Advertising checklist before moving forward
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This is a companion workshop to #101: A Solopreneur’s Advertising Journey
Are you ready to advertise?
If you are considering adding advertising to your marketing and lead generation, answer these questions first:
Do you have the knowledge, expertise and current experience using the advertising platform you want and skill set to manage your own advertising campaigns?
If not, do you have a team or partner ad firm who can work with you to strategize, build and maintain your ad campaign(s) ongoing?
Do you have a decent list of engaged email addresses you can leverage to create lookalike audiences in Facebook?
Do you have a variety of free value you can continually offer new prospects and an ongoing way to nurture them that’s automated?
Do you have the appropriate metrics set up so you can do A/B testing to see which campaign works best?
Do you clearly know your client’s journey through awareness to purchase?
Do you want to grow your business awareness and client base or are you scraping by and going for advertising out of desperation?
Do you have consistent revenue to support your ad budget and can you sustain the ad costs (which could range from $500 to thousands per month) over six months without an ROI?
Best practices dictate that you add advertising when your business is running well and you have an existing client base you can draw intelligence from as well as finance over time.
“Advertising is like getting married. It’s a commitment that you need to be sure you and your business are ready for. It requires patience and an investment in time and effort to yield results.”
You also may be facing a very competitive market depending on your industry. For example, Facebook is saturated with marketing coaches. If you were to advertise on Facebook, even if you had a great list to upload and a unique selling proposition (USP), you would still be facing heavy competition. Put yourself in your prospects shoes—what are they seeing every day online? What messages are they being inundated with? How can you be different?
If your content marketing strategies are not working to build your list and create awareness that leads to consults and introductory engagements, I would revisit your strategy there and your content and market before advertising. Running ads should be for business growth, not for business CPR.
Advertising is costly. If you’re ready to add exposure and build awareness, ads may be a pathway. Much depends on your business, your market, and the buying habits of your typical client. Use your PappyClub Membership to engage and get recommendations that fit your unique business.🍀
