We Don’t Sell to Cold Traffic: How We Warm Up Cold Audiences

January 20, 2026

We don’t ask cold audiences to buy. We ask them to recognize themselves and say, “Wait, that’s me.” That one shift has changed everything about how we use ads and how well they perform.

In this episode of Bringing Simplicity Unfiltered, Greta (founder) and Judy (CEO) explain how they warm up cold audiences without selling anything. They also share why this step makes conversions work later. Have ads ever felt pushy, awkward, or like you’re interrupting people? It’s usually because you’re asking them to move too fast.

Cold Audiences Aren’t Waiting to Buy From You

Cold traffic doesn’t wake up hoping to buy from you. They’re scrolling, distracted, and they don’t trust you yet. Sometimes the first thing they see is “buy this,” “book a call,” or “download my thing.” Then their instinct is to protect their attention, not engage.

What We Do Instead: Run Proven Organic Posts as Ads

It’s selling without selling. One of the first five things we do in a new account is find your organic content that’s already performing. We look at saves, comments, DMs, and ManyChat triggers. Then we put ad dollars behind those exact posts.

No call to action, no pitch, and no pressure. To new people, it barely looks like an ad. They think, “Did they just post again?” before they notice “Sponsored.”

Get More Out of Content You Already Made

Judy recently listened to Hala Taha’s Young and Profiting podcast with Jen Gottlieb. Jen said she doesn’t go to events expecting to come home with tons of clients. She goes to generate more content. She uses it on her feed, landing pages, and thank-you pages to position herself as a trusted advisor.

Same idea here. In your first month with us, you don’t have to record any new ads unless you want to speed things up. Your current content gets the attention of new followers right away, without asking for anything.

Why This Works: Familiarity, Not Persuasion

We always come with receipts, and our results are on our Instagram and website. But this is really about psychology. It isn’t persuasion. It’s familiarity. Cold audiences see your ideas, perspective, and tone. When they see you again, their brain doesn’t ask, “Who is this?” or look for a reason to say no. It says, “I’ve seen this before, and it resonated.” We choose content that shows you as an authority, so you earn trust. That way, when you make the ask later, it doesn’t have that weird, creepy vibe.

The Breadsticks Analogy

Judy heard Eddie Maalouf of Bad Marketing explain it with a bar analogy, which she translated into breadsticks. These warm-up ads are the bread before the meal, like the reason you go to Olive Garden. By someone’s seventh opt-in or seventh masterclass, they’re far more likely to buy.

The views and clicks from warm-up ads are future dollars, even if they aren’t in your pocket yet. Follow the process. Think of the IU football team that just won the championship. The right people and a plan, executed consistently, eventually lead to winning.

Judy’s challenge: say you have 500,000 or a million followers. Put our clients who run ads against an account that doesn’t, and we’ll win.

Why Most Agencies Skip This Step

If you’re a founder who’s talked to a few ad agencies, Judy would guess none of them brought up reach and awareness. That’s what makes us different. It’s the handshake before you ask for anything. It warms up both cold audiences and organic followers who’ve gone cold on you.

How Small Your Buying Audience Really Is

If you’re lucky, maybe 10% of your organic audience has bought from you. And 10% would be blowing it out of the water. Great engagement is nice, but how many of those people are in your funnel before you ever ask them to act? Start with reach and awareness. Our VAs now run this for us, and we can train your VAs to do it too.

Patience Beats Pressure

Warming up cold audiences isn’t about being clever, doing something new, or being dropped into an agency template. It’s about patience, intention, leaning into what already works organically, and aligning with human behavior.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Should I sell to cold traffic with my first ads?

We don’t. We warm up cold audiences first by running proven organic posts as reach and awareness ads with no pitch or call to action.

Do I need to record new ads to start?

Not with our approach. In your first month, we use your best-performing existing posts, chosen by saves, comments, DMs, and ManyChat activity.

Why does warming up cold audiences work?

It builds familiarity. When people see your ideas and tone more than once, they recognize you instead of resisting you. So a later offer feels natural.