It’s Not Too Early for BFCM Planning: 5 Signs Your Biz Is Ready For Ads

"Hope is not a strategy." - Vince Lombardi

In a blink of an eye, September will be November! Adding cautious consumers to the mix means that a Meta Ad Campaign sooner than later is crucial. Whether it’s running low-cost engagement campaigns, or seasoning your pixel for future conversions, early actions build relationships that lead to long-term success with Leads and Sales Campaigns. If you've got a big launch or sale coming up before the end of 2024, don’t wait to start preparing—trust is earned over time, not overnight.

If you're ready to ACT, read on to see if you've got the 5 signs you're ready to SCORE with Meta Ads! ✨

Why it's not too early:

We are in a trust recession 

. . . as well as an economic recession – people are planning out their spending and also way more cautious about who and what they invest in. This means the sooner you start warming up your audience by giving value and helping them to get to know you (your origin story and your product/service), the better. Building trust is particularly important to service providers, course creators and coaches.

You can build trust by running Meta Engagement Campaigns at $2 to $5 an ad per day over a two week period. If you're familiar with the "Instagram Boosted Post", this it's way more sophisticated and impactful older sister 😉. Another option is run two or more lead-magnets before your big push. This gives your ideal clients more than one opportunity to get to know your brand and picture themselves working with you or using your product.

Another reason is data. 

Whether you’re a new or established business, tracking conversions on your website is super important. I like to call it “seasoning your pixel” (aka the “cookie” or bit of code installed in the header section of your website that talks to Meta and Google Analytics about who visits your website and what they do there.) If you’re a new business, you need visitors, period. Aiming for 50 “conversions” total of any kind, such as signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase is really valuable information. If you’re an established business, it’s always great to have at least 50 “conversions” (Meta calls them Pixel Events) of a specific kind, such as “purchase” or “complete registration” within a 7-day stretch.

Running specific kinds of Meta Ads Campaigns can help you season your pixel leading up to your big launch or BFCM sale.

Finally, a Warm Up helps with Google and SEO. 

If you’ve got a product or location that you want people to search for (organically - for free), or a business model that would benefit from Google Shopping or Sponsored Posts (paid) on Google Maps, you need a warm audience – people who already know the brand, service, or product they want – and Meta Ads are a great way to grow your audience from cold to warm shoppers. They will literally see an ad on Meta, and then hop on over to Google to look you or your type of service up in the Search Bar. And guess what? The more people who do this, the more the Google algorithm starts paying attention.

All this takes time, which is why our approach, pictured below in the ‘Hierarchy of Meta Ad Campaigns’ works really well – it’s not about a One-And-Done Ad campaign – it’s about building a relationship with your cold, warm and hot audience over time, and not coming across as sales-y in an icky way.

So, it’s clear the early bird is at an advantage. But what specifically will help you determine if ads are something you’re ready for?

Sign 1: You know how Meta can help you.

If your business is in one of the following strategic phases there is a strategic way to use Meta Ads in each.

Early Business Phase:

You’re past the proof of concept stage and you’ve had some success selling your service or creations. If you believe in hiring and paying for professionals (or maybe you believe in not DIYing everything) you may want to hire an Ads Manager to help you grow your audience, get traffic to your new site, and thereby get your pixel well seasoned so that come the next BFCM you can go BOOM!

Something's Gotta Give Phase:

You’ve hustled your buns off to grow an engaged following on social media, you’ve got subscribers on your email list, and the revenues have been great -- but now it's getting overwhelming. You are simply wearing too many hats and your business is suffering. You need to leverage that great content and all the data from your Meta Pixel and Google Analytics in a Meta Ads Strategy! In this case, Meta Ads are one of your tools for revenue growth -- and hiring an Ads Manager allows you focus on your Genius again.

CEO Phase:

Your sales are going great, but it’s time to Boss Up and become a serious CEO so you can truly scale to the next level. This means you do not do your own Marketing, period. (Although, of course, you may still need to be the face of the brand if it’s personality-driven.) At this point, it's advisable to have a social media manager and a Digital Ads Manager on retainer who works with you throughout the year -- preparing the way months before each of your launches.

Sign 2: You can make the sale.

This one is pretty straightforward. You can have great social media content (organic and paid), 10K+ followers, and Reels for your product or service that go viral, but that doesn't mean you're making bank. If your website isn't optimized to make an easy purchase, your landing page doesn't have convincing copy, or if you're anxious about having "buying conversations" with people once they sign up for your Clarity Call -- you need the help of a professional. Meta Ads will help you get the leads, but YOU have to close the deal.

(We can help you with sales copy on your landing page, our friend Mel Paterson is a Shopify genius, and our friend Authentically Gazzy can elevate your sales process to a new level.)

Sign 3: Your customer is in the Metaverse.

Stats show that just about every interest group and age demographic is on the Meta platforms, Instagram and Facebook, so reaching Solopreneurs to Cat Mamas, or Gen Zs to Zoomers is within reach. Using our Sprint Testing method, we can cheaply and quickly find out what headlines, images, formats and Calls To Action resonate with your customer before we run your campaigns.

But what if you’re wanting to reach top CEOs to sell your Leadership Development program or your new SAAS (software as a service)? LinkedIn might be the best bet for advertising (although I always say it's worth it to experiment, for e.g. if your ideal CEO is a mom-preneur who is regularly on IG). Or what if you really need to reach viewers who are more likely to create UGC (user-generated content) that goes viral? TikTok might be a better platform.

Sign 4: You have an investment mindset.

If you are approaching ads from the point of view of an investment, you are on the right track! Ads often take time and some experimentation -- they are not just a tap to turn on sales. We often have sales calls with people who want us to run 5 days of ads and ask us what the ROAS will be (i.e. how much revenue will they make as a result of the campaign). It simply doesn't work that way! Risk tolerance, openness to testing and giving things time are all part of the mindset you need. And you need a budget, of course! Ad spend can be $300 to $3000/month depending on the length and scale of your campaign. Hiring an Ads Manager starts at $2500 for the first month and then a $1500 monthly retainer.

Sign 5: Your marketing "stack" is ready!

When potential clients and customers click on an ad and leave Meta or Google to sign up for your lead-magnet or hot offer, everything in your "marketing stack" needs to be ready to seamlessly sell, get their email, send them the PDF, make the sale and/or build trust with an email sequence. Ok if you don’t have this set up, or you need help because your "funnel" is janky or out of date, we can definitely help with this! In fact, you can book our FREE Marketing Review as a way to get the ball rolling!