How I work:
From start to finish and everything in between
What I do
I'm a freelance creative strategist based in Berlin. I create high-performing paid social assets for SaaS, B2B and B2C brands, with a focus on Meta ads. I own every step, from the first idea to delivery.
I have a strong background in graphic design, coupled with a solid understanding of the performance side, how an ad actually behaves once it's live, not just how it looks. I craft your ads, and I keep an eye on your data too. Here's the how and the why.
The process
1. Research
To build a strategy tailored to your brand, I need to know you. Your product, your audience, what you've tested, what worked or not, what needs to change…
→
2. Strategy
With everything I've gathered, I build out a plan:
→ I define some avatars,
→ I elaborate angles
→ I come up with hooks
→
3. Execution
Now it's time to craft your ad sets. I use my graphic design background to turn the strategy into statics and videos, ready for your team to deploy.
→
4. Analysis
Time to harvest the results! Based on your KPIs (CTR, CPA, ROAS…), I'll dig into the performance, then build a new testing phase: keeping what works, killing what doesn't, adjusting the rest.
Where I fit in your team
I bring the strategy, the ideas, and the design. Your in-house media buyer manages the Meta Ads Manager and your budget, keeping full control and visibility over spend and account decisions.
You keep the account in trusted hands, while I focus on what actually goes into the ad and you share with me the data that matters to my task so I can create banging ads for you.
What makes a winning ad, imo
A winning ad gathers several qualities:
♥ It talks to the emotions
We stop scrolling because something caught our attention, because it soothes a pain point, made us feel seen, understood, curious, amused.
∞︎︎ Form follows function
In paid social, design excellence isn't always the goal, conversion is the goal. So what your ad looks like will depend on that. A rough-looking ad can feel very relatable, and more noticeable, as it detaches visually from a highly curated feed.
About this, read my Anatomy of a Banger page, it tells the story of an "ugly" ad that is a massive banger, and the concept is still being used after three years, bringing 6 figures revenue.
⏺ It offers a specific message
One ad should bring up selected qualities of the product, you cannot say everything all at once. Your audience has neither the will nor the time to scratch their head in front of your ad. Be neat.
𖣠 It's targeted
Match a specific message to a specific audience. If it talks to everybody, it talks to nobody.
•‿• It reads the zeitgeist
No one is an island, we evolve in a context, in a culture, in trends, in news, in time of the year. Consider this too.
⤿ It has a hook!
A visual hook and/or a copy hook. What will make the viewer dedicate some attention to your ad? You have to stop the scroll, the competition is rough out there. And once you've got their attention, a clear CTA tells them what to do next.
What's my stand on AI?
I'm answering this now, because you're going to ask.
100% AI-generated ads feels like 100% AI-generated ads. The design feels cold, it's not relatable, and at some point every brand using it starts looking and sounding like the next one.
On the strategy side, paid social (and marketing in general) is about leveraging emotions to talk to your audience's heart. AI cannot fulfill this role. Do you want to be subtle? Funny? Sensitive? Good luck with that if you fully rely on AI.
AI is a great tool, and it would be a waste not to use it in our workflow, but let's use it for what it's actually great at: volume, speed, generating a specific image, running variations, etc. AI helps us speed things up, gather info, check copy. But in order to achieve quality, relatability and uniqueness, we should keep considering it as a powerful tool, not as the main creator.
Freelance creative strategist, or agency?
It doesn’t have to be either/or.
Some brands work with both, a freelancer and an agency, because one is going to be more suited for this specific project and the other for something else.
But generally: working with a freelancer means direct access to the person actually doing the work. With agencies, you mostly talk to account managers, not directly to the person who creates your ads. As a freelancer, I run on a very light structure, which makes me more reactive. I plug into your workflow, I don't come imposing mine. It's also usually lighter on the budget, and agencies often work on formal 6 or 12 month contracts.
Agencies can be the right call if you have zero people in-house to handle media buying, branding, or copywriting, an agency can be a better fit for your need as it might come with a bunch of collaborators with a variety of roles.
Freelance creative strategist, or agency?
It doesn’t have to be either/or.
Some brands work with both, a freelancer and an agency, because one is going to be more suited for this specific project and the other for something else.
But generally: working with a freelancer means direct access to the person actually doing the work. With agencies, you mostly talk to account managers, not directly to the person who creates your ads. As a freelancer, I run on a very light structure, which makes me more reactive. I plug into your workflow, I don't come imposing mine. It's also usually lighter on the budget, and agencies often work on formal 6 or 12 month contracts.
Agencies can be the right call if you have zero people in-house to handle media buying, branding, or copywriting, an agency can be a better fit for your need as it might come with a bunch of collaborators with a variety of roles.
I work the way you need
Short campaign? Long game? I adapt.
My favorite setup is the long run: it gives us time to see what performs, iterate, and actually find the bangers. Testing takes time, and the best results usually come after a few rounds, not the first one. Most of my clients end up sticking with me long term, because I'm reliable and I make great ads.
This said, maybe you have a specific project in mind, a product launch, a holiday campaign, something with a clear start and end. In that case, we can team up for a one-shot.
Markets I work in
Languages & industries
My favorite setup is the long run: it gives us time to see what performs, iterate, and actually find the bangers. Testing takes time, and the best results usually come after a few rounds, not the first one. Most of my clients end up sticking with me long term, because I'm reliable and I make great ads.
This said, maybe you have a specific project in mind, a product launch, a holiday campaign, something with a clear start and end. In that case, we can team up for a one-shot.
How to get started
It’s simple
Once we're aligned, onboarding is simple: you share with me what I need to know, your product USPs, your audience insights, your competitors, your past ads and what worked or not, your brand guidelines if you have them, and any past testing data. From there, we set a first round of deliverables.
How does it sound?
You can start by just having a simple chat with me for free.
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Get in touch with me
You can click on the form button to directly book a free appointment, or drop me an email at hello(a)bureaubarbry.com.
We have a chat
Ask me anything: time span, deadlines, budget.
Tell me everything: your brand, your product, and what you're trying to achieve.
If we think it's a fit: we'll start from there.
The onboarding
You share with me what I need to know: your workflow, your product USPs, your audience insights, your competitors, your past ads and what worked or not, your brand guidelines if you have them, and any past testing data.
Then I set a first round of deliverables ⊹ ࣪ ˖
How does it sound?
You can start by just having a simple chat with me for free.