This post is part of an occasional series that we do where we answer questions that we think could be helpful for others out there. Have a question you want answered? Drop us a line and we might just feature your question on the next installment!
“I recently started a landscape lighting business and am looking into adding Facebook Ads to my lists of ways to market and advertise my business locally. Would you recommend it? And if so, do you have any tips for me?”
So here’s the thing, Facebook ads can be either a godsend or a bottomless money pit and usually the difference comes down to whether you clearly define what you want your result to be, if you plan out your entire marketing sequence (people aren’t just going to click an ad and become a customer in most cases), and if you have a very clear picture of who your ideal customer is. Sit down and plan out each of those items before you ever make a click.
What is Your Marketing Sequence? Like I mentioned, potential customers probably aren’t going to just click your ad and magically be a customer. Most likely you’ll have to build up the relationship a little bit. Have a dedicated landing page to deliver the user to when they click on the ad that gives them exactly what they are looking for when they clicked the ad. Was your ad about how to build a landscape that is well suited for artistic lighting at night? Great! Make sure that the landing page is tailored to educating the reader on how to begin preparing a landscape to be lit and some of the best ways to do that. Was the ad about HOW to light a landscape? Make sure that they learn the basic elements of lighting a landscape. Was it simply showing off some cool work that you’ve done before and selling them on the ‘dream landscape’? You better make sure that when they get to that page they are seeing the best of the best that you’ve got and let your customer testimonials speak for you. Whatever the ad is, make sure that the landing page gives them exactly what they are looking for.
To take that point one step further, make sure that your Facebook page is nicely populated with relevant and interesting content. This is probably going to form their first impressions of your brand when they check out your page (and they WILL check out your page in most cases).
Do you have an email system in place for capturing leads? Is there a way they can schedule an appointment with you from that landing page? Plan out the journey that the customer will most likely take from where they are now to becoming your paying customer. How many touches will they need? What mediums will be needed to get in front of them? All of this will become your ad plan that the ads will funnel the traffic into.
An example of a funnel that you can use might be:
Facebook Ad > Landing Page > Email Capture (Lead Magnet, Video, or Other Offer) > Nurture Sequence > Consultation > Sale
Or a more simplistic version that is in vogue right now with the consultant-types:
Facebook Ad > Landing Page > Email Capture > Video Training > Free Consultation > Sale
Who is Your Ideal Customer? Know your customer better than you know yourself. Get in their head. What jobs do they have? Where do they live? What kinds of publications do they read, and where do they get their news? All of these items will help you craft your targeting for the ads which could be the most important part of the whole thing. Poor targeting will lead to wasting money and a failed campaign. You want the viewers of the ad to think to themselves, “Wow! That’s me! You MUST have the solution to my problem.”
Targeting as narrow as possible and split testing various interests will let you conserve your capital for only those customers who really need your services and are ready to talk to you. The easiest way to figure this out is to talk to your current and past customers. Take what you already know, and what you learn, and create a fictional person who is your perfect customer; then for every decision you make think about how this person would respond.
What is Your End Result? What do you want the viewer of the ad to do? Obviously the end result will be that you want them to become a customer, but how about the action that you want them to take for this specific ad? Do you want them to book a consult? Watch an educational video? Get on your mailing list? This goes back to the planning point I made above- make sure that you know what your results will be so that you can measure accordingly. If you run a campaign that is best suited for getting viewers to click on an ad then signup for an email list, it will obviously look like a failure if in your mind you wanted consultations scheduled. But on the other hand if you ran a campaign where you wanted to get viewers to watch a video then get on your mailing list and they end up booking appointments, then you will be pretty happy, won’t you?
Know your goals to avoid frustration.
I think the last thing that I can add is simply to measure everything. Track clicks, views, web traffic, etc. Every dimension that you can possibly measure- do so. This kind of data will help you optimize your campaigns and know what areas need to be improved if something isn’t working.
Do you need a hand with something in your marketing? Feel free to reach out any time and we would be more than happy to talk with you, either just to lend some advice or as a potential future client!