Every day we talk to our clients and explain the plan we have for their business’s online marketing, so that it reaches its goal. In one of these conversations, we wanted to help a client see that we can’t just run sales ads, and that in the long run this would hurt his business. So we gave him the example below, which we want to share with all of you.
What happened to advertising on Meta and Google
First, a reminder that things are not what they used to be in advertising, which has changed since 2020–2021 with the arrival of personal data protection rules in our lives. As a quick reminder, in the past the algorithm on Facebook and Google knew what we wanted to buy even before we did(!) and tempted us with it. Even a simple sales ad could easily bring in a 10x ROAS, whereas today that seems unbelievable (always depending on the industry, of course).
Today, as well as the changes in ROAS and profitability, we need to understand that our marketing has to be holistic, and that, besides sales ads, our business has to look after its overall image (branding). In short, it needs to have prepared the potential customer before the sale and to “sweeten” them between the first sale and every one after it.
Flirting and marketing
Perhaps the most successful saying we have ever heard is this one
Sales are like flirting: desperation is a turn-off
Even in the face of rejection or setbacks, remember that every no brings you one step closer to a yes.
But let’s look at the example we gave our client. For the sake of brevity, we will say that we are a man and the potential customer is a woman, without wanting to get into any debate about anyone’s gender.
If a man is in a bar, sees a woman he likes, walks straight up to her and tells her he wants to kiss her, you can see that the failure rate will be huge (not to mention the slap he might get) . By the kiss we mean the first sale, and if he asked her to start a relationship, you can imagine the chances would be even lower. (By starting a relationship we mean becoming a loyal customer.)
Traffic campaigns
So what could he do before asking to kiss her? First of all, he could talk to her sweetly, introduce himself and ask her out on a second date. In the world of funnels, this would be a Google or Meta traffic ad that simply gets users who don’t intend to buy to learn about our business or product. In this ad we don’t ask anyone to buy anything; we simply highlight the benefits of our products or services.
Awareness Campaigns
Before we get to “meeting her”, it would be very good if she had simply seen us once or twice, or had met us through friends, without us talking about anything more with her. Of course, we should be wearing nice clothes (always to her taste) and, if possible, make an impression on her. At this stage we are talking about awareness campaigns on Meta (Facebook and Instagram), YouTube videos and display. We simply present our business in the best possible way and show its best side. This is usually done with a video that talks about the value we can offer the potential customer or the problem our products solve.
Sales Campaigns
The time has come for our hero to kiss the girl. For that to happen, the date he has taken her on obviously needs to be lovely, and he needs to look after himself too. How likely is he to kiss her if he is dirty and covered in sweat? Going back to the marketing side, we can see that our ad has to be polished and our landing page has to be full of information and good-quality photos.
Often (probably most of the time), if our product is more expensive, isn’t that easy to sell or isn’t an everyday essential, we shouldn’t go straight for the sale. The best solution would be to build a funnel that might first aim for add-to-cart and then, with remarketing (repeat advertising to people who already know us), aim for the sale by creating a sense of urgency or a one-time deal. So perhaps we shouldn’t try to kiss the girl on the first date.
Loyal customers
If our hero kisses the girl and really likes her, his goal is probably to make her his girlfriend and maybe marry her later on! For that to happen, he has to keep reminding her of his love, give her gifts and generally look after her.
In sales and service, what we have to do is get the customer who has bought from us to buy again within the next 180 days. We can do this with a series of emails sent to the customer so that they don’t forget us, and to remind them of offers and of our unique products or services. The emails should obviously be automated and as personalised as possible, both in content and in tone of voice (don’t forget, they have already bought from us once).
Another thing we can do with Google Ads and Meta is create lists of our customers’ email addresses and show them ads with content that may interest them! For example, if someone bought women’s ankle boots, it would be good to show them our court shoes, and then in 4–5 months our summer sandals!
One funnel for the whole site or one per product area?
If our website or e-shop offers services or products of different kinds, the funnel should be built per product category. If the products or services are aimed at one specific type of customer, then there can be just one funnel, e.g. if we only sell women’s shoes, with different ads or different ad sets.
Whatever we do, we need to understand that we should work to a plan and adjust that plan based on the data coming in from our ads. These days, of course, the algorithms’ AI tries more and more to optimise results automatically, but it is up to us to adapt the creatives to each stage of the funnel.
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