And How You Can Use it In Your Business:
I want to outline how Facebook marketing can work for your business.
It’s easy and common to assume that you should advertise and straight for the sale. If you’re a Dentist, you could advertise on Facebook and say:
- PAIN FREE Dentistry – Fillings and Clean from Just $147.
Knowing that you are going to be a PRO Marketer soon, I want to ask you to read that sentence above again as if your businesses success depended on it.
Seriously, read that sentence again and think about each word and the meaning of it (don’t worry, I am going somewhere with this!)
Imagine for a moment, that you hired out a meeting room and you invited 10 strangers from the street to come inside and participate in a study.
You gave each of the 10 participants a piece of cardboard that was the same size as a business card, and on it read exactly the statement above (Pain Free Dentistry – Fillings and Clean from Just $147.)
And the goal of your study was to have each of the 10 participants to write down in a maximum 12-15 words, and maximum one sentence, what type of person was going to respond to this message?
And that is the only thing they had to spend 15 minutes to sit down and think about.
If YOU reading this right now, stop for just 60 seconds and actually do this same exercise now (no matter how trivial and basic it sounds), you will either gain or regain a deep insight here.
When they read this example advertisement, and your participants spend 15 minutes thinking about WHO is going to respond to this marketing message, what do you think the most common response is going to be?
So would the person who’ll respond to this message be:
- Someone who is considering hiring a professional dog walker and trainer for their pet poodle?
- Answer: no, this is very off topic.
- Someone who is considering getting laser eye surgery?
- Answer: no, yes it’s medical related but the ad is not about Lasik.
- Someone who is considering getting braces?
- Answer: no, while the Ad blurb does mention Dentistry, it says nothing about teeth braces so it’s unlikely there will be a connection there.
- Someone who will need an emergency filling in 8 months from now because they bite into a hard lolly and chip their tooth?
- Answer: probably not. If they see an Ad today about fillings and they don’t need a filling today, they will most likely skim past the Ad (like we all do) and forget they ever saw it when they DO NEED a dentist.
- Someone who NEEDS a filling RIGHT NOW and who also believes a clean could be good too.
- Answer: YES. This is the type of person your 10 study participants would most likely write down and describe.
Is This a Good or a Bad Thing?
It’s a little bit good, but it’s mostly what I’ll call “not best practice“.
If you are a Dentist, it’s normal to think “ok, I provide fillings – so I’m going to launch a Facebook marketing campaign that will advertise my fillings service.”
And like I said, it’s a little bit good.
Imagine again that you crowded 1,000 people into your old school hall. They are standing shoulder to shoulder and you as the Dentist walked onto the stage and yelled out:
“Put your hand up if you need a filling!”
How many people would raise their hands?
Ok, so now imagine you, yourself: with whatever it is you’re selling or planning to sell. You walk onto the stage and you say:
2. “Put your hand up if you’re thinking of hiring a Personal Trainer!”
or
3. “Put your hand up if you’re looking for custom handmade soaps!”
or
4. “Put your hand up if you need your toilet fixed!” (assuming you’re a plumber).
Whatever it is you YELL from the stage, whatever it is you’re business sells or is going to sell, how many people out of that crowd of 1,000 will raise their hand, and therefore be responding to you and saying:
“Yes, I need what you’re selling right now!“.
The answer is usually 2-3%. It depends on what you’re selling. If you’re selling something low price but very commonly purchased like milk, more hands will go up. But it’s a lower price item, it’s more of a commodity and you will make $150 worth of sales. (because yes, there was that many people looking for milk).
If you’re a Dentist, it’s a higher ticket item and less common. So you might make 1 sale and make that same amount of $150.
This is why advertising exactly what you’re selling is only a little bit good.
And this brings me to the conclusion:
Yes you can advertise directly to the point like this, but the amount of responses and sales are limited. Because there are only every going to be so many people who need what you’re selling right now.
HOWEVER, if you just take one step back, you can attract more potential customers and eventually get more paying customers.
This is a longer play, it takes longer to see the increased benefits. But this is the way to reach more people with your Facebook marketing campaigns.
If you’re a Dentist, advertising “The Top 5 Worst Foods in Our Society Today for Your Teeth”, will achieve a few things:
- If you yelled this from the stage of your old school hall to 1,000 strangers. MORE people would raise their hand and say “yes I’m interested in this“.
- You’re attracting people who care about their teeth (which is good, because you’re a Dentist in this example).
- You’re getting people to know you, before they need you. So when they do need you, they already know you. (after you provide the pdf document, or video, or whatever it is on “The Top 5 Worst Foods in Our Society Today for Your Teeth”, you have a reason to stay in touch with these people.
- A weekly email with another helpful hint would be enough to stay ‘top of mind’ of your industry to each of these people.
Now replace the Dentist with you. And replace the “filling” with your main product you sell. And now you can see how this works.
If you want me to walk you through this in more detail, I can do that. Attracting people like this for your business if just one of the must have lessons that I cover in my Advanced Facebook Marketing course called the Social Formula.
If you want more information on how to get this course, just click here. (course not currently available) .
Leave a Reply