Is it an ideal time to run Facebook ads? Easily-overlooked factors that can impact your ROI

This post contains affiliate resources.

It’s easy for people to think, oh I tried email marketing/ads/social media/etc, and didn’t get much of a return. 

But it’s important to keep in mind that each channel is simply a tool for nurturing your business. And the high level strategy, the more nuanced details, your consistency, and process for testing the outcomes of your efforts can really make an impact in the outcomes you’ll see.

Also, because of the award-winning, timeframe-shattering metrics that business coaches understandably put to the forefront, it can be easy to think that just because your “first go” fell flat, the channel itself (or your entire business) is a flop.

In a lot of cases, those award-winning metrics are real, but they’re also surrounded by lots of trial and error, learning, shifting, growing, etc. In actuality, the back end of online business is inherently super messy. I imagine it’s how flying a plane would be. A little stressful to get a bunch of important factors to sync up at once (your brand positioning, your messaging, your ideal client, your funnel, your mindset, etc)—until you gain some proficiency, then it’s easier to work the controls, and stay in the air.

Alright, so back to Facebook Ads.

It can be easy for Facebook Ads to look like a machine you can drop coins into, and always have more coins come out. 

But in actuality, FB ads act more like a magnifying glass.

I worked with one highly established tech company, who I believe were investing about 10k a month in ads. But they didn’t have a clear goal for those ads. So the ad messaging was mismatched with the traffic destination. And they didn’t have a clear, measurable goal for what KPI they were looking to impact, so the majority of that money was “leaking” out of their funnel. 

Same goes for business owners who are newer to the online space. They also find that money leaks out their funnel, but often it’s because their funnel is less established. It’s sparse, in the sense that maybe they have great lead gen, but mismatched (or no) clear offers, misaligned pricing, and web pages that are broken. Often, they aren’t sure who they’re trying to help, and by default, don’t know what kind of solutions this audience would love to see from them.

Your ad budget can amplify areas of your online business that are working well, but will sadly pool (and leak out) at whatever sections of your funnel are broken.

So to get the most out of ads, it’s often helpful if you wait to run them until you build a funnel that’s tested and proven to convert well, then use ads to amplify that success.

(This is what I do best. Helping you clarify your niche, ideal client, irresistible offers, pricing, etc through data and research, so you can build a funnel that converts like a well-oiled machine). 

But you don’t have to be 10 years in business before you run your first ad. If you at least create a clearly defined landing page and have clearly defined goals around what you’d like to achieve with your ads, your investment in ads will be that much more likely to yield that, specific return.

One more thing when it comes to ads.

It takes skill to set up and run the back end of ad platforms. And you’ll need to understand how to analyze the results. When to make changes, and when to keep the same ads running. And you’ll likely need to run them for way longer than a couple weeks to really evaluate how things are going. 

I have often had wonky experiences with ad agencies—you don’t always know which team member is doing the work (hello project manager writing copy), you don’t always know if they’re selling you what you truly need, or padding the bill. And the employees are often way overworked. Plus, did anyone, especially that new team member “jumping in” read the nuances about your business?

But recently I met the owners of an incredibly small ad agency, who truly care about the quality of the work. They have a couple other team members as support, but they oversee everything. They seem to really know their stuff, and they’re great communicators. And their pricing is incredibly reasonable. 

If you have a funnel that’s tested and proven to convert well, and you have at least 2k/month to spend on ads to amplify your success across the next year, send me a message and I’ll introduce you.

If your funnel is still disjointed, and not working as you would like, it’s a good idea to work with me first (provided you know the value of business advisory, and have the budget to invest in private coaching). You can find out more about my work here.

One other thing to keep in mind with Facebook ads…

Anytime you have traffic from ads, it’s cold. 

Meaning, they don’t know you. They’re “just off the street,” wondering whose “home” they just stepped into. So you need a clear plan to invite them in, introduce yourself, and have a strategically tailored way for them to take the next step with you in your business. 

All in all, if you want to toss some coins into the “ad machine,” just do it at the right time, with the right preparation, and the right support, and you’re much more likely to see a whole lot more come back your way.