If you’ve been thinking about running Facebook and Instagram ads but your funnel still isn’t converting consistently, this episode could save you a lot of money.
In this episode, I explain why ads should grow a funnel that’s already working instead of trying to fix one that isn’t, and how to tell if you have a traffic problem or a messaging problem. I also share the one question I ask before anyone spends a dollar on ads.
Listen now and find out if your funnel is really ready for Facebook and Instagram ads.
Watch this episode on YouTube!
Please click here to give an honest Rating/Review for the show on iTunes! Thanks for your support!
Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie’s Links:
- Get 1:1 Meta Ads Coaching from Kwadwo!
- Get Done For You Facebook Ads
- Say hi to Kwadwo on Instagram
- Subscribe to The Art of Online Business’s YouTube Channel
The Costly Ads Mistake
SPEAKER_00
I’ve spent $8,000 in ads over the past three months trying to figure out my messaging, and I still don’t have a clear answer. So that sentence points to a very typical kind of pain that is common and very, very, very preventable. And it points to a misunderstanding about what ads, specifically Facebook and Instagram ads, are actually good at. Ads amplify what is already working. So if your messaging, it’s still unclear, it hasn’t been proven. If your opt-in page is still changing, if your funnel in general is still shifting, and let’s not forget, your offer has not been proven yet. So it’s not converting consistently, then ads are just gonna make a problem. I would say a natural step in the process, the evolution of your online course business, more painful for
The One Readiness Question
SPEAKER_00
you. So by the end of this episode, you will know the one question to ask before you ever spend a dollar on Facebook and Instagram ads, and the honest answer to it will tell you whether or not you’re ready. So here’s what I say when somebody is describing their spring launch to me and asking me what they should do as far as repeating that launch in the fall or tweaking it, I got one question which was Did that funnel convert organically when you did it in the spring? You know, like did real people actually hand you money after coming through your funnel so that you can understand who is buying and more importantly, why? And if the answer is yes, woo-hoo! Oh right, ads are gonna do their job. Facebook and meta and Instagram, Facebook and Instagram, are meta. They’re gonna bring in new people through the funnel, find more people like the ones who already bought, and you know, bring them through a funnel that’s already converting. And here we go. Yay, we’re printing money because that is the clearest, easiest, bestest, most fun way to run Facebook and Instagram ads.
Proof Of Concept Vs Scaling
SPEAKER_00
But if the answer is no, then that funnel essentially is still in proof of concept territory. And adding Facebook and Instagram ad spend to a proof of concept is the quickest way to burn through your cash. I mean, it’s like turning up the volume, or I should say, distributing your music, putting it on some sort of streaming platform, and the song isn’t even finalized yet. The words still suck. Sorry, but you know, we all go through that process. It’s like I always say, Jesus saves. Facebook and Instagram ads do not, i.e., getting more eyeballs on your offer that’s not already proven is the quickest way to lose money. You might as well go and get a golden retriever, a big one, and just uh take your dollar bills and toss them into the fire, i.e., feed that golden retriever, because that’s expensive, and the vet and all the things that you need. And at least you’ll get the feels and the cuddles from a golden retriever. Um, whereas if you do this thing wrong with your online course business, you just burn in through cash and uh it sucks.
Fear Based Decisions And Burnout
SPEAKER_00
It really does. Yeah, because you’re you’re literally paying with your ad dollars to prove out or test or develop the various steps of your funnel. And that it can be done for sure, but that is painful. The financial pressure that comes from that, whew, it puts you in a place of like fight or flight, and usually it’s going to be flight. Either way, you’re making all of a sudden financial decisions or ad decisions or course or offer decisions from a place of fear and desperation. That is not the place where your best self shows up and thus your best business comes to be. I mean, I lived this back when I used to teach people who were living in China, expats, you know, they didn’t speak Mandarin Chinese. I used to teach them in a group coaching program how to learn Mandarin Chinese. It was phenomenal. But you know what? Before that, I ran ads to some other offers. We won’t mention those, and everything was just horrible. I wasn’t making money. The ads were all over the place, and it was because I did not have a funnel. I got famous on Instagram, which was cool. Story for another day, but that did not exactly line my pockets with uh dollars or pink money, because uh over there in China their hundred dollar hundred bills are uh pink.
Organic Marketing As Research
SPEAKER_00
So, like what I want to say here is the organic work that you do on your funnel, that is the research. And also the content that you post to Instagram, let’s say, uh, that is the messaging research. Be diligent during that phase before you uh prematurely try to put ads to work for your business. It’s a stage, you’ll get there, and that’s where I see everything fall apart, where people jump into Facebook and Instagram ads too early. There is a version of this that’s more nuanced, and I will discuss that in a moment.
Free Strategy Call Offer
SPEAKER_00
I need to say right now, if you’re unsure whether your fall funnel because you’re planning on launching soon, if you’re unsure that funnel is ready for ad spend, uh if it’s converting well enough, then I got a free strategy session. Hop on a short call with me. That link is in the show notes below. I’ll look at what you have or listen to what you have and give you an honest read. And if it’s ready, I’ll actually tell you what you should be doing next. And if it’s not, well, I’ll tell you that too. All right, now back to this nuance. Not
Traffic Problem Vs Messaging Problem
SPEAKER_00
every course creator, hmm, is still figuring out things from square one. Some have a funnel that’s converting pretty well, or a funnel that’s not converting pretty well, and an offer that is selling really well. Those are different problems. Poor converting funnel, great converting offer, great uh bad converting offer, good converting funnel. But either way, let’s simplify here for this uh nuanced scenario and just say it could be a funnel slash offer problem, or it might be simply in a paid ads traffic problem. Here’s how to tell the difference. In your previous launch, you basically only got organic traffic to that only. I mean, this is actually good, right? Maybe your email list is 10,000 people. Great. You just got organic traffic from your email list and your social media, and a reasonable percentage of them bought your thing. Yet your concern is that you have exhausted or are about to exhaust your warm audiences and traffic. That is a traffic issue, and Facebook and Instagram ads can solve that. But on the other hand, if you ran your previous launch to people who you knew that they trusted you, right? Your no-like and trust factor for them was pretty high. This would be warm audiences still again, and they did not buy at the rate you expected. Well, given, let’s assume that your expectations were where they should be, but you know what I’m trying to say here. This is a messaging problem. And if you run Facebook and Instagram ads to a funnel that is struggling from messaging issues, then you’re just gonna burn more money and you’re gonna be crying, which means you gotta go get the golden retriever. And yeah, those previous two scenarios, they matter. It is important to figure out what one it is because if you don’t, then you run ads to your next launch. It’s either, well, you’re either gonna do well or you’re gonna find that ceiling. And when I say ceiling, it’s not a good ceiling, it’s a ceiling for pain tolerance before you bow out. And we don’t want to see that on a serious note.
Selling As Serving
SPEAKER_00
You were blessed and gifted with these skills and passions that you have to help people to effect a transformation in people. So if you give up because of these kind of decisions or prematurely running ads, then that means there are real people on the other end that needed you and your solution, your gifts, your skills, your passions to help them. They’re not gonna get that help. I know this might sound cheesy, but the world won’t be a better place. It’d be worse off because you’re helping fewer people. And that comes from a place inside of me where I believe that selling is indeed serving. So then spending the right time developing your messaging so that people, the right folks, can get help from you. Let’s just say messaging, funnel, webinar, opt-in page, sales page, throw up emails, sales emails, those whole things that is serving. You will be able to serve more people, you will be able to help more people, your business benefits, uh, but they those folks will also benefit too. Hopefully, they’ll benefit tons, and then you benefit quite a bit along the way. So yeah, if you’re like really walking through this right now, it’s resonating with you, so to speak, or you know your funnel’s converting quite well, and you’re just like, uh, I mean, Quajo, can you tell me objectively, um, in a non-salesy way, what is the next step for my Facebook and Instagram ads? Do I start them or do I hold off and keep going organically? Well, you can hop on a free strategy call with me. That link is just below in the show notes for this audio podcast.
Leave A Comment And Share
SPEAKER_00
Listen, I hope this has been valuable for you. Can you leave a comment on this podcast episode? I would appreciate that because it actually does help me understand what works for you, what’s helpful to you, and not so helpful to you. And it helps the Apple or Spotify podcast algorithm surface this episode to more course creators like yourself that need this kind of help. So until the next time you hear from me or see me. Take care, be blessed, and we’ll see you in the next one. Goodbye.
