Let’s talk about one of my favorite topics - Facebook ads.
FYI, when I say Facebook ads, I mean Instagram ads as well. I do both Facebook and Instagram together for all of my clients now. But for shorthand, I’ll say Facebook ads even when I mean both FB and IG ads.
So anyway, I want to talk about some of the most common mistakes that I see online coaches making with their ads to help you avoid these potential mistakes.
I’ve been running ads since 2016 when I did my first campaign for my own business. We'll talk about the mistakes I made when I was first starting out. I’ve actually made several of these 5 mistakes myself!
But first, I want to mention that I have seen so many things go right with Facebook and Instagram ads! I’ve had clients who…
Quadrupled her email list with ads
Grew her Facebook group from 40 people to 836 people
Achieved her very first $30,000 launch for her high end program after running Facebook ads to build her audience.
Don’t get discouraged and assume that Facebook ads will never work. You just need to have all your ducks in a row. I don't want you to waste your time, energy and money on ads
So, what is the difference between the Facebook ads fails and the Facebook ads wins?
Mistake #1: Trying to fix your business with ads
This is a big one. It's really unfortunate.
I have seen people posting in Facebook groups that they’re about to go out of business and they need to run some ads. That's a terrible plan. Really. It's going to make you go out of business faster than ever because you'll be spending money on ads to advertise something that isn't working.
So I like to think of it like this: ads only amplify what's already happening in your business. They don't change what's happening, they give you more. So if your business is successful and you are making sales then ads will amplify that and bring more people into your world who will become clients.
However, if your sales process or your messaging or your offer is not working, the best ads in the world aren’t going to fix that.
So many entrepreneurs assume that all you need is to get your message in front of more people and then everything will be better. But it’s just not true!
If you're not able to convert your existing audience into clients and make money, then running ads is not going to help. There's something else going on with your marketing and sales process that needs to be addressed.
The other thing that can happen if you're trying to fix your business with ads, is that you might put too much pressure on making money back right away. Getting ads and funnel to convert requires months of testing and several thousand dollars.
So if you're cutting it too tight, you're going to be super stressed out.
And if you hire a contractor like me to help you, then they’ll be stressed as well! (I know this from personal experience lol)
Ads are something to do when you're really successful. You want to have a financial buffer to invest in growing your audience and email list.
Ads aren’t a great move if you’re up against the wall and you need to make some quick revenue.
Mistake #2: No proven offer
This goes along with mistake number one - not having a proven offer.
What I mean by this is that you want to be really confident that people want and will purchase whatever you're selling before you start running ads to bring more people into your funnel and audience.
Sometimes coaches who are really new in business and haven't really figured out what their signature program is yet will come to me and say, “Hey, let's run some ads. I need to build my email list.”
That's usually not a great plan because yes, we can definitely build your email list.
However, if you're not super clear on who your ideal client is and how you help them and you know your offer is tried and true, you’re not going to get a great return on your investment.
I've seen this happen, unfortunately. I’ve had clients invest in running ads but something in the funnel and customer journey was missing the mark. So the leads that we brought in didn’t convert into sales. And everyone was discouraged and disappointed.
I don't want that to happen to you. Make sure that you have a successful offer, and then build your Facebook ads and your funnel backwards from that offer so that you're leading people down that path towards working with you.
And I have one other caveat as well. Let's say you're a successful coach and you’re ready to scale. You’ve got your offer and sales process dialed in and you’re thinking, “This is working! Let’s amplify it with ads, like Delight said.”
That is a great plan. However, I want you to be aware that it still takes time for a potential client who is totally cold and has never seen your face before to become a paying customer/client.
You still want to set the expectation that you’ll have to tweak your funnel or your customer journey because paid traffic can react differently to your content than organic traffic. People are in a different mindset when they meet you through an ad than when they find you while they’re searching or scrolling.
Mistake #3: Expecting to make 6 figures in profit from a $27 digital product
I get questions about this type of strategy for promoting a low cost digital product with ads.
This is a strategy that has been out there a lot in the last 2ish years and you may see ads about it pop up. There are some coaches who are pushing it. Hard.
A more traditional ad strategy is to advertise a free lead magnet, then make your paid offer over email. Sometimes you can sneak a low priced offer onto the thank you page when people sign up for a lead magnet, and a lot of my clients have seen success with this.
This method says don't do a free lead magnet, do a paid one. Charge like $27 or $37 or something under $50 or even under $100. And then the people who purchase this product will be higher quality leads who will go on to convert into clients for your high end programs.
Even though these people came into your world through a low price point offer, we know that they’re not total freebie seekers. These are people who are ready and willing to buy.
Sounds good, right? But I don't know that logic necessarily holds up. It sounds good. If you're a high end coach and you have a $3000, $10,000 or $20,000 program, it’s quite a leap for your leads to go from paying $27 to thousands for a coaching program.
When I have done these ads for clients, it was a struggle. It was very, very difficult to get them actually building their leads and their email list with this low price product.
In my experience, it’s much easier to start a relationship with people with a free offer than a low priced offer.
Now, I’m not saying that you should have a low priced offer or that you should never advertise a low priced offer.
The main mistake here is expecting to make a ton of PROFIT from sales of a $27 digital product.
You want to think of ads for a product like this as a way to offset your list building costs. Breaking even between your ad spend and your sales is a great goal here.
These types of ads and products are typically not going to skyrocket you into your next level of income because the price is just too low. If you're investing in Facebook ads and potentially someone like me who's going to run them for you, then you just need to be aware that that price point doesn't give you much room for profit when it's all said and done.
Instead of doing ads straight to the $27 offer, I prefer to advertise the free lead magnet and then offer the low priced product on the thank you page or in an email sequence.
I like to get people's email and be able to build that relationship over email and invite them to your Facebook group or your Instagram, things like that, as opposed to just going straight to the purchase.
Mistake #4: Free lead magnet doesn’t align with paid offer
Before I go on to mistake number four, I want to let you know that this episode is sponsored by my Rising Star Facebook Ads Management Package. This is my entry level list building package that is meant for successful coaches to help you grow your email list, your following on Instagram and Facebook, and your Facebook group. This package provides next level visibility for your business by getting in front of more people and helping them know like and trust you.
So if that's you - if you're successful and you're ready to amplify that success in scale - then you can reach out to me here.
I’ve worked with a lot of different coaches. I especially like working with life coaches, because I think that can be a tricky market as far as targeting and copywriting. But I get better and better at it every year.
If you're interested in working with me in my Rising Star package to grow your audience and email list, then contact me here.
Alright, so let's move on to mistake number four: advertising a free lead magnet that doesn’t align with your paid offer.
This is a big mistake because you can grow your email list, but you may discover that the people coming in are not ready or able to purchase a paid offer from you.
I made this mistake in my very first ad campaign. It's funny to think about it now. It seems so obvious, but I was new in business. I didn't see it. I was too close to it.
I had this course on meditation. To grow my audience for launching the course, I decided to advertise a webinar about life purpose from a spiritual perspective. So I did this webinar on life purpose, and then I tried to sell a course about meditation.
In my mind, those two things connected. You could figure out what your life purpose is by meditating or align with your life purpose by meditating, but it’s really not a straight line. Especially when you're investing in Facebook ads.
What I should have done is a webinar about meditation that explains why meditation is great and how it can benefit you. Then it was an easy step to pitch my course by saying: if you want to start practicing meditation, here's my 30 day meditation course. We've got a different guided meditation every day, join it, blah, blah, blah.
See how that's way more of a straight line from the free lead magnet to the paid offer?
In this case, the free lead magnet was a webinar, but the same thing applies if you’re doing a video series, a PDF guide, etc. You just need the topic and the content to speak to the ideal client for your paid offer and attract them in.
Mistake #5: Hiring the wrong ads manager
The first type of ads manager you can work with that could be the wrong fit for you is… yourself! If you’re a person who doesn’t like tech, you're not great with numbers, you don't geek out on analytics and data, then you don't want to be running your own ads, especially long term.
If you're more of a right-brained, creative person who didn’t like math in school and you don’t thrive when using spreadsheets, then doing your own ads is going to make you want to punch yourself in the face!
I've been doing this for many years and it sometimes still makes me want to punch myself in the face. If the math and tech pieces aren’t your zone of genius, don't put yourself through that pain of trying to do your own ads.
Ok, so if you’re not going to do ads yourself, then who is?
Some business owners talk to their virtual assistant (VA) and say - “Hey, could you run some ads for me?”
This is not a great plan unless your VA has training in ads and keeps up with all of the updates and changes.
I had a client who came to me after trying ads this way. Her VA had never run ads before, but she thought she could figure it out with Google and YouTube.
They were advertising a webinar, and the cost per sign up for the webinar was like $30, which is way too high. So they hired me to fix it.
I got in there and I was able to convert leads for this webinar at $4-$5 each, because I have way more training than this VA did.
I’ve been doing ads since 2016 and I’m actually in a group where I have access to ads coaches. I pay hundreds a month to help me keep up with the trends and the changes and going on with Facebook and Instagram. Most VA’s aren't deep diving into ads this way.
The other type of Facebook Ads Manager that could be the wrong fit is a cheap and shady Facebook Ads Manager.
I have this quote from somebody who I know from a Facebook group. Here's what she said about her experience - “I hired the wrong ‘ad guru’ who was low budget and super shady. I'm reasonably savvy with Facebook ads, but I do need to hire someone more knowledgeable than myself to run them for me.”
Of course, there are some quality, budget-friendly ads managers. But I've heard many stories like this from coaches who hired an ads manager that charged a very low price and did not deliver any type of return on investment.
And the last type of wrong ads manager could be somebody who is more of a bro marketer. If you’re a coach who is a heart-centered, soulful person and you truly want to impact people in a positive way with your business, then you need to work with marketers who are on the same wavelength.
I was just taking a look at somebody's system the other day and this was a woman who's a coach and a therapist and has this really good branding and vibe on Instagram and her website.
She had paid a lot of money to join a program where they set up her funnel and ads but she wasn’t having success and wanted a second opinion. So I asked to see what she was advertising.
She showed me the landing page and it was unbelievably dull and boring. It looked like a marketer made it. It did not match with the rest of her brand and website at all. It didn’t feel like her.
I believe that it’s important for your potential clients to have a good experience with you from start to finish.
There's the ad, landing page, thank you page, email sequence and then a sales page or book a call page. I want all of these to look and feel like my clients. It’s going to help them attract the right people.
Instead of jamming my client into like a cookie cutter solution that's worked for other people, I want to create a system that serves them by aligning with their brand, messaging and vibe.
I hope this was helpful to you!
As I mentioned, I have space available for new clients in my Rising Star package. If you have a proven offer and you’re ready to grow without the headache of dealing with ads, tech, data, etc., then apply for a strategy session here.
