5 Things to get right BEFORE you spend money on Facebook and Google Ads
Laura White is a Wild member and Digital Marketing Consultant. Laura runs our digital marketing for us and has changed the game when it comes to reaching new audiences and has increased signups by 50%.
So I asked Laura to share some wisdom with us/you! And she didn’t disappoint.
As a Digital Marketing Consultant, I speak with lots of small and independent business owners who are looking to grow their brands online presence and reach a wider audience.
Usually, top of their list of things to try, or things they’ve tried that haven’t been working for them are Meta and Google Ads.
Lots of businesses see ads as a quick fix; especially right now as the impact of the cost of living crisis takes hold - Companies are seeing higher competition as their customers' disposable income shrinks, and are desperately looking for ways to boost sales.
At first glance, online ads do seem like the answer. They can be relatively quick to set up, you’re in full control of the messaging and budget, and as soon as they are switched on they can bring an influx of traffic to your website. Perfect, right??
Well yes, AND no. The truth is ads, as with most other digital marketing channels, have a knack of amplifying what is right, and what is wrong with a website.
If you have a website with a well thought out customer journey which naturally converts well, then yes - Ads will help bring more customers to an already proven funnel.
If you’re looking to try ads because you’re not getting any organic sales on your site despite having visitors, handing your marketing budget over to Meta or Google (right now) will not save the day.
Instead, you need to be looking a little closer to home to make sure your website is in the best possible shape it can be before you turn on the money tap.
Here are my top 5 tips of things you need to be getting right BEFORE you spend money on Facebook and Google Ads:
Back to Basics
If your website doesn’t convert, adding another 1,000 visitors a day to it is unlikely to help. Instead you need to take a step back and identify the areas which could be preventing your customers from engaging with your brand.
Ask yourself:
- Does my website seem trustworthy to a brand new customer? If not, are there any product reviews or testimonials you could add?
- Do my product pages contain high quality product images and detailed product descriptions to help customers know exactly what they’ll be getting?
- Is it easy to navigate on Mobile AND Desktop?
- Do I have an easy to use, streamlined checkout process?
- Are my delivery costs competitive / in line with my competitors?
If you’re too close to the content to be able to objectively answer these questions, look into speaking to an expert.
Is your SEO up to scratch?
Although SEO and Google Ads are two completely different marketing channels, lots of the same Google algorithms are in play when determining how effective your campaign will be.
For example if your website is slow to load, it will be more expensive for your ads to rank above a competitor with a faster website. The same goes if your ads are directing visitors to a landing page with content that isn’t relevant to the users initial Google search term. By focusing on your site's SEO prior to setting up your first ad, you’ll be optimising your Google Budget in the long run.
Think Holistically
Ads are only ONE part of the customer journey.
For a campaign to work well, customers need to flow seamlessly from your ad, to landing page then on to the checkout process.
This means you need to create BESPOKE landing pages tailored specifically for the ad campaign you are running. Directing potential customers from a well thought out ad, through to a generic homepage will only result in them bouncing from the site. The same goes for a complicated checkout process - Too many clicks and your ideal customer will leave without buying.
Quality over Quantity
When it comes to the crunch, having high visitor numbers is really a vanity metric if none of those visitors are converting into sales.
In order to attract high quality leads you need to have a clear picture of your customer in mind and use this image when creating target audiences and refining creatives.
Remember, it’s estimated that we see anything between 50-400 ads per day as we go about our lives. For your ads to stand out, you need to do the research to make sure they resonate with your ideal customers.
Look at your Calendar
Basic ads can be knocked up in an afternoon. GOOD ads with the ‘right’ messaging that reaches your target audience AND converts take a little bit longer.
For example, if you sell paddling pools and your peak season is Summer, you don’t want to start planning your campaigns on the first day of a heatwave, you need to give yourself time to get the basics in place.
Realistically, if you’re an ecommerce business that makes most of your revenue in the run up to Christmas, you want to be thinking in July/August about the products, content, Ad copy and Landing pages you’ll need to create so that you're ready for an October launch.
Basically, pick a launch date for a campaign. Write a list of all the things that need to be considered within the campaign and work backwards…These things often take longer than you expect.
Of course, this list doesn’t guarantee complete success, however i can guarantee that by considering all of the above before embarking on your first ad campaigns, you will save yourself a lot of time and miss-spent budget in the long run.
Laura is a Digital Marketing Consultant with 15+ years experience of driving Digital Marketing Campaigns and Strategy for both large scale Global eCommerce organisations and small scale Local Startups. You can find out more about her work by visiting her website: Laura White Freelance or following her on Instagram: @laurawhitefreelance