How to optimize a small budget (and convert more customers).
I am a firm believer that you do not need a large ad budget to succeed with your ads. In fact, through my own personal experiences, you can run successful ads on a budget as small as $5 a day. I’ve even run campaigns for clients that spend $1 a day. There are a few factors that contribute to the success of an ad with a budget this small. One of these factors is the audience. This is the more technical part of the ad that is easier to figure out. Getting your ad in front of the right eyes will ultimately determine how well your ad performs. The key to a small budget audience is keeping the audience small. For reference, I like to run my $5 a day ads with an audience of ~20,000 - 30,000. Obviously, the size of the audience depends on your product or service, so don’t take my example to heart. I run very niche target audiences with very specific interests and behaviors.
The most essential factor for a successful small budget ad is the creative content of the ad. You cannot convert customers if you don’t get their attention, and you can’t get their attention with an ad that blends in. On top of that, you also cannot get their attention with an ad that looks like an ad. You must tailor the creative content to your audience’s interests. Now, not just anyone can whip up a successful ad with visually pleasing content, copy that sells, an interest-piquing headline, and an irresistible offer. There is no perfect recipe for one either. There are only guidelines you may follow to help ensure your ads are as effective as possible.
How to get started with the creative process:
Conduct Market Research. This will help you tailor your content to fit your audience perfectly. No matter how much you think you know about your customers, there’s always more info that you can find and use. At the very least, you should create a profile of your ideal customer. Besides the basic demographics and interests, what do they do in their free time? What are they passionate about? What are they afraid of? Where do they spend most of their time at, or most of their time doing? What makes them attracted to your product? Or better yet, what makes them attracted to your competition’s product? Building a profile of your ideal customer can not only help you zero in on pain points and benefits exclusive to your product, but will prove beneficial in helping you identify audiences with similar interests, demographics, and potential.
Identify benefits to your product/service. Many ads focus on the features or functional benefits to their product or service. The first ad I ever ran for my new agency sounded a little like this: “We provide marketing consultations for small businesses.” The truth is, no one cares about what your business does unless they are already considering different products. Customers only care about what you can do for them. The best way to relate through this, is the emotional benefits the consumer experiences from your product. You aren’t selling a bottle of water, you’re selling the quench of thirst. You aren’t selling Italian food, you’re selling a fine-dining, authentic, romantic experience.
Relate your benefits to your audience’s interests. This point is not as essential, so long as you keep it in mind. If your benefits do not align with the interests of your audience, no one will care. You don’t have to target their interests specifically, but keep them in mind. The only time I would suggest targeting an audience’s specific interests is when you are retargeting them, or know which part of the sales funnel they are in. (Ex: If you retarget people who engaged with your ad about a promotional offer, you can better tailor the retargeting ad by mentioning a reason or two why that offer may benefit them exclusively).
There are a few more things to keep in mind while going through the creative process of the ad (consistent content, brand phrasing, brand colors, brand imagery, etc.), but I’m trying to keep this short. Let’s move onto the real substance of this post.
Creative content is the most important aspect of your ad.
Imagery. The visual content of your ad is what will make the user stop scrolling. Your audience doesn’t get on social media to be sold to. They get on to disconnect from real life and connect with friends virtually. They want to watch funny videos and debate last night’s football game on their team’s fan page. Social media is a channel of release for many people. They can connect with people who share the same views and opinions as them, who like the same teams, watch the same shows, and went to the same school. They don’t want to see your ad - you are the uninvited guest. For their sake, make the image (or video) worth looking at.
Headline. This better be good. This is what determines whether or not they click on your link. Don’t try to explain everything in the ad, leave some out. Give them a reason to keep reading. A good guideline for producing a headline that hooks the reader’s attention is as follows: Identify the most attractive benefits of your product. This benefit should be one that your audience specifically will hold great value for. Briefly describe the benefit to your product in a way that primes the reader’s senses. If it doesn’t sound good to you, it won’t sound good to them. (Ex: “You can run successful digital ads for as little as $5 a day.”)
Copy. The text of the ad. The caption. The part of the ad that no one reads unless the image and headline get them there (usually). You can express yourself a bit more here. Describe the benefits of your product/service, but don’t give it all away. And definitely avoid any functional benefits, unless if it is a retargeting ad. Lastly, make sure your next desired step is clear. This can be in the copy or, ideally, in the headline next to the call to action button.
Call to Action. Make it clear what you want the reader to do next. If it is their first time seeing your ad, a simple website visit would be ideal. If it is their second or third time seeing your ad, perhaps send them an offer to sign up for. Third to fifth time viewers, get them to convert. This process varies from industry to industry (and product to product), but generally your rule of thumb should be to follow the funnel process. First is Awareness (Learn More), next is Consideration (Sign Up), and last is Transactional (Convert the sale). Again, this is just a guideline, not a guaranteed algorithm.
If you target the right audience, have a killer image/video, write great, convincing copy, a hooking headline, and include an irresistible call to action, your ads will be unstoppable, no matter how large or small your budget may be.
