Monthly Archives: May 2021

Retargeting ads are a powerful tool in your digital marketing toolbox. They allow you to interact with customers who are at different stages of your sales funnel, so your business stays top of mind. Think about different times you’ve seen a familiar ad while you’re browsing through the internet. That sense of familiarity makes you more likely to purchase that product or service.

This is great for all kinds of products and services, but particularly helpful for B2B sales, where customers often take weeks or even months to commit to a contract. With retargeting ads, you can segment your customers into different levels of interest, from people who have barely interacted with your brand to people who have been loyal customers.

The possibilities are endless! That’s why we’ve made these basic tips and tricks to make sure that your retargeting ads are effective.

Set up your retargeting

This is the easy part. Every digital advertising platform has some form of trackable pixel that you can install into your website. This bridges the ad platform to your site, so that you can monitor how well the ads perform based on final conversions.

Whether you’re running Facebook, Google, Twitter, or whichever kind of digital ad, just check the back end for a simple html code to install into your website. Once the code is in, a whole world of tracking opens up! You can now segment your audience based on how they have interacted with your website. While the possibilities are endless, here are some examples you can start with:

• People who have visited your website
• People who have viewed specific products on your website
• People who have purchased your products

Ideally, when someone lands on your website, you want them to go all the way to purchasing your product. However, we all know that most people take a little bit more convincing. Tracking your potential customers through these three different stages, allows you to tailor your messaging to nudge them onto the next step.

Figure out your customer journey

An effective campaign always comes back to understanding your customers! After clicking on your digital ad, they will enter the “consideration” stage of their customer journey. Often, this is the longest stage, because people spend time reading reviews, comparing competitors, or just wondering if they need the service at all.

Talk to your current customers and find out what they valued most while they were mulling it all over.

• Price?
• Features?
• Variety?

Sometimes what you think is most important, doesn’t align exactly with what the market thinks is most important. This could be by design, but it never hurts to check in with your customer base.

Get strategic with several campaigns

Now that you’re all set up, you can get creative and strategic! Test out different messaging with your segments. Remember that with digital advertising, the algorithms pick the best performing ad to show, so doing 2-3 variations gives you the best chance of finding the winning combination of copy, image, and target audience.

Do you have any questions about retargeting? We’re happy to help! Contact us today, and set up a no-strings-attached consultation.

In 2021, relying on organic traffic is no longer an option. The on-going Google and Facebook updates make it difficult for your website to be discovered without the help of paid advertising. But don’t fret, this guide will help you create the best Facebook ads to solve that issue and generate the traffic your site deserves.

The Ad Creative

The first thing Facebook users see when they scroll on their feed is the image or video you use for your ad. It needs to be compelling enough that it will draw their attention and make them stop scrolling and read the copy of your ad. There are a few things to keep in mind when selecting your creative.

1) Use high-quality images

It might seem obvious, but all advertisers do not follow this simple rule. And depending on the resolution of your image, Facebook will limit the reach of your ad. Try to use images with a resolution of 1,200 x 1,200 pixels every time you create an ad.

2) Make fun images and videos

Make your ad stand out by creating designs using fun templates! Canva provides hundreds of templates that are certain to fit your brand and style. Check out our blog post “How to use Canva to stand out on social media” to get started!

Or use the templates provided by Vimeo to create dynamic videos that are sure to catch the attention of your audience.

3) Use limited text

Facebook penalizes advertisers who include too much text on their creatives by limiting the reach of their ads. Although they have started to ease the rule, it is good practice to limit the amount of text on your ads. Use words that will draw attention such as “20% off” or “on sale now” instead of “our products are on sales” for example. Make those keywords stand out by using bold colours and fonts!

The Ad Copy

Now that you caught the attention of your audience with an eye-catchy image or video, converting that attention to a click to your website will rely on a compelling ad copy. Follow these recommendations to craft high-converting copy:

1) Define your offer

The secret to high-converting Facebook ads is having a strong, compelling offer that differentiate your brand from your competitors and will entice your audience to click through.

Try a discount code unique to Facebook to help you track your return on investment for example.

2) Call out your audience

Studies suggest that starting your ad by calling out your audience can increase click-through rates by up to 13%. Try referring to your audience by specific keywords they can easily identify to.

For example, if you are targeting parents, start your ad copy with “Hey parents in Vancouver!”.

3) Determine a strong Call To Action

Your Facebook ads should ALWAYS contain a strong Call To Action. It will help your audience determine what the ad is about, what your offer is and what they get out of clicking your ad.

For example, if you are promoting a 15% off coupon, try a CTA like: “Get your coupon today” instead of “15% off all dresses”.

4) Split-test

When advertising on Facebook, it is important to test a few variations of ad copy and images in order to find out what resonates best with your target audience. What you think will work might not necessarily be true.

By split-testing between two to six ads using different wording, offers, CTAs and creatives, you will be able to determine what your audience is most receptive to. Allow a period of one week to test your different ads before turning off the least performing ads until one or two champions are left.

The Target Audience

You might have the most perfect copy and creative, if your targeting is not set correctly, you will end up wasting precious ad spend on a non-qualified audience that won’t convert into active customers.

It is important to know who your customers are BEFORE you start advertising on Facebook. The more you know about who they are and what they like, the higher the conversion rate. If you are starting from scratch, you can find out who your target persona is by looking at your Google Analytics account to know their interests, their age, their sex, or their location.

Once you have a good idea of who that persona is, simply set your Facebook ad targeting to match those findings. Set an age limit if needed, limit your ad reach by setting borders to the geographical area you want to target, and choose specific interests among the thousands of options available.

For example, if you are a middle school looking for more students, set the demographics to target people aged between 35 to 45, and choose some interests such as ‘parents’, ‘parents of kids aged 10 to 13’.

You can also use the Custom Audience tool available within your Facebook ad account to upload a list of current customers and create a lookalike audience of people who match similar demographics and interests as your list of customers.

Once your ad creative, copy and targeting are complete, you are ready to start advertising! The next step is to track the performance of your ads and the conversion rate. Check out our Beginners Guide: How to Track Conversions on Facebook blog post available here to learn how to track conversions and Return On Investment.

Still need help with Facebook ads? We can help you reach your target audience with unique and high-converting ads! Contact us at contact@curvecommunications.com.

Case studies are an effective tool in nudging a considering lead into a future client. Think about ordering from a restaurant. Yelp has built a whole business on customers interested in scoping out the best and worst of their next meal. If people want to check if their $20 eggs benedict is worth it, you better believe your future clients want the same assurance when investing in a partnership with you.

The most basic of case studies has some context around a stellar existing client, a paragraph detailing your company’s great work, and then a fantastic result. That result doesn’t have to solve world hunger or eliminate every problem your client has, but it should be good enough for someone to think, “Hey, these guys know what they’re doing!”

All that great information is normally accented by imagery on your website. Some companies even go the extra mile and opt for video testimonials! However you choose to present your case studies, you have to remember that your goal is not to remind everyone how great you are. It’s to tell your customer that you understand their problems and are uniquely qualified to solve them.

Let’s walk through what to keep in mind when creating an inspiring case study.

Understanding Pain Points

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for anything, so it’s important to let your customers know that you understand their specific pain points. If you have a niche in your industry, then great! Case studies that talk about issues specific to your niche do wonders for boosting your credibility.

If you don’t have a niche, then you have to get specific another way: by pinpointing issues. Don’t just say “you need more leads.” Instead, take a step back and look for the real issue. The lack of leads is a result, so you need to write about the actual problem.

Remember, you are trying to prove your expertise. So detailing these specific pain points shows that you’ve got the know-how to figure out a problem that your customer may not even realize is there!

Establishing Your USP

A unique selling point (USP) is what keeps your customers coming back. This is something you are entirely in control of. No doubt your company provides a wide array of services, but when defining your USP for a case study, you want to ensure that the USP you focus on matches the pain points you identified in step one.

Here are some examples of USPs:

• Are you faster than your competitors?
• Do you offer cheaper price points?
• Is there something particularly difficult to achieve that you provide?
• Are your staff exemplary in a measurable way?
• Do your products achieve measurable results?

Think about your customer, and try and figure out what would impress them the most.

Delivering on Results

Here’s what everyone’s looking for in a case study! This is the stat that normally gets pulled out for a graphic to share on social media or to run in an ad. The question every customer will ask after using your service or product:

What’s my return on investment?

Pick a result that is measurable. Whether it’s impressions on a digital ad or foot traffic to an event, just make sure that you have a nice big number to show your future clients what they could have if they worked with you.

The result you pick may not even be your highest or best one. Internally, your team may think that having the most eyes on an ad is the best measure of success, but you need to get into the mind of your customer. Do they care about that? Does it relate to their pain point?

As you can see, there is a LOT of work that goes into a case study, but trust us that hard work pays off. Try making one with these three thinking points in mind, and see the results for yourself!

Interested in hearing more about case studies, good content, and how to get more future clients? Book a call with us today!