Stop wasting Money on Ads

Like any other marketing initiative, advertising can bolster brand awareness and sales but it can also miss the mark completely, it can be the dead-last priority which ends up jumping up to the top of the to-do list for the wrong reason. Depending on why small businesses start investing in advertising, when and where they decide to invest (which channel, device, location) and to whom (is the audience relevant for the offering?), it is safe to say that many times ads can be a waste of money and time.

Situations when small business owners should stop running ads

Here are some scenarios when running ads is the least inspired way to invest the very precious time and money that small business owners have available. These apply to big companies all the same but the resources at hand are a far cry from those a small business can count on and the impact of a less effective initiative has a significantly different effect over the business overall.

1.“Everything else” is still pending.

Starting with the ABCs of digital marketing makes a lot of sense especially since some of these initiatives (like SEO, content creation) need time to mature and start showing results. The sooner they are put in place the sooner they will start working. The temptation to jump the gun and start running ads (social media ones in particular) aiming for immediate gratification is particularly high so here are just a few of the things that need attention first:

• formulate clearly your value proposition, have an authentic story to tell.

• take advantage of all the “free” (nothing is free) tools and tactics available.

  SEO - start by choosing one keyword that truly represents your business and organize your website/landing page content around it. Having a presence on Google, for a small business, is an important first step.

  Google Business profile - any business, active online or offline, offering products or services, benefits from having a google business profile (when set up correctly it will also support further your local SEO efforts).

  Collab posts on Instagram - find other businesses with which you have synergies, create valuable content together for the benefit of both of your communities and businesses.

• take time for an audience workshop - define who your clients are, what they like, where they “hang around the most” online or offline, what are their needs and how is your businesses offering solutions to them.

• accept and put to use the client feedback blessing - happy customers, angry customers (especially them), users benefiting from product/service trials. Listen, listen, listen and use the information collected to improve your business.

2. “The house is not ready for guests”.

The post ad-click experience is not optimized. Are you sending people clicking on your ads to a “black hole”? Some things to check:

• how fast your website loads

• which page is best to send users to after they clicked on the ad

• how easy and smooth is it for visitors to “convert” (to do what you want them to do)

• how clear is the overall information provided

• how aligned is the content they see with the message they saw in the ad

3. The expectation is for advertising to magically fix your business.

While there is plenty of magic in this world, running ads is not going to work like an over-night hocus-pocus that magically transforms your business. Mambo-jumbo or ala kazam will not work either especially if your business is in a tough spot and your hopes are for a last minute advertising campaign to save the day. Some food for thought:

• nothing works in isolation, no - not even marketing, not even advertising. 

• do you see marketing spending (including advertising) as a cost or an investment and why is that?

• what is the context in which you decided to start running ads (in other words, are you really ready, have you covered “everything else” on the digital marketing to do list?)

• If there was any guarantee that ads will always have a positive return on investment - we would all be rich. Be wary when you hear “100% success guaranteed”, “spend 1 dollar and get 2 back”, …

4. There is no real plan nor planning behind, just hopes that “ads will work”.

Some questions to ask yourself before you start spending: 

• How do I capture the attention of my target audience?

• Why would I buy my own product/service ?

• Do I really know what I am doing in the ads interface ?!

• Is social media really the best way to find new clients? Why do I believe this?

• How much money do I have to spend?

• What specific results do I expect? Are they realistic?

• How do I use the campaign data to improve the results?

• How do I evaluate if the advertising campaign works? 

• How long should I keep the campaign running?

So, is advertising a waste of time and money? The answer can be a resounding YES in many cases. In order to determine if this applies to you or not, do a little audit: Did I take advantage of all other organic tactis? Did I prepare the grounds and plan thoroughly for an advertising campaign? Do I know how to set it up and run it? It it clear and realistic what I expect to get out of the advertising campaign?

If you go yes, yes, yes and yes to all of the above- then you are probably in a good position to start experimenting with ads. When that is not the case, you are better off focusing your time, energy and money on setting up a strong foundations by ticking off the digital and marketing basics listed previously. And when you are tempted to answer with “I am not sure”, consider asking professional support and guidance.

This is the first article from the series “5 empowering thoughts for small businesses in 2023”. Sign up to the newsletter (form available in the website footer) to receive them directly in your inbox.

Image credits: Prateek Katyal via unsplash.