Brick and Mortar vs. Online Entrepreneurs: Choosing the Right Ad Clients For You

205- Brick and Mortar vs. Online Entrepreneurs: Choosing the Right Ad Clients For You
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[00:00:00] Ever found yourself juggling clients so different it's like you're living in two worlds? On one hand, you've got a few local businesses, maybe some brick and mortars, maybe some photographers, but for the most part, they're looking to get more foot traffic into their stores or they're very location dependent.

And then on the other hand, you have these course creators, coaches, membership owners who want to have a hundred K launches because that's what all the gurus are telling them. And, they're telling them it's possible if they run meta ads. It's the ad manager's dilemma. The question that I get asked most, which is better client to work with, online or local businesses?

And today, we're getting real about what it means to pick a lane. And staying in that lane and how this choice isn't as permanent as you may think. So grab your coffee, your earbuds, and let's jump in to this week's episode.

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Welcome back to the serve scale soar podcast, the go to place. If you want to start grow or scale an ad management business, I'm Brandi. And today we're diving into one of the hottest topics I get asked and the most asked question when it comes to working with clients. Which is better local or online businesses, and which one should I be working with? 

So in today's episode, we're going to dive into not which is the best client to work with, but which is the best type of client for you to work with. So the big question is, should I work with brick and mortar, or should I work with online course creators?

We'll dive into the pros and cons of each so you can make the best decision for you and your business and what lights you up. But remember, nothing is permanent. So if you pick one [00:02:00] and you find out like, holy moly, Brandi, I've made the wrong decision. It's not permanent and you can always pivot. And I encourage you, test them both out, pivot when needed, but you got to pick one and go all in for at least 90 days and pick a lane and stay in it until it's not working or serving you any longer.

And then let's pick a different lane. 

Before we jump into, you know, the meat and potatoes, the action steps, the pros and cons, all that goodness I love to give. I first want to start with When I first launched my ad management business, I was totally open and willing to take on any client that came my way. And I know if you're listening to this, you may be just getting started.

And you're like, Brandi, I cannot be picking and choosing or maybe you've had your business for a little bit, but you're not getting the amount of clients you want. You're not hitting your revenue goals. And you're like, I just got to take whoever I can get. And I totally understand that thinking. I've been there.

When you gotta put food on the table, you're like, I don't have time to [00:03:00] niche. But one thing I know is the quicker you niche, the quicker you'll grow. And that doesn't mean you can't take people outside of your niche. It just means all your marketing and efforts towards one. But in the beginning, I was taking on a very mixed bag of clients to say the least.

My first client was a local HVAC company, and if you're not familiar with HVAC, it's heating and air conditioning. I was actually running his organic social and had been for about six months when I took him on. He was one of my very first clients ever. So I was his social media manager, found him on LinkedIn, and I I was then like, Hey, let's run some ads.

So talking about heating and air conditioning and selling those with Facebook ads is very different than my next client, which was a Bollywood dance studio. And our goal was to get people in and take a free class and then they would sell them. On an ongoing membership. This wasn't a local business to me, but it was a local [00:04:00] business in terms that they only had three locations all in Maryland.

And then that same month that I started promoting, I got my first client HVAC. My second client was a Bollywood dancer. studio. And my third client was an online course creator and she taught photographers, birth photography. Like when the baby's coming out, we're taking some pictures.

And she was launching her course with a webinar and her goal was 500 registrations. So you can see that since they all had different goals. Uh, different objectives, different ways to run ads, and different expectations. It was really a real mixed bag. Since I took on all these clients, my first month of ever running ads, it was a little hectic to say the least. And I lived in both worlds local and online for about three months until I decided to focus exclusively on online course creators who were launching. But the decision wasn't [00:05:00] about working with online businesses and saying like, Oh, I can scale my business faster.

They're easier to work with or anything like that. It was about the power of Specialization. By choosing one area to focus on, I became an expert instead of a generalist. It showed me the power of specialization and niching down. So as we go through the pros and cons of each working with online businesses, offline businesses, I want you to know that both.

Both online and offline businesses can help you hit your revenue goals. They can both be extremely profitable. They can both be great clients. And so don't make a decision because I worked with online course creators because I know hundreds of ad managers inside of our conversions for clients who work with local businesses.

And I know hundreds that work with online businesses and they all have successful business. They all have struggles in their business. So no matter which one you pick, you're going to have the ups and downs [00:06:00] regardless. So let's jump on in and talk about the pros and cons of working with each type. Okay, let's jump into working with brick and mortar local businesses. But before we go over the pros and cons, first we have to establish who am I talking about when it comes to brick and mortar and local. One thing that people have the misconception of is when I say local, they think local to them.

But that's not what I mean. Because you could specialize in working with local businesses and they be all over the country. When we say local, it means they are location dependent. So either they have a brick and mortar store, or they only service a certain area, or maybe they're a photographer that doesn't travel.

So like with my HVAC company, they only service so many zip codes in an area. With the Bollywood Dance Studio, there was only three of them. So they're location dependent. When I've worked with, like, wedding planners and photographers before, those people were very location dependent. A few of them would [00:07:00] travel international for destination weddings and stuff, but their clients were local to them.

They needed to meet them in person. So whenever we say local or brick and mortar, I, I'll use those interchangeably. It means they're dependent on a location. And so what are the pros of working with these people? A lot of times they have a long term growth mindset. They're used to more traditional marketing.

Like I talk about the four B's, the buses, the benches, the brochures, and the billboards. They also have like mailers and things like that. They're used to paying for advertising without seeing an immediate result. And so they have a long term growth mind when it comes to marketing. They're not expecting that instant gratification that a lot of people think that are what meta ads give them.

Which means they're quicker to sign on for longer contracts and most of them will do a 6 12 month contract without blinking an eye. Because they know advertising and marketing takes [00:08:00] time to really get into motion and see results. And they're okay with that. They're also used to working with people who are signing 12 month contracts.

And so if they've worked with any outside agencies, marketing companies, advertising, even like the brochures, They're used to having to sign on for a multi, multi month, if not year long contract in order to even get those companies to work with them. So getting them to have that growth mindset of this is an instant gratification, it's already built into them if they've been running marketing efforts.

Okay, the second pro of working with them is if you're working with the right local businesses. This is not all of them, just like this isn't a blanket statement for online. This is just the majority when you're finding the right client within this niche. So, marketing budgets are usually already in place.

They work with their CPAs. They work with accountants. They work with bookkeepers. They know what they have set aside. For [00:09:00] marketing. And so this can be a pro or a con because one, they already have a budget, but two, if you hit them up at a point where they've already spent their marketing budget or it's already allocated, then you kind of have to wait, but they do have marketing budgets in place because they know the power.

of marketing and advertising. And sometimes it's just them moving around and allocating that budget towards you and running meta ads instead of something else that they may have had allocated that money for, so they have marketing budgets. They understand the importance of that and they work with their team, their accounting their bookkeepers, whoever they're working with their finance department in order to have these budgets set aside, which is really nice.

Then, they're also referral minded. In the local space, a lot of business is done through word of mouth. And so when it comes to them having networks of people to connect you with, they're part of like the B& I groups, they're part of the Chamber of Commerce. other [00:10:00] local business or small business groups, then they already know that referrals are everything.

So if you do a good job, they're much more likely to refer you to other people. If you ask for referrals, they're much quicker to give you names, emails, then online entrepreneurs. So that's a big plus, especially if you want to grow your business. And then the other thing is they're not concerned with exact tracking.

When we get in the online space, you'll see that people want to know down to like the click, where that purchase came from. And a lot of times in the online space, it's funny, they don't have the tracking for that set up, but they want to know. With offline businesses, they know that if they're looking at foot traffic, if they're looking at getting more clients in, if it goes from Facebook to them, them doing a sales call.

They're not as concerned with the exact tracking because they know if they see that they're spending money on ads and then their revenue goes up, hey, we can probably make this [00:11:00] great inference that it's because of the ads. And so, it's not great for us as ad managers because we want to know. The exact ROI.

We want to build the case study, but as a customer, a client, they're not as concerned with the exact tracking. Which then means if you can't get the tracking set up completely, then it's kind of okay, because they're, they know the limitations of tracking. They're aware of that and they're okay. Because like I said, they've been running the four B's billboards, benches, brochures, and buses.

And so when they run that type of advertising, they don't have exact tracking. They can put things in place like, Hey, where'd you hear about me? Or they can use coupon codes and things like that. But for the most part, they don't have that exact tracking of where their customers are coming from. And so that takes a little bit off you if you can't get that exact tracking set up.

. And then one of my favorite things about local businesses that it's total [00:12:00] pro is they're not offended by cold outreach. So if you're looking for clients and you want to do cold calling, cold emailing, they're receptive of it. They're responsive of it. They are not going to be offended by it because they know that's how.

Most sales and marketing works. It's a lot of cold outreach and a lot of these people you're going to be working with are 60 year old people and that's how they probably grew their business is with cold outreach. And a lot of them probably do cold outreach now to maintain their business. So they know that that's the way you get business.

So they're much more of that kind of outreach, especially if it's personalized. This is why we've seen tons of results with our students inside Conversions for Clients right now. i've never seen a group that is so open to cold calling and cold emailing, but they're doing it and they're seeing results.

It is a numbers game of But most of these people are working [00:13:00] wanting to work with local businesses. So like chiropractors, dentists, doctors, lawyers, local businesses. And so they're able to do that and see results because those businesses are more open to it than online businesses who get very offended by cold outreach.

So in terms of marketing, it's great. If you want to use cold outreach is what are your strategies for landing clients? Okay, so we've talked about the pros. They are long term growth minded. They have marketing budgets in place. The referral minded, they're not concerned with the exact tracking, and they're not offended by cold outreach.

So that sounds great, but let's get into the cons of working with a local business. A lot of them are new to the digital world. Many brick and mortar businesses have not fully, like, adapted or accepted meta advertising as a form of marketing or digital marketing. It's going to require a [00:14:00] little bit more effort on your side to educate them and guide them, which is why in conversions for clients and our bootcamp, we teach the risk reversal method, which shows them what's possible and gives a little bit of education.

This also means you're probably going to be setting up brand new ad accounts and maybe Facebook pages if they don't already have this stuff set up. So there is this level of like. It's like education and bringing them into something new that they don't already have or have adapted to. The education part is probably the biggest reason why I love, , we had an episode with Shannon, I think it's 44, 46, and it's all about holding local workshops to land clients.

And that's really good for local businesses because you can educate them not on the how, but the why they should be running ads. And then you can lean clients from that. So, there is this level of education that has to be done before they'll take you on as, um, an ad manager [00:15:00] or because they don't understand what's possible.

They're still stuck in the four B's. Okay, they also may have budget constraints. If you're working with a mom and pop local business, Or one that already had that marketing budget, but they've already spent it for the year or it's already allocated. They may not have the funds to pay you and pay for the ad spend.

And then you're going to get more no's because that's already done. I will say also with budget constraints local businesses, especially men for some reason. They are much quicker to want to negotiate on your pricing, but that's because they live in that world of negotiation. So don't be offended by it.

Just hold firm, but know that men, local businesses, and I even confirmed this with some people in Conversions for clients. They've had the exact same experience. They're quicker to be like, oh, you're expensive. What if we did this? Or I could find someone cheaper? And just know that that's part of negotiation tactics.

Don't take it to [00:16:00] heart. , just be ready for that experience and hold firm in your decision, in your pricing. But yes, a mom and pop shop may not be able to afford you, and that's okay. You just need to find the local businesses that can. Measuring ROI becomes challenging. So that's our third issue, is that we want to know the return on investment.

We want to know how the ads are performing. And sometimes with local businesses, it's challenging. If they're a brick and mortar business and they rely on foot traffic or offline conversions, we're not going to see, like, what was the ROI. If we are using, , HVAC companies that go from a messenger to a call.

Are they tracking that? The same thing with a dance studio. We get them in there for the free classes, but then are they keeping track of how many of those turn into paying customers? Are they actually tracking the ROI so they can see like, Hey, this is valuable. And so we can know that what we're [00:17:00] doing is working.

That becomes challenging. And then limited targeting if you're in a small population. So this would be the final challenge and con with working with local businesses is you can only do so much with ads and they will work, but you have to be changing up your strategy and you have to know that you're not going to be able to do all the detailed targeting and all that.

That you can with online businesses, they're going to be simpler campaigns, which actually can be a pro as well because you're really a lot of times if you're in a small location, you're only going to be using zip code or a pen location, but you're not going to really get into the nitty gritty of we need to find this audience and audience.

Stacking and exclusions or anything like that because there's just not the audience to do that and you're going to be You may run into sometimes where you pick one type of campaign objective and it doesn't spend because the audience isn't big enough And so these are all challenges that you would just have to work [00:18:00] with with a local business But know that we have people who are working in small town, Alabama with only like 20, 000 people, a dentist, and they're seeing results.

So just because it may be a challenge doesn't mean it's not worth taking because also these campaigns are way simpler. They're easy campaigns to set up. So it can be a pro or a con. Okay. So those are pros and cons of working with local businesses. They're new. The cons is new to adjust to the digital world.

So let's jump in on what it looks like to work with online entrepreneurs, course creators, and coaches. And so with that being said, one thing I want to talk about is when I talk about online entrepreneurs, I am talking about. Anyone who has an online platform minus [00:19:00] e commerce, we're not going to talk about e commerce.

That's not my specialty. That is a whole lane in itself. So there's local businesses, there's online entrepreneurs, and then there's e commerce, which they're selling physical products, but they're doing it online and shipping them out. And so there are three camps. And maybe one day we'll get an e commerce expert to come talk on the podcast.

But today I'm focused on the two that I specialize in, the two that I know, which is working with local businesses and online businesses, excluding e commerce. Okay, so that can be like your membership owners, your course creators, your online coaches, any info products that are like, um, educational. 37. I mean, that's kind of the world we're living in when I talk about online entrepreneurs.

And so we have some pros of working with them, of course. And the big one is you have a wider audience reach. You're going to reach millions upon millions [00:20:00] upon millions of people because they're not bound by geographic restrictions. And so your audiences are much, much bigger. Which means that your campaigns can also be way more expansive.

And sometimes that means you overthink things and get a little complicated, but it means we have more options to run highly effective ads and we can see bigger results. Then the second pro of working with them is they're already for the most part, familiar with the need for meta ads. They hear all the time, like, it's a pay to play ground, like, we gotta pay if you wanna see growth, organic's dead, like, put some money into the machine, get the money out.

And so this is the narrative that they're hearing. So they already know in their mind that they need to be running meta ads. And so there's not this sense of education on like why it's important or anything like that because they're not doing traditional marketing. If they're not running meta ads, the only thing they're doing is [00:21:00] organic marketing and they're probably seeing slow growth or the algorithm changes and they're frustrated.

And so you don't have to educate them or put this desire. to run meta ads, they already know it's there. Okay, so the third positive of working with them is they usually, and I say usually, can have, can, it doesn't mean they do, can have the software technology in place for conversions, tracking conversions.

So a lot of them are using some type of funnel builder, or. , and then we also have a funnel builder, which you can set up with your advice, they will get a funnel builder. There's already like Zapier and things like that and integrations to their website that we can set up tracking and most of their conversions are happening online.

So we're able to track those. Now, the same thing though, if they go into a sales call and things like that, then we would need to implement other tracking methods. But even then they usually have the software that can support that tracking. Does it mean that all of [00:22:00] them do in place right now when you become a client?

No, but does it mean they can find the software and implement it? Yes, it is a possibility. So when it comes to tracking it's going to be a lot more easier for us to find a solution. That works for tracking. So then our fourth pro of working with online business is there. A lot of them are actively looking for ad managers.

So when you go into Facebook groups, when you go on Instagram, when they're talking to their friends and programs and those types of things, they're looking for ad managers. They're asking for referrals. They're posting job ops. They want to hire you because they know they need you. So with that, it's really nice.

It's because once again, there's not this level of education that needs to happen. They are already looking for you. And then a lot of times they already have offers already established and proven. Now, of course you'll have the people that don't, and those are red flag clients. But if [00:23:00] we're thinking like, here's our ideal client, what's the pro of working with online?

They usually have like lead magnets already created that people have already went through. They have courses that people have already bought. They have products memberships that have already been purchased and established. You're not going to have to come up with an offer for them. They already have that.

It's just about driving more traffic. So you're not questioning what type of ads should I put out? What do I need to do? They already have all of that together. They just need you to get the traffic in there. And they're like, Hey, I need traffic to my lead magnet. I need, I want to have purchases.

They're going to tell you what their goals are because they already have that. And now they just need you to drive the traffic. So that's a perk. And then finally, the pro of working with, online businesses is they already have assets a lot of times in place. So maybe they're a podcaster, so they have some things you can run for engagement.

They, the billboard ads that we talked about in episode 203. Then, they already have copy, [00:24:00] creative, they know who their ideal client is. They have these things in place because they're doing it organically, and so now you can take that stuff. And create iterations of it to run as ads. So you're not starting from a blank canvas.

They have branding, they have marketing, they have all these assets that you can tap into and use. So the pros are working with online business. They have a wider audience reach. They're already familiar with the need for meta ads. There's no additional education. They have software and technology that can be implemented to track conversions.

They're actively looking for ad managers. They have offers already established and proven, and they have assets in place that you can tap into and use. Now, that sounds all great and dandy, but there are some cons to it. And so, let's jump into the cons. They've been burned before, and so they've been burned and this is not everyone.

Remember, this isn't a blanket statement, [00:25:00] but chances are if they're looking for a new ad manager, it's because they've been burned before either by another ad manager or they've ran their ads before and they didn't work. So they're stuck in this mentality of ads don't work for me. And the crazy thing is ads can work for everyone if they have an offer, if they have messaging It's proven and they know how to run ads with a really great strategy and their expectations are set correctly.

So you'll get these people who are stuck in the ads don't work for me or I've been burned before so they're more hesitant to work with people. And so sometimes we're overcoming that resetting expectations, but also saying like, this is why you were burned. This is what I'll try to do not to burn you, but also like we don't guarantee results.

So it's always this balancing act you're playing with that.. Another con is they know enough about ads to be annoying. So here's the thing. A lot of online entrepreneurs [00:26:00] have listened to some podcasts, maybe you're listening to this podcast now. They've taken a course on maybe how to DIY their ads.

They've watched like a few YouTube videos and so they know enough about ads to be annoying. They know how to get in there and like tinker with stuff. They know how to think that they know the right question because they watched one YouTube video and it said this is how much their lead cost should be and they're wondering why.

Your lead costs are this, or they've been running ads and they're like, my leads were so much cheaper in 2020. Why aren't you getting me leads that cheap? And it's kind of like one of those things where local businesses are more removed, where online business owners tend to be more up in your grill and wanting to know, and they're tinkering around and messing up stuff.

And so they're just gonna be. On you like a fly way more than a local business will be. Local businesses stay in their lane, online businesses like to be in everyone's lane. And remember this isn't a blanket [00:27:00] statement. This is just what I've seen from working with over a hundred clients. . They're also impulsive.

They're entrepreneurs. Shiny object syndrome is so real. So they're quick to want to make changes to add new launches, to add new products, to add new lead magnets, which means they also expect you to do your job at a blink of an eye, a drop of a hat to get new ads up. If 24 hours, they're like, Oh my gosh, we have to change it.

And so there is this sense of impulsiveness. And they want things done really quick and they make changes sometimes before it's really ready to. And so your job is to set expectations, to also be firm on your boundaries and to make sure that when you go into working with a client that's online. that you have specific, like, Hey, what is your marketing calendar?

Great. We're going to run a launch here and here. And when they say like, Oh, we need this up in [00:28:00] 24 hours. Like, that's not how you work because you want their ads to be effective. And it's not effective for you to only be given 24 hours to get new copy creative and everything set up. So making sure you have really strong boundaries is so important when working with online businesses.

And then a lot of times online businesses have really unrealistic expectations for running ads. So in our mentorship certified, in our certification, which is the next level up from conversions for clients, we talk about this. And it's the first thing we do in our strategy octagon is setting expectations with the client.

We use calculators to do this. And our goal as an ad strategist is to make sure That the client's expectations are realistic and we have to do that by showing them the numbers. When we can show them the numbers, we can set true expectations because a lot of times the online business owners come in with very unrealistic expectations.

[00:29:00] They want to have a 100, 000 launch, but they only want to spend 2, 000 on ads. And so it's our job to set those expectations.. So those are the cons of working with online businesses. They have been burned before they know enough about ads to be a little bit more annoying. They're very impulsive and they have unrealistic expectations and just like the local businesses, this isn't a blanket statement, but these are common trends that come up with online and offline businesses.

So now that we went through that, you've heard all the pros and cons of local businesses. You've heard all the pros and cons of online businesses. My question for you is, which one are you going to pick? Don't overthink this. Listen to your gut. Which one sounded like clients you would most likely like to work with?

Do you want to help local business expand their reach in their local communities and make an impact there? Or do you want to work with fast paced online business owners reaching people all over the world? [00:30:00] There's no right or wrong answer, and there's no permanent choice. So when you pick a lane and you go all in, you'll see your business grow so much faster and you'll cut the overwhelm.

Because when you become a specialist, you become known for something and you become streamlined in your business. So if you're ready to learn more. About how to really start grow and scale your online business and you want to know, well, how do I find these clients? Brandi, how do I present them amazing offer?

How do I price my services? What systems do I need in place? I want to invite you to join me for my next live training, where I'm breaking down how to find clients, what systems you need in place, how to price your services, and so much more. Head to brandimowles.com/adtraining and save your seat today.

Head to brandimowles.com/adtraining.com and save your seat today. I can't wait to see you at my next live training. And [00:31:00] until next week, y'all go out, serve your clients, scale your business and soar into the success you deserve.