3 ways to grow your audience using ads when sales are slow
Online sales are slow for a lot of businesses at the moment. With restictions easing, the country re-opening, (UK) holidays allowed, commuting to work, eating out - there are a lot of distractions and new things to spend money on, compared to the last year.
I did a poll on my Instagram stories which, whilst probably not statistically significant, gave a really interesting insight in to peoples spending habits:
65% said their spending habits have changed the past few months.
79% are spending more on ‘pre-covid stuff’ (yes that’s the official term…!) like commuting, childcare, eating out, holidays etc
57% are spending more on hospitality
44% of people reported that overall, they are spending less online.
The impact of this is that a lot of small online ecomm businesses are finding it tough. Reports suggest that it will pick up again in September, after the summer holidays, but how can you stay proactive and keep the momentum in your business until then?
My answer?
Grow your ‘warm audience’ aka people who have heard of you and are interested in what you offer.
They might not be ready to buy right now, but you want to be front of mind when they are!
Here are 3 ways to use ads to grow your warm audience:
1) Grow your email list
Everyone groans when I talk about growing your email list. It feels easier to put a post up on social media than it does write out a weekly email. But email engagement rates, and more importantly, conversion rates are so much higher than social media (and often even Ad’s!).
You can create an Ad’s campaign targeting potential customers and offering a freebie in exchange for their email address.
Once you have this running and established (and you are getting people signing up), you can run this for as little as £3-5/day and turn it off/on when you need it.
The key to this one is committing to sending regular emails and nurturing the relationship so that you get the return on your investment over time.
2) Video views
Video ad’s are a brilliant way to build an audience of interested potential customers because you get additional insight about just how interested they are.
The key to this is that you can see different metrics about how long people have watched the video for. Everything from a quick 2 second view to the full video (and a lot in between!), with the assumption being that the longer they watch, the ‘warmer’ they are.
This information means that you can segment out people who are more interested and use it as an audience when you are ready to sell. And the warmer the audience, the easier they should be to convert and the cheaper your ad’s will be!
3) Re-engage your following
You work hard to get new followers, and then Instagram/Facebook doesn’t show them your posts! It’s so frustrating. And whilst I know the idea of paying Facebook to get your content in front of people who already follow you a bit galling, it can be very effective for two reasons:
1) It’s easier to convert people who have already decided to follow you. They might just need a reminder you exist!
2) Getting more engagement on your posts means that when a potential customer checks out your social media, they will see an active account with lots of fans.. the perfect social proof to encourage them to buy from you!
What next?
If you’ve found this blog post useful, here are some ways you can be a part of my world:
1) Love an Instagram story? Good, me too! Come say hi & access plenty more of my free tips over on: @sophiegriffithsco
2) Listen to my podcast! It’s all about taking big, bold moves in your marketing with strategic, practical advice and loads of inspiration too! Click here to find out more and listen!
3) Interested in working with me? To check out the client services I offer here click here
