Paid Ads have always been my favorite means of generating leads for a business. For me, I love the fact that it is predictable. I know that if I put “x” dollars in, I  typically get an “X” number of leads. I then know how many of those leads I need on average to generate an appointment, and how many appointments I need to get a sale. Once you have this number, you can understand your return on ad spend and scale.

Running paid ads is the fastest path to success in my eyes, but it takes a few components to have a successful campaign. In this article we are going to discuss paid ads and how we are turning those old dusty lead forms into fresh appointments for sales teams across the US.

What makes a winning ad?

My companies have spent millions of dollars on ads and here are a few pieces of advice when running paid ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

Images- Use ugly images. This sounds crazy, but an ugly image will stand out. I had employees in the past with degrees in design, and they could never beat the ugly images I made when I started the company. The next time you hop on Facebook, notice what stops your eye. It’s a loud image or something that is a pattern interrupt. 

Video- Video works well. You can communicate your message clearly and hook someone in. Typically leads from video are more expensive, but the quality is higher. You can also get UGC videos from Fiverr or Upwork for a good price.

Ad Copy- You need a strong hook. Call out your audience in a creative way. In the first line, you need to hook them. Something outlandish that your ideal customers will understand. In the body of the copy, having a compelling offer helps a lot. Keep the copy to mid or short copy. 70-100 words should be good. Attention spans are short, be aware of that and get to the point. 

Ad Targeting

In 2024 ad targeting via Facebook AI algo is pretty robust. We used to spend a lot of time with targeting, but we have found recently that a good image and copy are more important. We use dynamic creative when running ads so we can let FB test which image and copy combination works best. You can try targeting if you would like, but most of the companies we run ads for have better results with pretty open targeting and better creatives. 

Lead Forms/ Landing Pages/ Messenger

Once you stop someone’s scroll with an eye-catching image or video, they read the first line of your copy and click “read more,” and they click on your ad. Now you have a choice. Do you send them to a lead form, into messages, or to a landing page? 

Lead form- lowest quality typically, but also lowest cost. These are great for sales teams and also useful for us using AI (more on that in a second). 

Messenger- This is something that I wouldn’t have recommended in the past, but it is highly effective when combined with AI. You get very cheap swings at bat and a properly programmed AI will turn those conversations into scheduled appointments for your team. 

Landing Page- I have used these for years and love them, but a lot of work goes into this. Typically your highest cost and highest quality of lead. You need to have your copy dialed in and keep it simple. Survey funnels work well. Be sure and use Hotjar or a similar tool to optimize these. 

Leads > Appointments (The Secret Sauce)

It’s that easy to run a campaign on social media to generate leads for your business. However, this is the easy part. Many companies generate leads for their business, but most of them have very poor conversion rates. 

This is typically due to a well-studied principle called, “Speed To Lead.” This eludes the time it takes for your sales team to connect with that lead that expressed interest. Think about when you need your AC fixed. You go to Google, search for AC companies in the area, and you call down the list until someone answers. 

The most recent study shows the conversion rate of a lead drops significantly after 5 minutes. The average lead needs to be touched 7 times before it turns into a sale. Most sales teams and businesses are not equipped to do this, thus lowering the conversion and ROI of their campaigns. 

However, AI has come in to save the day and turn those fresh leads into qualified appointments. When programmed Ai has access to a knowledge base you provide. Imagine a new sales agent memorizing your documents and website before they start day 1… Yea, that’s Ai. Now imagine a lead coming in. Instantly the AI engages and begins to qualify your lead. They get to booking and the Ai suggests a time. The prospect agrees and the AI books it right on your calendar. This repeats 24/7, 365 days per year. Now imagine not having to pay a salary for that. This is the power of AI in 2024. 

BONUS

This bonus is too good not to share. I don’t believe that we should steal what others are doing, but using it for inspiration is 100% ok. That is why you should visit Facebookadslibrary.com when getting ready to start your campaign. You can search for keywords to see what others are running. You will see the ads that have been up for the longest in your industry and be able to use those examples when testing your ads. This is by far the fastest way to a winning ad. 

Need Help?

There you have it. If you want to start generating your leads, now you know the steps. Turning those fresh leads into qualified appointments has never been easier with the deployment of conversational AI agents. As always, if you need help, reach out to the RevSquared team.