How to Win With Facebook Ads: The Surprising Secret to Making Sales

Are Facebook ads working for your online business?

If the answer is “no, not really,” you're not alone. Tons of companies, from solopreneurs to midsize businesses whose names you might recognize, have the same problem.

People aren't engaging with your ads. Your ROI is terrible, and you might even be losing money. That, of course, defeats the entire purpose of paid advertising.

So what's wrong? Why is your audience so lukewarm about your ads?

Maybe you've tried some split testing, but nothing's caught on yet.

Surprisingly, the problem might be one that revolves around an unexpected but crucial “x factor”: branding.

Branding is something that's aesthetic, implicit, and qualitative. It's hard to pin down in a way that's conducive to measurement or quantification.

But it's integral to any business.

Even if you're just a blogger trying to make some side money, you still need a brand identity. Something people can know and remember, something that sticks in people's heads.

And it's more than just a logo. There's a nebulous yet indispensable gestalt at play, a sum greater than its parts. Everything your business does, from the images you use, to the language in your copy, to the color scheme on your website, is a part of that.

So how does this tie into your Facebook ad ROI? In a recent blog post, AdEspresso explains.

Why You’re (Probably) Under-Investing in Branding

Ever worked with a small client vs. a big one?

Ever worked in-house for a small company and then even a moderately-sized one?

A few differences undoubtedly popped up.

First, running a successful marketing campaign for a large company is insanely easier. Like, it’s not even close. No source to cite to back that up. If you’ve done it, you’ve seen it.

One reason is branding. They’re a known quantity in the marketplace. They’ve been around. For years or decades even. That means they get the benefit of the doubt, and their ‘snowball’ of momentum has had enough time to build up.

The larger they are, the more they usually spend on branding initiatives, too. The stuff that would make us digital, technical marketers squirm with anxiety. Literally, eye-popping dollar amounts being thrown around on stuff that is virtually impossible to measure or track.

And yet… somehow, miraculously, it works.

Turns out, people like what they know.

A big, fancy survey from Nielsen discovered that 59% of people buy products and services from companies they know, like, trust. (God I hate that phrase.)

(Image Source)

So how do you start building your brand via Facebook ads? One of the best places to start is with your placement, and with branded imagery. Part of why retargeting is a powerful tool is that it exposes people to your brand time and time again. Each time they see you again, they're even more likely to remember you.

Here are some things you might want to try:

Placement

You could default to the Desktop News Feed. But then you’re gonna probably overpay, too. Here’s two other formats to start with first.

“Users will discover your product on their phones… then buy it the next day on their desktop,” according to some smart dude.

So let’s roll with that. Because the ‘contra-competitive’ approach means we can lower the per engagement cost as well.

In addition to mobile, the right column is an excellent (affordable) alternative when retargeting previous website visitors, too.

Just be careful with your ad creative.

It’s tempting to simply use the featured blog post image for your ad creative. But many times the result is less than ideal. For example, here’s how it looks on that tiny, right-side format.

The content is too small. It’s not ‘branded’ enough when zoomed out like this. And the image has too many things going on in the background. It’s tough to make them all out.

Here’s how that lesson looks in a real-life example:

Both are coaching related.

But one’s branded and one’s not. Because of that, one sticks out and one doesn’t. That means one will get clicked. And the other won’t.