We’re going to talk about traffic in this article. This comes from a recent client meeting where we were talking about the concept of driving traffic from different advertising sources.
It’s become apparent to us that some people’s understanding of good traffic is different from others, so we wanted to talk through what most people consider the two main drivers of leads and prospects (traffic); Facebook Ads and Google Adwords.
To the untrained eye, both methods of advertising are very similar. They are both online, both PPC (Pay Per Click) and both extremely powerful. However, some retailers don’t get the results that they should be getting out of them, and that’s mostly because they’re using them in the wrong way.
You see, there’s a huge difference between traffic on Google and traffic on Facebook. We’ve spent thousands upon thousands on each, and there’s a good reason for that – they both work.
But Facebook and Google, just like any other marketing channels, only work well if you’re using the correct strategies and techniques. It’s not too different to baking a cake. You can get all the ingredients with the weekly shop, but if you mix up the wrong quantities and use three eggs instead of six, you’ll likely end up with something that resembles a loaf of Hovis than a Victoria Sponge.
The only reason that Google exists is to help people find answers to problems. We’ve got the opportunity to put our adverts in the mix, too, so if we can match the solution we offer (a kitchen, bedroom or bathroom) with the problem that’s being entered, we should have a winner.
It’s obviously a bit harder than what we’ve just described there, but on a simple level, that’s how Google Ads work. You’ll still have to do the hard work to make a sale, and follow the many rules of direct response marketing, but (if you’ve set up your ads and targeting correctly) you’ll be selling to people who are already a long way down the buying process.
Facebook is different. People don’t go on Facebook to solve a problem. They are there to be entertained, watch videos, check the news and chat with friends. They’re not looking for their dream kitchen, so we need to approach selling on Facebook quite differently.
It’s really easy to create a Google Ad promoting your latest range of kitchens, but going in for the hard sell on Facebook will more often than not (but not always) end in disappointment. In our experience, taking people from Facebook straight to a sales page isn’t a recipe for success.
You need to ‘blend in’ a little on Facebook. Let us explain what we mean by that, as it’s probably quite different from everything you’ve ever heard about good advertising. On Facebook, because everyone is wanting to be entertained or informed, you’ll need to ‘blend in’ and do the same with great, engaging content. Do something different to what people are using the media for and you’ll likely regret it.
Give some value to your audience. Try to teach them something to catch their interest. Then you need to drive them to an opt-in and get them to opt-in for something more in return for their valuable data so that you can follow up and put them into your sales funnel.
This way, you’re playing a longer game – your sales funnel might be a couple of weeks of positioning your product or service properly before ever trying to make a sale, but that’s ok. A brochure request or a valuable lead magnet would be of good use here.
We put together an article on creating a great lead magnet for your kitchen & bathroom business, and you can read it here: https://www.flo-marketing.co.uk/the-one-thing-almost-definitely-costing-you-sales/
Facebook is now the world’s biggest database. The targeting options are incredible, and if you’re not familiar with the targeting tool, you really should be diving in ASAP. It’s been a huge source of leads and customers for a lot of our clients, so we’d encourage you to be exploring it.
But racking up a big traffic bill without any conversions is a bad situation to find yourself in, and that’s why we’re huge advocates of making sure your whole marketing strategy is sound before just slinging up a Google Adwords campaign or Facebook Ad. You need to go a little deeper and plan the whole process; how are you going to take these leads all the way to a sale?
As technology develops, we’re presented with new opportunities to make the most of the traffic that lands on our pages.
We can now build lists of ‘pixeled’ people that we can re-advertise to on Facebook at a later date. So, that said, are you installing your Facebook Advertising Pixel on your website so that you can accumulate prospects and drive them back to your sale or call to action?
You can re-advertise your lead magnet, which works very well in terms of getting traffic to opt-in to your email list. And once you have the opt-in, you should have a nice, juicy autoresponder set up that introduces your company and starts to build a relationship with the new prospect.
From here, you can promote your other marketing channels, so that they start to see you in more places than just their email inbox. Can you get their mobile number? Can you get them to watch a video and subscribe to your YouTube channel? Can you get a Facebook ‘like’? What about an Instagram ‘follow’? If you’re pushing out content via these different streams and your prospect is seeing your messages across multiple platforms, you’ve got a much better chance of converting them into a paying customer.
If you need any help deciphering what strategy to use on which type of media, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us – we’ll be happy to help.