5 Ways Paid Ads Will Deteriorate Your Business
Let’s talk about what has led me to a point in my life where I’m creating and sharing fun listicles like “5 Ways Facebook Advertising Will Deteriorate Your Business.” AKA story time!
I had an online boutique for a few years and by shear luck, it was pretty successful… till it wasn’t. I thought, “ok time to hire someone to advertise for me.” My success had pretty much been a result of organic traffic thus far, but it had become stagnant. Without reviewing the overall health of my business (mostly because I didn’t know what I didn’t know), I hired a VERY VERY VERY expensive marketing company to run Facebook ads for me. I knew I could learn how to do it myself, but others had been having a ton of success with this company and I didn’t want to add more to my plate, so I jumped in.
They took my money and off we went with the ads. After 2 months and $$$$$ down the drain, the ads were not converting. When I asked what was going on, the CEO of their company took a look at my ad account and said he couldn’t figure out why my ads didn’t convert, but was confident they could break through if I continued to work with them.
I honestly could not afford to keep going and terminated the contract.
I spent the rest of the year teaching myself how to run Facebook ads and started to hire out my services to businesses who needed ads at an affordable rate.
As I started to work with more and more businesses, I started to realize that Facebook is ON YOUR SIDE. They want the ads to work and they have the data to make sure they work. When they don’t work, it’s usually because of several operational issues are standing in the way, which Facebook has zero control over.
Let’s dive into what I’ve found to be the top 5 things I’ve most commonly found that prevent Facebook ads from converting. What I like to tell my clients, is that unfortunately I cannot turn water into wine. Even if you’re spending $100/ day on ads, if the business isn’t optimized for conversions, you’ll be flushing that $100/ day down the drain, in turn deteriorating your business.
Pics that don’t convert
Whether you are selling products, services or coaching, you NEED pictures on your website that convert. If you are in the business of e-commerce, you’ve gotta double down on your product pics. People like to see what they are buying, whether it’s a shirt, a course or a coaching session with you. They need to build a relationship with you and/ or the item they are giving up their hard earned dollars for.
Unfortunately it’s not enough to just have a picture of the item, nor is throwing up the stock picture satisfactory. If you sell things like clothes, a mirror selfie will out perform a stock photo all day long. If you sell courses, don’t you dare buy stock images of random people to put on your site. Can these types of bland, emotionless, impersonal images work? Sure, but you’ll improve your chances of success much more if you use that valuable real estate to form a personal relationship with your potential clients though imagery on your site.
Nothing available for purchase or download
If you are selling courses or coaching services - MAKE SURE not all spots are full. If that is the case, HOORAY, but don’t run ads selling those courses or coaching services. Instead, run lead gen ads, which allow you to offer something of value to cultivate a list for when you’re not fully booked.
If you are selling products and/ or clothing - MAKE SURE you are not sold out of everything. If you are advertising a shirt, but 5/8 sizes are sold out, you are WASTING money targeting a broad audience. Yes, there are many ways to circumvent this with things like size specific ads, however not every platform allows this, nor does this work on cold audiences. I LOVE that you have ordered products and sell out fast, but you’ve gotta dance the line between offering a wide variety of styles along with those styles being available to purchase. This doesn’t mean you need to order certain products just for ads or maintain a full stock in every style, but make sure your inventory is flowing.
Lack of details on your website - This should essentially speak DIRECTLY to your ideal client in order to build their confidence in YOU and what you’re offering. The basics include:
Who are you: every website should have an about page, this offers credibility to your business and enhances the relationship with your customer!
What are you selling/ offering: clothes in all sizes, plus size, non plus; coaching services geared towards moms, young 20’s, older gen.
Product details: I cannot stress this one enough, louder for the people in the back - PRODUCT DETAILS. This is the perfect opportunity for you to overshare. I want to know every single detail of what is included; down to SIZING, shipping details and course outline.
A note about sizing: Please please please expand beyond “true to size,” as that can vary SO much. At the bare minimum, put the S/M/L/XL/1XL/2XL/3XL dress size conversion, also include what your normal dress size is and what size you’re modeling.
Not using the algorithm to your benefit - But wait, you’re paying for ads, why does the algorithm come into play at all? Let me break it down into good, better, best scenarios.
Good - I click on your ad, explore your site, don’t purchase, get a retargeting ad in a few days, make a purchase.
Better - I click on your ad, explore your site, make a purchase, receive a discount code for a future purchase via email, click the social links in your email and like your Facebook page
Best - I click on your ad, explore your site, purchase initially or via retargeting, see a non paid post with a familiar face (aka yours) in my feed a few days later, COMMENT on that post, my comment shows up in my friends feeds, while more of your super engaging organic posts show up in my feed, I engage, we become besties.
Lack of communication with your marketer - this MUST be a two way street.
You and your marketer need to be on the same page in terms of reporting, success, creative, copy, inventory levels, etc.
This is pretty basic, but as a marketer, I’ve had a REALLY hard time getting a hold of people I’m running ads for and it’s really frustrating. Likewise, I’ve heard from clients that past marketers haven’t kept them up to speed on the success or challenges of their ads and I just find this mind boggling. You are letting them spend your money, make sure they are spending it wisely with regular reporting and communication. If it’s not getting the desired results, make sure they can tell you why. ;)
You also NEED to let your marketer do the job you hired them to do. If you are not satisfied with the way something is being done, communicate that so y’all can get on the same page. Do your best to avoid taking things into your own hands because THEY are the expert and likely have things in place that edits could severely impact.
Pro Tip: Whether you work with me or anyone else running your Facebook ads, if they aren’t converting AND that person cannot tell you why - RUN. This means they are not vested enough in your business to do a deep dive, nor are they committed to the success of your business.