Ep 40 - How do I know I’m ready to run Facebook and Instagram ads?

Episode Show Notes

Welcome to Beyond the Clinic! I’m Sarah Almond Bushell, and I’m so pleased you’re here. Whether you're a regular listener or joining us for the first time, you’re in the right place to gain practical, no-nonsense advice to help you grow your business with confidence.

In this episode, we’re diving into a hot topic - Facebook and Instagram ads. Are you tempted to give them a go but unsure if you're truly ready? I’ll be breaking down exactly what you need in place before you start investing in ads, helping you avoid costly mistakes and ensuring your hard-earned money is well spent.

Episode Summary

If you’ve ever found yourself posting consistently on social media but getting little engagement, you might have wondered whether running ads is the magic solution to your growth struggles. But here’s the thing, ads aren’t a quick fix. In this episode, I take you through the essentials you need to have in place before considering paid advertising, so you don’t waste valuable time and money. From understanding how ads amplify your existing marketing efforts to making sure your lead magnet, email sequences, and messaging are spot on, this episode will help you figure out whether you’re truly ready to take the plunge into Facebook and Instagram ads.

Key Takeaways

• Ads amplify what’s already working, if your marketing isn’t effective, ads won’t fix it.

• Engagement ads should come before conversion ads to build a warm, engaged audience.

• Your lead magnet and email funnel must be optimised before investing in ads.

• Running ads requires a clear budget and consistent strategy—turning them on and off can be costly.

• Tracking and analysing data is essential to making evidence-based decisions and adjusting your strategy.

Ready to take your marketing to the next level?

Before you dive into ads, make sure your marketing foundations are solid. If you need support with refining your strategy, I’m here to help. Book a discovery call with me and let’s make sure you’re set up for success.

Thanks for listening, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Let me know, are you ready to run ads, or do you have some groundwork to do first?

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Are you ready to build your business faster? 

Applications are open for spots in my Accelerate Mastermind where I will coach you step by step so you can build a business that brings more clients, more revenue and with that comes more freedom. You can apply for a spot here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind

The Master Plan:

Helping you build the business of your dreams. Get your 22 point step-by step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

Connect with me:

Website: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beyondtheclinicbusiness

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

Episode transcription:

[00:00:00] Sarah Almond Bushell: So, are you tempted to run Facebook and Instagram ads? It's a big decision that can have a significant impact on your business, but only if you approach it strategically. If you've been wondering whether ads could be the magic bullet for your slow business growth, then this episode is for you. Today, we'll unpack exactly what you need to have in place before taking the plunge into paid advertising.

[00:00:26] Sarah Almond Bushell: And by the end, you'll know whether ads are the right next step for you, or if there's a bit more groundwork to do first. It's all about how to avoid wasting your hard earned money. Let's dive in.

[00:00:40] Sarah Almond Bushell: So tell me, does this sound familiar? You are showing up on social media day after day, crafting posts that you believe are insightful, engaging, and exactly what your audience needs to hear. Yet, when you hit publish, it feels like your content Disappears into the void. Likes and comments and shares are just minimal, if they happen at all, and your follower count, well, it barely moves.

[00:01:10] Sarah Almond Bushell: Maybe you've spent hours designing beautiful posts, complete with super helpful captions and a really compelling call to action, only to watch. It received just a handful of likes or zero comments. And then you start to question yourself, you know, did I miss the mark with this? Is the algorithm against me or am I just rubbish at marketing?

[00:01:34] Sarah Almond Bushell: And maybe I'm just not cut out for any of this. So this cycle of effort and disappointment, it can leave us feeling really deflated, disheartened, and you even start to wonder whether social media is even really worth it. And at the same time, you're not gaining the momentum that you need in order to bring in the clients that you dream of working with.

[00:01:57] Sarah Almond Bushell: The clients who truly see the value of your expertise, who are ready to invest in themselves and improve their health through working with you. It is so frustrating because you know, your content is really valuable. You know, it could help people, but you feel like it's just not being seen.

[00:02:18] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then as if on cue, you see an ad yourself on your own newsfeed, promising to teach you how to run Facebook and Instagram ads, In order to grow your business. Now, the idea was really tempting. You start thinking, maybe ads are the missing piece here. But this is where it gets quite tricky.

[00:02:39] Sarah Almond Bushell: Ads can feel like the answer, an expensive shortcut to success, but they're not a magic wand. And that boost button lingers just there underneath your post. It seems so simple. You think you might as well give it a try. Ads seem like an attractive solution, don't they? They promise visibility, they promise engagement, they promise more followers and even new clients.

[00:03:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: But here's what most people don't realise. Running ads without understanding how they work strategically and how to optimise the results you get, is It's like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks. So first of all, ads are not created equal. There are engagement ads, there's conversion ads, there's traffic ads, and there's more, and each type is designed with a very specific objective in mind, and what most people do is choose the cheapest one, or sometimes just a random one, expecting it to make money for them.

[00:03:41] Sarah Almond Bushell: And when it doesn't, they walk away saying, well, ads just don't work for me. Or you might fiddle with those incredibly detailed targeting options, choosing women aged 25 to 55, who shop at Waitrose and read books about parenting and are interested in supplements and walking in the countryside and they watch EastEnders, but this targeting can be both a blessing.

[00:04:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: And a curse. If you don't know enough detail of who your ideal client is or how to reach them, you're going to end up showing your ads to the wrong people. And guess what? Wrong people don't convert into paying clients. Or maybe you've just pressed that boost button. That's even worse, actually. Sure, your ads will be shown to more people who may well like or comment, but these aren't your people.

[00:04:29] Sarah Almond Bushell: They're just clickers or commenters, and they are highly, highly unlikely to buy from you. But I think perhaps the most overlooked issue is the quality of your marketing. What most people don't realise is that ads work by amplifying what's already in place. The job of ads is traffic. Ads find the people you've asked it to find and do the objective that you've chosen.

[00:04:58] Sarah Almond Bushell: So if your marketing isn't working, ads just amplify that. And so your marketing won't work for more people. If people aren't opting in for your lead magnet without ads. More people won't opt in for it with ads. If your email sequence isn't engaging people without ads, it's still not going to be engaging people with ads.

[00:05:21] Sarah Almond Bushell: Ads just highlight those areas for improvement. They won't fix them. You need to do that as a marketer for your business. It breaks my heart when I see people spending hundreds of pounds on ads only to see no return. When you're running ads, that info is in the public domain. It has to be legally for transparency and so it's clear to marketing experts like me who's dabbling in ads and losing money fast.

[00:05:50] Sarah Almond Bushell: I've heard colleagues who think ads don't work for them. Question whether their business idea is even viable. But the truth is, it's often not your business that's the problem. It's the marketing strategy.

[00:06:03] Sarah Almond Bushell: So if you've been thinking about running ads, I'm going to let you know shortly whether you're ready for them or not. Ads are powerful, absolutely, but only when used correctly. And that's what you're going to be able to identify today. So this topic came up recently during one of my Accelerate Mastermind group calls.

[00:06:23] Sarah Almond Bushell: Some of my clients are already running ads to grow their audiences. While others, those who are a few steps behind have been asking, well, when should I start running ads, Sarah? And some who were about to start running their ads, I suggested they hit pause. And of course, this just creates confusion, doesn't it?

[00:06:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: I always say there's no one size fits all approach to business. And one of the things. All my clients get is personalised advice for their unique situation. Anyway, it's a great question and it reminded me of my own journey with ads. So a few years ago now, I worked with quite a famous marketing coach who also happened to run an agency specializing in Facebook and Instagram ads.

[00:07:10] Sarah Almond Bushell: And as part of her business development, she invited me to train with her and become a co coach for her clients. I said, yes, and for about 18 months, I was immersed in the world of ads, of online marketing, of strategy, learning absolutely everything that I could. So during this time, I gained such invaluable insights from all kinds of different businesses about what makes ads work and just importantly, what causes them to fail.

[00:07:38] Sarah Almond Bushell: I was also running engagement ads successfully in my own business. I like to think of engagement ads as a form of networking. They go out and they find the right people for me, potential customers who resonate with my message and engage with my content, building this lovely, large pool of warm leads who already like me and consume my content.

[00:08:03] Sarah Almond Bushell: So this large pool of engaged followers then become the foundation for my next step, conversion ads. When I present a lead magnet or a freebie to this warm audience, they can't wait to go and grab it. Why? Because they already know and like me, and my freebie is the perfect next step for them. This, of course, then grows my email list, where I can nurture these leads further and prepare them to become paying clients.

[00:08:31] Sarah Almond Bushell: It sounds simple, doesn't it? But here's the key. This strategy only works for me because my marketing is dialed in. Everything I learned from my mentor and other coaches since then, from creating compelling lead magnets, perfecting my opt in pages, to writing engaging email sequences, has been put into practice.

[00:08:54] Sarah Almond Bushell: It's been tested, it's been tweaked and it's been optimized. My ads don't just work by chance, they work because they're part of a cohesive and really well planned strategy. So let's talk about how to know whether you are ready to run ads and also how to do them the right way. So the first type of ad you want to run is an engagement ad.

[00:09:19] Sarah Almond Bushell: This is where you start. So think of these as your networking ads. The purpose of them is to grow a large, engaged, and warm audience of the right people, your ideal clients. So if you're sick of posting on social media and getting little in return, or you're feeling exhausted and burnt out, then these are the ads for you.

[00:09:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: Here's why engagement ads are crucial. Well, the simple truth is that your audience likely isn't seeing your posts because of these social media algorithms. Engagement ads solve this problem by putting your content in front of the right people, the people who are most likely to resonate with your message and they ask them to engage.

[00:10:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: So these ads are both cheap. And easy. They're easy because you can use a social media post that you've already created rather than having to go and create something specifically for your ad. And in fact, this is a really great idea if you've had a post that performs particularly well, that's attracted a lot of engagement organically anyway.

[00:10:28] Sarah Almond Bushell: You only need 5 a day to get started, which works out about 150 a month. And the best part is that these ads are incredibly cost effective. A great engagement ad will cost you as little as 1p, that's one pence per engagement. So over time, These ads help you build a large, lovely audience full of people who already know and like you.

[00:10:55] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then later, when you're ready to run conversion ads, which I'll talk about in a moment, you'll have a warm audience to target, and this will save you time and it'll also save you money. Now, if you're starting your business from scratch, you can also run these ads straight away and these will build your audience for you.

[00:11:15] Sarah Almond Bushell: What you should know is that engagement ads won't lead to paying clients directly. This comes a bit later. And if you run conversion ads, which I'm going to talk through next, without having engagement ads set up in advance, those conversions will cost you a lot more. So it's about doing things strategically.

[00:11:36] Sarah Almond Bushell: So the second type of ad you need to know about is the conversion ad. So conversion ads are what you'll use when you're ready to advertise your lead magnet or your freebie. And these ads invite people to download your free resource in exchange for their name and email address, bringing them into your world so you can nurture them further outside of social media.

[00:11:59] Sarah Almond Bushell: And I would go as far as saying that growing your email list is the number one priority for business owners. The money is in your list. The goal of your lead magnet and your follow up emails is to get people to know, like and trust you deeply enough by delivering amazing value through your emails. It's all about connection and nurture.

[00:12:21] Sarah Almond Bushell: And when the time is right and you present an offer, you'll have a list of hot leads or people who are motivated and interested in what you're selling. But here's the thing. Conversion ads only work if your marketing is working. If your lead magnet isn't resonating, if your opt in page isn't converting well enough, or if your email sequences isn't engaging enough and people aren't opening your emails and clicking the links, Ads won't fix these problems.

[00:12:51] Sarah Almond Bushell: They'll only amplify them for you. So I only want you to start running conversion ads to advertise your freebie when you know your marketing is spot on. And the reason for that is these ads are expensive. You need a minimum budget of 25 a day. Actually more closer to 30 these days, which equates to 750 to a thousand pounds a month.

[00:13:16] Sarah Almond Bushell: If you try running these ads with less money, it won't allow Meta to go and find your people for you. So how do you know if your marketing is working? Well, here's what you need to have dialed in. First thing is a lead magnet that people download every single time you post about it on social media. If this isn't happening, it's likely that your lead magnet isn't resonating with them and it's time to try a different freebie.

[00:13:46] Sarah Almond Bushell: Second thing you need is an opt in page with a conversion rate of at least 40%. If fewer than 40 out of a hundred visitors to that page are. Leaving their name and email address, your page needs tweaking to be more enticing first. Next, you need a seven day email sequence that welcomes new subscribers and delivers valuable content with a clickable link in every email.

[00:14:15] Sarah Almond Bushell: So your open rates should be above 50% and your click-through rates between two and 3%. If these numbers are lower, you need to optimize your email sequence. Now, just a side note here around open rates. In the past we used to say a 20 to 30% was an average expected open rate, but a few years ago, due to privacy and data protection laws, certain email platforms started to automatically open emails.

[00:14:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: And therefore the actual email open rates that we see reported in our email service providers like MailChimp or Kit are actually inflated rates rather than actual. Now, I know you might think that these percentages that I've mentioned seemed rather low, but you have to remember that people's inboxes are Absolutely flooded and often our emails get sent to junk mail folders or just deleted without being read.

[00:15:09] Sarah Almond Bushell: So these percentages, these are actually averages for all of those in digital marketing. The other thing to mention is that these percentages for the whole funnel actually require a certain sample size. To have enough power to actually mean anything. You'll likely remember sample size and power calculations from university.

[00:15:31] Sarah Almond Bushell: So if you've got less than 400 people on your list, your percentages might be higher, so do take these numbers, these percentages with a pinch of salt. Next up, your email sequence should also include either a low cost offer or an invitation to book a discovery call, and these should convert. So this means that people actually buy your low cost offer or book in for that call.

[00:15:57] Sarah Almond Bushell: And the reason for this step ensures that you can recoup some of your ad spend because, as I say, these ads are expensive. So having a working funnel makes this investment feel a bit more worthwhile. And then finally, you'll also need to be emailing your list at least once a week. Now, this is really important that you send at least one, if not more emails per week, in order to the people who've subscribed to be on your list.

[00:16:24] Sarah Almond Bushell: And this is so that you remain top of mind to those who've opted in. If you're emailing your list less frequently than this, This is not the time to run ads because, and I'm sorry to be harsh here. Your list will be stale. Inboxes are jam packed and they won't know who you are.

[00:16:44] Sarah Almond Bushell: If you have all of this dialled in and you're running ads, I want to encourage you to be patient and consistent. One common mistake I see is people turning ads on and off in order to save a bit of money here and there. But each time you stop and then restart an ad, the algorithm has to recalibrate, which actually just costs you more money in the long run.

[00:17:07] Sarah Almond Bushell: So consistency is key. Which is another reason why you need to make sure that you have that budget, that minimum budget to spend every single month in order for it to work for you and grow your business. And then finally, you need to learn how to analyze the data. And that's probably another episode for another time, but you need to know your way around the meta ads manager and understand how to interpret all of the data and that's so that you can make evidence based decisions and adjust your strategy.

[00:17:38] Sarah Almond Bushell: As needed. So my action step for you today is before diving into ads, make sure that your marketing is spot on. And if you're not sure where to start with this, go and get some help. So whether it's refining your lead magnet, whether it's optimizing your email sequence or ensuring your funnel is going to convert into paying clients, it's so, so important to get this marketing piece dialled in first.

[00:18:03] Sarah Almond Bushell: It will save you time. It will save you money and it will save you frustration in the long run. And of course, you're welcome to book a discovery call with me, if you'd like my help to do that. So there we have it. Now, you know that running ads isn't about quick wins or instant gratification. It's about building a strong foundation that amplifies what's already working in your business.

[00:18:27] Sarah Almond Bushell: Ads are a really powerful tool, but only when used as part of a cohesive strategy. If you take the time to refine your marketing funnel, to nurture your audience and approach ads with strategic intention, they can absolutely become a game changer for your business. Now join me next time when I am going to be chatting to one of my amazing clients in the Accelerate Mastermind, who we've been working together for about six months or so, and she's going to tell you what she wishes she knew about you.

[00:19:02] Sarah Almond Bushell: way back then before she started working in her business. Bye for now.