The Art of Paid Traffic | Proven Online Advertising Strategies You Can Implement Today

On today’s episode of The Art of Paid Traffic, I’m joined by a student of mine, Allison George, to talk about how she markets her family’s golf course with Facebook ads.

In 2015, Allison was voted as the “8th Most Innovative Person in the Golf Industry” by Golf, Inc. Magazine.

Allison’s golf course is outside of Des Moines, Iowa and for years she did the traditional methods of local marketing like radio, TV, and Groupon.

Until she found and started testing Facebook ads, that is…

She now ONLY markets on Facebook which has allowed her to cut her local marketing budget by tens of thousands of dollars.

One thing I love about Allison is she is completely self-taught and she’s successful because of her mindset and willingness to try new things.

Today we dive into the Facebook ad campaigns that Allison runs for her golf course, and we’re going to break down two in particular:

• One where she spent just $100 on Facebook ads and did over $50K in revenue.  
  
  
• And another campaign where she spent $500 on Facebook ads and brought in over $150K in revenue, fully booking her event space with weddings for the year.

We dive into her strategies, her offers, her targeting, the objectives she uses, how she tracks the success, why she builds her email list and how she leverages that email list, and more…

What I really want you to listen for today is how Allison crafts her offers.

Yes, her goal is to bring in revenue, but she’s also trying to build trust and relationships with her local target audience.  And she does this in a way that most local businesses wouldn’t think about.  And you’re going to hear exactly how she does that.

• Why Facebook ads is a such a great way for her to track returns (and market to a very specific audience)
  
  
• How using Facebook ads and coupon codes to sell vouchers has worked for Allison
  
  
• Ways in which she’s trying to stay ahead of the curve in her marketing efforts
  
  
• The importance of offering tips and tricks in your email follow-up sequence
  
  
• How Allison is now teaching and providing content to fellow golf course owners to push their marketing efforts forward

If You're a Local Business Looking for a More Cost-Effective Way to Consistently Attract Qualified Leads & Customers to Your Business,

THIS Free Online Training is For You!

I’m going to be teaching the exact 4-step formula for creating a CONSISTENT flow of leads and customers every week with Facebook ads.

We’re going to talk about offers, targeting, and I’ve got lots of case studies for you that you can you learn from and model.

I’ll be doing 3 live online training classes starting on Wednesday, July 26th.  I’m going to do 2 on Wednesday, the 26th and one on Thursday the 27th.

To register, go to rickmulready.com/fbadslocal or if you are in the US, you can text the word “localtraining” to 44222 and you can register right over your phone.

Joining me today on the podcast is my good friend, James Wedmore. This episode marks James’ third time as a guest on The Art of Paid Traffic, and today we’re talking all about how to create an effective follow-up sequence with your target audience.

I’ve always respected how James approaches business and he shares his expertise in so many ways here…

He reveals the biggest mistakes people are making after they present their offer, the four elements of an effective follow-up sequence and why email shouldn’t be the only way that you’re doing this.

James also shares his thoughts on how you can come up with effective bonuses for your audience, what are the universal (and market-specific) objections you will face, as well the easiest way to overcome them.

On the Show Today You’ll Learn:

• Why a longer follow-up doesn’t mean more sales
• The role social proof plays in all of this…
• There’s a need for urgency (or people simply won’t buy what you’re selling)!
• How you can incorporate a value add, as opposed to just discounting your price

You’ll want to tune in for next week’s episode, as I’m presenting a case study of a golf course owner who’s absolutely crushing it with Facebook ads – and she’s going to share how she’s doing it.

For full show notes and links to James' website and The Mind Your Business Podcast, you can visit www.RickMulready.com/144. 

On today’s episode of The Art of Paid Traffic podcast, I dive into:

How to Set Up Your Facebook Ads For Success -- June 2017 edition.

My goal with this episode is to give you a roadmap for navigating your Facebook ads set up in Power Editor so that you’re giving yourself as much chance as possible to succeed out of the gates.

This is a step-by-step walkthrough including...

• What work you’ll want to do before even setting up your ads.
  
  
• Which options to be testing at the Ad Set and Ads levels -- including what to be optimizing for, which Placements options to choose, budget, targeting, etc…
  
  
• We’ll also discuss how to integrate split testing into your setup.

• Why you must be clear about who you want to attract with your Facebook ads and why you should be segmenting audiences
  
  
• How creating one blanket ad to everyone that you are targeting won’t lead to success with your Facebook marketing

• What effect Facebook’s frequently changing ad policies will have on your copy
  
  
• Tips for coming up with your ad targeting strategy BEFORE getting started with your campaigns
  
  
• Landing pages, pixels, and more...

Since this is a very “visual” episode, I’ve put together a PDF roadmap for you that outlines step-by-step everything you’re going to learn today, which you can download either by texting ‘AOPT143’ to 44222 OR visiting the show notes page at http://rickmulready.com/143.

On today’s show, we’re talking about evergreen webinar sales funnels with professional speaker and course creator, Grant Baldwin.

Grant is the founder of TheSpeakerLab.com and through his online course, teaches people how to find and book paid speaking engagements.  

Today he shares how he sells his program through webinars -- both live and automated -- and lately, his automated ones are really doing well for him.

And by really well I mean, lately it’s been for every $1 he spends on Facebook ads, he’s making $3 in return.  I’ll take that ROI all day long.

In this case study, we break down Grant’s evergreen webinar funnel from start to finish, including...

• His Facebook ads
• How much he’s spending on ads
• The tools he uses to set up his webinar system
• The different offers he makes in his funnel, including what he’s testing to incentivize people to pay in full
• How he tracks all of his results
• And what he would say to someone considering doing evergreen webinars for the first time.
• And more...

There are two big takeaways I want you to listen for…

First, listen to how often he is testing things.  He makes a hypothesis about something, sets up a test, and let’s the numbers dictate whether it worked or not.

Second, we talk throughout the whole conversation today about his tracking spreadsheet.  You’ve GOT to know your numbers in everything you’re doing in your business.

In addition, we also discuss:

• How Grant balances incentivizing potential customers without annoying them with regular invites to his webinars
  
• What a “Just In Time” option is and Grant’s experiences he’s had with them
  
• How using a $17 tripwire resulted in about $17,000 of additional revenue
  
• The way he got around the common objection of people saying they don’t have the money to purchase his product right now
  
• Why complimentary one-on-one calls can be so useful – and the ways you can repurpose them

Speaking of tracking your numbers, I’ve put together a Google spreadsheet with formulas to help you track your webinars -- and you can use this whether you’re doing live or automated webinars.

To download this spreadsheet, either text ‘AOPT142’ to 44222 OR you can visit the show notes page at http://rickmulready.com/142

It’s been awhile since we’ve done a Q&A here on the podcast, so today’s show is a big ‘ol Facebook ads Q&A.

I’m going to be discussing and answering questions about:

• How to hack Facebook ads social proof (likes, comments, shares, etc..) that you’re getting on an ad and use that same ad (with all the social proof) to target new audiences.
  
  
• Where to find the local awareness objective
  
  
• How to target a sub-group within a target audience when you can’t EXACTlY target this sub-group within Facebook’s targeting options?
  
  
• We talk about how to troubleshoot ads that have just recently started running but aren’t getting results
  
  
• How to get support from Facebook about your ads

• How to optimize for conversions when you can’t put the Facebook pixel on the website you’re sending traffic to
  
  
• What strategy you might use for a 6-month Facebook ads campaign that’s promoting a local gym
  
  
• What’s a “good” CPC?  Is my CPC too high on this ad set?
  
  
• Should you use the 1-day or 7-day click attribution window when your Objective is Conversions?
  
  
• Then I’ve got some Wordpress plugin ideas for you that make it super easy to place the Facebook pixel on your site.
  
  
• And more!

This episode is chock full of actionable stuff.  

I hope you can take what you learn and immediately put it into action in your business.

On today’s show we’re talking about e-commerce and marketing physical products online, and joining me to share his insight and experience is Steve Chew from mywifequitherjob.com.  

Steve runs an e-commerce site called Bumblebeelinens.com which he started with his wife back in 2007.  

I’ve known of Steve for a few years now, and whenever I’ve heard him speak I’ve always been impressed with him.  Then, at Social Media Marketing World in March, we finally met in person -- and here we are today, I'm pumped to have him join us on the show.

Steve is an expert on customer acquisitions, elaborate Facebook ad strategies, Google AdWords, content re-marketing, landing pages, carts and funnels to optimize e-commerce businesses.

We get into a TON of stuff today as we break down how he markets his e-commerce business.

• The content marketing strategy they use to attract ideal customers, including how they drove people to the content 10 years ago and the strategies they’re using today.
• We break down Steve’s entire FB ads strategy, including:

• His full retargeting strategy
• How he uses dynamic product ads and why they’re the most successful ads in his strategy (he also gives advice on setting them up)
• The offers he makes
• How he pays for his Facebook ads before people have even left his thank you page
• How he uses Facebook video ads
• Why he loves lookalike audiences and his strategy for using them
• Why he doesn’t max out scaling his FB ads

• Why Steve focuses so heavily on building an email list and what his email marketing looks like, including when emails are sent
• What their landing page looks like when sending people from ad to product page
• What email marketing platform Steve uses that’s specific to e-commerce and why it’s key to his business
• And What Steve would do if he were starting from scratch

With so much good stuff to talk about, it’s a safe bet that I’ll need to invite Steve back as a return guest of the show.

On today’s show, we’re talking about the Facebook ads strategy that was used in a Kickstarter campaign that reached its goal of $150K in just 17 hours and went on to raise a total of $441K.

And joining me to share how he did it is Justin Richard from Convert Marketing, a Facebook ads agency in Santa Barbara, CA.

Justin is actually a student of mine and regular listener of The Art of Paid Traffic, and even though he comes from a background other than business, he’s a great example of someone who has effectively implemented the strategies and tools we talk about on this podcast.

He shares how he got started in the online marketing world (after a degree in film), and how it led to the campaign with Maluna Coolers where they smashed a Kickstarter goal of $150,000 and turned it into almost $450,000 – in just 17 hours.

• Justin’s 6-step method for how they raised $441K on Kickstarter -- almost 3x their goal
• The philosophy behind WHY he created and followed this strategy
• The FB ads strategy he used to build a FB group community of almost 9K people and then how they leveraged that group to drive the success on Kickstarter
• What he considers the real magic behind his success
  
• What is the “Gruen Effect” and how it can be applied to online marketing
• How they tracked the success of their Kickstarter ads since you can’t place the FB pixel on the site.
• How they set up the actual Kickstarter campaign including the video storyboarding and incentives they offered.
• Why it’s good to have multiple offers and product variations when using the Kickstarter platform
  
• The importance of building scarcity into your offer…
• And a whole lot more…

As you’ll hear, Justin faced challenges and struggles in his first year of business, but this conversation with him really highlights why following the fundamentals can lead to success when it comes to your marketing.

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ADvantage Plus is a 12-month application-only group coaching program which includes the following:

• A Group video coaching call (face-to-face on Zoom) with me each month
• A bonus Group coaching call each month with a subject matter expert
• 2 two-day group Live Events in San Diego with me
• Ticket to attend both of my FBA Live workshops (multi-day training/implementation workshops in San Diego in December & May)
• Private Facebook Group

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This group coaching program is all about accountability, community and coaching.

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On today’s episode, we’re talking all about Facebook ad “Objectives”.

Specifically…

• What’s the difference between each ad Objective
• Which one to choose
• How to use them
• What they mean in your Facebook ad campaign
• And, some exceptions you might want to make when it comes to choosing your ad Objective.

I covered Facebook ad Objectives back on episode 110, but I still get a ton of questions every week about this topic AND the Objectives have changed and consolidated since then.

So we’re gonna dive head first into it all today…

Facebook is gradually rolling out brand new feature and it’s very relevant to what we’re talking about on today’s episode, with better understanding Objectives.

You know how when you launch a Facebook ad campaign with the ‘Conversions’ Objective and you’ve selected the conversion you want to optimize for at the Ad Set level?

Well, if your Ad Set isn’t getting many conversions right after it starts running, delivery of that ad might be limited.

The reason for that is because your pixel isn’t getting enough data to learn who is converting on your ads.  Remember, when you’re Objective is conversions, the pixel needs 15-25 conversions per week -- enough data to begin “learning” who is converting.

Now, with this new feature, you’re going to have the option to improve delivery.

You’ll be able to allow an Ad Set to temporarily “fall back” to optimizing for clicks (remember our Objective here is ‘Conversions’ and thus we’re optimizing for a specific conversion like opt-ins or registrations), IF Facebook doesn't have enough conversion data to optimize for the conversion on the Facebook pixel that the Ad Set is being optimized for.

Delivery will then be boosted by optimizing for link clicks in the initial stages of the Ad Set IF the Ad Set is under-delivering.

With this new feature, you’ll have two options to choose from:

Standard:

This option sets a strict end point for when Facebook will stop optimizing for link clicks -- after 15-25 conversions, 1,000 link clicks or 7 days (whichever comes first).

From then on, the Facebook will only optimize for conversions - even if that means Facebook can't find enough conversions for you and the Ad Set stops delivering before the budget is spent.

OR

Extended:

This option optimizes for link clicks and conversions until the Ad Set captures 15-25 conversions or the budget is spent.

If the Ad Set doesn’t capture 15-25 conversions, the full budget may be spent on many link clicks and few conversions.

Soooo, be on the lookout in your Power Editor and Ads Manager.  

This is pretty cool stuff and I’m excited about this new feature!

As you can see from the above image, the Objectives are broken into 3 sections:

• Awareness: Objectives that generate interest in your product or service.
  
  
• Consideration: Objectives that get people to start thinking about your business and look for more information about it.
  
  
• Conversions: Objectives that encourage people interested in your business to purchase or use your product or service.

These are the 3 phases of a sales funnel.

So what is each one do?  Let’s have a look...

Brand awareness:

Increase awareness for your brand by reaching people who are more likely to be interested in it.  Facebook has this data from all the tons of brand campaigns that have been run, and they’ve analyzed that the longer someone spends with an ad, the more likely they are to remember it.

Reach:

Show your ad to the maximum number of people in your audience.

Traffic:

When your goal is to get people to click on your ad and go to your landing page, website, app, etc…

Engagement:

Get more post engagements, Page likes, event responses or offer claims.

App installs:

Send people to an app store where they can download your app.

Video views:
Get more people to view your video content.  This is like awareness but using video.

Lead Generation:

This is Facebook’s Lead Ad -- when you want to get leads from people interested in your brand or business.  NOTE: I highly recommend using a 3rd party tool like Zapier or SyncSumo to automatically bring the leads from Facebook into your email CRM.

Conversions:

When your goal is to get people to convert on your landing page (opt-in, sale, etc…)  NOTE: I wouldn’t use this for high-priced products/services.

Product Catalog Sales:

Create ads that automatically show products from your product catalog based on your target audience.

Store Visits:
Promote multiple brick-and-mortar business locations to people who are nearby.

First and foremost, use the Objective that most aligns with your goal.  

This is exactly why you need to do the upfront work of being crystal clear on WHY you’re running your Facebook ads -- what’s your goal?

And unfortunately, as critical as this step is, this is the work that most people don’t want to do.  Back in episode 109, The Critical Work Needed for Successful Facebook Ads, I talk all about this.

When you’re clear on what the goal of your campaign is, you can select the Objective that aligns with it.

Here are some examples:

If your goal is to get people to opt-in for a free download or register for a webinar or event, I’d go with Conversions.

You could also test Lead Ads, but again, make sure you’re using a 3rd party tool to ensure those leads are automatically getting sent from FB into your email CRM.

If your goal is to send people to a piece of content so you can build an audience that you can then retarget to, your Objective in the initial campaign would be Traffic and then in the retargeting campaign, it would be Conversions.

If you’re running a video ad with the intention of building engagement audiences so you can retarget viewers of your video with an offer, I’d still recommend going with the Objective that aligns with wherever you’re sending traffic, like to an opt-in/registration (Conversions) or a piece of content (Traffic).

But you also might want to test Video Views as your Objective since your real intention is to build those engagement audiences so you can retarget.

Exceptions When Choosing Your Facebook Ad Objective

There are always exceptions and different things to test when it comes to choosing your Objective.

For example, if you’re a local business and you’re simply trying to reach as many people as possible in your small market, even though you might be trying to get people to download a coupon or special offer, you might want to try the “Reach” Objective because that sets you up to reach as many people as possible.

Or, if you’re retargeting a small yet targeted audience, you also might want to use Reach as your Objective for the same reason -- you want to get your ad in front of as many of those people as possible.

Another exception might be where you’re sending traffic to a sales page and you’re selling a higher priced product or service.  

Even though your goal IS to have people buy/convert, I’d recommend using traffic as your Objective.  

This is because when you’re using the Conversions Objective, you need to tell Facebook what conversion you want to optimize for.  

Remember that when we use the Conversions Objective, the Facebook pixel is used to track conversions. The pixel is optimizing (meaning, it’s learning and getting smarter) the more conversions you get so that it can find you more of those people who are converting.

If you’re sending people from your ad directly to a higher priced product or service, you’re likely not going to have a high percentage of those people converting.  

Thus, go with Traffic as your Objective to simply drive people to your page.

How Your Facebook Ad Objective Affects Optimization & Delivery

At the Ad Set level you have the Optimization & Delivery section.

The default settings here are affected by the Objective that you choose.

For example, if your Objective is Conversions, you’ll notice that the Optimization for Ad Delivery field defaults to Conversions.

Likewise, when you’ve chosen Traffic as your Objective, the default will be link clicks (see the image above).

I recommend going with the default which is what we normally do in my business, like optimize for conversions.  

When you go with the default settings, you’re letting Facebook’s algorithm, which has gotten very advanced and much smarter, do the work for you.  

It’s actually this optimization option, in conjunction with your Objective, that tells Facebook what to value when showing your ad to your target audience.

The bottom line is Facebook’s algorithm is set up to help you get the results you want for the lowest cost.  After all, when you have success, what are you going to do?  You’ll spend more money!   

The key here is to always be testing to see where you get the best results.  

I’m super pumped to announce a brand new coaching program that I’ve put together, called ADvantage Plus.

ADvantage Plus is an application-only 12 month coaching program which begins this July (2017) and it includes the following:

• 1 Group Video coaching call with me each month (we’ll do this face-to-face on Zoom)
• A bonus Group coaching call each month with a subject matter expert
• 2 two-day group Live Events in San Diego with me
• A Ticket to attend both of my FBA Live workshops which are multi-day teaching and hands-on implementation
• And a Private Facebook Group community

ADvantage Plus is for you if you’re looking for an accelerated path in growing your business and you think accountability, community and support will be helpful to you.

Like I mentioned, this is an application-only coaching program so if you’d like to learn more and apply, just visit: rickmulready.com/plus

On today’s show, my good friend and entrepreneur Amber McCue joins me to talk about how her local photography business lowered their cost per sale with Facebook ads.

Specifically, we talk about how she markets her boudoir photography business on channels like Groupon and LivingSocial but also started testing Facebook ads.

After months of frustrated testing, she finally started getting the results she was hoping for, lowering her cost per lead by two-thirds and also cutting her cost per sale.

Amber shares what she’s doing to get such good results, including a discussion around her offers, the importance of upsells, the challenges her specific business faces in terms of Facebook compliance and a lot more.

• Why knowing their numbers was one of the most critical things Amber and her partner did in their business
• The offers she’s using to attract clients
• Why upsells are critical to the success of her ad campaigns
• Why it took a while to gain momentum with her Facebook ad
• How she targets her ad
• The different types of things they test with their Facebook a
• Since they’re a boudoir photography business, how they make sure they’re compliant with Facebook’s ad policies
• And a whole lot more…

If you’re a business who is marketing using a variety of channels, you’re going to love this episode.

It may have taken Amber a while to gain traction with her Facebook ads, but her results speak for themselves.  She’s a great example of how sticking with testing pays off.

It’s been awhile since we’ve talked about copywriting here on The Art of Paid Traffic -- how to write better ad copy, copy for your sales pages, emails, opt-in pages...

Well, that changes today because I’m pumped to welcome my friend and copywriter Kira Hug to the show.

Kira is the host of The Copywriter Club podcast and an amazing conversion copywriter.

These days she focuses on launch copy, but as she says, all types of copy are about storytelling and getting the sale (while tracking results)…

In the episode today, she reveals her three-step process for writing high-converting copy and shares the importance of finding out what your ideal customers are saying about your niche.

You’ll Also Learn:

• The first thing to do before writing any copy
• Where to find out what your ideal customers are saying about your niche.
• How being honest and revealing with our copy allows us to connect with our customers – and why “weird” isn’t necessarily a bad thing!
• Ways you can survey and interview your audience to really hear what people are saying
• What the 5 levels of awareness are, which level most of your customers are likely at, and how to write for them
• What “sticky copy” is and why it’s important
• Why thinking through the channels that you’re writing for is crucial
• What to look for when hiring a copywriter -- 3 questions to ask, including one question most people aren’t comfortable asking…

You’ll notice this episode goes a bit longer than our usual ones, and that’s because it’s jam-packed with useful information that you can immediately start using in your business today.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast and gain as much as I did from my conversation with Kira Hug.

Want My Help with Your Facebook Ads Strategy?

If you would like my personal help with your Facebook ads strategy, I’m pumped to announce I’m doing another live event in May, here in San Diego.

This is my FBA Live event which is limited to just 40 people.

FBA Live is a 3-day intimate workshop experience where you’ll learn cutting-edge online business building strategies, tips and tactics that are working right now to grow and automate your business.

This is an opportunity to IMPLEMENT, with the help of our team, your Facebook ads strategy to grow your business.  

My team and I will be personally helping you — looking over your shoulder — to make sure you’re walking away with an active, high converting campaign.

You’re going to walk away from the event with stuff DONE… the RIGHT way.

We’ll help you discover the blind spots, the things that may be getting in your way of effectively marketing your business online, and fix them on the spot.

At FBA Live you’ll also have rare access to and learn from some of the smartest and best online entrepreneurs around — people like Amy Porterfield, Pat Flynn, Jasmine Star and more…

You’ll be surrounded by other like-minded entrepreneurs who are trying to grow their business, just like you.

To learn more and secure your spot, go to rickmulready.com/live.