You’re (Probably) Not Ready For
Facebook Ads

There’s no doubt about it, Facebook ads can be a powerful tool to use to grow your business.

You’ve probably read articles or seen posts about businesses that can put $1 into Facebook ads and earn $2 in return. A return on investment like that is incredible! It makes sense that so many people want to get in on the action.

We have dreams of putting up an ad and using it to grow our list quickly, and then converting loads of people to sign up for our programs.

But the truth is that Facebook Ads aren’t the slam dunk you hope they are.

What’s often not talked about is that a lot of businesses are NOT ready for Facebook ads.

Facebook ads can work well – IF you have a strategy. Without a solid strategy in place, you could burn through a few hundred dollars in a weekend with no results to show for it. (Gosh, I would hate for that to happen to you!)

I didn’t start using Facebook ads for my business until I was about 3 years in. I can say honestly that Facebook ads have helped with the growth of my business, but I’ve also learned a lot of expensive lessons along the way.

The biggest lesson?

Facebook ads only work if you are 100% ready.

Facebook ads need to be meticulously planned and understood beforehand. If not, you could be in for a painful and expensive mistake.

Let’s discuss 3 reasons you might not be ready for Facebook ads.

Reason #1: You don’t have a strategy

As with everything in your business, you need to start with a strategy in mind in order to be successful.

Here are some of the things you want to have mapped out:

• What are you promoting exactly?
• What action do you want people to take once they click on your ad?
• How will you nurture these new leads into becoming paying clients?

You should also keep in mind the price of what you’re selling and determine how much you are willing to pay per lead.

Do the math and figure out the numbers ahead of time so you can set a smart budget and know what a positive ROI means for you.

Reason #2: You’ve never used the Facebook ads platform

Facebook ads may seem easy to create – all you need is an image and some text, right?

Well, there’s a little more to it.

Facebook ads actually have a pretty steep learning curve. From knowing what images work best, to how to select your audience, to the actual platform itself.

There is a lot and it can be overwhelming!

People spend months – even years – learning how to create and manage ads that convert and generate a positive return on investment.

Depending on how things are running in your business, taking the time to learn and master Facebook ads may not be the best use of your time.

Facebook ad management professionals and agencies can charge a pretty big price tag to do this for clients, because it really is a very specialized skill set. And even they sometimes have campaigns that flop!

Reason #3: You don’t have a tested sales funnel

You don’t want to spend money on ads simply as a way to collect leads.

You want to create ads that will (over time) lead to more clients and more revenue.

Creating a Facebook ad that leads to sales and/or paying clients isn’t as easy as choosing a fun picture and linking to your website.

Facebook ads work best when they’are part of a tested “funnel” that guides your potential client through a process.

(A funnel is simply the process you take someone through from the time they see your ad to the time they make a buying decision.)

A typical funnel includes:

• The ad itself – images and copy
• A landing page with enticing and engaging copy
• An opt in gift
• A follow-up email series
• A sales page with “buy now” buttons and some form of payment collection or sign up

To run successful Facebook ads, you have to have all of these pieces set up and tested so you know they perform well. If even one part of this funnel isn’t keeping your potential clients engaged and moving them to the next step, your campaign won’t be successful.

If you’re testing your funnel with Facebook ads, you could be running a very pricey experiment. That’s why it’s best to test it as much as possible with free traffic so you can make the needed tweaks and changes ahead of time.

 
If you don’t have all of the above elements tested, I would recommend holding off on using Facebook ads. Get those things in place so you can proceed with confidence.

And if you’re not ready for ads, that’s totally ok. Here’s what you can do in the meantime to drive people to your offers and test each part of your sales funnel:

• Social media
• Facebook lives
• Facebook groups
• Write guest posts or get on podcasts as a guest
• Ask colleagues or promotional partners to promote your free gift

The more you build up your audience organically, the better your Facebook ads will perform in the future.

 
Now I’d love to hear from you:
Are you interested in using Facebook ads some day? What do you think you need to work on to get there?