LK Marketing and Real Estate

Think your business needs more advertising? Before you put money behind an ad, make sure the rest of your marketing is ready to do its job.

Paid advertising can be a powerful way to reach new customers, generate leads, and grow a small business. But advertising doesn’t fix everything.

If your website is confusing, your social media profiles are inactive, your offer isn’t clear, or you have no plan for following up with leads, spending more money on ads may simply send more people into a leaky marketing funnel.

Before launching your next Facebook ad, Google campaign, or promoted social post, work through this checklist.

1. Your Website Is Ready for Visitors

Your website is often the first place a potential customer goes after seeing your ad. Make sure it gives them a reason to stay.

Check that:

• Your website works properly on mobile devices.
• Your contact information is easy to find.
• Your services or products are clearly explained.
• Your website loads quickly.
• Your most important pages have clear calls to action.
• There are no broken links or outdated offers.
• Your contact forms actually work.

Your ad may get someone to your website, but your website has to convince them to take the next step.

Before advertising: Visit your website as if you’ve never seen it before. Can you immediately tell what the business does, who it serves, and what you should do next?

2. Your Google Business Profile Is Complete

For local businesses, your Google Business Profile can be just as important as your website.

Make sure your profile includes accurate:

• Business name
• Address or service area
• Phone number
• Website
• Business hours
• Category
• Business description

Add current photos and regularly check for outdated information.

Reviews matter, too. A potential customer who discovers your business through an ad may search for your business name before contacting you. Your online reputation can influence whether they take that next step.

3. Your Social Media Profiles Look Active

You don’t need to be on every social media platform. But the platforms you do use should look like your business is still operating.

Before running ads, check your:

• Facebook page
• Instagram profile
• LinkedIn page
• Other platforms relevant to your audience

Is your most recent post from yesterday—or six months ago?

Make sure your profile photo, cover image, bio, website link, contact information, and branding are current.

You don’t need hundreds of posts. You do need enough current content to reassure potential customers that they’re dealing with a legitimate, active business.

4. Your Brand Is Consistent

Advertising introduces your business to people who may have never heard of you.

That means your branding needs to be recognizable.

Your logo, colors, fonts, photography, graphics, messaging, and overall visual style should feel like they belong to the same business.

Consistency doesn’t mean every post has to look identical. It means customers should be able to recognize your business across your website, social media, email, print materials, and advertising.

Before advertising: Create or update your basic brand guidelines so your ads match the rest of your marketing.

5. Your Offer Is Clear

One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is advertising the business instead of advertising an offer.

“Quality services for your business” isn’t much of an offer.

“Get a free 30-minute consultation” is.

“Shop our new collection” is.

“Schedule your complimentary estimate” is.

Your potential customer should understand:

What are you offering?
Who is it for?
Why should they care?
What should they do next?

The clearer the offer, the easier it is for an advertisement to generate action.

6. You Know Who You’re Trying to Reach

“Everyone” is not a target audience.

Before spending money on advertising, identify the people most likely to need and purchase your product or service.

Consider:

• Age range
• Location
• Interests
• Occupation or industry
• Income or purchasing considerations
• Problems they are trying to solve
• What motivates them to buy
• Where they spend time online

You don’t need to create an elaborate marketing persona. You simply need enough information to make informed decisions about your messaging and targeting.

The better you understand your customer, the easier it becomes to create an ad that speaks directly to them.

7. Your Messaging Is Working Organically

Before paying to amplify your message, look at what’s already getting attention.

Which social posts generate comments, shares, saves, or clicks?

Which blog posts attract traffic?

Which emails get opened or clicked?

Which products or services generate the most inquiries?

Your existing marketing can provide clues about what your audience cares about.

If a particular topic consistently performs well organically, it may be worth testing as part of a paid campaign.

You don’t have to guess everything from scratch.

8. You Have a Way to Capture Leads

Getting someone to click your ad is only part of the process.

What happens after they click?

Depending on your business, you might send them to:

• A landing page
• A contact form
• An appointment scheduler
• An online store
• A product page
• A lead magnet
• A phone number
• A consultation booking page

Make the next step simple.

The more hoops someone has to jump through, the more opportunities you create for them to leave.

9. You Have a Follow-Up Plan

This one is easy to overlook.

Imagine you spend $300 on an ad campaign and generate 20 leads. What happens next?

If those leads sit in your inbox for three days, the problem isn’t necessarily the advertising.

You need a process for responding.

Determine:

• Who receives new leads?
• How quickly will you respond?
• What information will you provide?
• How will you follow up?
• How many times will you follow up?
• How will you track leads?

Even a simple spreadsheet or CRM can help.

Advertising can create opportunities. Your follow-up process helps turn those opportunities into customers.

10. You Know What You’re Measuring

Finally, decide what success actually means before you launch the campaign.

“More likes” isn’t necessarily a useful business goal.

Depending on the campaign, you might measure:

• Website traffic
• Leads
• Phone calls
• Form submissions
• Appointment bookings
• Sales
• Cost per lead
• Conversion rate
• Customer acquisition cost
• Return on ad spend

Start with the business objective and work backward.

If your goal is to generate consultations, for example, track consultations—not simply impressions.

The Bottom Line

Paid advertising can be an excellent tool for growing a small business, but it works best when the foundation underneath it is solid.

Before spending money on ads, make sure your:

1. Website is ready
2. Google Business Profile is complete
3. Social profiles are active
4. Branding is consistent
5. Offer is clear
6. Target audience is defined
7. Messaging has been tested
8. Lead-capture process works
9. Follow-up system is ready
10. Measurement plan is in place

Think of advertising as pouring fuel on your marketing.

If everything is working well, that fuel can help you go farther.

If your marketing foundation has problems, advertising may simply help more people discover those problems.

Need help getting your marketing foundation in shape before you spend money on advertising? LK Marketing can help with everything from website and social media marketing to content, branding, and marketing strategy. Let’s make sure your marketing is ready to work before you start paying to put it in front of more people.