Painting Contractors: 7 Deadly Facebook Ad Mistakes
Facebook is the most widely used social media platform, with close to 2.5 billion users on it.
Of those that use Facebook, 75% are high-income earners — just the kinds of people who might be interested in getting their home painted!
To get people to see your painting business, it can be good to advertise through Facebook — if you do it right!
Let’s Look At 7 Deadly Facebook Ad Mistakes:
1. Not Changing Your Tone And Pitch For Remarketing Ads
When someone has already clicked on one of your Facebook ads and goes to your site and then returns to Facebook, you can show them a new ad.
This new ad is a smart ad that knows that someone has been to your site.
The mistake people often make is making a remarketing ad that is exactly the same kind of tone as their original ad.
If the user visited your site but didn’t want your services the first time they saw the ad, why would they want it after seeing the same ad again?
If your first ad appealed to them with facts or statistics, you can change it up and make your remarketing ad an emotional pitch and vice versa.
[Related:Facebook Ads vs Boosted Posts for Painting Contractors]
2. Not Knowing To Market To Lookalike Audiences
You should know that the people who are most likely to use your painting services are people who are similar to those who already follow you on Facebook.
Facebook has a method for targeting people who are similar to your current Facebook audience.
This is called the lookalike audience.
Facebook allows you to specify certain qualities and demographics, like what countries/areas they live in, certain ages, and more.
Facebook suggests that if you request larger sizes for the lookalike audience, it will possibly match less well than if you request smaller sizes.
Here is a video tutorial to creating a lookalike audience:
3. Not Thinking Through Your Marketing Funnel
When we think about the traditional marketing funnel, it goes from awareness, to engagement, to discovery, to purchase, then retention.
Too often, people will try to push their possible customers through the same part of the funnel no matter where they might actually be.
For organizations with a longer sales cycle, for example, might do well to bear in mind to use the remarketing techniques mentioned above.
Someone who has never heard of your painting business might want an introduction to start.
When remarketing you can take them to a different page that would showcase some of your previous jobs and allow them to request a consultation.
4. Taking People Directly To A Product Page Without Educating The Customer First
If people click on your Facebook ad and they are taken straight to a booking page, how do you think they would react?
They’ll most likely react the same way you would if you walked into a store for the first time and the clerk looked over at you and said, “Are you buying today or not?”
The first thing you should do when someone clicks on your link, especially since your Facebook advertising knows if someone has been to your site, is to educate.
It’s your opportunity to tell potential customers where you are located, what kind of work you do, how long you’ve been in business, etc.
5. Don’t Show The Same Ads Over And Over
You know whenever you’re listening to the radio or watching youtube, and the same ads keep coming up over and over — it gets annoying, right?
It probably leaves a bad taste in your mouth…
When you’re advertising on Facebook, you don’t want to make that mistake — showing people the same ad over and over again.
6. Don’t Forget To Make Videos With Good Content And Copy
When it comes to making Facebook ads, there’s more to just using images, text, and a combination of images with text on them.
You can make excellent videos that have content which speaks directly to your audience and tells them about your painting business.
The key is to make a few different ads that explain your business, what you do, and other helpful information.
Here is a useful video tutorial on creating Facebook video ads:
7. Targeting too Broadly or too Narrow
When you are creating Facebook ads, one of the things you do is to choose your audience based on demographics.
One mistake people make is to advertise too broadly — people in Denmark aren’t going to respond well to your Madison, Wisconsin painting service.
At the same time, you don’t want your targeted ad to be too narrow — it’s possible to restrict your ad to a very narrow range of age, for example, and that may end up being too narrow.
Quick Recap:
- When you are doing remarketing ads, change your tone and pitch so that you’re not repeating the same message to people who have already seen your ads.
- Since you want to market to people like the ones who already follow you on Facebook, learn to Market to Lookalike Audiences (see blog for examples)
- Rethink your marketing and sales funnel to make sure you are directing people to the right step in the sale process.
- Educate your customers about your service, don’t just take them directly to a sales page.
- To avoid having your customers get sick of seeing your ads, don’t show the same ads again and again.
- Make video ads that have good content, not just images with text.
- To get the most out of your ad budget, make sure you target your ads broadly enough that you reach the people who are most likely to use your services.