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Launching paid ads – is this the right move?
I have a potential client who wants help launching an online marketing strategy for his relatively new business (he’s never marketed it online before, but they’re growing now and he’s looking to increase his reach even more by utilizing online marketing)
His business is a platform that operates similar to Home Advisor or Angies List – he connects contractors and small business owners in the landscaping/roofing/lawn care/pool cleaning/etc space to large commercial clients looking for those services. So the contractors can sign up to be a member on his platform, where they find tons of jobs to be hired for in their area. So for example a roofing contractor signs up on the platform and can utilize it to find roofing jobs in his area. the roofing jobs available come from the large commercial entities looking for those services. My client connects them. His goal is to reach more contractors/small business owners in his niche (landscaping/roofing etc as mentioned) and have them join his platform, because the more contractors he has available to fulfill jobs, the more jobs he fulfills (duh) and the more money he makes. Again, duh.
The selling point to the contractors is that it offers access to many more jobs than these contractors/small biz owners would normally have access to, it’s free to sign up, and all the insurance/liability stuff they usually have to deal with these kinds of jobs are already covered.
After learning more about the business and his goal to reach these contractors online, my hunch is that a paid ads strategy could be the route he should take in order to meet his goal. I’m unfamiliar with the mechanics of paid ads/have never run a paid ad campaign myself (don’t worry, he knows this and I’m not looking to charge him for something I don’t know how to do, just looking for advice here)
I have been digging into learning about FB ads and as I learn about how to create effective ads for cold audiences, I keep reading about how your ad should direct to a landing page with a lead magnet to warm up the cold leads. My question is, what if there’s not really a lead magnet that would work for this target audience or business scenario? They aren’t looking to download a checklist or read a blog post, they’re looking for more work. I just can’t really think of what a lead magnet for them might be. So my question is, is paid ads a good strategy if the goal is to just reach our target audience and get them to sign up for our platform? It’s already free so I cant offer a free trial. They don’t have to purchase anything. I’m not sure how to approach this or if paid ads is even something I should be looking into. Maybe I’m missing something here, maybe a lead magnet could work, just not sure. any help greatly appreciated!
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Edit: I should maybe mention a few other things. My hunch was paid ads because we’re looking for a marketing strategy that will provide more immediate results. I know there’s a difference between branding + building awareness vs. direct marketing and generating results. We want to focus on getting results, something quantifiable. His business is already doing well and growing so we know we have a solid foundation and a “product” that’s in demand. So I’m just trying to get clear on generating the traffic he’s looking for online, and converting prospects into members of this guy’s platform. I guess I’m confused about how to use paid ads to do that if my goal isn’t to just build brand awareness, but to actually get people to take the action of signing up for his platform.
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1 Reply
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Is this for a specific, small local area, or for a larger area? i.e state+ vs city.
I think Adwords wouldn’t be worth it. Facebook could be good.
What % does he take out of the deal? Is it competitive with HomeAdvisor / Angie’s List?
I would build a list of businesses advertising on these platforms and get in touch with them. If there’s no upfront cost, there’s no reason they wouldn’t be willing to be listed.
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