I’ve been working on my sales skills. Reading books. Picking the brains of those smarter than I.
And I think I’m getting really good at it!
Today I want to convince you NOT to hire me.
Seriously, don’t hire me. Or anyone else who says they can take the heavy lifting of social advertising off your shoulders to save you time and make you money. BUT only if, these three facts reign true for you.
1. You’re Not Ready To Grow
I get it. Companies, business owners, marketing managers are all at different places during their long journey of growth. You might not have the the inventory, the process or the buy in to really take your company to the next level with social advertising. If a huge increase in sales is going to bombard your non-existent customer service team resulting in a bad customer experience, it might not be the time to invest in a partner that can help you grow through social advertising.
2. You’re Testing Other Things
Testing is a big part of social advertising as much as it should be part of your overall marketing strategy. If you’re in a place where you’re testing things like influencer marketing, print media, billboards or grassroots marketing and are trying to get a gauge of what really moves the needle, it might not be the best time to launch a huge social advertising campaign. Because strategies like print media are less trackable than social advertising, it might be hard for you to understand how fruitful your broad efforts are. The beautiful thing about social advertising is that you can 100% track a click, lead or sale back to the money you’ve put into the campaign. There’s no wondering if Billy saw your ad on the highway which inspired him to google your website and convert to sale.
3. You Don’t Have A Budget
Maybe you don’t have a budget for social advertising, or maybe you’ve felt the pain of a flopped social campaign and never want to invest your money in Facebook again, but either way you’re not in a place to spend money on advertising. The pain of a flopped campaign is like no other, and it’s true there is a pinnacle point when social advertising makes sense for brands. Spend too little with limited amounts of data, and broad targeting and you are wasting your money. Spend too much right away without testing and you’ll also be in the same boat.
Here’s a pro-tip, Facebook’s campaign manager can help you understand the market penetration you’ll receive, as long as you know the audience you want to target and the budget you do have. I use this tool frequently and it’s free as long as you have a Facebook Business Manager account. You might find out quickly that $300/month to target a major metropolitan area isn’t going to get you very far no matter how brilliant your creative is, and in that case you might actually need a social advertising partner who can understand how to maximize your budget.
4. There is no #4
I was going to add a #4 to this list; you already have an in-house digital specialist. But truthfully, that’s no reason not to hire me or another social advertising agency. When you’re so in the trenches of what you do, and how you do it, the most valuable thing you could use is a mentor to double check you’re on the right track. I frequently share best practices and pick the brains of other ad specialists to make sure I don’t get tunnel vision, and you should too!
There you have it. Timing is everything. Don’t hire me. Unless you’re ready.