¶ Pinterest Ads for Online Business
We're back with another episode of the Art of Online Business podcast . You can see right next to me , Heather Ferris . Hey , Heather .
If you're not watching .
Good to have you back After we chatted and related about all of our travels and then we got stuck in the other recording studio . Here we are and in this episode we're going to discuss why try Pinterest , pinterest ads in 2024 and if it makes sense for the listener , the online course creator or online membership owner .
But first , if you're new to this podcast episode and you're like Heather okay , I see her there and I see you , quajo . It looks like you guys have been talking before .
We have , and that's the previous episode , which is where we got to know Heather and some of her what's called the highlights and the lowlights , if you will like the struggles and the successes of her growing her Pinterest marketing business and her membership that in which she helps creators and coaches and service providers with strategy to grow their traffic and
sales . So you can head down to the show notes below if you're listening on the podcast and get to that episode and get to know Heather Ferris too . She is a Pinterest marketer and she has been managing client accounts for over eight years .
She jokes that she used to be on Pinterest so long ago that she remembers when there wasn't much to see and you could actually scroll to the end of the feed and , like I hinted earlier just a moment ago , she does also have a membership that helps content creators and service providers and coaches strategically grow their traffic and sales with Pinterest .
And Heather , thanks for coming back on the show .
Thanks for having me so happy to be here and Heather , thanks for coming back on the show .
Thanks for having me so happy to be here . I guess it would be really bad if , after the first episode , moments later , you decided you know , I'm not going to record a second episode , I'm done with him .
So thanks for giving me the green light . No , you're the light , Jo Thank you for having me .
So are you . So are you , if only too bad , like the listener ? Missed our conversation about our travels , but some of that was in the first episode and in this episode I want to start off with this very simple question , which is because I know almost nothing about Pinterest .
The first question I have for you , heather , is why should a business , an online course creator , an online membership owner use Pinterest for marketing and then , hopefully later on , you can get into like , what are some of the best ?
Like , what's the best strategy that you are using Pinterest for with your clients within your agency or people who are within your membership ?
Yeah , so why Pinterest ads ? It's a really great question . Pinterest is a platform that , like you have mentioned , a lot of people don't think about and there are like 518 million monthly active users .
So we are not as big as Facebook or Instagram or even TikTok , but we do have a sizable population there , and the main reason why Pinterest is because it's a search engine .
So , we're not relying on people just being on Instagram and scrolling through their feed or being on their Facebook profile and scrolling through their feed and just seeing an ad and making an impulse buy . We're really very strategic with the placement of ads over there because it is a search engine .
So if someone were creating a course or selling a course on how to run Facebook ads , someone might search that on Pinterest . So I do a lot of my own ads on Pinterest . I'm actually actively running those and we can talk about that and how I'm using it for my own course business .
But that would be the number one reason of why Pinterest because people are actively searching for your topics there .
Huh , okay , I guess that makes sense . Is there a type of business that is more suitable than not for Pinterest marketing ? Pinterest ads .
There's 24 active categories on Pinterest , ranging from anything from apparel and fashion across all human types . So men , women , children you know all the all the types jewelry , fitness , food , drink , dining , entertainment like you name it . There's a category for you , including Pinterest . Marketing on Pinterest , including starting an online business .
When I was , I mentioned this in our get to know you episode in 2016 , when I started my business , I actually looked on Pinterest first for how to start an online business or how to work from home , and there are just so many of those pieces of content on the platform and so many opportunities to show up when someone is looking for you .
Okay , so what you're saying is it's more than like wedding pictures , and I think the first time I ever happened across Pinterest was you can't tell now , because I always wear the same thing because I work from home but I love men's fashion and when I was teaching in like international school , like I had so many different color like dress shirts and ties and
different shoes and different socks , and that's what first took me to Pinterest .
So there's more . There's more than fashion and food over there .
Very cool , very cool . So , let's say , an online course creator decides , all right , we're going to Pinterest to market there . Decides , all right , we're going to Pinterest to market there .
Of the kind of strategies that you deploy for your clients within your agency or that you teach within your membership , what are the ones that you would have a beginner start with or somebody who's new to the platform ?
Yeah .
So if someone is new to the platform and they're already running ads on another platform like , let's say , that you're running their Facebook and Instagram ads then a really good place for you to start on Pinterest would just be starting with some retargeting ads , so you can retarget the same way you can on Facebook or Instagram with email lists , with events , with
pages people have visited . You can even retarget based on pins people have engaged with previously . Now , if you're starting new on Pinterest , you won't have those engagement things set up , but you can definitely start with retargeting based on lists of people people visited and fired those specific events .
The thing that I would tell you to start with , though , is , if you're even thinking about flirting with Pinterest ads is go today , right now , and install your event codes and your pixel . Just go , do that , get it installed and let it start collecting data , because that's really what's going to power your Pinterest retargeting ads when you do turn them on .
Gotcha so much like . I would encourage somebody to put the meta pixel on their website , even if they're not quite ready to run ads . This is a move that should be made right now by the listener for Pinterest .
It's fairly easy to do as well .
Fairly what .
It's fairly easy to do as well .
Okay , very cool . You said Pinterest event code and the Pinterest pixel . What's the event ?
code . So you know how , when you are running ads for Facebook and you have that lead , oh yeah , fire that lead event . Same thing for Pinterest . We just call them Pinterest events .
Gotcha , like a page view or a lead event or a purchase event ?
Checkout is purchased . For us , add to cart is pretty synonymous .
Okay , nice , all right so now there's a second part to that question . Okay .
If you're not new to Pinterest and you're a course creator or membership owner like myself . Another really great way to start with Pinterest ads is simply doing lead generation for your email list .
On Pinterest .
On Pinterest .
What does that look like ?
Yeah , so in the last 30 days I'd have to pull my stats back up . I haven't looked at them since last week , but last week , in the last 30 days , when I looked at my ads , I was getting about $1.51 lead into my email list .
Yeah , and prior to that , in May , end of May , beginning of June , I actually just turned my Facebook ads off because the lead cost had risen so high .
Like we're coming into a season where a lot of my audience is with their kids because it's summer , so I just turned some Pinterest ads on to test out and see what that would look like and it actually ended up being really comparable to my Facebook .
I'm just going to edit that part out . You know you can't be telling people to turn off Facebook ads . No , I'm just going to edit that part out . You know you can't be telling people to turn off Facebook ads . No , I'm just kidding .
I'm just kidding , no just edit it out , Clayjo .
No , no , no , I'm saying it , I'm just joking .
No , I'll be completely transparent with you because as a business owner for years , I've actually seen my lead cost be higher marketing B2B on Pinterest , depending on the season .
So in the fall in Q3 , going into Q4 , my lead cost on this platform really rises , whereas another platform like Facebook any meta ads pretty much are usually cheaper depending on that season . So you know full transparency there . It does fluctuate , but right now for me they're slightly cheaper .
Okay , all right , I like that you're looking at both and you're a practitioner of both and sounds like you're not married to one or the other for ads , like whatever's working for your business at the time . That's where you're going to go . Yeah , what's the content ? Like ? Like ? What are some differences between ? Like ?
What kind of content and ads would perform on Pinterest versus meta , facebook and Instagram ?
So since we're speaking about this particular audience of like course creators , membership providers , coaches , I'm also that I fit into that mold . So my ads for Facebook are no different than my ads for Pinterest . It's the only difference is the platform and the creative . It's the same lead magnet that I'm running ads to .
So I just have a standalone landing page . There's no menu on it . There's one thing people can do and that's to put their email address in and then they go through the funnel where they see a tripwire and they see an upsell and then they get into my paid funnels if they take me up on those offers .
The same exact funnel is what I run my Facebook ads to and , yeah it , the content doesn't really look different . You can , if you want it , to do the same thing you could do on your platform , which is run ads to blogs , run ads to YouTube videos or podcast episodes .
I personally prefer to send paid traffic to owned domains and I primarily want to get people on my email list because if I know I can get them there , I can convert .
Right , right , I'm thinking well , this , it's going to sound random , but there's a Robert Frost poem called the Road Not Taken and it starts out like two roads diverge in a yellow wood and I'm sorry I could not travel both . I'm sorry , I could not travel both .
So in my mind , that poem evokes the question if I'm an online course creator who's looking to get into marketing , like paid traffic , how do I decide what to choose ? To get started with Facebook ads , pinterest ads ?
Since you've done both , you do both for your own business , but obviously , like you're a Pinterest marketer too , like with clients in your agency , how do you navigate that decision ?
It's a tough one . Sometimes it can be tough , but other times it's fairly easy , and I'm always really just like open and honest with my clients of like this costs more . Here You're seeing better results , take your money back to , you know , Facebook or
¶ Pinterest Ad Strategy Guide Overview
whatever . So we do have those conversations , but oftentimes it really comes down to conversion rate how quickly it takes to convert and how quickly they need to make their money back .
So , pinterest being a platform that does take longer to get going organically , it also takes longer for the buyers to make a decision , because Pinterest users are not impulse buyers , they're planners . So sometimes it can take 18 days on average to convert a sale . So we're not looking at like a one one one conversion window or seven , seven one or anything .
We're looking at 30 , 30 , one or 30 , 30 , 30 for our conversion windows because it does take longer . So when we're having those conversations of like what platform is actually better for us to use to put some money behind , oftentimes Pinterest always comes second because they've already got ads running in other places like Facebook , instagram , tiktok .
Now they're looking to diversify slightly , open themselves up to a new audience , and then that's the conversation . That's where we lead off is like this platform takes a little bit longer to convert . People are in a different frame of mind when they are searching for you . They're not just happening across you , they're actively looking for you , for you .
So placement , budget , conversion windows all have to come into play . So if they're in a situation where it's like , oh , I only have $200 and I want you to figure this out in 48 hours , pinterest is not the place . I'm going to send you back to Kwejo .
Okay , all right . So it sounds like you're saying Pinterest is a great card to have in , or a great tool to have in your tool belt , so to speak , if you're also doing marketing elsewhere .
Yeah , yeah , Okay . And if you do want to test it out like it's your first platform , if you're in one of the big industries and you're marketing B2C , then I definitely think it could be a great first platform to test . If you're marketing B2B , I would probably layer back in those Facebook Instagram ads .
All right , you want to give us , like a snapshot , the demographics , like what niches are your ? Because , within your agency , or even within your membership , like I don't know off the top of your head , like the five most popular niches of businesses are fashion , food , home decor , fashion fourth and fifth , travel .
And then entertainment , like entertaining gotcha , fashion , food , home travel and then entertainment .
Interesting those niches are probably the top ones that you see within your Pinterest marketing agency and or the membership and entertainment . Not from the standpoint of like ha ha , we're watching funny TikTok videos . Entertainment Like you are looking to entertain , yeah , guests like party planning sort of entertainment .
Yeah , like you're a host actually in the entertainment like party planning space okay , thanks for breaking that down for me , because I actually didn't understand it and I do after we finish recording like I'm going to introduce you to somebody who I'd recently had a discovery call with , who was in the home decor space .
There you go .
Don't let me forget that , please , once we stop recording . I had another question , since we've talked about what kind of ad creative could perform best and you've explained oh , there is a Pinterest pixel and events are kind of like on Facebook ads , and you kind of gave us a breakdown of where Pinterest would fit into a marketing strategy Like it .
At least what you're seeing in clients is it's not necessarily their first marketing platform .
It's like if they're already crushing it when it comes to paid traffic and they're thinking about diversifying , then they look at Pinterest right , because they have a slightly more let's call it long-term view or long-term temperament , I don't know is needed for Pinterest , because it's not necessarily like results right away . Is that accurate so far ?
All right .
How long do you have to wait on Pinterest to see success , or what are the steps there ?
So the majority of my clients that want to run Pinterest ads are coming to me without a ton of validation and this is their first take like go for ads , or they've run some ads for meta in the past but they want to see if Pinterest would help do anything different .
If those clients , if someone like that , comes to me today , I'm going to tell them I need 90 days . Okay 90 days of testing . That way I can test creatives fun . Take your money back to Facebook and Instagram or you should pause all ads , because this has happened a lot . I have told clients a lot in the past .
You should pause spending money on ads and you should work on your website conversion .
Huh , that makes sense . So you do a bit of funnel work too , or mainly , are you just the top of the funnel with the ads ?
It's identifying . I can send traffic , I can send the ads , but I'm not an expert in conversion optimization by any means on websites . I can give you things that you can change . I can look at a heat map . It's not my favorite thing to do . I would rather send someone to an expert .
That way , the time to make those changes is a lot smaller and they can get started back quicker .
Okay , all right , sounds good to me . If somebody's interested in Pinterest ads and they only happen to listen to this episode , what is the one thing that you would make sure they must know ?
Yeah . So the one thing that I would tell anyone that if they've only listened to this one is it doesn't matter what platform you run ads on . If you don't have organic conversions on your website and your funnels , let's put a pause on putting ad spend behind it . It doesn't matter the platform , it doesn't matter the audience .
Let's get those organic conversions first and get some insights there before we turn money on , because I don't want you to waste money .
That is a very holistic approach and quite true One that I 100% agree with .
Yeah , and I think a lot of people just don't realize that they should test things organically first and I just I did it for my own business . I tested offers and messaging and things like that and it's hard to get organic traffic , I understand , but it's worth the effort in the long run .
That way you don't spend thousands of dollars onboarded a new client radio for Pinterest ads . Her previous Facebook ad person that she hired an agency had her spend like a thousand dollars in one day and she got no results for it why there was nothing proven organically prior to that yeah .
So I don't want you to put money on your credit card if you don't have money in your business to spend on advertising .
I just don't want you to do that . Yeah , thanks for saying that . I think that's important to hear again and again , and again and again . Like , paid traffic will not save your business . It will not make an offer sell that wasn't already selling . It's there to augment , augment , like not augment , but it's like pouring fuel on the fire , so to speak .
If your offer is hitting , so to speak , and it's selling a lot , then that's a sign that paid traffic could help you sell more .
But , like , if you're not getting anything when you're launching or when you're putting links in your let's call it Instagram stories or wherever emailing your list , like it's not like just turning on Pinterest ads or Facebook ads or any kind of ads it's going to help you . You got to get your offer selling first .
I like that you advised that .
So tell me about this strategy guide that you have , because it sounds like it's a meaty one . What's it called and what does it do ?
Yeah , so I have a Pinterest . I have the Pinterest strategy guide . I should probably send you the one for ads , since we're chatting about ads , but the one I gave you is for organic . It's just to get your profile started . It explains how the algorithm works .
Okay , the one that you're looking at is for organic , and then it gives you worksheets and checklists that you can really quickly follow . That way , the time to create your Pinterest strategy is a lot less . I have one for Pinterest ads I'll send along too , and it does the same thing just for ads .
Nice , I think I'll link both of those up then , like in the show notes below one just the free organic Pinterest strategy guide , and then the one free paid traffic Pinterest strategy guide . I'll get the names right , but that sounds like the perfect thing , for so . Is there one that you recommend somebody start with , though ?
The organic yeah , just the organic Pinterest strategy guide would probably be a solid place to start , because you probably want to know , if you've never used Pinterest , what this platform is and how it works , and this guide is going to teach you that .
Nice . I feel like I should go and download that guide myself , because I mean to be very transparent . I really didn't know . I don't know much about Pinterest , and now I know a little more , though , but I want to know enough to be dangerous .
So it looks like I need to increase my knowledge , because people ask about Pinterest on discovery calls with me , even though they're looking at Facebook ads , and so we hope to know a little bit more .
Well , I'm always happy to partner and explain the platform . If you ever need someone to help lend credibility to your clients , just
¶ Pinterest Ads Strategy Guide Conclusion
let me know . Okay , I'm super happy to do that .
All right , nice , thank you . Thank you , of course . Thanks for hanging out with me and sharing about Pinterest ads .
Yeah , what we're going to do is link to your socials in the show notes below , and the organic Pinterest traffic strategy guide and the paid Pinterest traffic strategy guide and the paid Pinterest traffic strategy guide , both of which are free for you , the listener , and Heather , thanks for being on this episode .
Thank you so much for having me . It was such a delight .
You're very welcome . It was my pleasure , fun conversations , for sure , listener , until the next time that you see me or hear from me , be blessed and take care Bye .