As a contractor, there is nothing more discouraging and downright frustrating than spending thousands of dollars on ad campaigns each month only to watch them flop. It can feel like literally flushing money down the drain. Unfortunately, hundreds of skilled contractors experience wasted ad spend each month due to common mistakes.
Hook Agency’s Tim Brown sat down with Joseph Hughes from Contractor Dynamics to get his perspective on the three biggest Facebook ad mistakes that contractors make and how to fix them.Â
- Low Lead Quality
- Lack of Conversion
- Not Understanding the Data
Joseph Hughes made sure to note that these mistakes happen across the board with hundreds of contractors, and no one is completely immune to them. So, if these three points sound familiar, you can use the tools discussed in this article to improve your ad campaigns going forward.
1. Low Lead Quality
Maybe you’re getting leads from your ad campaign, but they aren’t high-quality leads. If you are a roofing company based in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, getting clicks from someone in Portland, Oregon isn’t helpful at all. The fact of the matter is you don’t just want clicks on your website, you need relevant leads that convert to sales.
This first mistake commonly appears when you pump out ads to people who have no idea who you are. It is far more profitable to get your ads in front of people who know your brand name and have seen your content previously.
How do you accomplish this? Build your brand.
Don’t expect anyone to eagerly jump to hire you for an upcoming project if they don’t have any sort of reference about who you are, what you do, or the areas you service. Consistently share the following things on your website and social media accounts:
- Photos of projects
- Videos
- Client testimonials
- Team member bios
- Content about the community you serve
- Other local businesses you partner with
You can even start a specific brand-building campaign on Facebook or Instagram with the purpose of getting your name in front of people who are relevant to your service. If you ask for people’s information and money before fine-tuning your brand and messaging, you’re likely to turn off a lot of potential customers.
Spend the time creating content that positions your company in the way you want your ideal customer to perceive you. And, as Joseph Hughes put it, “The messaging is everything.” Your ad copy should be unique, creative, and specific rather than a general message that every other contractor in your area has already put out.
“The messaging is everything.”
Joseph Hughes
2. Lack of Conversion
Maybe your ad campaign has generated a solid amount of applicable leads, but they’re just sitting in a spreadsheet or email inbox somewhere. If you’re unable to get in touch with your leads and set up appointments, the money spend on your ad campaign quickly gets wasted.
Leads are pointless if you don’t follow through with them.
Make sure you’re able to convert a lead into an appointment in whatever way works best for you. Try to set a goal about responding to leads within a certain time frame every time. Sending a response within 5 minutes might sound impossible, but it’s easier than you may think.
One fantastic option is to set up an automated response that gets sent to your leads within 5 minutes of their inquiry. That way, even if you’re in a meeting, sleeping, or out of the office, your potential customers know that they are a priority to you and you will be contacting them directly as soon as you’re able. Manually follow up with all leads immediately whenever possible.
3. Not Understanding the Data
It’s practically impossible to do effective advertising if you don’t analyze and understand the data. If a particular Facebook or Google ad campaign is tanking or consistently falling off at a certain point, you are wasting money by the second if you don’t trust the data and work to tweak it.
Marketing is testing, testing, and more testing. You need to be able to read the data about your ads and make decisions going forward. If you ignore the data in front of you, you are essentially just throwing darts at a target and hoping something sticks eventually. But if you pay close enough attention, the data will likely tell you exactly how to hit a bullseye almost every time.
Closing Thoughts About Facebook Ad Mistakes for Contractors
Many failed ad campaigns can be summed up by going too broad. For example, instead of broadly targeting a huge metropolitan area with dozens of other established contractors, narrow in on a few select suburbs in the area.
Think about ads that were successful on you. They were specific to your experience and needs. Keep this in mind when you run your own Facebook ad campaigns: get specific. And then get even more specific. Go specific on locations, personalities, hobbies, and service needs.
Finally, don’t only rely on Facebook or Google ads for all of your marketing. Remember how we said you need to build your brand in order to get higher-quality leads? This can be accomplished through driving branded company trucks around your service area, investing in search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, staying active on social media, and more. The more visible you can be in all other areas of marketing, the more your ad spend will pay off.
If you’re looking for help with paid ads to ensure you don’t keep making these same three mistakes, trust the specialized paid ad team at Hook Agency. Through years of trial and error, we have solidified a reliable strategy to help dozens of contractors just like you secure high-quality leads with pay-per-click advertising.
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