00:00:01 You are listening to the Scaling to Freedom podcast and if you are an online coach or course creator, you are in the right place. I’m your host, Christina Bernhard. I’m an ads agency owner that gets an inside look every day on what’s working and what doesn’t in the online coaching space. I’m here to share with you what we see works in our agency as well as what we see happening and changing in the industry. Stay tuned to up level your coaching business to have the freedom you want. Let’s get started.

00:00:30 Welcome to episode 186. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about what happens when you pause your ads. So this is a, it’s a fairly commonly asked question because I know that because of budgeting, I see a lot of people wanting to pull in and out of ads. So there are different things as far as budget changes, fear if they think that the ads aren’t working, business changes, things like that. So there are some legitimate reasons to pause ads and then there are some that are just based in fear and misunderstanding of the process.

00:01:05 And so the reason really does matter why you’re doing it. So I’m going to go over the cons of pausing and where pausing is good and necessary. So taking a break is necessary sometimes. So it’s not necessarily always a bad thing. It’s not something where you can never pause your ads or you’re going to ruin them. But there are some cons to doing it. So I’m going to go over those today. So let’s go over the three biggest things that happens whenever you do pause your ads. So the first thing is that there are algorithm changes. So the algorithm is spending time collecting data, right?

00:01:47 So it’s normal for it to not perform at first. And so I wanted to point this out too, because I know it’s really tempting to just turn the ad off if you feel like it’s not performing. But it’s okay if you just started the ad. And the algorithm does need data and it does need space and time to figure out your ideal audience, especially if you just started ads and your account doesn’t have a lot of data to begin with and your pixel is like new and all of these things, you really want to let it do its thing. So if you do pause it, you are stopping that process and you are pausing that entire process and you’re breaking the momentum.

00:02:24 So you always also have the risk of it not performing the same as it did whenever you initially had it running. So if you restart a campaign, you are always risking that it’s not going to perform the exact same way. So that is just something to keep in mind that it’s not supportive of the algorithm to be turning ads on and off. You really want to turn them on and not touch them and let the algorithm actually do its work. Because the algorithm, if everything else is in alignment, you have good messaging, the ad is good, all of those things.

00:02:57 The algorithm is really, really powerful as far as trying to find your ideal audience or your ideal client and the people who are more likely to convert or purchase. And so if you let it do what it was designed to do and give it the space, the budget, the time to do that, it can be really effective. So you want to make sure that you’re not disrupting that process. The second thing is that your lead generation pauses. So this is really big if you are pausing all of your ads completely, if you are pausing, especially your lead generation ads.

00:03:33 So your freebie ads, your list building campaigns that you have running, it doesn’t typically always hurt the present, it hurts the future. Which is why it’s so important because it might be a case where you pause your ads and you’re like, oh, nothing really happened, revenue is staying the same and you kind of feel like they weren’t really doing anything. And then three to six months later, revenue begins to slow down. You’re wondering what happened. And it’s often related to the fact that your top of funnel stopped or slowed down because ideally you’re doing organic social media as well, or organic marketing, so you’re still getting some in, but it’s going to be at a much slower pace.

00:04:14 And it might be, depending on what your purchase cycle is, the length of that, it might be three to six months later that you actually see the effect of turning those top of funnel ads off. So you want to really keep that in mind as well. You will run out of warm audience at some point and likely won’t grow as quickly organically. So that’s where the page comes in and it really just helps to have that consistent, ongoing lead generation coming through. And whenever you do turn that off, it can affect things in the future.

00:04:46 So if you want to scale and grow your business really big, you will likely need to run ads and you’re going to need that consistent lead generation coming through so that you can convert them in the future and then also just have things amplify and get larger and larger. So that’s the second thing. The third thing is that you also are stretching out the process of having a high converting funnel and that ongoing, healthy lead generation that I was talking about. It’s a journey and it takes time, and often it takes more time than people think. It seems so simple and easy to make money online.

00:05:26 I guess in some ways it is simple, but it’s not easy. And so there is a journey of figuring out how to do this, how to have people coming in, being able to educate them in the right way, to speak to them, to nurture them and to find the people. That are looking for you, essentially, but also getting them to trust you and showing them that you have value and that you can give them results and you can actually help change their life or get whatever outcome they’re looking for. And that’s a journey that’s not super easy to do necessarily. So it does take time.

00:06:00 And whenever you are pausing the lead generation, there is this desire for that instant gratification, but it just often does not work that way. So the more you stick with it and really go for it, the sooner you’re going to get that success, the sooner you’re going to get to the point where you are just putting money in and getting money out. Everyone wants to be at that point. It’s a common goal and you will get to that point if you don’t stop. So whenever you are pausing your ads and you’re taking a break, just be mindful that you are stretching out that process and you are pushing that point of getting to that success point even further out.

00:06:38 So just be mindful of that. So those are the three main things that happen whenever you do pause your ads. But there are situations where pausing your ads is something that is a good idea or maybe even necessary. So the three things that I’m going to go over, or the three sections rather, is that the first one is that the funnel isn’t converting and you need to revamp. So we don’t want to necessarily just keep putting money in and not getting results, right?

00:07:08 So if you’re in a situation where the funnel is just not converting and you need to pause everything, go back, do some market research, figure out where people are missing the messaging, what you need to do to the offer, whatever the case is, that’s a good reason to pause the ads, right? This is part of the journey. So yes, you’re stretching out as far as that lead generation is coming through, but this is also part of the journey, so it’s not necessarily a bad decision, in my opinion. The second thing is that the ads aren’t working and you need to start that strategy over or get some help. So if there are situations where maybe your agency isn’t working out or you have someone on your team running them, but you’re getting to a point where you need some more advanced help and you need to hire an agency in those situations, like pausing the ads and just regrouping, redoing that ad strategy.

00:08:03 So this is separate from the funnel strategy. That is a good reason to pause. If your ads aren’t working and you’re not sure why, just make sure to let it spin. I’m mostly speaking to people who have just started ads and you just turned them on and you feel like they’re not working and you want to shut them off. I want to address that because that’s completely different.

00:08:25 So make sure you’re spending a good rule of thumb that a lot of people run by, and I agree with it, is letting it spend at least three times your CPA, your cost per acquisition, one at minimum, but just letting it to run again, that algorithm needs fuel. It needs time, or at least for seven days. So depending on what your budget is. But still, if the ads are not working and you need to reevaluate, maybe find someone else to manage them, or you need to just start over with the ad strategy, that’s a good reason to pause. Also, of course, and then other reasons.

00:09:05 The third category of reasons would be obvious reasons. Like, you’re no longer offering that program anymore. It’s seasonal. It’s something that you want to change. If you’re changing the actual offer, that’s a good reason to pause.

00:09:19 If you’re pivoting going a different direction in your business, we definitely want to pause that lead generation until you can really have some clarity on where you’re going and what you’re doing and what’s next. So those are some good reasons to pause. So I wanted to do this to just address whether you should pause your ads or not, and if it’s okay to kind of jump in and out of your ads. And overall, again, it depends on the reason. So I went over the reasons that I think are good reasons.

00:09:46 If there are any other reasons other than those three main categories of reasons, I think that it makes more sense to let things run. If the funnel is converting, and all of those things you want to make sure that you are. I know it can be scary to put that budget in, but letting it ride out that journey is really the way it’s really how you get to the point where you’re just putting money in and getting more money out. Trust me, you want to be there. We have clients that are there, and it’s such a great place to be that you’re just putting money in and getting money out.

00:10:24 I mean, that’s essentially what ads and funnels do for you. But it is a journey. It’s not this thing where once you have all of your tech set up and you feel like your messaging is right and your offer is perfect, and all these things that it just happens. It doesn’t just happen that way. It’s not just turning on ads. And then all of a sudden, the funnel is converting and the ads are doing great, and you’re putting money in and you’re getting more money out. It doesn’t necessarily always happen that quickly. It could take three months, six months. It could take a year. It could take two years.

00:10:52 It depends on again, it depends on how many times you’re starting and stopping. It depends on how much time you’re letting pass before you’re actually or between the times that you’re optimizing like, how on top of it are you staying, how much effort are you actually putting into it and how much focus? And all of those things are huge variables into what that timeline looks like for you and how serious you’re taking the feedback and the market research and implementing those things. So it is not so easy, but it is worth it. So you just have to ride out that journey.

00:11:23 So if you are starting and stopping a lot, it’s just going to drag that out. It’s also going to make it harder because anything that you are figuring out at that time, it’s going to change because the market changes and just things change. And so you want to make sure that you are really sticking to the journey and you’re being committed to it and you’re getting to the place that you want to be and you’re ultimately just hitting those goals and ideally, you have a team behind you helping you and supporting you and doing that. So if you have any questions about that, if you are looking for support, definitely reach out. You can find me on Instagram @ChristinaDBernhard.

00:11:55 and I would love to connect with you there. But yeah, that is what I have for you today. So ultimately, if you have a good reason to pause your ads, fine. But don’t do it out of fear or scarcity and just being afraid of that journey and just kind of like chickening out from the journey. I know that it can be scary to invest in something and especially when in the beginning, it’s a lot of just like data collection, which isn’t always fun, but it is the journey to getting to the place where you’re putting money in and getting more money out.

00:12:28 So I hope that you found this helpful. I will see you guys next week. Thank you for listening to the Scaling to Freedom podcast. If you are a seven figure coach looking for ads management with an agency that partners with you to get your work out into the world and amplify your impact, see if we are a good fit by applying for a spot in our agency at christinabernhard.com/apply. Find the link in our show notes.