Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
Why Are My Ads Not Working?
Show Notes
“Why are my ads not working?” is a question I was asked this week.
It is a great question, but the answer may be different from what you are expecting.
What Do You Want Your Ads to Achieve?
A lot of business owners run advertisements for their business, for a number of reasons:
- Someone told them to do it
- Everyone else is doing it
- It’s just ‘something you do’
If your ads aren’t a part of your long-term strategy – if you use them for ‘hit & miss marketing’ – they will definitely not help you in growing your business. Running ads for the sake of running ads is a bad idea for your business. You need to think about the reason you are running these ads.
Think about your marketing strategy or talk about it with an expert.
Will ads really help you achieve your business goals?
‘Exposure’ is Not Enough
Getting your business exposure through ads is not a good enough reason to be running them.
You can get exposure anywhere – and very easily.
But it will not give you a return on investment (ROI.)
What is Your Message?
Who you are talking to is an important part of running these ads.
According to Adweek, 76% of marketing fails to use behavioural data to target customers. This means that a lot of businesses are missing out on talking to people who will actually give them a return on investment, just because they are randomly advertising to whoever happens to be there.
Who are the people that you want to talk to?
Everyone.
But that doesn’t mean you will make sales.
Targeted Ads
Ads should work to either:
- Attract the right person
- Repel the wrong person
- Or both!
Repelling the wrong person is a good thing, even if you think you want to sell to everybody.
You don’t want to waste your advertising budget on someone who will never buy from you.
Making Your Ads Look Good
Another thing you need to look at is the visual effect of your advertising.
You want to make a positive impact.
Does it look like your business, with your branding and colours, or could it be any generic business?
Are your images and videos high-quality?
Does your ad work to make someone stop and look?
The amount of words on your ads is also an aspect to look at.
Why Are My Ads Not Working?
Don’t forget to tune in next week where we hear tips from an entrepreneurial expert on how to make your business ‘more excellent.’
Listen to Episode 137 of Small Business Talk for the full details.
