At KWSM, our clients’ needs always come first and we want to make sure they know upfront what we think they need to succeed. This transparency is an important value our agency stands behind and was the genesis behind a recent project for the KWSM Mentorship Program.
For this mentorship project, I was paired with Marketing Solutions Manager Wendi Liechty to mentor her on Facebook ads. We knew we wanted to take the skills our marketing team has worked to develop and educate our sales department to allow them to provide better clarity for our clients. Wendi wanted to be more knowledgeable about Facebook ads and their capabilities, so she could recommend this service to clients who could benefit from it. As her mentor, I took the skills I have developed from my experience working with clients at KWSM and my certification in the Facebook Ads Blueprint program and created a training plan to fit Wendi’s needs.
Because of the advanced capabilities within the Facebook ads manager, we decided to start with the basics. While our sales team won’t be managing ads on behalf of clients, feeling confident in how to run a Facebook ad can provide insight into what Facebook ads can do as a piece of a client’s marketing plan.
We broke the Facebook strategy into three main components:
- Campaign Design
- Finding Your Audience
- Getting Creative
I start every campaign by determining my marketing objective. What is it I want people to do when interacting with my ad? This objective determines what type of ad campaign I am going to run.
We walked through different ad objectives that are possible, then narrowed it down to the ads we run most often and would be most beneficial for Wendi to recommend to potential clients. We also brainstormed what we thought our clients needed to succeed. What have we seen is required to run an effective ad campaign? This insight was to help Wendi recommend the additional services clients will need to support a successful ad campaign. Do they need an additional video shoot for specific campaign creative? How about ongoing blog writing to use as a top-of-funnel hook to drive people to the website?
Following the objective, we always narrow down who it is we’re hoping this campaign will reach. Different audiences will react to messaging differently, so one of the most important components of the campaign research is to identify these audiences.
I walked Wendi through my process of rapid-fire testing and she got to work!
Rapid-fire testing allows you to test different audiences alongside different messaging to identify the top audiences you should be going after. Wendi practiced with a fitness client, considering three different audiences and their specific needs and wants.
| Audience
What is your audience’s persona? |
Core Values
What does that persona find valuable? |
Messaging
What messaging fits their desires? |
Targeting
How would you target them? |
| Women who want to lose weight for summer | Weight loss plan that works,
Need motivation, support and accountability |
8 week challenge, unlimited training, meal plans and motivation and accountability to guarantee results (20% off) | Facebook women age 18-50, weight loss, dieting, get in shape, weight watchers |
| Busy women juggling kids and or work | Getting a complete workout in the least time that works | Fun, Fast, Functional and guaranteed to get results in just 45 minutes. (7 day free trial) | Facebook women 25 -55 Working moms, women entrepreneurs, mops, moms groups, WAHM |
| Women looking to get more out of their workouts, change gyms | Tired of the same old workout
Want benefits of trainer |
Tired of the same old workout -A full workout in just 45 minutes. It’s a fun, fast, functional fitness plan that is easy to follow (2 week free trial) | Facebook women 20-45
LA Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, planet fitness, health, fitness interest, magazines |
After helping Wendi define her audiences, it was time for her to put everything she learned to the test. Wendi worked hands-on in the ads manager to develop three different campaigns and campaign messages that catered to her three audience personas. After getting the hang of the ads manager and its capabilities, Wendi knocked it out of the park with her ad ideas. Her campaigns were not only creative, but also fit the different aspects of campaign strategy we learned in our training.
While the different departments of a company often work independently day-to-day to keep things running, it’s amazing what innovation and support we can provide for each other when working together. By improving interdepartmental communication, we ensure all systems are moving in tandem, allowing us to better serve our clients and each other.
