Don’t Do This To Your Audience — or Your Ad Budget!

Imagine you’re at the shops and a salesperson comes over to you and says “come to my shop! I have exactly what you need!” But… they don’t know what it is that you need or how any of their products can help you.

They just presented you with their offer with no context. 

Sound confusing (and maybe a little bonkers)? 

That’s because it is.

This same scenario often applies to paid ads. Too many companies run ads just for the sake of running ads, thinking that all of that traffic will generate sales.

But paid ads don’t automatically equal sales.

Let’s take a deeper look! Here are two ways to completely waste your ad budget (and your time).

Run Ads Without Knowing Exactly Who You’re Speaking To

Your product or service isn’t for everyone.

Even if you have a product that the general public would find useful, not everyone will want to buy it.

Let’s use coffee makers as an example. A large percentage of the world drinks coffee (and many make it at home) but your specific coffee maker will appeal to only a small portion of that population. 

Consider the following:

Price point

Is your coffee maker for those with a sophisticated kitchen, or University students on a budget?

Features

Does your coffee maker have all the ‘bells and whistles’ that would appeal to someone more technologically inclined, or is it for someone who just wants a simple, no-frills way to make their morning brew?

Design

Is your coffee pot brightly coloured and futuristic, or a simple black or white? People’s personal style plays a huge role in their purchasing decisions.

Depending on the answers to these questions, paid ads would run to entirely different audiences.

 If you don’t know who you serve or how your offers can solve your customer’s problems, you aren’t ready to run paid ads.

You Don’t Know What Problems Your Offers Actually Fix

Sure, your product may be fantastic and solve your customer’s problems, but unless you’ve narrowed it down to specific pain points, your ads won’t resonate the way you want them to.

Let’s go back to the coffee maker example (is anyone else really, really craving coffee right now?).

In this scenario, you have designed a “smart” coffee maker that can be turned off using an app on your phone. 

Sure, it’s convenient, but what is the exact pain point you’re addressing? 

Forgetfulness. Stress. Worry. Your coffee maker alleviates the anxiety of the person who is constantly going back home in the middle of the work day to make sure their coffee maker is shut off. You’re addressing the worry of the person who doesn’t trust that the automatic off feature actually worked. 

That is a very specific niche of people, exactly who you should be advertising to, and exactly who will be buying it.  

Are You Really Ready to Run Paid Ads?

Many agencies won’t tell you this, but ads are not a quick fix for sales. If you don’t know who you serve, what their problems are, or how you specifically can solve them, you’re going to waste your resources running paid ads. 

At the Paid Ads School, we only partner with you when we know that running paid ads will be a worthwhile investment. (Don’t know if you’re ready to run paid ads? Check out our free download here.) 

If you have any questions on your paid ads readiness or would like to speak with a member of our team about our done-for-you services, contact us!

Now, if any of you actually sell that coffee maker, please send me an email, would you?