Last year I read the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, in fact I’m still reading it. And I loved the idea of assigning task or topics to each month to move towards being a happier being. I wondered if this concept could be used in business?
We’re are fed so much information, do this, do that, want more clients, more money, more status? There are so many quick fix answers telling us as business owners what the answer is. It’s with Facebook, no twitter, no Instagram, the secret lies with email marketing! So many confusing opposing points of view and within each platform a myriad of options of how to utilise them for ultimate success!
Then alongside all these views there’s questions about your own business. Who is your customer, how to best package what it is you do, how to get in front of people who want to part with their money.
I decided to pick one thing each month that I would try for my own business so I can measure what’s actually working, so I can offer advice for my clients.
January – Facebook Advertising Campaign
For the month of January I decided to run a campaign on Facebook. Now I’ve run successful campaigns for clients I’ve had including Nottingham City Council and Castlehaven in Camden, but never for my own business.
Most of my work has come through referral and word of mouth, but I’ve decided that 2017 is to be my year in business, to earn some serious money and start saving for my future (I’m nearly 40 after all!).
Now I know that you need certain elements to create a successful Facebook campaign:
Good clear call 2 action
Introduce scarcity
Time sensitive
For a product, money off – at least 20% to be effective on Facebook
Good imagery
A clear indication of target market and demographics
A budget
A timeline
A clear sales / squeeze page
So, for the month of January I looked at the products I had on offer and picked my 3 hour digital review. What a great way to start the new year, with a good poke around at what you’ve done previously and to create a plan with an expert for your year ahead – perfect.
Kick start your 2017!
I created an offer of 20% off the usual price, I said there were 6 slots available and the session had to be booked before the end of January.
I already had a good sales page for the product: http://debbiedooodah.co.uk/digital-review
I knew I wanted to market to women who own small businesses in the Nottingham area between the ages of 29-55 (looking back I might make this date range more selective!).
I created 3 different images on Canva and created a ‘website conversion’ campaign on Facebook advert manager.
Facebook advertiser is a clever tool and although I’d created 3 different images, it tested these out on my target market and then picked the clear winner and used this one for my advert.
This is what my winning advert looked like:
For a total spend of £10.06, I reached 2676 people on Facebook, 224 of these went and checked out my site and I got all 6 bookings. For £10.06 spend I made £864.
During the month, I was also booked for a couple of workshops, started working with a new client and have one in the pipeline. Now I can’t directly contribute these to my campaign, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to be more visible.
My first test with Facebook advertising for my business has been a success. I’m going to go away with the things I have learned. I improved my sales page so that the contact form was on the same page, so I wasn’t giving potential customers another page to visit. I also used calendly so that clients could book their own appointment, without any back and forth diary emails. And I sent out the invoice to be paid prior to our session, which meant I had no cancellations.
I’ve got big plans for 2017, so this was a good dip of my toe in the ocean!
Hope this helped you if you're thinking about Facebook advertising for your business. If you'd like some one to one help, you may find a session with me helps! We can take a look at all the elements, support you to create a winning campaign and get step by step advice on how to use Facebook Adverts Manager.
