃣. Your Creative Strategy Is WHY Your Tests Fail. Not The Platform.

Sid's Take: "The single number 1 variable that you as a marketer can control on performance on Snapchat is the creative. If you're not seeing results on any platform... go check is my creative actually designed for that platform?"

This is brutal but true.

Most brands take their Instagram Reels and just... upload them to Snapchat.

Then they wonder why performance sucks.

Here's what actually works on Snapchat:

✅ Vertical, full-screen video (9:16 format)

✅ Hook in the first 2 seconds (Snapchatters swipe FAST)

✅ Fast pacing (15-30 seconds max)

✅ Sound-on content (people watch with audio)

✅ UGC and authentic content (polished ads flop)

Sid's seen it time and time again: Brands with GOOD creative see 3-5x better ROAS than brands with recycled assets.

The platform isn't failing you.

Your creative is.

And here's the move: Don't just test 1 creative.

Test 5-10 variations. Different hooks. Different CTAs. Different formats.

Let the platform tell you what works instead of guessing.

Takeaway: Audit your creative library RIGHT NOW.

Is it designed for Snapchat? Or is it just repurposed Instagram content?

If it's the latter, create 5 NEW assets specifically for the platform - vertical, fast-paced, authentic.

Then test them against each other and scale the winners.

5️⃣. Always-On Beats Bursts. Stop Treating Platforms Like Medicine You Take When You're Sick.

Sid's Take: "Don't just go into sine waves of spend. Keep it consistent... you need to let the system know who your recurring conversion customers are, and then the platform builds learned intelligence about who to send your way."

The biggest mistake brands make with new platforms?

They turn them on for Black Friday.

Then turn them off in January.

Then wonder why performance crashes when they turn them back on in March.

Algorithms need CONSISTENCY.

When you go dark, the platform forgets who your customers are.

When you come back, it has to relearn everything.

That's why your CPA spikes every time you restart.

Sid's recommendation: Build an always-on mid-funnel or top-of-funnel strategy.

Even if it's just $1K/week.

Optimize for REACH and IMPRESSIONS (not immediate conversions).

Let the platform learn your audience over 7, 14, 30+ days.