Christina: (00:02) You are listening to the scaling freedom podcast. I’m your host, Christina Behar. And in this episode, we are talking about whether ads will help you reach your next launch goals. So if you are someone who has had a successful launch and you are curious if your next launch would be a good time to start investing in ads, this is for you. So we are going to talk about what to consider before starting ads, um, which metrics that you need to know first about your launch, to know whether ads are gonna be a good idea for you. Um, what to do, if it looks like you’ll get a return and what to do, if it looks like you won’t get a return on your ad spin. Um, so we are gonna talk about that today. I wanted to do this because ads are not always the answer.

Christina: (00:47) Um, for one, they are not magical. I talk about this all the time. Um, but also we really do need to look at your last launch performance to see if you’re in a good place to amplify, because that’s exactly what ads are going to do. They’re just going to amplify what is already working so that you can reach more people, make a bigger impact, make your launch larger. Um, it’s not going to necessarily fix any sales issues. So, um, unless your issue is just exposure, um, just wanting to get more exposure faster than that’s basically the solution that it gives you. Um, but you’ll always be testing and optimizing it. So you’ll never like make it or be fully finished with your launch strategies, right. Or your funnels. Um, so we know that, so we don’t wanna, there’s no point in waiting until it’s perfect to invest in ads because it’s not going to be, um, it’s always going to be that journey.

Christina: (01:39) You’ll never like make it. And even if you do feel like you have made it, there are market changes, there are changes in your own business. Your offers might need to change all these different things. Um, so it’s always going to be a journey. So I’m going to help you today to figure out, you know, when is that sweet spot to start investing in ads? Um, so one thing I’m gonna talk about more later, but I want to mention it here is that I do have a calculator it’s completely free. This is actually what I use for my clients whenever we are about to launch, because I wanna make sure that we are spending enough money on each launch, um, or we’re not spending more than they want to, um, based on the kind of return that they’re going to get or we’re projecting that they get.

Christina: (02:21) Um, so I always start out making those projections before we even go into the launch so that we have a very clear picture of the numbers that we need to hit to hit the goals that we have. So, um, I have turned that into a more user friendly, um, calculator so that you can actually calculate what your potential ad return will be. So I will put a link in the show notes, but you can go to Christina bernhard.com/ros freebie it’s R O a S free B. Um, so go ahead and check that out. It’s completely free. You can download that and plug in your own numbers, um, and see if you would get a return. So I’m gonna talk more about it later, but I just wanted to put that out there. If you are looking for something to just have some calculations done for you, you just input some numbers and it will spit out your potential return.

Christina: (03:06) So let’s talk about things to consider before you start ads. So the first one is, did you make sales? So this is obvious in your last launch. Um, if you did an organic launch, did you actually make sales? If you did not make sales, you are absolutely not ready for ads. Um, that’s going to be a very expensive and disappointing journey. So we wanna make sales. We want to prove our offer. We really want to nail in our messaging. So all of that’s gonna be super, super important. The second thing is, do you have an organic audience? So if you have no audience already built using solely ads to build, that is not something that you want to do, ads are going to compliment your organic audience. We don’t want to replace it. Um, you know, use ads instead of showing up on social media.

Christina: (03:55) Unfortunately, that’s just not how it works. Um, so that would be the second thing. Do you have an organic audience? Have you spent time learning how to build and nurture an audience? Um, the third one is, have you launched a couple of times for comparison, so you don’t absolutely have to do this, but, um, I think just having a couple of launches, um, so that you can see what is your, you can start developing some averages. So what is your average, you know, webinar conversion rate or, um, attendance rate and that sort of thing. You start getting some more averages and having just more data to compare it to. And hopefully if you’ve launched a couple times, maybe the second launch, you tried some new things too, so you just have more opportunities to just gather different data as well. Um, also another thing to consider is do you have at least 2000 a month in budget?

Christina: (04:46) Um, so that is also something that I think is it’s kind of the sweet spot of if you’re just starting out. Um, we don’t want to spend too little on ads because then it’s hard to have any sort of significant impact from them. We need to spend enough to make an actual impact so that we have a reason for even investing in them. So I, we always recommend at least two K a month, um, in ad spend budget. Um, before you start, you can, there are some exceptions to that, but I’m just gonna keep that as ad, if you wanna know what the exceptions are. Um, I do have some, I have lots of content on like budgeting and things like that, but I’m just gonna keep it there. You can send me a DM on Instagram, if you have any, um, extra questions about that.

Christina: (05:29) Um, but, and then the other one, the last one I’m gonna go over is have you been list building? So having a list is super, super important. That’s also going to help us practice and figure out what our, um, funnel conversion rates are. What’s our engagement look like on our email list, um, and also just start cultivating that audience that we own in a different way off of social media platform. So, um, those are the things that I want you to consider. Did you make sales? Do you have an organic audience? Um, have you launched a couple of times before for some comparison, uh, do you have at least $2,000 a month in budget and have you been list building? Do you have a list that you can continue to grow and, um, be, uh, nurturing over time? So let’s talk about the specific numbers that you need to know.

Christina: (06:21) Okay. Super quick. If you are enjoying this episode, I would love if you took a moment to screenshot this added to your stories and tag me so we can get this content to more people that are looking to scale their businesses to more freedom and wealth. Okay. Back to the episode, I love to run the actual numbers. I am not someone who likes to guess or assume. Um, so with ads, as you can probably imagine, it’s very data driven. And so we really rely on data, um, all the time. So , I like to run the numbers. So let’s talk about the metrics that you need to know to actually run these numbers and figure out could you get a return? What could your next launch look like if you do invest in ads based off of these numbers from your last launch? So the first one is your webinar conversion rate.

Christina: (07:04) We wanna know how many people signed up for the webinar out of those people. How many people actually converted and purchased, um, your potential ad spend. So that’s gonna be really important. Um, so if you’re trying to figure out, would you get a return that really depends on how much you are willing to spend, so have at least a range of, um, what you would be willing or what you’re able to actually invest into ad spend the number of days that you’ll run your initial campaign, which would be your webinar, Phillip or summit, Phillip bootcamp, whatever you use your launch event fill. Um, and then your overall conversion rate, your overall funnel conversion rate. So this might be your, um, everyone on your list, um, or it might be, um, if you have a specific funnel after your webinar, maybe not all of these people showed up for the webinar, um, or converted from the webinar.

Christina: (07:54) Maybe they didn’t even consume the replay, but you did have a sequence of emails after that. So you can consider that as well, um, as your overall funnel conversion rate, and then the last one would be your potential cost per lead. So if you’ve never ran ads before, you’re not gonna know your cost per lead. Um, in my, uh, row as calculator that I spoke about in the beginning of this episode, um, if you download my calculator, I do give you some guidance on how to determine your cost per lead, um, or how to a guess that is going to be something that you’re going to have to estimate if you’ve never ran ads before you have no idea what your cost per lead’s going to be. So I give you some guidelines there. Um, and of course you’ll have to estimate that. Um, but that is the, uh, the rest of the number should be solid.

Christina: (08:38) Um, and that’s going to give you a good idea on whether you will get a return. So definitely check out the calculator again, I’ll put a show or a link in the show notes, um, download that it’s completely free run your numbers, the numbers that I just went over, webinar conversion rate, or at least your funnel conversion rate, your potential ad spend that you’re willing to put in. Um, and the number of days that you will run your webinar. Um, and then in the calculator, it’ll also have you put in like the, um, cost of your program and all of that. Um, but in the calculator, I do walk you through each metric and help you, um, know what you need to input and where to put, put it in this spreadsheet. And then, um, also how to, to estimate your cost per lead, if you’ve never ran ads before.

Christina: (09:23) So download that. Um, so let’s talk about what to do if you will likely get a return. So if you put in all your numbers and it looks like you will actually get a pretty decent return, um, one that you feel really good about that you would be willing to invest in. Um, the first thing you wanna do is get some guidance or outsource it. So those are really your only two options. You either have someone guide you through how to run your own ads, or you outsource it, and you can invest in an agency. This is going to really depend on where you are at in this process, um, and how much budget you have to invest in this. I don’t recommend just winging it and trying to figure it out at least get some guidance. Don’t waste your time with trying to learn how to run ads.

Christina: (10:09) I will tell you it is a full-time job to learn the proper way to run ads. Um, and so even if you’re just starting out with simple campaigns, especially now, so many things are changing. So many things like courses and stuff out there are so outdated because things have changed so much in just the past two years, I’ve been running ads since 2014 and things have changed more in the past two years than they have my entire career. Um, so you want to just get some guidance at this point. Um, it’s not as simple as it was before, but also ads have more capabilities than they did before, which is wonderful, but it does make them more complicated and it does make them require you to learn a lot more. Um, and with the advice out there, um, it’s really hard to just take general advice when it comes to ads, because it’s like what you should do, like the science behind it is so unique to your business, your specific offer, where you’re at in that process and your particular launch.

Christina: (11:08) So definitely I highly recommend get some guidance. We offer intensives at the agency, and then we also have the agency side where we, um, it’s completely done for you. Um, if you want to shop around most ads, managers and agencies have intensive. So go ahead and shop around. It’s not gonna be hard to find someone who doesn’t intensive, I don’t think, um, and go that route if you need to or find an agency and just outsource it. The second thing that you should do is make sure that you spent enough. So use the calculator to deter, to determine what you need to spend to actually hit your next goal. And sorry, if I sound like I’m out of breath, I am eight months pregnant at the time of recording this. So I’m like trying to not run out of breath, but like anytime I’m talking or I wanna call or doing anything that has to do with talking, I just can’t catch my breath.

Christina: (12:04) But anyways, so make sure you spend enough, that’s gonna be huge because what I see a lot of the times is whenever, um, all of the conversion rates and the cost per lead and everything looks super great, but you didn’t hit your launch goals because you just simply didn’t invest enough. So that, that could, um, to amplify your return. So make sure you spend enough use that calculator with the calculator. You can put in different numbers and play with it and just, you know, put in different scenarios and just see what would happen if this happened and you know, that sort of thing. Um, and then also know that it will take time. So if you’ve never ran ads before, then your account is completely cold. If you have ran ads before, um, if, unless you ran like a decent amount of money, at least a few grand a month, um, it’s probably still a little bit cold, so your account does need to learn and gather some data.

Christina: (12:58) We need to gather up some custom audiences. And, um, so that’s going to take time. That’s just gonna take, um, you know, running some campaigns, but just keep that in mind that this will take time and your first launch is not gonna look as great as your six launch, um, likely. So just keep that in mind. Um, and then I also wanna talk about what to do if you put in your numbers and the calculator, and it looks like you probably wouldn’t get an ad, a, a return on your ad spin. The first thing we wanna do is find the lowest metric. So whichever metric in your funnel, like where is the conversion dropping off? Do you have a low conversion rate on your sales PR sales page or your landing page? Um, is it your funnel conversion rate? Is it your webinar conversion rate?

Christina: (13:42) What is the lowest metric and start and just make that a focus to optimize that and increase it. So in your next launch, make that a huge focus. What are you gonna do to increase that metric? That’s gonna help you potentially get a return for your next time. So maybe your next next launch. Um, you might be in a good position to run ads, but figure out where that break is. Um, the best way to do that as well is to get feedback or do some market research. Your audience knows why they didn’t purchase. They have all of the answers that you’re looking for. So definitely reach out to people, have conversations with people, do some market research launch, again, measure it all again. Um, so that is what I have for you today. Download the calculator, figure out if you’re going to likely get a return based on your, your launch numbers that you have from last launch.

Christina: (14:33) Um, and then if you will, then it’s a good idea to start looking into, um, some guidance for ads. Um, if you won’t get a return, if it looks like that’s not likely going to happen, um, figure out which metric you can actually increase to make that more doable. So that is what I have for you today. I hope that you found this helpful, and 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@christinabernhard.com slash apply. Find the link in our show notes.