Ryan Alford [00:00:23] Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of Ad Gab, brought to you by The Radcast. What's up, Josh?

Josh Hill [00:00:29] What's up? 

Ryan Alford [00:00:31] Welcome back. As always, my partner in crime here on Ad Gab. I know there's something we joke around ‘Ad Gab’ is quite fun to say out loud. 

Josh Hill [00:00:43] We're doing a lot of workshopping, a lot of testing. 

Ryan Alford [00:00:47] This is going to be the second part of a two part edition on digital ads and how you think about digital ads and perspective of your purchase funnel. So this would be about conversion ads, correct, Josh? 

Josh Hill [00:01:03] Yes, we already talked about prospecting. That was the introduction. Now, this is the getting to know you part. This is going on on the first and second dates. 

Ryan Alford [00:01:13] As a good analogy, we like the dating analogy, not to be confused with first base, second base, that type of thing. Hey, we're not getting salacious here on Ad Gab. It's a different podcast. But more the getting to know someone. So think about the Match.com version of meeting, relationship and not necessarily what you do within the relationship. But yeah. So we've met people, we started the awareness and now we're ready to start pushing them further down the funnel. 

Josh Hill [00:01:47] So the second kind of part of the ad funnel, as you start with the awareness, the second middle part, is your consideration section. This is where people know your brand name. They're trying to start getting to know what you do and what you can offer them. So that's where they're going to the website and check out your social media pages and stuff. So after they've done that, you really want to show them more information with follow up ads. And those need to be a lot more information heavy than your initial ads. This is where you can get away with videos that show your process, your whole company, showing your company's story, maybe like some behind the scenes stuff. That's where you want to really lead into content marketing with your social pages and also longer video ads, maybe like information, heavy carousels ads and stuff like that. 

Ryan Alford [00:02:33] I love it because, again, we're building. You really think about, you know, the purchase funnel. You've got awareness, consideration, research and then purchase. So they're kind of in that research stage, as we call it. So we want to help them learn more about you. So you're kind of pushing them down the funnel. We've gotten them in the top at awareness. We're retargeting potentially here at this stage, correct? And then we're kind of building that relationship further down to ultimately get them where we want them. 

Josh Hill [00:03:03] And you got to think about your end customer. You’re using this section and these ads to kind of build context around what you can do for them. So this is when, like uses videos, your story you want to show there's two approaches to this. One side is, like I said before, where you're showing yourself. And then the second side is kind of showing context around the end user. That's where you can really lean into testimonials, show some case studies, some ‘how-tos’ like practical steps on how to either have your end customers use their product or how it worked for other people or your service. kind of applies to ecommerce, service, software, stuff like that. It's really just building. So where the customer is I can picture myself using this and fitting in with this company. 

Ryan Alford [00:03:53] I love it. And, it's actually, this is not we're setting it up from a digital ad perspective for people listening either to understand how their agencies are thinking about it and or for how to run it to themselves. But when you think about the content we've been sharing and kind of the order of this, it actually relates to a content strategy for their own website too. Because all of these things play together in this content that you use your hopefully repurposing. But, again, the things you want to do on the home page versus the subcategory pages and the other pages support the same flow a little bit. So, hey, two for one here on Ad Gab. 

Josh Hill [00:04:31] And you should have an integrated approach where your marketing, your social feeds and your website, all of your information hubs are kind of related. Yes they are different channels, they're different like environments, but they should kind of be related. And so you can tell like it is one company, it's not always true or sometimes you'll see a social pattern is super fun. And then it's a website from 2006 and it's like, are these the same companies or is one fake. 

Ryan Alford [00:05:00] But it's still back to that notion of we've built awareness in our first stage of ads or content, and it's driving that consideration further. Why should they buy from you? How it relates to them, everything that you said, but again, we all want every brand we work with, we all want purchase. And we know it. We know clients want that. We know we want ROI on ad spend and all those things. But back to what we originally said, we're having a relationship here. And you don't close the deal. You all get married with the first ad unless we just hit the holy grail of intent and opportunity at the same time, which does happen. It happens that bubble gum in the line in the grocery store for me gets me every time. I think I got a pack in the car and that looks like a really good new flavor. I'm going to have it like it hits me. It works. 

Josh Hill [00:05:55] But the bubblegum there. But it's not it's not the bread and milk you're buying, 

Ryan Alford [00:05:59] But those magazines that I pass, I'm like, it's interesting. That article is interesting. And I pass them four times with that fifth time it might get me because I keep seeing them again. I don't need that… you got me. So yeah, we're building down that funnel and then we're in the final stage here with conversion, right? 

Josh Hill [00:06:18] Yeah. So this is where you're retargeting people. This is like going to be your smallest target, your awareness is your biggest. Then you have the consideration that you're building down to this and you want the top parts to be big. So you're feeding in more people. But conversions, you want to be excluding people who've never seen the other stuff. You're excluding the people who haven't been to the website. You're targeting people who have been to the site a few times, engage with social media, engage with your products, your emails. This is when you, like, really lean in and just straight up ask for their conversion, like, ‘hey, let's set up a meeting.’ ‘Let's like let's get you checked out on this product.’ ‘Let's get you started here.’ This is when you really want to lean into offers and you want to think in their customer perspective of what would be holding them back from getting that first step. And how can you make it easier? Like, can you set the meeting up for them? Can you get them a discount, get them free shipping, stuff like that? It all helps. 

Ryan Alford [00:07:19] I love that. And, this is back to like thinking about this rationally. A lot of brands, a lot of people, want to leave with the offer first. But it's like, again, unless you're in a search like environment or something that should 've raised with high intent. The reality is you've got to demonstrate the Y first who you are, why they need it. And then in all four matters to them. Thirty percent or something. I need thirty percent off of something I don't plan to buy. Which means nothing. So again we're building down that funnel in, in building that relationship, building that need and setting up the practical function of what they're going to get from you. 

Josh Hill [00:08:03] And I think now is an important time to kind of reiterate with especially our Ecommerce, people like, offers are expected. They're not. It's not a nice thing now to have free shipping and 10 percent off your first order. That's like, hey, yeah. Like everyone does this like it's not like, oh, we do a lot. And I think it's really important. Like if you're going to differentiate yourself, you need to have something really compelling now. 

Ryan Alford [00:08:30] And that's back to free gift or added value. Just something. I think if there's anything that's getting stale and marketing right now, it's the same fifteen, twenty percent off. And yes, people, if they definitely are your customer, they're already buying anyway, they appreciate it and it's great and it can drive conversion. But I think thinking creatively with your offers can go a long way to driving more sales and more conversions. 

Josh Hill [00:08:58] And I think a lot of people would be really surprised with how little people will, like, take advantage of those. You see it all the time, especially like mashers. Companies are insane right now where it's free shipping will give you 20 percent off and then you can return a year later if you don't like it, like we'll pay for the shipping and everything it's like and then you look at you'll look at the T-shirt and they're like, you got to pay twenty dollars to return it if you want. It's like, what's happening? 

Ryan Alford [00:09:24] MyPillow.com watching a lot of the news channels and getting the various points of views between CNN and Fox. Fox News is littered with MyPillow.com sheets and everything else. Yeah, and he's the master of this. It's like offer-offer -- two extra towels and a new sheet and or something. And it's like it drives but it drives conversion. I know. 

Josh Hill [00:09:50] And like this is also to remember, like, a lot of people are like they get back into the oh well, ‘we don't want to be the discount brand like J.Crew was’ or whatever. Like no, this is not your prospecting campaign. These are the people who have been to your site, your social pages, your website, your interacted with everything. These are the, the smallest portion of your audience that is high interest and like, keep raising their hand, but they haven't made that step yet. 

Ryan Alford [00:10:16] Interestingly enough José Bank used to be always on sale, everything was always buy one, get three free or half price off this. But I'll tell you what, who’s coming in now because I'm on their newsletter, which is Banana Republic. It's like 50 percent off. If it's not 40 percent off, I'm not. I'm getting conditioned to think it's not a good deal. And it's like I feel like everything's half price at Banana Republic now. 

Josh Hill [00:10:38] I mean, that's exactly what happened at J.Crew and why they're bankrupt right now is they use their email marketing for prospecting. They used sales for the prospecting. Yeah. And so it just kind of ruined everything. 

Ryan Alford [00:10:51] So let's recap, Josh, all I know we're in the second part here, but maybe let's just recap each of these stages briefly. 

Josh Hill [00:11:00] So the first is interaction, this is the introduction, really simple, really easy to digest something that you can pick up and move on. So you want to have your prospecting and just be very generic appeals to the largest portion of your audience; who you are, what brand you are in on a thousand foot level, what you do. After they see that or after they've been to the website once or senior social pages, stuff like that. That's when you go with the consideration ads that give more context, maybe your brand history. Maybe it's like a ‘how to’ , maybe a case study, stuff like that. That's when you're leading into your information hubs like email, social and website and also the follow up ads. And then once you get down to the bottom of the conversion, these are the people who have repeatedly come back and interacted with your content a lot, but they still haven't purchased. And that's when you really want to target with your compelling offers. You want to help them out, get them over the edge, like set up a consultation. If they need more help, set a phone call, send them an email, a personal one. This is going to be a small audience compared to the rest. Like that's when you really want to lean into your tools, like email, form fills Calendly set up, stuff like that's when you really want to go in for the kill, I guess. 

Ryan Alford [00:12:22] Yeah, I love it. Well, this is Ryan Alford and I appreciate Josh coming on. And Josh, I'm excited because we're going to be doing our 2021 trends come up here in the next 7-10 days. So that will probably be the next in the line of content. Any final words? 

Josh Hill [00:12:41] Yeah, I mean, if you guys have any questions or any feedback or if you want to ask some questions about 2021 trends, you can find us on our social media pages. Find us on LinkedIn, we're on Instagram. 

Ryan Alford [00:12:54] Cool, enjoyed having you on again, and I look forward to the next one. Sounds great. All right, guys, we'll see you next time on Ad Gab here provided by the Radcast 

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