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- Nov 25, 2020
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Just wondering since I'm pretty sure "test your campaign/strat out with some Google or Facebook Ads" isn't the best road going forward in 2022 unless you sink $1000+ immediately.
While $1000 is insignificant in the grand scheme of things, there are 3 things to keep in mind:
1) It can take a long time to "fine tune" your ads to the point you can, with reasonable certainty, (> 80%) rule out the fact that your product/service isn't wanted rather than the fact your ads simply suck/are unattractive.
(You don't want to trash an idea or mistakenly conclude that the idea isn't going to work when in fact it's the ads that are to blame - and indeed there always remains the possibility)
2) If you're a newblood trying to "start a biz" there's a good chance you're close to being broke and risking $1000 or putting it on a CC doesn't seem like a good idea
3) 50-60% of Internet users use Adblock. You can't assume the % of people who saw your ad and end up converting is similar to the % when it comes to the people among the population who never saw the ad in the first place.
Finally...even if you do end up converting it might not be economical. I suspect those "get 2-3X ROAS" figures touted by digital marketing agencies...who have a vested interest in "managing" your PPC spend...are likely full of BS. All the companies getting their ads in spot #1 on Google are probably paying through the nose because they can. You cannot.
In fact there was a scandal less than 8 years ago regarding how Yelp was basically "extorting" small business owners to pay for expensive ads...and when they refused they would simply demote their businesses to the 2nd or 3rd page so nobody would ever see their business. I don't know if this has been resolved yet (I highly doubt it) but this is basically how Facebook and Google operate now, except instead of calling you and threatening to demote (which Yelp employed people to do) they probably just write some code to do it automatically and nobody will care.
Basically what I suspect, although I do not have hard proof since I did not test any CPC/CPM campaigns until 2020, when CPC/CPM figures went through the roof, is the CPC/CPM gold rush from 10-25 years ago is over and you shouldn't bother with those anymore. Direct mail/cold calling/cold email/some local fairs/events should fare much better and have lower risk involved (direct mail is like $1/postcard, you can test a campaign out for $250 as DM should have a conversion rate around 1% IIRC).
It is also much slower but there doesn't seem to be a better alternative.
While $1000 is insignificant in the grand scheme of things, there are 3 things to keep in mind:
1) It can take a long time to "fine tune" your ads to the point you can, with reasonable certainty, (> 80%) rule out the fact that your product/service isn't wanted rather than the fact your ads simply suck/are unattractive.
(You don't want to trash an idea or mistakenly conclude that the idea isn't going to work when in fact it's the ads that are to blame - and indeed there always remains the possibility)
2) If you're a newblood trying to "start a biz" there's a good chance you're close to being broke and risking $1000 or putting it on a CC doesn't seem like a good idea
3) 50-60% of Internet users use Adblock. You can't assume the % of people who saw your ad and end up converting is similar to the % when it comes to the people among the population who never saw the ad in the first place.
Finally...even if you do end up converting it might not be economical. I suspect those "get 2-3X ROAS" figures touted by digital marketing agencies...who have a vested interest in "managing" your PPC spend...are likely full of BS. All the companies getting their ads in spot #1 on Google are probably paying through the nose because they can. You cannot.
In fact there was a scandal less than 8 years ago regarding how Yelp was basically "extorting" small business owners to pay for expensive ads...and when they refused they would simply demote their businesses to the 2nd or 3rd page so nobody would ever see their business. I don't know if this has been resolved yet (I highly doubt it) but this is basically how Facebook and Google operate now, except instead of calling you and threatening to demote (which Yelp employed people to do) they probably just write some code to do it automatically and nobody will care.
Basically what I suspect, although I do not have hard proof since I did not test any CPC/CPM campaigns until 2020, when CPC/CPM figures went through the roof, is the CPC/CPM gold rush from 10-25 years ago is over and you shouldn't bother with those anymore. Direct mail/cold calling/cold email/some local fairs/events should fare much better and have lower risk involved (direct mail is like $1/postcard, you can test a campaign out for $250 as DM should have a conversion rate around 1% IIRC).
It is also much slower but there doesn't seem to be a better alternative.
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