Often times I find that business owners get excited to use the free paid advertising tools available to them through Google, Facebook and other platforms only to be extremely disappointed when the tools “don’t work” or they “didn’t get anything” when they ran several ads.
Here are the top 3 mistakes I see business owners make when running campaigns on paid platforms:
- The platforms aren’t setup correctly!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reviewed an account that’s been setup only to find errant keywords, incorrect campaign structure or missing demographics associated with an ad. Not only are these platforms intricate and difficult to understand but they don’t offer much in the realm of “help” when it comes to setting up campaigns. The best way to avoid this mistake is have a professional setup your accounts. Don’t turn over a channel you’re prepared to spend money on over to an intern!
- Too much spend or not enough!
Another common pitfall of running campaigns is not having enough data to know if you’re actually hitting enough of your target market to be successful. A successful ad campaign depends on who you’re competing against, how much they’re spending and how competitive of a space you’re looking to advertise in. If you’re a local roofer, you’re going to be competing against other local roofing companies for those Google Search placements. If your competitors are spending big budgets then you’ll need to spend big to make a dent. Conversely, if you’re a business with few competitors and you’re looking to drive awareness, you may not need to spend a ton of money right away to get eyeballs on your products and services.
- Not enough time or money spent on the campaign!
Advertising is not an exact science however with today’s tools you can get very close to having almost near perfect predictive analysis when it comes to targeting. What you can’t control is when and if someone will buy your product or call you for a service. The biggest mistake I see business owners make when running campaigns is they don’t run the campaigns for long enough or spend enough money to have an effective return on investment. If you have a 4 to 6 month sales cycle, running a campaign for 30 to 60 days isn’t nearly enough time to get a return on your investment. If you need leads quickly then maybe running a more modest budget and tracking and measuring your results requires more upfront work before running campaigns. Ultimately, it comes down to your sales cycle, your need for new business and your ability to stick with campaigns for you to see results.
Running paid ad campaigns on channels like Facebook and Google are the best and most effective options for you to reach your target audience in the history of advertising. The beauty of these platforms is that it doesn’t take a lot of money to get going. What you want to focus on is making sure that you’ve setup the platforms correctly, find your audience and spend enough to reach them in the appropriate amount of time.
If you have questions about paid ads, social media or digital marketing, reach out to me at john@bluecomet.media. I look forward to helping you reach your target customers more effectively in the digital space!
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