Mobile applications are no longer the providence of the large, mega-corporations, as small businesses require a online and mobile presence to remain competitive. A January 2016 article on Entrepreneur rightly made the point that, “Simply put, smartphone apps have become too important a marketing tool for small business owners to do without.”

Even if you’re not aiming for the global marketplace, you need to consider that according to various sources, in developed countries, smartphone penetration is over 60 percent. Global penetration is up to 34 percent as well, with projections between now and 2018 expecting this to rise even further,

Now, put this penetration statistic together with the information that the average user checks their phone 85 times per day and it becomes easy to see why having a small or large business mobile application is essential for your long term viability and competitiveness.

Of course, your competition is probably looking at the same or similar information and preparing for their entrance into the mobile application arena – or they’ve already taken the plunge. Therefore having a mobile application strategy is going to be crucial for you going forward.

Have an Application Strategy

Before actually developing an application, your company or business needs an application strategy. Just putting together an application is not enough. You and your business needs to know how this application will work with your company or business and how it fits into the your business model. It isn’t enough to just have the app, you have to be able to use the app to shape your customer’s experience with your business.

While there are a number of different methods to creating a mobile application strategy for your business, Forbespoints out seven important objectives or strategies that you should consider for implementation in your company’s mobile application strategy.

Importantly, your mobile application strategy will dictate the direction in which you develop your application. Thus, your mobile application strategy becomes your outline for the actual creation of your mobile application.

Seamless Integration

While this might seem obvious, often time, seamless integration is an afterthought. A key component of any strategy – and especially true with any business strategy that involves far-reaching implications – is that your strategy functions as a seamless integration, with not only your overall business strategy, but with the physical components of your business.

A customer who uses your application to place an order must be assured that the order will be received and processed promptly, while, at the same time, any backend activities must not be visual to the customer. In other words, your mobile application must do what it claims to do.

This means your mobile application must work with your current software, be updated as you update your other software and ensure timely updates to your mobile application, including applying bug fixes to the application itself.

For a small business owner, this can appear at first to be troublesome or that it might increase the overhead to an unsustainable degree. But this is why it’s essential to have a mobile application strategy – to help prevent you and your business from being overwhelmed with the prospect of developing and working with your mobile application.

Make Social Media Part of Your Application Experience

As part of your application development, a key element for adding to the customer experience is integrating your app to work with social media. Letting customers share what they looked at, considered, purchased and more on social media is a great way to expand your audience and promote your products or services.

Essentially, having social media as part of your application experience gives you the opportunity to be seen and heard straight from the customer themselves. Even for companies involved with B2B sales, social media is an important consideration, with over 62 percent of B2B companies reporting effectiveness on their social media outlets.

Developing the Experience

All of the above is fine, well and great, but how does it help to give you the edge? A comprehensive mobile application strategy that takes your business’s goals, objectives and integrates them into an mobile application gives you an advantage when it comes to competing for new customers (and retaining the same).

Basically, it’s about creating value between you and your customers or clients. Technology savvy customers gravitate towards those mobile applications that appear to add value to their shopping experience and interactions with your business. By the same token, a bad mobile application will generate a bad mobile experience and thus you have to get it right the first time.

This Whitepaper from UTest, a professional testing network company, outlines specifically the consequences of bad mobile application development. In summary, by investing the time in developing your mobile application’s foundation, you’ll correspondingly improve your customer experience. And as this matures, it adds more value to both your business and the customer, giving your business the edge over your competition.

Further, by giving your customers the option of sharing their experience over social media, your mobile presence will continue to grow and improve – again, adding more perceived value to both the business and consumer.

In or Out Application Development

An important question that always arises when considering application development is in house or outsourced application development. There are pitfalls for each, and there are advantages to each, but it really depends on a range of factors concerning your business.

In house development is really only effective for larger companies, where there are resources for a long term development cycle and ongoing maintenance. That said, even some larger companies will split development across both in house and outsourced components.

Outsourcing mobile application development or, in the case of a small, local businesses, just outsourcing the actual programming element, offers significant advantages, not least of which being cost. Entrepreneur offers several articles on outsourcing for application development, including tips for outsourcing said development in order to reap the most benefit.

For small business, the best idea is typically to develop your mobile application strategy and then work with an application developer to generate your application. In a practical sense, you put the ideas for your application together, and they handle the actual coding that brings it to life.

As long as you have a mobile application strategy in place, all it takes is the development and maintenance to get you on the road to providing value to both you and your customers.

Giving Your Company the Edge

You might still come around to asking the question of “How does this give me an edge over the competition?” The answer is that, by putting all the fundamentals in place – such as a strategy for mobile application and development, along with a social media component – and developing your application using cost-effective services like Appture, you’re generating a customer experience that gives your followers and prospective buyers value and purpose.

Mobile applications are more than just marketing tools, and their use extends well beyond marketing hype. Those applications that add or create value for the customer help drive positive sentiment towards your business, and this translates directly into a higher return or ROI.

Even something as simple as alerting your customers to new sales promotions via social media can have a significant impact on your business’s bottom line. For a local-only business, the value created by mobile applications could be critical to ensuring profitability over the long haul – not just by giving you the edge over the competition, but by increasing your exposure to consumers, both old and new.

Having an application is a sign that your company or business is up on the latest trends, and it gives consumers a means of interacting with your company or business on their time (thus adding perceived value for them). In turn this translates directly into better sales, better consumer perception and an overall better customer experience.

Agree or disagree? Share your own experiences building a small business app by leaving a comment below:

You don’t need to be a design pro to create thumb-stopping graphics for your Facebook ads.

Wait, WHAT? Yes, you read that right. I’m not playing games with you. So, hold up before you jump the gun and reach out to a design assistant to create compelling visuals for you, or even try to learn the ropes of Photoshop or InDesign all on your own.

I’ve got some simple design tricks up my sleeve that you need to hear to get people to click on your ad, as well as a free tool that’ll help create your graphics in a matter of minutes. Sound good? Awesome. Because I’m sharing all that goodness today. You’ll leave feeling like you hit the jackpot for your business. Go ahead and pencil in a getaway to Starbucks to treat yourself because you’re about to be saving a heck of a lot of time.

But, before you break out into a victory dance, you need to prepare for any Facebook ad changes that’ll no doubt come your way. Great… what about all that time I just said you’ll soon be saving on creating graphics? Well, now it needs to be moved over into staying current on the social media platform’s newest algorithms and tactics. That could open up a whole new can of worms if you don’t know how to get ahead of your competitors to bring in sales.

What if I told you I have just the resource for you? Something to continuously keep you ahead of the game. And, something to help you master (or stay a master of) Facebook ads and get you well on your way to achieving your conversion goals. Stick around below—you won’t want to miss learning more.

Before we get to the good stuff…

First things first—I need to walk you through some simple tips to creating killer Facebook graphics. After all, you want to be sure you’re on the right path towards accomplishing your ad’s overall objective—getting people to click to see what you have to offer. So, let’s get started

1. Weave in the ad’s marketing message.

To be 100% honest, your image is what can make or break your ad. Save yourself and your conversion potential by joining the anti-click bait movement when it comes time to create your graphics.

Think about your headline, copy, who you’re aiming to target, and what it is you’re offering. Once you factor these elements into the design process, it’ll be much easier for you to weave your message into the image itself. Thus, you’ll avoid misleading your target audience and get those clicks you’ve been waiting for. Check out how SurveyMonkey masters this.

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2. Stand out from the sea of blue and white.

Bet you didn’t think you’d have to take Facebook’s brand colors into consideration when designing your graphics did you? Camouflaging your ad to go into hiding on the page should definitely not be at the top of your list of things to do

Instead, make your image POP. Don’t be afraid to utilize contrasting colors that relate to your brand. You’ll draw your audience’s eyes to your ad in no time. And, even if blue is a color that’s a huge part of your brand, you can still utilize it. Just be sure to incorporate some complimentary colors to help you stand out. Take a look at how Slack tackles this with flying colors.

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3. Keep the image text to a minimum.

It used to be that Facebook advertisers couldn’t run their ad if the image included more than 20% text. It was a rule many found frustrating and ineffective. Now, an ad won’t be completely rejected if it contains a significant amount of copy, but it will have its reach restricted. So, it’s clear that you should still limit your image’s text. It’ll take you a lot of copy to seriously impact the delivery of your ad. See what Facebook says below.

What should you include? Most experts recommend only offering up a call to action of some sort or a short and sweet description of your offer. That way, when your audience is scrolling through their News Feed, they can look at the image and know, without having read the headline or copy of your ad, if they want to take action or not.

4. Take advantage of various ad formats.

Based on your overall goal and how to best communicate the story you want to tell, decide on a specific ad format to take your conversions to the next level. Yes, a single photo still works just fine, but there are various ad formats available to choose from nowadays.

For example, the Carousel format allows you to utilize 3-5 images and/or videos, driving your audience to scroll through the ads horizontally on desktop or vertically on mobile. This format in particular is an attractive way to showcase products, apps, and even e-books or webinars. Take a look at how Tieks uses it to tell a story through one long image.

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5. TEST.

If you’re hoping to send your click-through rates through the roof, you need to continuously test the Facebook ads you’re sending out into the universe. Conduct A/B testing on two different images, two different brand-fitting color schemes, two different text overlays, or even two different ad formats. Monitor each ad’s performance metrics through Facebook’s Ads Manager and you’ll be well on your way to learning how to best resonate with your people.

Now that we’ve taken care of business, meet your sidekick to create thumb-stopping Facebook ad graphics…

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Canva. It’s a free graphic-design tool that makes it easy for you to effectively create attractive images to communicate your message across multiple mediums.

If that wasn’t enough information to seal the deal for you, here are just a few reasons why we like using it:

• Costs $0. Yes, I know I already mentioned that, but I think it’s worth mentioning again.
• Little to no design experience is required to use.
• Creates quality graphics for various platforms—your social media, blog, presentations, posters, you name it.  
• Doesn’t take up space on your computer because it’s cloud based = no software.

Sounds great, right? There are some other free platforms out there for you to choose from—we like Snappa, too. It’s just as easy to create marketing graphics in a flash.

Today, however, let’s run through some simple step-by-step instructions for Canva so you can jump right in and start using this tool ASAP.

How to Design Thumb-Stopping Facebook Ad Graphics Like a Pro in 5 Minutes or Less

Step 1: Get Started—Create a Free Canva Account

The tool makes it a breeze to get a move on with designing your Facebook ad graphics. Not to mention, they give you a few options to make it even less of a time suck for you. Use your Facebook or Google account to sign up, or take the scenic route if you prefer to use your email address.

Step 2: Select a Design Format—Facebook Ad

Once you enter the Canva club, you’ll then be prompted to create a design. You can see from the image below, you’re given a few options. In this case, however, you’ll want to click “More…”

Canva’s all about making the design process easier for you, right? So, of course they have a Facebook Ads design ready to go. After you click “More…” scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll find the Facebook Ads option to click on. The size already matches the social media platform’s requirement (1,200 x 628 pixels), and the hard work is already done.

Step 3 (*Optional*): Speed Things Up—Use a Professional Pre-Made Layout

It just keeps getting better and better. Once you select your design format, you’re then directed to a page to design your layout. But, the tool is ready to save you even more hours of hard work with its gigantic library of professionally created layouts.

You can see from the image below these are some eye-catching graphics, and there are many that are FREE. If it’s not and you just can’t resist using it, guess how much you’ll have to pay for a “premium” design? Oh, just $1. Winning.

But, this step is completely optional. The choice is yours whether or not you want to go with a Canva layout, upload your own, or just start from scratch. And, note: you can tweak a pre-made layout and make it your own—change the image, font, everything. It just helps you quickly settle on a style to organize your image and text.  

If you want to be a little gutsy and start with a blank slate, simply scroll to the bottom of the Canva layouts section and you’ll find plenty of empty photo grids like these.  

Step 4: Create Your Masterpiece—Edit Away

Now, it’s time to customize your graphic and make it your own. So, let’s say we’re opening a yoga studio soon. We land on this layout we like:

It doesn’t fit what we had in mind just yet, but it helps get us started. Now, we have the option to experiment with a variety of factors until we hit perfection thanks to Canva’s tools:

• Change the background image and/or color (Canva has more than 1 million images to choose from!)
• Edit the text style and formatting
• Add/edit a variety of elements from icons to illustrations, shapes, and more
• Rearrange the text and image layout

Take a look at this graphic I created from the previous layout I shared. This just goes to show you how far you can go in creating a masterpiece of your own.

Step 5: Put it Out Into the World—Share or Download

You’ve tailored your graphic to compliment your brand, and now you’re ready for it to hit News Feeds. Or, maybe you’re ready to collaborate on it with your team. Either way, you can hit Share to send it to team members’ email addresses or Download to go public.

Shout out to the adlab team for this one.

“You Won’t Believe the Results One Customer Had While Using Our Product”

“This Product Will Change Your Life”

“The Hot New Facebook Ad Trend Everyone Is Talking About”

“Advertisers HATE This New Facebook Algorithm”

Ready? Drumroll, please…

They’re all clickbait, in some form or another. (Doesn’t the word “clickbait” just make your skin crawl? Mine, too.) Each of the above contains elements that lead the reader to get sucked into the clickbait vortex:

• Hyperboles
• Deceitful cliffhangers
• Vague language

You see, these headlines are something marketers still use today, and oftentimes really shouldn’t be. Simply put, clickbait is the art of trying to get your audience to click… no matter the cost and the disastrous amount of unqualified leads you’ll get in return. All because we’re psychologically programmed to long for the info that’s left out of the title. We’re being manipulated.

And, marketers knew the prime spot to spread these icky headlines like butter: ads on Facebook.

But, the social media platform’s people weren’t oblivious to this occurring and recently took matters into their own hands—developing a new anti-clickbait algorithm to bury bogus headlines.

It’s a cutthroat world out there trying to beat out your competition with titles that stick to get some News Feed “air time.” So, today, I’m going to share with you 7 rules to follow to write Facebook ad headlines without clickbait, avoiding Facebook’s clickbait crackdown.

You’ll still be able to say hello to a flood of traffic, while avoiding succumbing to icky gimmicks to lure in your readers. That only means you have an even greater chance to convert them into paying customers—they’ll trust more of what it is you have to say.

Okay, great. You’ll have this set of rules to add to your marketing toolbelt. But, what about mastering Facebook advertising to put your clickbait-free headlines to use and reach a mass amount of your target audience? All while keeping current on new algorithms and alterations?

I mean, they undoubtedly changed the clickbait game in a heartbeat and escalated its war against these highly criticized headlines. So, it’s obvious no one is safe. That’s why I’m also here to introduce you to an evergreen course that’ll stop you from feeling at your wit’s end when developing a Facebook ad strategy that works (and stands the test of time).

Put your feet up and relax. You’re life is about to get a heck of alot easier.

7 Rules to Write Facebook Ad Headlines Without Clickbait (& Avoid Facebook’s Clickbait Crackdown)

1. Dish out some numbers.

Go ahead and reel in the reader with something they can actually sink their teeth into. Incorporate numbers into your headlines when speaking to the amount of steps, minutes to be saved, rules, you name it. The proof is in the pudding when it comes to using digits in your titles thanks to a study by Conductor.

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Why do they work so well? You’re promising something specific—unlike clickbait when you’re left skimming the article to find out the title actually has nothing to do with the content you were led to. Plus, dishing out some numbers in the headline makes it easier for you, as the author of the content, to stick to the script and give your audience what you promised.

2. Step away from hyperbole overkill.

Raise your hand if you want to write headlines that garner the attention of your readers. Yeah, I’ve got a feeling you just reverted back to your school days being all like, “Oh, me! Me! Pick me!” That explains why we see hyperboles left and right when we’re scouring content across the Internet. You know the ones…

This simple sales technique will blow your mind.

The new Facebook algorithm everyone is talking about.

Facebook advertisers hate this new update.

Our business tried this new headline equation and you won’t believe what happened next.

Say it with me now… gross. They can be downright annoying. Yes, top sites like Buzzfeed, Upworthy, and even Huffpost use them in their post headlines. They’re often overused, however, and can seriously pollute your brand’s reputation if your content doesn’t live up to all that hype.

So, stop tricking your audience with over-exaggeration schemes. Instead, combat hyperbole overkill and pull some of these modest “power words” from CoSchedule.

To help get you started, let’s take a look at a few Facebook ads that are killing it when it comes to using some of those “power words.” First up is HubSpot.

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Brand New. Transform. Forever. Whew. Sprinkling those into the mix definitely makes it easier to capture my attention. How about you?

Next up is Next Vacay, helping make regular travel affordable and escape the cubicle life.

Newest. Obsession. Okay, I’m intrigued and want to click to learn more about this new travel system. Heck, especially when they tell me I can fly to Paris for less than $500.  

Go ahead and sweeten up your vocab with some of these words. You’ll be glad you did because it’ll be a walk in the park for you to finally tap into your reader’s emotions.

3. Answer the infamous “So what?” question.

Your headlines should always be centered around what your audience will get out of a simple click—responding to their question of “So what? Why should I care to take time to read?” Whether it’s to save them time, money, drive more traffic to their site, increase sales, grow their Instagram following, you name it, make it the crux of your headline.

Take 17hats’ ad headline as an example.

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The company is telling me there’s one thing that can help tame the chaos of being an entrepreneur. They’re speaking to a benefit to their offering and telling me why I should care. I’m hooked. Aren’t you? In the end, find a way to weave in messaging that communicates the fact that your content or offering is the solution to their problem they’ve been trying to solve all along.  

4. Speak your audience’s lingo.  

If you’re looking to write Facebook ad headlines without clickbait, chances are you want to target a specific audience and bring in those qualified leads. Am I right? Thus, it’s important to remember who you’re speaking to and really make an effort to connect with them.

Stalk your prey, so to speak, in an effort to mimic their language. After all, the lingo Buzzfeed uses in its headlines is 100% different than that of The New York Times. So, don’t even think about spewing out crummy corporate jargon or words your audience isn’t familiar with. Make them believe you understand their world, and it’ll be that much easier to get them to fall hook, line, and sinker for your headline.

5. Be transparent & fend off the “curiosity gap” phenomenon.

Did you know there’s a psychological phenomenon out there called the “curiosity gap?” Yup. It’s all about providing just enough information to make your readers curious. Then, nudging them to click in order to read more and obtain the information they’re missing. Sounds like this phenomenon runs a verrrrrrry fine clickbait line, does it not?

But, despite that, marketers are using it. And, in no way am I saying you should completely ban curiosity from your headlines. That is, if you’re into getting more generic click-throughs over targeted ones. Nor am I saying you should write boring titles.

What you should do, however, is remain clear in your messaging, while still being clever enough to stand out from all the noise. Take Blue Apron’s ad headline as an example.

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It tells us the “what” (Blue Apron) and the “why” ($40 off) in a crystal clear manner. And the numbers don’t lie. The clearer your headline messaging, the higher your ad’s click-through-rate, according to Conductor.

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Stand firm and let headlines tell the story once again.

6. Be authentic.

This rule should be a walk in the park and an important one to remember. It can be tricky to avoid succumbing to the pressure of using clickbait gimmicks. Especially when you feel your content isn’t getting the love and attention it deserves.

But, remain true to your brand and continue to speak your voice. Not another’s. Those clickbait addicts might find it working for the time being, but they’ll soon come to the realization they’re bringing in garbage leads as a result of using shoddy headlines.

7. Test, tweak, and repeat.

Maybe you feel your headline was straightforward while still being witty enough to garner attention, but your audience didn’t seem to agree. There’s no time to get your feelings hurt. Instead, A/B test your Facebook ad’s headlines. After all, it’s the most important part of your ad.

Test a longer headline in Version A, and a shorter one in Version B. Or, add in a power word in Version A, and leave it out in Version B. Utilize scarcity in one, and no scarcity in another. There are so many options for simple split testing, so take advantage of this capability, tweak your ads, and repeat.

At your wit’s end with Facebook’s ad changes and looking for a way to stay ahead?  

I thought so. Soon, you can say adios to shoveling out loads of money on course after course in an attempt to stay current with the changes blasting at you every which way. Thanks to AdLab, of course. It’s an ever-evolving curriculum on Facebook ad strategy, dedicated to guiding even the most seasoned pros to success with growing their business using the world’s largest social media network.

Here’s how AdLab is different from the rest of the courses out there:

• Saves you time and money spent trying to stay up-to-date with changes—thanks to the Tutorial Update Guarantee, you’ll always be in the loop on any and all recent Facebook ad advances and how they affect your company’s strategy. The four key AdLab areas are constantly updated so your tactics are never outdated and you never fall behind.
• Offers “what’s working now” case studies and expert interviews—each month, new content is added to showcase how members and pros in various industries are finding success via case studies, conversations, and tutorials. You’ll finally be able to efficiently mimic real, profitable campaigns!
• Gives you the opportunity to have your Facebook ads examined—each member is welcome to submit their ads and sales funnels for the chance to have them reviewed and repaired for success.
• Allows you access to a private Facebook group to ask questions on the fly—aka a live mastermind group. As long as you’re a subscriber, you’ll get real-time feedback from your peers and authorities from various industries. Not to mention, you’ll stay up-to-date with any and all resources and changes shared within the course.

The amount you’ll shell out and invest in this course is worth it’s weight in gold—you’ll get some serious value in return. You’ll have more time to focus on developing an ad strategy that endures and thrives because of the education it offers. So, what are you waiting for? Grab hold of these benefits right away.

Grow Your Small Business with Facebook Ads—Join the AdLab Mastermind Now!

It’s time to let your competitors do the duping and use clickbait all they want—they’ll just get buried in the overflow of activity across News Feeds everywhere. Meanwhile, you can continue to build upon the trust your readers have for your brand simply by taking some extra care with your messaging.

And, thanks to the mini rulebook shared here today, your headlines will still be bringing in a flood of traffic, all while avoiding Facebook’s clickbait crackdown. Not to mention, you’re now familiar with a trusted ad strategy training course to help grow your business and stay one step ahead at all times using the social media platform.

No, it’s not too good to be true. Entrepreneurs just like you are finding success with the AdLab course membership—navigating the oftentimes-harsh waters of Facebook to grow their businesses and generate profit for years to come. Go ahead and join them.  

Which of the rules shared here today did you like best? Or, is there one you would add to the list? Share with us in the comments section below

When looking at your to-do list and you see “Create new Facebook ad campaign,” I’m sure the last thing you think is: Sure. No sweat. Piece of cake.

The fact that you are reading this post means you are already ahead of the curve and realize something that many dental practices do not (more than you can imagine); you should be advertising your practice online using Facebook ads.

If on the off chance that you have not started using Facebook ads to grow your practice because you are either not confident that you can actually generate leads or you are afraid that it will break you financially, then you have also come to the right place!

The number one struggle that every dentist faces is getting CONSISTENT lead flow. The number one tool successful dentists use to keep a steady stream of leads coming in, is Facebook ads!

WHY FACEBOOK ADS?

To put it bluntly, you should be using Facebook ads because that is where your clients are spending the majority of their spare time. A successful business is one that is able to solve a problem for a specific group of people, and to do that you have to know where to find them.

I know it seems like Facebook ads are really expensive, and many people are hesitant to use them as a primary lead generation source. The reality is that if you are using Facebook ads correctly and targeting appropriately, then your ROI is HUGE when you consider the lifetime value of a customer.

The secret to instantly generating consistent dental leads with Facebook ads is as simple as putting a great offer in front of an effective funnel, using four unique targeting options. So let’s walk through what you need to get started.

A GREAT OFFER FOR DENTAL LEAD GENERATION

The very first thing that will catch a prospective customer’s attention is a great offer and to develop a great offer you have to decide WHO the offer is meant for. Now, as a dentist you probably see all sorts of people with diverse demographics and that’s perfectly fine.

However, to start getting consistent leads you need to focus on targeting one specific segment of your potential audience at a time, and build an offer that is attractive to them.

The most effective (and sustainable) service you can offer to generate dental leads is a free teeth whitening session for new patients. You can then upsell them into a paid service such as a deep cleaning or cavity repair.

By first allowing them to develop trust in you with that free whitening session, you double the odds of retaining them as a loyal return customer.

The easiest segment of your audience to present this offer to is women who are 18 years old and up. Women who are brides-to-be, getting ready for homecoming or prom or have an anniversary coming up are often looking to get their teeth cleaned and whitened!

The great thing about advertising on Facebook is that you can target your ads based on these types of life events. Of course this offer will appeal to people you DON’T target, such as men or individuals who aren’t in the groups mentioned above as well.

Remember the idea is to focus on ONE audience segment (that has the ability for consistent lead flow) at a time. There are an infinite number of women who will be getting married or going to formal events making this a reliable targeting method for dental ads.

THE FUNNEL

To get those leads in your office you need to set up a funnel. It doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy to generate qualified leads. An effective funnel basically has four elements:

• A well targeted Facebook ad
• A landing page / optin page
• A thank you page
• A follow-up (email and phone call)

Each step of the funnel needs to flow seamlessly into the next and needs to be as easy as possible to navigate. Let’s walk through each step of an effective dental funnel, one at a time.

THE FACEBOOK AD

The ad is one of the most important elements of your funnel. It must clearly catch the attention of the people you are targeting as well as entice them to click the ad with a great offer.
The most effective ad type to use for setting up a lead generation funnel for your practice is a “Consideration” ad that will “Send people to a destination on or off Facebook”.

Once you have chosen your ad objective, then you need to select the targeting. This is where the segment of your audience you decided to target comes into play. Facebook will let you target based on several life events, behaviors and interests.

To attract local leads with the teeth whitening offer you will want to use the following four targeting options:

• Your City +25 miles
• Women 18-45
• Newly engaged (1 year)
• Anniversary in 31-60 Days

There are obviously lots of other ways to target potential customers which you can test on later ads, after you get a steady stream of leads coming in. These four targeting options are the strongest jumping off point.

Once you have chosen your ad objective and established the targeting, then you need to set up your ad to attract the women that you targeted above who see it.

Keep in mind you are not trying to sell something to your audience in the ad. The objective is to get them to click your offer so that you can get them to sign up for your offer and be placed on your email list. Then, You can follow up with them to book appointments and offer other services.

There are a few elements in the ad example above that you can replicate to create an effective ad for generating leads.

1. The Main Ad Copy – is very clear about who this ad is aimed. It states the offer clearly as well as a few reasons that they can use the offer to their advantage.
2. The Ad Image – is an attractive, smiling young woman who the audience can make a connection with. (The eyes in the picture are key for this. I recommend stock.adobe.com for great royalty free images.)
3. The Ad Headline – clearly highlights the offer.
4. The Ad Description – states terms and lets them know they need to sign up to claim the offer, matching the call-to-action button that says Sign Up.
5. The URL – is easy to read, so the audience can find you online.
6. The Call-to-Action Button – by choosing Sign Up, you are preparing the audience to enter more information once they click through.

Once the audience clicks through the ad, they need to land on a page where they can opt-in to your offer. This is how you will collect their email for your list.

THE LANDING PAGE  (OPT-IN) 

Now, even if you currently have a website for your practice, I do not recommend sending your leads there to collect their information. I recommend using ClickFunnels to build a simple funnel. It’s user friendly, has great customer service and has fantastic templates in place to set your pages up quickly.

Above is an example of a simple landing page that will effectively collect leads. There are two reasons why this setup is successful:

1. The image and page text are consistent with the ad that lead them here. This is VERY important. When they land here it is imperative that it be exactly what they are expecting.
2. The second reason this is effective is because we are asking for a minimal amount of information. You do know want the process to take more than a few minutes or feel like a prescreening process. A fast and painless experience is a great tone to set for a dental practice!

THE THANK YOU PAGE

After the patient enters their information on the landing page and clicks the “YES” button, they are added to your email list and redirected to a Thank You page. There are a few elements on this page that make it successful.

1. The thank you page is a great place to create scarcity or a sense of urgency that the patient should quickly contact you to claim their offer instead of waiting to be contacted.
2. This page should also have a call tracking phone number on it. At Twilio.com, you can set up a unique phone number that forward calls to your business to track the effectiveness of your ad campaign. You can also set it up to get text notifications on leads as they come in. This way you know exactly which leads are coming from Facebook!
3. The thank you page also gives leads a chance to connect with you on social media. This is huge because “word-of-mouth” referrals are another strong source for leads.

By setting up your ad, landing page and thank you page by using the examples above, you position yourself to get immediate leads. However, the most important part of this process is following up with the leads and closing the deal.

THE FOLLOW-UP

The degree of which you follow up with your leads can make or break this entire funnel. As a health professional, it is crucial that you make the new patient feel like they are more than just a number to you. You have to reach them on a personal level.

The first thing you need to do to effectively follow up with your leads, is set up an email in your autoresponder to go out immediately after they click the button on your landing page. This email should again thank them for signing up for your offer as well as repeat the tracking phone number from the thank you page.

I highly recommend using ActiveCampaign as your autoresponder because it is inexpensive, very easy to setup automations and integrates with most payment processors and websites.

The second step in following up with your leads is to make contact. You need to establish a routine for this. Dedicate time every day to call these potential new patients. It may take calling a few different times to actually get ahold of someone, but keep this in mind: If they took the time to fill out the form, they want to be contacted!

THE TAKEAWAY

No matter what stage your dental practice is in, it is easy to set yourself up to bring in consistent leads. A simple four-part funnel with the unique four point targeting will have them pouring in week after week.

Don’t be obnoxious in your follow-up efforts, but do be thorough and professional. Once they opt-in you are relationship building. You have peaked their interest and earned their trust enough to get them to book their FREE session. It is then up to your dazzling dental skills to keep them coming back!

As a result, it’s so much easier for things to go wrong on the popular social media platform. Money oftentimes goes wasted due to ads being thrown together at the last minute with weak copy and design. Not to mention, crummy targeting while playing an absolute guessing game as to who to push content out to.

So, because of how easy it is to make those blunders as an entrepreneur focused on your own business, it’s important to know when you need to ask for help—especially if you’re not seeing any results from your current Facebook campaigns.

And, one way you can push the weight of Facebook advertising off your plate, while steering your strategy in the right direction, is by partnering with a local advertising agency.

I know what you may be thinking:

“But, you’ve already taught me so much about Facebook advertising. Now you’re telling me to hire an agency that does all that work for me?”

Hear me out, though. If things are going great for you and you feel 100% comfortable managing your Facebook advertising efforts in-house, by all means, keep it going.

Yet, know when to outsource your efforts if you feel it’s taking time away from your already busy day. It’s okay to ask for help. And, if that’s the case, I’m here to help you take that leap. Here are six benefits of hiring a local Facebook ad agency for your small business.

1. Frees up your precious time.   

This one’s pretty straightforward. We all know you’re way too short on time to add any new tasks to your to-do list. After all, you’re a busy entrepreneur rocking your small business, wearing many hats.

But, you definitely don’t want to slap things together when it comes to creating ad campaigns. It’s not a task you should be pushing off until the last minute. Especially if you’re not confident enough in what you’re doing.

So, if you’re looking to free up some of your precious time when it comes to scaling your business using Facebook ads, a local advertising agency is your answer. They’ll be able to get the job done at a much quicker rate than you would’ve otherwise been able to.

2. Saves you from breaking the bank.

Compared to traditional print methods, Facebook advertising is completely affordable. But, only if you do it right.

There’s a strong chance the budget will be blown out the window with every wrong bid for those who choose to fly by the seat of their pants with their strategy. A local advertising agency can help you steer clear from making this mistake.

When many think of working with an advertising agency, however, they tack on a bogus price tag to that partnership. But, hiring one to manage your Facebook campaigns can actually be less of an expense when compared to the cost of a full-time employee.

Let’s put it this way: if you find a hotshot that can successfully manage all the bidding, audience research, creative components, monitoring, and performance analyzing, that person won’t come at a bargain.

In fact, Digital Marketing Managers earn an average salary of £62,363 a year. That’s a whopping chunk of your hard-earned money! Meanwhile, an agency already has a built-in multiple-person team that can get the job done at a monthly retainer cost starting at £1,200.

When it comes to placing your Facebook advertising strategy in the hands of experts for success that scales, you can’t stick a price tag on that.

3. Offers in-house expertise to take you far.  

Agencies focus on hiring the best-of-the-best—highly skilled employees who have what it takes to provide superior performance and value to clients. And, these employees work on a variety of campaigns for many different businesses. So, they have experience in what works and what doesn’t when advertising to specific audiences.

As if that weren’t enough, they also continue to enhance their skills while participating in training on a regular basis—attending conferences, seminars, etc. Whatever opportunities that are offered to them to help expand their expertise, they’re grabbing them by the horns.

And, no matter the amount of training or classes you take to try and get on their level, these employees are pros at what they do.

After all, they most likely have dedicated their careers to the advertising industry and serving their clients. So, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find a leading team of advertisers to take you and your business far.

4. Moves quickly to get you the results you want.

Agencies are agile—from strategy development to results. They move quickly because they know from experience the best routes to take to achieve peak performance.

The best part? They can have a campaign up and running in a matter of days if needed, which otherwise would’ve taken you longer to do on your own. And, if you change your mind about the original plan, they’ll analyze how the results will be impacted.

They hustle. They have heart. And, they’re constantly adapting and going with the flow. It’s their job. Changes are just part of it. Because of this, if they discover your Facebook ad isn’t trending towards the outcome you both had hoped, they won’t just let it sit and rot. And, then talk about what could’ve been fixed once it’s over.

Nope. That’s not how things work with them. They’ll do everything in their power to come up with ways to improve it—while it’s in progress—to give it the boost it needs to hit the bull’s eye.

5. Keeps you current on the latest advertising trends, without a learning curve.  

We all know Facebook advertising can be intimidating. There’s a revolving door of changes, leaving you in the dust to start back at square one all over again. No thank you.

Where can you ever find the time to read up on all the latest Facebook advertising news? And, then apply the updates to your current strategies? You can’t.

Luckily, an advertising agency has your back. They set aside time and energy to stay ahead of trends for the sake of their clients’ success. They must be up-to-speed and follow the latest developments. It’s all part of their job description. (And, this is exactly what we, at AdLab, do for our members. Stick around until the end of this article to learn more.)

For this reason, the majority of advertising agencies take industry education very seriously so you don’t have to—setting up Google alerts on trending topics/brands/competitors, lunch ‘n learns, and so much more.

6. Gives you the chance to actually learn…a lot.

It’s easy for entrepreneurs like you to get too close to your business, preventing you from seeing your advertising strategy from your customer’s point of view. Having a group of people on the “outside,” aka an advertising agency, can give you the insight you need to work your way into your customer’s shoes.

From sitting in brainstorming meetings to getting your hands on result recaps, you have the chance to actually learn…a lot. Marketing terminology will be easier for you to understand, new strategy and social media ideas will sprout up more than ever before in that brilliant brain of yours—the opportunities are endless.

Most importantly, you’ll be able to reflect and rely on those lessons over the years of your business to tackle future challenges that come your way.

Feeling like your business can benefit from partnering with an advertising agency, and are serious about taking the next steps?

Here are some questions you should ask potential agencies in your search to find one that will not only offer a dreamy partnership, but also give you the best return on investment for your marketing dollars.

> How long should my contract be? An agency should be able to understand your business and jumpstart your campaigns. But, it can take time to see the results. Just be sure to protect yourself from getting sucked into any long-term contract gimmicks. Because, as a paying client, you should have the ability to leave the relationship at any time and for any reason.

> What’s included each month with this contract? Contracts vary agency to agency. Ensure the pricing is clear and simple. Determine if you’ll be billed at an hourly rate, project rate, or retainer. And, be aware of what deliverables are to be supplied and when. Most agencies will provide you with a customized timeline on a per project basis. This will help you know what to expect, safeguarding your business from surprises and scope creep.  

> What’s your track record for businesses like mine? Vet their agency and ensure they have the experience to market your brand correctly. Also, take a look at their website and see if they’ve won any awards lately. No website? That doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t professionals. No matter the case, a strong advertiser should be able to provide you with excellent, verifiable testimonials from past clients. After all, not all agencies can walk the talk. Out-of-this-world copy and creative gets businesses noticed, which is just what you want.

> How do you handle client communication and collaboration? Communication is key to a healthy relationship. An agency that has implemented proper platforms and processes (like Trello or Slack) to manage client communication and collaboration wastes much less time. And, makes you feel like you’re their only client because they’re just that good at it.

> Who will be managing my account and executing the work? This may seem like a silly question, but some digital advertising agencies actually outsource their talent. It’s okay to do this for certain tasks. Though, if you’re looking to amplify your Facebook advertising, it’s much more comforting to know there are superstar digital marketing managers on staff.

> What’s your distinctive culture? When hiring an agency, you’re basically gaining new teammates. Be sure to partner with one that has values and a culture that meshes with your company’s personality. The chemistry should be there and you should look forward to collaborating with them at any chance you get.

> How will you measure the success of the marketing campaign(s)? Marketing and advertising shouldn’t be a giant black hole on your budgeting sheet that you dump money into. Thus, the agency should be able to support their campaign recommendations with real data—up-to-date, easy-to-understand (non-jargon heavy) reports on how things are going.

Ask questions on benchmarks, metrics, and analytics they use to measure success. Also, be aware of when you can expect to receive reports on progress made towards these metrics.

If you’re the agency make sure you answer all of the above questions before your client asks them and if you need help with creating terms of service, privacy policy or other legal agreements, check out termsfeed.com.

We could list 20 plus questions you could ask when evaluating a digital advertising agency to run your Facebook ads. But, this is just a guide. In the end, ask away on those that matter most to you. There’s no such thing as a dumb question. Your brand’s success is at stake.

The bottom line is: many small businesses are outsourcing various tasks, like Facebook advertising, to help their business thrive and stay nimble. So, if you’re ready to join forces with a local advertising agency, you’ve got the insight as to how they can help you and what questions to ask during your search.

And, if you’re not, but still need guidance on how to leverage a popular social media platform to generate leads and ultimately profit for years to come…

It’s an ever-evolving course on Facebook ad strategy, supplying small business owners like you with up-to-date expert training, interviews, case studies, content, and more to stay one step ahead of a changing ad network.

Already partnering with an advertising agency to help run your Facebook ads? Or, have a burning question for us on this topic? Let us know in the comments section below.