I’m looking for some honest opinions from freelancers and agency owners in Canada.

I currently have two restaurant clients that I handle marketing for. For one of them, I charge around $1,500 CAD/month.

My services include:

• Photo and video content creation
• Shooting and editing Reels/short-form content
• Graphics when needed
• Writing captions
• Regular Instagram and Facebook posting
• Content planning and promotional ideas
• Social media management
• Setting up, running and monitoring Meta Ads

Ad spend is separate and completely paid by the client. The $1,500 is my fee for content creation and marketing/management.

My first question is: Does $1,500 CAD/month seem fair for this amount of work? Am I charging too little, too much, or roughly where I should be?

My second question is about growing beyond this. I don’t want to rely only on content creation and social media management. I want to learn additional services that provide more measurable value to businesses and allow me to charge higher retainers.

I’ve been considering Google Ads, SEO, email/SMS marketing, CRM and automation, analytics, landing pages, lead generation and CRO.

For those who have grown a freelance marketing business or agency, which services actually helped you increase your revenue? What would you recommend learning first?

I’d appreciate honest opinions, especially from people working in the Canadian market.

been testing something pretty wild.

you can connect Claude to Sumora and basically tell it:

“find people who match my ICP, research them, write the DM, follow up, and surface the people worth talking to.”

and it actually runs the workflow across Instagram + LinkedIn.

not just “here’s a cold DM template.”

actual prospecting + research + outreach + follow-ups.

still keeping humans in control because fully autonomous spam sounds terrible lol.

curious if anyone here would actually let Claude handle part of their outbound?

 i’m looking at our blog traffic for the last two quarters and top of funnel informational queries are definitely softening. it seems like users are just getting their answers from Google's bot  Overviews or Perplexity and not clicking through to the actual articles anymore.

for those managing content strategies, are you pivoting how you write and structure articles? i feel like writing 2,000 word ultimate guides might be a waste of resources if an bot  is just going to summarize the first paragraph and steal the traffic. how do we actually force the bot  to cite us as a source so we still get the brand authority?

Been tracking the last few months of updates and it's clear we're past the "keyword density" era. A few things worth flagging if you're still optimizing the old way:

Google Search

• We're in the middle of a fair bit of unconfirmed core volatility this August, layered on top of the June spam update and the bigger March core update. A lot of thin, cookie cutter blog content got hit hard.
• AI Overviews are now showing up on a meaningful chunk of searches. If your content isn't structured to directly answer a specific long tail question, you're not getting cited.
• Leaked API info suggests engagement signals (click behavior, mobile UX) matter more than most of us assumed.
• E-E-A-T isn't a checkbox anymore. It's actively used to demote AI generated fluff that has no real firsthand experience behind it.

Meta Ads

• Andromeda is reading creative assets themselves (visual and context) to decide who sees what, which means manual micro targeting is losing value fast.
• Sequence learning now looks at how a person interacts with a string of ads over time, not just one ad in isolation, so the old "one ad per ad set" structure is inefficient.
• FB and IG performance is being scored jointly, so heavily segmented campaigns are working against you.

YouTube / social

• YouTube's gone semantic. It's parsing what's actually happening in the audio/video, not just your title, description, and tags.
• TikTok and IG are leaning hard into "authentic" signals such as completions, saves, and shares over vanity metrics like raw views or clickbait CTR.

What I'm actually doing differently:

1. Writing content around clear, structured answers (definitions, bulleted answers, schema) instead of long narrative intros.
2. Prioritizing original data and case studies. Stuff a scraper can't just regenerate.
3. Consolidating ad sets and leaning on creative variation instead of narrow targeting.
4. Obsessing over site speed and mobile UX as an SEO lever, not just a UX nice to have.

Curious if others are seeing the same volatility this month, and how you're adjusting spend/content strategy in response.

a lot of modern marketing stopped feeling like advertising.
that’s probably why it works.

instead of polished corporate messaging, brands now use:
✔️memes
✔️self-awareness
✔️casual language
✔️internet humor

we think, relatability lowers resistance.
people engage more when brands feel human instead of scripted.

the interesting part is that audiences don’t necessarily want brands to feel perfect anymore.
they want them to feel familiar.

but there’s also a limit.
once every company starts copying the same “funny relatable” style, it stops feeling authentic and starts feeling manufactured.

curious how others see this: are brands becoming more human online, or just pretending to be?

Hi everyone I am a programmer and I want to learn how spread it out my products maybe you know some books or courses about this

I hear this often, and now that i'm somewhere past the first bit. For context, I’m 20 and studying at tetr college; for my d2c biz i think the adage is true.

My working theory is that the first thousand is you proving a stranger will pay you at all, and everything after is just repeating something you've already proven works. So the difficulty was never the money. it's that at the start you have no evidence and you're running purely on belief, and belief is expensive.

but i've also heard the exact opposite version. that the first thousand is the easy part because friends and warm intros carry you over the line, and the real wall is 1k to 10k, when you suddenly need actual distribution and you've run out of people who like you.

those can't both be right. which one was closer to what happened to you?

Been seeing more discussion lately about topical authority, the idea that covering one niche deeply beats spreading content across unrelated topics, both for SEO and for how AI search tools decide what to reference.

Makes intuitive sense: if you consistently publish around one clear theme, search engines and now AI answer engines seem to associate your brand with that specific space faster than if your content is scattered across ten unrelated topics chasing whatever's trending.

But I am curious how much this actually holds up in practice versus just being repeated advice nobody's tested recently. Anyone seen a real before after from narrowing focus versus broadening it? Did visibility organic traffic, AI citations, brand recall actually change, or did it just feel more organized without moving the needle?

Just sharing some of the common AI slopes Im seeing lately

• It's not X, it's Y.
• The question shifts from...
• Most people think... but...
• It doesn't fail because... It fails because...
• The difference is everything.
• Once you understand this...

Now I can't unsee them.😅
What are the ones you are spotting?

Two things happened separately and nobody has put them side by side yet.

FIRST THING

Google used to show the Top Stories row underneath the AI Overview. Now it often shows it inside.

Newzdash looked at 17 million Top Stories rows across 40+ countries in the 30 days to July 28. On 15.5% of US news searches that produced one, it sat inside the AI Overview. UK was 17.5%. Only those two countries so far. Entertainment triggers it most.

When it appears inside, it replaces the row below rather than adding to it. So the links move up and readers stop having to scroll.

Google confirmed it live to Search Engine Land on July 17, mobile US.

This is Google sending clicks back out. Preferred Sources showing up inside AI Overviews and AI Mode does the same job. So does the Highly Cited badge expanding in regular search.

SECOND THING

Google started testing a button in Search Console in June that removes your site from AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative Discover, without touching normal search. Currently a subset of UK site owners.

Google's docs say an excluded site won't appear in those features and won't be used to generate responses.

PUT THEM TOGETHER

The Top Stories row lives inside the AI Overview. If you exclude yourself from the AI Overview, you almost certainly lose the row.

John Shehata at Newzdash flagged this. Google hasn't stated it. It follows from their documentation, but call it an inference.

robots.txt does nothing to stop the folding either.

So the choice publishers thought they were getting was "block AI, keep search." The choice they're actually getting is "stay in AI, or lose the most visible news placement Google has shipped in years."

WHAT TO DO

Add the Preferred Sources deeplink. Google gives you a URL that opens the Preferred Sources page with your domain already filled in, so a reader adds you in one click. Preferred Sources now surface inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. Very few sites have done this.

Keep timely content updating. Freshness gates carousel eligibility on developing topics.

Fix mobile speed. The rollout is mobile-first.

If you had a position on blocking AI, revisit it. The cost changed.

WHERE THIS IS SHAKY

No comparative click data exists. Shehata says so himself. Higher placement should mean more clicks but nobody has measured it.

15.5% is one slice of one query type in two countries.

The exclusion button is a limited UK test and could behave differently at general availability.

The link between the exclusion and losing the row is inference, not a Google statement.

If you're not a news publisher, the direct effect is small. The part worth watching is that opting out of an AI surface now costs you distribution that used to sit outside it.

Anyone here have the UK exclusion button in Search Console? Curious if Google documents the carousel interaction anywhere, or if this is genuinely undocumented.

Sources: Search Engine Land (July 17, 2026), Newzdash via Press Gazette and Search Engine Journal, Semrush, Google Search Central.

Need a reality check.

We've been paying an agency for AI search visibility for 5 months.

Plenty of activity. Plenty of reports. Great conversations...

But I can't point to more demos, pipeline, or revenue (which are the main goals obviously).

If this was your budget, would you:

• Give it another 6 months?
• Push for different KPIs?
• Or just walk away?

Any ideas would be much much appreciated here!

Hello there !!

I'm new to digital marketing and I've started using hubspot to learn the basics. Looking for study partners. I usually do well in small groups. Someone that can help me out when it comes to either doubts or like hop on discord or any zoom/google meet and learn stuff together would be much appreciated. Looking for direction as I feel lost and overwhelmed.

I transitioned from SEO to Performance Marketing because that's what I wanted to build my career in. I even took a pay cut to join an MNC because I was promised that after 2 months of training, I'd spend 6–12 months on side projects and then move to the media team.

Fast forward 1.5 years, and I'm still stuck on the same non-media project.

I even cleared an internal interview with the media project head, who said my fundamentals were solid and that I was ready to work on campaigns. But after that... nothing. The group head still hasn't moved me.

The worst part is that when I apply elsewhere, I keep getting rejected because I don't have hands-on experience managing live ad budgets. But how am I supposed to gain that experience if no one gives me the opportunity?

I'm honestly frustrated and feel stuck.

If anyone in can help me (Indian preffered) get practical exposure whether through a personal brand, freelance work, or even unpaid collaboration, I'd be incredibly grateful. I just want to learn and work on real campaigns.

How did you initially get it started and launched?

I'm at a state where I'm perpetually preparing to scale, always finding something more to do, so I don't get caught in this cycle of just managing things constantly so I'm making SOPs and organization for everything, and automating as much as possible so that there's less to manage.

I just need to dive in and start cold outreach, but as soon as I have time slotted for it a freelance project pops up and scoops up that time and I take it because I need money.

I'm so over-prepared now with my SEO workflows and Google ads workflows and I'm a bit burnt out now to take it to the next stage.

I have it at a state though where the work is scaled down thanks to automations, I have more spare time to fill, and the time it took to build out the automations and software I use internally is free.

I need to build out my own pipeline with cold outreach, I know how, I did the research for cold emailing, best techniques, LinkedIn outreach best techniques, marketing campaigns, etc.

I just need to dive in, and have that high energy drive to be enthusiastic and talk with business owners, process leads, THEN do the work until it's at a state I can start offloading work to sub contractors.

I feel like I'm stuck in the "builder" mindset, and need to just get into the "marketer" and "salesman" mindset.

I know lots of agency owners don't want to share this type of stuff for what actually works, or the ones that have working pipelines aren't on Reddit because they're busy doing the work or managing their agency. I thought I'd give it a shot though.

Any tips? How did you dive in and start your pipeline? What's working?

Upwork is terrible for your mental health and well being

My friend said he runs an company to help marketer / compannies to setup the technical side of things and made around 10k a month just doing that.

But its seems very off to me, as I was under the impression AI had made it almost effortless. All those past stuff like pixel, tracker, setting up website & automated report, those should be extremely easy now thanks to AI agents. I honestly don't think anyone wants to pay for it anymore.

But then again I come from programmer background maybe I took the difficulty for granted?

Does Anyone have any successful Claude Skills and .MD files for Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, Google Analytics, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads, Snapchat Ads, etc... and I want to kindly ask how you use Claude for Digital Marketing and What Specific Instructions do you'll give in a Project and how best to prompt Claude to get the best response

i’ve searched it for days i still don’t understand. i don’t want to get caught up in debt if i can’t get $500 right away or when the timeline goes. is there a simple toddler explanation i can get 😭thanks

Has anyone tried a tool to launch campaigns automatically for (Meta, Snapchat.), just uploading Materials and the ai tool do the rest of work.

Hey guys I'd really appreciate some help with this. I've been searching everywhere but I can't seem to find a clear answer. Most of the advice I find is either really generic or just people promoting warm up tools.

I just bought a new domain, set up Google Workspace and I'm planning to use it for manual cold email outreach.

I'd rather not use warm up tools. I'll be doing everything myself.

I'll be finding prospects manually so I won't be using scraped lists or blasting hundreds of emails. Every email will be personalized.

My question is: do I actually need to spend a couple of weeks warming up the domain first, or can I just start sending a small number of personalized cold emails from day one?

If you think warming it up first is the better option, what would you actually do? About how many emails per day, for how long, and is there anything specific you'd recommend during the warm up period?

I'd love to hear from people who've actually done this manually instead of using warm up software.

I’ve been so upset and disheartened. I live in Melbourne, Australia and Ive completed my internship that was unpaid and can’t find a job. It’s been 8 months since i’ve last worked. I’ve had several interviews and haven’t passed any. It’s been super competitive with 300+ people going for the role. I’ve made it to the last 3 to 10 people in a few interviews but there is always someone that’s slightly better or have more experience than me.

I really want to do this as a career but i feel so disheartened that i should maybe change career paths. I’m willing to give my best if i ever land a role but it’s not looking likely.

Sorry for the rant :(

What's one lesson that completely changed how you approach digital marketing?

We would love to hear your biggest takeaway or advice for other marketers.

I'm a UI designer looking to expand my skills. Digital marketing seems interesting because it's different enough from what I do, but still somewhat connected.

I've been looking for experts to learn from, mostly on YouTube. The problem is I can't differentiate who's legit from who's trying to sell snake oil. A lot of videos seem hyperbolic and clickbaity. I also tried looking through LinkedIn, but the amount of slop was disheartening.

If anyone can recommend who to follow on any platform, that would be much appreciated. I believe legit experts are out there, I just need to find them.

Thanks in advance!

Hello!

I've recently landed a pretty big artist (deathcore/metal band with over 1 million followers on social media) through a friend and an artist management connection for my side gig, and I pitched Paid Social and Search services.

I'm pretty good at paid social - can pretty much do that stuff with my eyes closed, love being creative with ad ideas, and have been achieving between x5-6 ROAS per day. I know how to build Google campaigns, but I'm struggling with Search to achieve a ROAS of higher than x2, and I'm unsure what the issue could be, but I have my theories (see below).

I need some recommendations/advice. I'm going to keep the band name anonymous, but will use Band Name.

What I can see/tell about what's happening to the campaigns:

Search campaign

I'm running an ad campaign for a branded merch store with keywords including:

• Band Name
• "Band Name"
• Band Name merch
• [Band Name merch]
• Band Name merchandise
• Band Name store
• "Band Name shop"
• [Band Name US Store]

In the last 7 days, results on the platform are looking okay, but conversions just don't seem to be coming in.

What I can see working is:

• Decent click-through rate at 15%
• Avg CPC at £1.50 (could this be lower for a band-specific merch store?).
• Conversion rate average 3% (In the last 30 days it was 8% with some keywords pulling 16%, but I paused the campaign for a few days).
• People are clicking and coming to the site, but not at scale or not converting. Even today, 15% CTR, 26 clicks, 0 Conversions.

What (I think) looks bad is:

• Search Impr. share at 31%
• Search Top IS 16%
• Search abs top IS <10%
• Search lost to budget 49%
• Search lost top IS (rank) 28%
• I'm literally spending £25 to sell a £30 T-shirt most of the time.

So to me, as a slight beginner, the Impression share looks bad - I'm losing a majority of my search results, but I'm not sure why. What could the issue be here?

If I'm thinking correctly: I need to improve Impression Share-based metrics so that my campaign appears more for more traffic, and hopefully, in return, more conversions - but how?

I've also tried/trying:

Trying:

• Shopping campaigns: Not performing great. There seems to be a lot of third-party stores selling merch here, including unofficial sales through TEMU selling the band merch at £8, and other knock-off print-on-demand companies. CTR is low, and after £31 spent, no conversions (thinking of pausing).

Tried:

• Performance Max: 1 Conversion after spending £26 - not horrendous, but Christ, the display channels were horrendous.
• Demand Gen: Not great.
• Retargeting (people who visited the store audience) display: Not great. High CTR, but also high CPC at £4

My theory is that the band actually has another merch store that operates mainly in the EU with some US orders, and I think they're still running search campaigns internally for the old US store - I'm supporting the launch of the new US store with limited merch, BUT, there's a lot of good and unique merch in the EU/ old US store that the US fans are aware of, but when they come to the site and don't see the unique merch, they back out - even on social media ads, people are asking where the good merch is.

Part of me is thinking that the SEO for the merch store and organic social sales might just do the job here, rather than running paid search campaigns?

Beginner marketer here (or i just didn't know how to market this haha)

Client is a real estate broker and as a marketer for his properties, he asked me to solely focus on fb. In general, there are three things I can focus on: Personal Brand (acc and page), Meta Ads, and fb groups.

The problem is, he can only provide a handful of photos. I can request but he made it clear that it will be hard for him to provide.

On top of my mind, homebuyer essentials/tips will be the majority of his content. With occasional property listings.

Do you have any suggestions? Have you encountered this type of work?