$5 a Day Ads for Photographers: Brooklyn Grotte’s Strategy

Do you need a big budget to make ads work for your photography or education business? Nope. Brooklyn Grotte, a former newborn photographer who now runs a Meta ads agency and a membership called Out of Office, started with $5 a day ads that sent people to a freebie. That one simple ad grew her email list from 132 people to 6,000 and helped scale her photo business to six figures in a year.

I had Brooke on The Reinvent Podcast because, honestly, I’m so tired of the Instagram hamster wheel. She showed me there’s another way to get seen. Here’s what she taught me about where to start, what to skip, and how to know when you’re ready to spend more.

How Did Brooklyn Grotte Start Running Ads?

Brooke started running ads because she had no other option. She opened her photo studio in 2020, went $20K into debt to build it, and then COVID hit. She didn’t book a single client for six months.

She lives on her family’s farm in a small town, about 90 minutes from the nearest bigger market, so local word of mouth wasn’t going to cut it. She hired an agency, paid $8,000, and got zero leads.

So she got scrappy. She watched YouTube, downloaded every free resource she could find, and studied what the agency had set up in her account. Then she asked herself one question: “Okay, five bucks a day, how can I get started?”

Here’s what happened next:

• She ran the simplest ad she knew how to build, sending people to a freebie.
• Leads came in for around 50 cents each, with people opting in every single day.
• She followed her new subscribers on Instagram, connected with them, and nurtured them.
• That ad scaled her newborn photography business to six figures in a year.

Then other photographers started asking how she did it. She used the exact same strategy to fill her coaching programs and masterminds (one person who opted into her freebie bought an $8K coaching package within 90 days), and scaled that to six figures too. Today she runs a full agency with eight team members.

One thing I love: Brooke is honest that ads weren’t a magic bullet. Her products and service had to be good. Ads were what let her scale them.

How Do You Start $5 a Day Ads for Photographers?

Send your first ad to a freebie. A lead ad that trades something valuable for an email address is where Brooke tells beginners to start, and it’s the exact ad that built her list.

Why a freebie instead of a sales ad?

• Lead ads cost less. Asking Meta to find buyers is more expensive than asking it to find people who want something free.
• Your pixel is still new. A fresh ad account hasn’t taught Meta who your audience is yet. Every ad you run teaches it more.
• You get something back. An email address means you can nurture people, retarget them with ads, and reach out personally.
• You get fast feedback. If nobody opts in, you know quickly, on a budget you control.

Your freebie doesn’t have to be a PDF. Brooke has seen private podcasts, podcast playlists, and YouTube playlists work really well too. Anything that helps people get to know you and builds that trust bridge faster.

Are Instagram Follower Ads Worth It?

Only when they put the right people in front of your content. In Brooke’s words: “Follower ads just for the vanity metric? No, thank you. Follower ads for actual right eyes on your content, yes.”

She actually runs follower ads around the clock at the top of her funnel. But they’re one piece of what she calls an ad ecosystem, a few different ads running at once that each do a different job. She doesn’t start beginners there, because you can’t email or retarget a follower.

Why do ads that look organic perform better?

People scroll past anything that looks like an ad. Brooke turns a lot of her organic posts into ads because native-looking content gets a cheaper cost per impression, meaning more people stop to watch for less money. Talking straight to the camera is her top pick.

This one made me laugh, because the only ad I still remember from Amy Porterfield is from years ago. She was just walking her dog and talking to her phone, like she was FaceTiming me. I didn’t even realize it was an ad until I was already in her funnel. Now I tell everyone: do the walk and talk.

What Is a Meta Pixel? (Explained Simply)

A Meta pixel is a small piece of code that tracks what people do after they click your ad. Brooke’s analogy is perfect: it works like a toll gate on a road, counting every car that drives through.

• Put it everywhere your ads send people. That means your website, your opt-in page (Flodesk, Kit, or wherever you host it), and your checkout (like ThriveCart).
• Use native integrations when you can. Many platforms let you paste in your pixel ID without touching any code.
• It makes your ads smarter over time. The more ads you run, the better Meta understands who to show them to.

I tell my clients to install the pixel now, even if ads aren’t on the plan yet.

What are pixel events?

Events are specific actions tracked inside your pixel. A lead event fires when someone opts in. An initiate checkout event fires when someone starts to buy but doesn’t finish. You can also build custom events, like someone starting your quiz or reaching their results page.

Then you can build audiences from those events and show them a follow-up ad. Brooke says AI is making custom events easier to set up, so you don’t need to code them yourself.

Are You Ready to Run Ads as a New Photography Educator?

It depends on your goal. If you want to grow your email list and get more eyes on your work, yes, $5 a day ads for photographers are a safe place to start. If you want to fill a brand new 20-person mastermind with ads, not yet.

Brooke doesn’t run ads to offers that aren’t proven. Spending thousands a month makes sense once people already know you as an educator. Think about it from the other side: if someone clicks your ad for education, taps over to your profile, and finds no teaching content or freebies, there’s a disconnect.

Her benchmark is client testimonials, or at least a proof bank of results you’ve helped people get. Testimonials matter in the ads themselves, especially for cold audiences who’ve never heard of you. This is exactly why I have my mastermind students validate with a beta round first, often at a lower price, so they have that proof before spending money on ads.

How much should you spend on a low-ticket offer ad?

Brooke considers anything under $100 low ticket, and under $50 is even better for ads. Her rule is to spend dollar for dollar: if your offer is $27, budget at least $27 a day to get a sale. Your profit comes from the back end, through order bumps and upsells.

What Are the Biggest Misconceptions About Meta Ads?

Brooke hears two over and over:

1. You need a big budget. A bigger budget can help, but she and her students have proven you don’t need to start big to see results.
2. Agencies are just out to take your money. She admits she’s a little biased since she runs one. There are some slimy ones out there, but a few bad eggs don’t speak for everyone (we see the same thing in photography education).

What If You Tried Ads Before and They Didn’t Work?

Start with the data, not a new strategy. Brooke’s first question is always: what did you try? She looks at the ad type, the budget, and the results, then compares them to what’s normal.

She compares it to a doctor visit. They don’t walk in and announce you need knee surgery. They ask what happened and where it hurts.

As an email marketing nerd, I love this. It’s the same as reading your email stats. A high unsubscribe rate usually means the wrong content for that audience, and low open rates usually point to your subject lines. The numbers tell you where to look.

When Should You Hire an Ads Agency?

Brooke built an offer ladder so there’s a step for wherever you are:

• Her $5 a day challenge: learn the basics and launch your first lead ad.
• Out of Office: her membership where you run ads together, with an app that writes and diagnoses ads for members.
• One-time ad setup: her team builds your ads, writes the copy, sets everything up, sends you a Loom walkthrough, and you manage it from there.
• Full agency: done for you, for seven to nine figure businesses, because the retainer plus ad spend has to make financial sense.

How do you know you’re ready to bring in help? Brooke says it’s once you’ve run your $5 ad, gotten some kind of result (followers or opt-ins), and feel comfortable inside Ads Manager.

What Can You Do This Week?

1. Install your Meta pixel. Put it on your website and opt-in page, even if you’re not running ads yet.
2. Pick your freebie. Choose one resource (a guide, a private podcast, a playlist) that you’d happily trade for an email address.
3. Film one walk and talk. Talk to the camera like you’re FaceTiming a friend. Post it organically first, and it can become your first ad later.

Brooke also has taught inside my Reinvent mastermind, which I’m so excited about. If you want the full conversation (including the story of my own sad little ads attempt), listen to the full episode on The Reinvent Podcast. Now go press play, then go install that pixel. 💛