¶ Real Data From Our Planning Company
Hey, I'm so excited. You guys are back on the show. Welcome Whitney and Daniela from Wedding Industry Ads. Today, we have a little of a different show because are doing a collaboration with Wedding Industry Ads. They've been on the podcast before they've spoken at my summit. we get so much amazing feedback when Whitney and Daniela speak to students inside of Wedding Pro CEO or just our listeners here.
And what's interesting to me is the number one question I get you guys after someone listens to their episode or sees them at the summit is like, okay, Brandee, like I love everything they're saying, but will it actually work? And so I was determined to figure this out because as I've shared with you guys before, haven't ever run paid ads for blush.
a couple of months ago I went to Whitney and Daniela and I said, would you guys want to do like full transparency Six month collaboration with me where we're going to show people what it looks like to run ads behind the scenes. The, the good, the bad, the ugly of how, how to run ads. Like, will it work for a wedding planner? And so I'm excited to have them on the show to kind of introduce what we've done so far and to introduce this collaboration.
¶ The Long Game (Plan)
So welcome to the show guys.
Thank you so much, Brandee. You know, we were really thrilled when you came to us with this idea because we get that question a lot. Also, just will ads actually work? What does that look like? And so to have the opportunity to go through a real life case study in real time and showcase the work that goes into a successful campaign is really exciting for us.
This has been just such a fun collab so far, um, and I feel like we're just hitting the tip of the iceberg with it, so I'm excited to talk today about kind of what the process has been like so far, the foundational stuff that goes into running apps, because there's a lot of legwork that happens before We even kick things off. and then some of the, like, the preliminary data that we have, um, so far, because it's, we're right about the two week mark of Blush's ads being turned on.
Yeah. And we, I kept going back and forth of like, okay, when do we roll out the first episode? Cause we don't have a ton of data, right? We're literally like 16 days in, like we're recording this midway through October and we turned everything on in October 1st. So let me back up for just a second and explain how this is working, you guys. Okay. So, we are going to run. Ads, Google and Meta ads with wedding industry ads from October 1st until March 31st.
So we're giving it two quarters and we collect a good bit of data from blush already. we're kind of data junkies. So we knew how many leads we typically got in a month. We, we know what our conversion rate is. we really have a lot of that data. So we're going to compare it obviously to how this is working already. I'm So excited. Like this is exactly like what Whitney said.
It's been so fun already, this process, but I think one of the things that all three of us really want to pull back the curtain on is that ads are a much different way to advertise than. You know, uh, a paid listing site or organic traffic like it, it is its own beast. so that's kind of what we want to pull back the curtain on. So we're going to do several of these style videos to update you. We, we may put some out as shorts, so you guys can pay attention to that.
We'll put out some email marketing as well to kind of show you guys, like, what are the stats month over month? What are we seeing? We're being super transparent with Blush's numbers, we're going to show you all the data that we're given from the Wedding Industry Ads team as well. So do you guys want to kick it off with kind of talking about what, what were those first kind of steps we had to get into to start ads?
what were some of the things that you guys needed from our team or that you need really when you're working with any new client?
Sure, absolutely. So there's definitely some techie stuff that needs to happen at the beginning, right? First of all, we want to make sure that you as a client are set up to be able to run your own ads in your own Google ad account, in your own meta app, right? It's very important to us that our clients Own their own account so that they own that data and that they can always have access to that Right?
So, I think the very first thing was that we walked you guys through like in real time on a Zoom account, getting some of those different accounts set up, getting our team admin access, making sure like the right credit cards were on file in terms of your payment because you know those payments for your ad spent those get paid directly out to Google and to Meta, and then beyond that it's also taking a look at Where is this ad traffic going? Where are we sending the ads to?
And is all of the proper tracking set up on those places, right? So I think we had some conversations in the beginning of, okay, are we sending traffic to the website? Are we creating a landing page for the ads? Like, what should we start with, And usually for us, we are pretty good at being able to look at a client's website and say, This looks great. It has beautiful images. It has convergent copy. You have lots of calls to action.
If you already have a really beautiful website that's already generating leads for you, our thinking is, why not start there and start sending paid ads traffic there? We see for several clients that that works and it really increases their lead generation. now there are some clients, full transparency, that that doesn't work for.
And sometimes at the very beginning of our work together with a client, we're able to look at a website and say, Oh, this is like six years old and, you know, not the best representation of you. Like, we really need to start with a landing page, But Blush, you guys have your stuff together. Like that was not the case, right? It was really more about making sure, okay, is the Metapixel installed on the website?
is tracking set up in order for us to be able to actually track the actions of what people are doing beyond hitting the website, right? And so I think that that's where we ended up maybe having to create kind of some new pages. We want to make sure that when somebody inquires and becomes a lead, that that form that they're filling out, they're then getting redirected to a thank you page.
Because by landing on that new URL, that's when we're able to add specific conversion tracking from both Google and Meta onto that page, so that that information can then flow back into the Ad Manager platform and Google and Meta understand who are these users. That are becoming leads and how can we show your ads to more users like that?
things for me was that I was like, yeah, we've got everything set up that you'll need. Like, you know, I thought we did. And even just having that thank you page, I almost was like, how have we not had that in the past? Because It's like a, just a customer experience thing too, right? Instead of just this, thank you for submitting your form, you know, basic thing, we had now this beautiful thank you page, thank you for submitting. Here's the next steps. Like this is what's going to happen.
So I loved that we were creating that anyway, so that was really helpful, but I think one of the pieces that I liked about the process was that your team jumped on zoom with us. Cause there was so much to like give you access to and to, you know, make sure that we had set up correctly. And so that was really helpful that you guys walked us all through that. We didn't have to kind of try to figure it out on our own. So that was really, really helpful.
We've done this before. And I think that that's one thing that we've definitely learned. We've tried, you know, the route of here are some really detailed instructions, SOPs, walkthrough videos, but especially with the meta accounts, you know, they roll out updates in different phases, and not everybody's perfect. interface looks the same.
And so we have just found it so much easier and honestly better all around in terms of that transparency and understanding for us to have that live call where we really walk you through step by step. Here's what we're going to be connected to. Here's where you can control those parameters. oftentimes we find old, uh, Connections that they, that are no longer relevant that we can help our clients clean up.
and so it's just, it's a really great, we love those initial touch points too, because it helps us not only get a sense of what your closing process is, but almost audit the backend a little bit and make sure that we are closing any of those gaps once you start paying for traffic, You really don't want any leaky, holes in your funnel, right? Um, and so that thank you page is, is actually very common to be missing.
And we see the thank you page not only as, you know, imperative for tracking, but it's a, it's great real estate. This person is highly interested. They just completed your form. What a great opportunity to have another touch point where you can send them some specific message or, point them in the next direction. Hey, check this out next, or, Just start really nurturing that relationship immediately from that initial submission.
Yes. Yes. I love it. So there was quite a bit, obviously, of tech to set up, but you guys 100 percent walked us through it. And one of the things that was really important to me is I was like, with blush, we have a team.
¶ What Creative Should Be Used?
We have been in business for a long time, so we did have a lot of this already done. so it was important to me to ask Whitney and Daniela, like, if we didn't have this done, how, how would it work? And so I love that you guys had so much in place to, like, we can just create a landing page or, you know, there was some other options too, with like how people would move through the funnel. We have a fairly sophisticated sales funnel.
We also have a sales manager, but if, if somebody didn't have that, then you guys have lots of options for them as well to help really make sure that people are moving through the funnel. So If you're hearing us talk about our system, we decided to keep everything as similar as possible in the way that we're moving people through our funnel, pre ads, post ads, so we could get the most accurate data, but know that you don't have to have Sophisticated funnels and things like that.
Like Whitney and Daniella can walk you through other options to be able to set these things up. So I thought that that was really, really helpful. I want to talk a little bit about how creative got done. Cause I think a lot of times I hear wedding pros will say like, I, I wouldn't even know what to run in an ad and I'm like, well, I don't think you have to do that. And so what was interesting is that you guys really came up with All of our creative and pulled from our current creative.
So how does that process work? Like, how do you choose it? Can you tell us more about that?
Great question. Yeah. So really when we start working with a client, we want to do things as efficiently as possible. Right. So that kind of plays into like what we're talking about, about like jumping in the zoom call to just like get it done. Right. you know, you're starting to pay us as an agency, you're ready to invest in your ads. So it's like, Let's get going. Let's get started with the data. So really the first phase, is we call it like your phase one of running ads.
And it's really getting your Google ads up and running because there, it's the keyword research, it's some targeting research, but those, those can get up and running fairly quickly, right? And then just go to your website. With Meta, there's going to be a little bit more legwork, Because you have, the ads. Copy. You have the, videos or, graphics or headlines that, that you're writing.
it's a bit more entailed, but the very first phase of running meta ads, we like to focus on what's called client attraction.
And we run these client attraction ads, you know, throughout the lifetime of kind of like running ads, but we find it's a really great place to, Get started because what it's going to do is the pieces of value rich video content that are blasted out to cold audiences with exclusions that are set up to make sure that it's actually not getting in front of people who have been to your website before or who engaged with you. On social media.
It's a low cost way to really be building audiences on both Facebook and Instagram, so that later on, once all of your conversion ads are ready, There are even more people who are interested to be able to see those and take action on those, So with these client attraction ads, what we actually find works really well is using existing pieces of your own content, usually Reels.
we like to think of it as if you could pick one piece of content To put in front of a bride or in front of a couple who has absolutely never heard of your brand or your business before, what would that piece of content be? and that's how we really curate for, these pieces. So I think we did a deep dive into blushes or existing organic content. And, you know, Jacqueline chose a handful of really great reels, and those are what's currently running to cold audiences right now.
So the goal right now in these first couple of weeks in running ads on Meta isn't necessarily to be generating leads. It's really to be building audiences and to be doing some testing on, okay, which of these reels is getting The most engagement who is like clicking to read more on the caption because that will then help inform us about Which of these can we then turn into a conversion ad for lead generation?
So that's kind of where we are in the process right now in terms of curating existing content.
Yes.
Yeah. And to speak a little further on that, um, process, we really do take the time to meet with our clients and understand Really what sets them apart, what makes them different as, as a brand, as a personality in their business, the way that they work, who really is an ideal fit for their brand and for their services, and making sure that we can really narrow in on that and speak to that.
Because when we're putting some budget behind these pieces of content, we're really We don't want to be attracting somebody who's not a good fit. It's not always which piece of content performed best organically, because it may be that that was, you know, just a really funny relatable meme that got a ton of shares and a ton of engagement, but it's not actually going
¶ Data Mentioned IG Reach
out to the people who are likely to become leads or clients for your business. So we also want to make sure that we're selecting pieces of content that really showcase that they show who you are. They, they show how you work, what it is that you do, what sets you apart.
Maybe it's something about your values or your mission that we can connect on an emotional level with these cold audiences and just start building that relationship and start building that connection and that conversation in a way that doesn't feel like they're being advertised to.
Yes. I think one of the things that you said at the summit this past year that I heard multiple people bring up was that, I would never click on an ad if I was a couple. Like if I was an engaged couple, I wouldn't click on an ad for a wedding planner, right. Or for a wedding photographer. And one of the things that you guys said was, That that's the whole point is to make it not seem like an ad, right? We're not going like, hi, buy me. it's not meant to be that way.
So I have found this process to be really interesting. Again, we're two weeks in, so we're really still in that. Like you guys said, we're in that phase of just putting out, ads for reach and things like that to see what's going to resonate with people. It's been really fun. We just got some of our first round of data in. So that's been really fun to look at. And if you're watching this on YouTube, you're welcome to look at these reports. I'm showing them right on my screen.
Um, you guys, I'm looking at our Instagram reach it's really interesting to see. comparing it to the last two weeks of September to these first two weeks of running ads through Google and Meta. And so, I mean, we went from 110, 000 Instagram reach to 173, 000 with the same amount of timeframe. That's a huge jump, right? Or it feels huge.
And it may sound like getting Reaching 60, 000, 63, 000 more accounts would be expensive, but I also want to highlight that these initial campaigns are relatively really low spend. I think the meta ad spend so far is under 150 to get that much more visibility.
It's crazy. Yeah, and it looks like to, um, it says total Instagram profile visitors were 1600. Like to me, I feel like I'm loving this now. I do understand to some degree how ads work because we use them on my coaching side. So I love that we're spending less money per lead right now to kind of just. I am thinking of it as like chumming the waters.
Like we're just trying to see who's warm, where the audience is, like what works, because if we turned on lead generation ads right away, they'd be a fortune, right? Okay.
Short answer. Yes. They would be really expensive out the gate and, It may, it may be questionable also how qualified your leads would be or how good of a fit that they might be for you and for your services, I think the misconception is, or what, what people think ads are, is that you have this one ad that's a direct response, Hey, here's my thing, sign up now, and you click on that and then you go straight through and then that's the result. Um, There's a better way.
There's a way that feels better, but it's like more effective too. So we, we like to think of it as layers, almost like you're building a whole funnel system of ads where we're able to measure so much more in terms of the engagement that people are having. If they're watching a video top of funnel or clicking to read more great.
¶ Data Mentioned Profile Visits
Now we want them to see the next thing. And so we're going to create audiences based on that engagement to make sure that we're showing up in front of the people who are self qualifying by How they're interacting with your content, to your point of, you know, the increased profile visits when people say, Hey, we don't really click on ads or we don't think our couples click on ads. What they do click on is your profile. They click over to the profile and see, is this a real business?
You know, ads really contribute to what's happening organically and they work so well together and getting that visibility, it helps build that relationship. It helps start those conversations. And then when you're visible again, inside of the newsfeed of these people, you're not coming out of nowhere. They've seen you before you're starting to become familiar. And that just increases all of the touch points before you even get into an inquiry process or sales conversation down the line.
Um, so it can help mitigate some of the questions that they might have in terms of, is this good for me? Am I the right fit for you?
¶ Data Mentioned Google Ads
Are you what I'm looking for? We can kind of anticipate those things and curate pieces of content to meet them where they're at based on how they're engaging with you. It's really, that's the fun
is the fun part. And just to give you guys a clear picture of that as well, we said we had 1600 profile visits from October 1st to October 14th. Again, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see my screen so you can see what I'm looking at. and the data that I got from wedding industry ads, but for the two weeks before that, so same amount of time. But before we started running ads, we had 1100 profile visits. So that's a really significant jump in profile visits.
I think people are fairly interested in something
¶ Targeting More Than One Market
you've said, if they're going to click to your profile, whether that's through an ad or organic, they're not going to click through to your profile if there's nothing good to see there. So, or if they think there isn't, right? So there's some level of interest there. And then looking at our, Google ads. So we're running both Meta and Google. And just to clarify, Meta is Facebook and Instagram, right?
Correct.
is Google, so when we're looking at Google, it's more talking about how many website visits we're getting versus necessarily profile visits, right?
Clicks to your website.
so looking at our Google data is we've spent about just under 400 in two weeks on Google. And, then we've got about 135 total click throughs and then total new website visitors is 496. What's the difference between new website visitors and total clicks?
Great question. So the total clicks, we know those directly came from your ad, The total new website visitors, that information was pulled from looking at your Google Analytics
Got it. Okay.
So that is brand new people who have visited the website, whether they found you through organic search or through your link in bio
Very cool. Okay. And then we are also in two different markets. So that's something that you guys have been incredibly helpful with too, is being able to really target couples in those markets so that we can put very specific content in front of them. Right?
Exactly.
somebody has multiple markets, is this, is this a strategy that you would use? You know, is this, is this easier than organic or maybe can you speak to that? And if they have multiple markets?
Where Google ads can really be super helpful. If you have multiple markets Maybe like your location is based in the first market that you started in, right? So Orlando for you guys, I assume that's where like Blush's physical address is, where your Google business profile is located, all of that. With that, you're going to show up, or you should in theory, show up pretty well organically, right?
For people who are searching for an Orlando wedding planner, It's going to be a lot harder though being based in In Orlando, physically, so organically be showing up in the search results for St. Augustine. So that I would say is where paid ads can really sort of help fill the gap. When you have another market that you serve, but it's not where you're primarily based, or if you have a new market that you were wanting to, break into.
I talk about this with Sarah Dunn, of Sarah Does SEO, a lot, just about how she, you know, gets so many people reaching out to her about, like, wanting to break into a new market with their SEO, and having to really explain to them that it's a pretty difficult thing to do when you don't actually have a physical location there.
It has been really difficult.
but yes, we can definitely help, what we do usually recommend and like to do is having different campaigns for those different markets. And for each Google Ads campaign, we usually do recommend about $500 per month. so if you're wanting to advertise simultaneously in different markets, just keep that in mind. so like for blush, I think on Google ads, we're spending a thousand dollars a month with 500 split between each market
Yeah. And in full transparency on that, we've told you we're going to share all the data. I think we did a 2, 000 ad spend total per month. Right. And you guys are kind of divvying that up how you see fit. So we're not necessarily saying, Oh, you have to spend this much. You guys are doing that on your backend, but that's what we all felt comfortable with based on your recommendation and what we felt comfortable with because one wedding for us is more than that 2, 000.
So if we start booking even just one more wedding, we're at a break even, you know, so that's how we looked at it.
Right.
love that.
Yeah. 2, 000 a month is definitely a really healthy place to, get started. You know, we have a lot of clients that will start at more like 1, 000 a month. Um, and that can produce really great results too. Um, but we love it that for this you guys really were willing to go all in. So much of it is about the data that we're collecting and so, you know, the more you spend, the more data that you're going to get and the faster you're going to
Okay. you had mentioned in the beginning of the episode, your offer kind of needs to. Already work. Can you touch on that a little bit? Because I, I think that I just want to make sure everybody understands we keep saying it's not a fix at all, but I want to just be super clear. Like, it's not even just about, turning ads on or off. It's also about the fact that you already have to be able to sell your offer, right?
¶ The Amazing Amplifier
mm hmm. ads typically will amplify what's already going on in your business. Mm hmm. So if you're not currently making sales, if you're currently struggling with sales, if you're currently struggling with leads, unlikely that ads are going to be the solution for you. More likely that you're going to really need to get down into more of like your foundational marketing work, offer development, pricing, your sales process, everything like that. Do you have anything to add to that, Daniela?
Yeah. I, I think, cause the question really is, you know, when am I ready
question, yeah, I mean, that is the question for sure. And I think of some of my students who are like, I'm really struggling with sales and I'm not getting enough leads or, you know, I'm getting some leads, but they're not converting. So maybe they're not the right leads. I think I'm going to try ads. And I'm like, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ah, don't do that. One, if you're not getting enough, if you're not already getting enough sales, it's going to strap you for cash.
That's going to be challenging, right? Because you do have to spend before you see a return. and two, if it's not, if you're not already being able to do it organically, which are all warm leads, it's going to be really challenging to do it to cold leads, right?
right. So I think that that's, that's a really great, context for this way to set this up, what I would say is when it comes to running ads to Whitney's point, they really do just amplify what is happening in your business. And so if you are not getting any leads at all, and you are actively marketing for your business, let's say that if you just have a website and you're not doing anything and you're not getting leads, that's another story. But if you are.
Marketing, proactively, and you're still not getting leads, then that's where I would say, you know, there's a foundational messaging gap. we need to find a way to be more specific about what you do, who you do it for, and make sure that we're connecting the dots in a way that makes sense. If you're getting leads and you're closing them, but you want more, that's where ads can be an amazing amplifier.
If you are, at a stage of business where you're only marketing when you need new leads, and then you're not marketing when you have the clients. Ads can also help kind of create a little more consistency with your marketing workflow so that you don't have to be on all the time, but they really are a supplement to a marketing strategy. They are not a marketing strategy in and of themselves, they don't function alone. You have to send the ads somewhere, right?
So if you don't have a good website or if you don't have a good landing page, focus there first. If you are, you know, not active on social media and the last post you made was like Father's Day 2022, then it's probably not a great idea to start running ads on meta right away, right? Like you want to start building up that organic presence.
So that when you do start running ads and people click on your profile and click over to see who you are, there's something there for them to get to know you better and, and to, to show them that you are still in business and still alive and well, right. And still working. and so really I think zooming out and looking at the big picture and, and kind of audit your own accounts.
Think of like yourself, um, if you were looking for the service that you offer, and if you came across your Instagram account or whatever social media page and your website. What does that process look like? Are the touch points there? Like really try to look at it through the lens of an inquiry, a lead, and see if you can identify some gaps in that. you are generating leads organically and you are having
¶ Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)
great conversations and you're just ready for more, whether it's more consistency, more volume, um, so that the things that you already have working can be filled all the time. That's where ads really are an amazing solution because they can just, they can really help you, have higher quality conversations and save your time in between. Um, so that you're staying visible without having to. Be on the other side actively for that
Yeah. Okay. So I love this. And one of the things just to Daniela's point that she just made, one of the things that we've really amped up is our organic marketing. We already had a very consistent organic marketing, but now we are active every single day on stories. We're making sure that our posts are attractive, that they're going to want to convert somebody that is just now landing on our page. So. It's something that organically we're also really working on.
I think being active on stories is great because, a cold lead lands on your page, you can nurture them and let them get to know you a little bit more through your stories. So if you've got active stories that day, it's just really helping to move that process along a little The only other thing I wanted to talk about was really to talk about our ad spend. We touched on, okay, we spent about 150 in Meta. We've spent, I think we said just under 400 in Google.
So total, as of October 14th, we've spent just over 500 in ad spend, right? And, I think one of the things that we all wanted to make, like we talked about, it's a, it's an outlay first of, of revenue before you start to see a return. And so for us, I was telling the ladies before the show, I'm like, I have in my head that we won't start seeing a return necessarily till Thanksgiving. that's seven ish, eight weeks because Thanksgiving falls so late this year.
I don't think it will be that long, but I've already kind of like set my expectations of like, yeah, we're, right now we're just finding the people. We're chumming the water. Like we're getting it out there. We're being visible. what do you guys have to say about that? Any thoughts on that when you're working with clients that you want them to know when they start running ads?
Sure, yeah, so the beginning really is laying the groundwork, like you said, we are still kind of in this really first phase of, the types of campaigns that we're running. It's often not until we really turn on these meta conversion ad campaigns that we'll really start to see, you know, leads flow through and have them be directly attributable to the campaign.
And then that's when we get into the fun stuff of really like uncovering what the cost per lead is and taking a look at the quality of these leads. and you know, what's happening beyond the ads themselves or beyond people inquiring, right? So, um, Yeah, I think going into it, understanding that, yeah, you're going to be, you know, investing in your ad spend a bit before you actually see these leads start to flow through.
And then the leads are going to start to flow through and we're going to assess some data. And, you know, that's when you're then going to start to see higher quality leads. And we all know that the sales cycle for people is taking longer these days and people are doing lots of research and like really like vetting their vendors. So this initial work or like kind of the start of these ad campaigns are setting you up for success months down the road, right?
It could be that somebody's first touch point is seeing an ad from you now, but they not be, might not be ready to book their wedding planner until six months from now.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that's that's usually how I like to speak to it as well is that initially it's an investment. It's an investment in data. It's an investment in traffic, and all of that traffic then gives you even more information around, you know, what are the behaviors that these People are exhibiting how, what are they engaging with? And that gives us more insight. but I also like to think of it in terms of the results being compounding interest.
Once you start running ads, like we're running ads in October, we're getting more traffic to the site. We're getting more visibility on socials. We're building up those audiences next month. We're going to keep showing up with those people. And there will be people who hit the website right away and inquire because they feel it. And, but that's, that's, that's great. The very small percentage of people, you know, you may have heard in the past, it takes seven touch points to make a sale.
There was a more recent study from Google that it's more like 200 at this point. And there are things that you don't even realize that you're seeing them scrolling past in the newsfeed. I saw that logo one more time. Like every touch point just builds trust, reinforces that trust. And what we see is that as those audiences build and grow, as those touch points accumulate, then you start having really amazing results over time as that visibility compounds.
And so the initial investment, that initial. Uh, website visitor that we're paying for maybe this month, again, might convert three months, six months down the line, but it's how it all stacks together. So you have to really do, like, you really have to look at it holistically and zoomed out, especially when you are Starting off with visibility campaigns.
It's, it's, it's not as measurable or quantifiable in terms of the ROI right away, and sometimes people struggle with that because they want to see, well, how much money am I getting back for the money that I'm putting in, but there's value beyond just the, the leads or the sales. There's so much value from that information. that you're gaining, the insights that you can gain. And that can help you save time, right? There are other resources that you have that are finite.
Money's a renewable resource. We can make more of it. We can earn more. It flows. Time runs out. Like we don't have forever. And so if you can gain some insights from the ads that you're running, that can help you put systems and strategies in place that can save you time, that's a really valuable outcome from running ads. And so I think like breaking that expectation that it's going to be a one in one out or how much in and how much out.
I think that that can make sense in an e commerce retail environment, right? Or in a different business model. But when we're in the wedding industry, we are looking for qualified leads that we work with in a deep way, hopefully just one time. And so it's a completely different approach to, you know, like we don't recommend list building for the wedding industry, because that doesn't make sense. Like you want someone who's ready to
And buy
that you're having sales conversations with, that you can really serve in a big way and then wish them the best and get a great review and, and hopefully maybe get referrals from them in the future. But it's not that you're going to. necessarily work with them
Right. No, I mean,
Like unless you offer other things outside of wedding services, you know, photography is kind of a gray area. Cause then you can get into, you know, like some of the family photos in the future and, and, and things like that, if you want, but especially with people who are specifically focused on planning weddings and executing events, it's a one time project, hopefully.
And so that's the, Sort of, challenge in a way that, that makes it really fun to work in this industry you just can't look at what other industries are doing. it's not a copy paste strategy situation. And I think that's where a lot of these misconceptions come from, especially in the online space, as business owners, as marketers, you're in this echo chamber and you're seeing all these crazy results and you think, well, does that make sense for me?
Of course, you're wondering that it doesn't most of the time.
Right. No, I just, I think that this is something that I, I want to make sure that I keep driving home. Honestly, I think I will keep driving home through this collaboration is that exactly what Daniela said. It's not a, it's not a tit for tat, especially right away, but You know, and I just, no matter how many times my ads team told me that when we started the coaching ads, I still was so shocked by it. I just was so surprised at how much money was going out.
For weeks before we saw a sale come from it. And now I'm so much more prepared. Like I'm like, yeah, seven weeks. Like I give it seven or eight weeks before we see a first sale come from an ad. And, and again, that might be a little too much, but I, I'm totally prepared to understand that this time. We've got to get that wheel turning before we can start to see a return from it.
And the way that you guys are doing it, I just am obsessed with because it is like, let's spend the lower amount and just those visibility ads. Let's find out who our audience is.
¶ Clear Data
Let's start to build that. And then we can start, um, kind of going from there from the lead conversion. So I have loved this process so far. anything else that you want everybody to know as we kind of start this collaboration?
I think ultimately, if, if people can come into ads, understanding that it's a process and that you, you get to choose who you partner with to support you through that process, whether it's where you get your education from, where you're getting support or working with an agency, making sure that they understand the nuance of your particular business and industry, I think is a really important,
I agree.
the wedding industry is really unique and, and it's special, right? And we love it. It's beautiful. And there's so much magic in this space, but it's really different from, from almost any other industry that I've worked in. And there are, there are strategies that we can borrow and bring in. And there are others that are, that are completely new and unique to this space.
but it is a process and the more that you can stay dialed into The data, understanding what you're doing, why you're doing it, and how it all fits together. That's going to give you so much information to be able to make really good decisions for your business based on those numbers.
I mean, you guys give such great data. Like I, today was the first time I got a report, obviously, cause we're just two weeks in, but I was like, this is so easy. I, I think the thing that was most helpful for me was seeing what it was. So I was able to, I didn't have to go research like, well, how much did it increase? Right. Like you guys were literally like last two weeks of September, first two weeks of October. So I was able to see, wow, that's a huge jump.
Yep. It was a big jump that I wasn't expecting that high of a jump. So I was thrilled with it. Um, but so I think just the data you guys send over, it's like, I had to go very far to find, you know, the information. So it was really, really helpful.
Yeah, I think what's really important if you're going down the road of ads, really, no matter who you are working with, is that you as a business owner are taking an active role, like you are being an active participant in this collaboration, right? Like Brandee, you, for example, we sent the report, you opened it up, you consumed it, like you wanted to understand that we're having a conversation about it, right?
You're going to get so much more, out of your ads and out of being able to really kind of create a lead generation system when whoever you're working with, you're, you're giving them feedback, you're asking questions, like you're taking them up on, you know, any offers to like get on a strategy call, or you get a report if you.
Questions that you don't understand what something means, then you're asking about that so that you can really understand how your money is being spent and what it's going towards, because ultimately, like you as a business owner, you are responsible for the investment that you're making, um, in your business.
And it's like, if we're not able to hear from you about how things are going in terms of Lead quality or like, you know, you're seeing higher leads from St. Augustine than you are Orlando or you know, what's happening beyond the ads, you know, your ads manager, your ads team can only do so much for you. If it's not in really kind of open dialogue and collaboration.
I think that that was a great point because I love the numbers anyway, but again, it's so easy to look at it. Like you should be an active participant and, I know, That I'm going to get data. I know when I'm going to get it. And so I can set 15, 20 minutes aside and say, okay, I really want to look at this. Like, don't just see it and kind of be like, okay, well, they got it. Like it is important for you to be an active participant in that. So you guys, I'm so excited.
I can't believe we're only two weeks in. Cause I mean, we've been working on it for a while, but I, it feels like we've been doing this forever. So I'm really, really excited to continue updating everybody on how it's working. What things have worked, what things maybe we found out that didn't work. For my company, obviously every company is different, but I'm, I'm excited to share, um, how we kind of adjust ads and what starts working as we, we start running lead conversion ads.
So you guys, if you're excited to learn more about this, Hey, tell us what your questions are too. So you can pop over to my Instagram or wedding industry ads. Instagram will link both of them in the show notes below and ask us questions that we can answer for you here on a podcast, or we can certainly make some content in, um, Instagram and over on TikTok to kind of share with you guys how this is going, but we're super excited to let you know, do paid ads really work for wedding pros?
So we're going to answer that question over the next six months, but you guys, thank you so much for being here and I'll see you on the next one. Bye.