You did it. You fulfilled your lifelong dream of being a business owner. Your LLC is filed; you have a business AMEX, a logo, and paying customers! Dream come true. But now you are ready to grow this small business of yours. It’s time to take it to the next level, and maybe even pay for advertising, as your much larger competitor already does.
But are you ready? Will it work? What do you need to have in place before you make the plunge?
BEFORE YOU PAY FOR ANYTHING, follow this checklist for readiness:
You have a proven business.
Yes, you have had your mom, grandma, and aunt buy from you. You’ve had some friends and family share and refer you, but have you had someone you do not know pay you yet? Ok, great. But only a few? It’s time to get a large data point of customers, so you are certain this isn’t just a fluke.
It’s hard to say because every business is different, but in my experience, you need to be making, at a minimum, multiple 6 figures a year before paid ads are something you should consider. Don’t let this discourage you, but keep reading because you can learn what you should be doing to get on the path towards paid ads readiness.
Max out every organic channel possible.
- Fully optimized Google Business Profile
- Fully SEO’d website
- Weekly blog posts published
- Posting 3x a week on all social platforms
Do this consistently. It’s like the gym. You don’t get into shape if you go for a week, quit, and then go back the next month. Keep your organic channels running like a well-oiled machine. Before adding paid ads to the mix, make sure this is consistently being done for 3 months.
Don’t have time to do this? Hire us, and we will do it for you!
So now it has been 3 months; you (or an agency) have been handling your organic social, and you are seeing results. Are you ready now for ads?
Your Email & SMS are automated and showing results.
Do you have automations set up to consistently convert a cold audience into your paying customers? They see the email or SMS, click “Buy Now,” and you see sales come through while you are sleeping, picking your kids up from school, or working on other parts of your business? If so, please give yourself a pat on the back. This is a huge part of the ads process that is now complete.
You see, most people don’t buy off an ad these days. They go to your website from the ad, scroll, and then sign up for emails. In the emails or texts, they learn to know, like, and trust you. From there, they make the decision on if you are worth their hard-earned money.
Having this set up before running paid ads is crucial to your success, so if you don’t have it set up, use my guide here on how to set up your flows and what to put in them (you are welcome!).
After you have flows set up, make sure you are emailing at least once a week. Seriously, people signed up for your list for a reason, and if you don’t remind them, they will forget you. Before you even think of turning on an ad, please get consistent about sending at least 1 email a week. If you can’t think of what to send, here is my guide that is 1 year of email campaigns.
Do you know your break-even ROAS, COGS, or how to read your P&L?
If none of these terms are familiar, you are not ready to run ads. Get on the phone with your bookkeeper and start asking questions. When you are paying for ads, you need to know the signals that tell you to add more money or turn the ad off because you are losing money. Depending on your business type, product, service, payroll, and structure, these numbers can vary. You can’t look it up online because these numbers are unique to your business. Go find these numbers out, learn your ad KPIs, and then get back to it! You will be grateful you took the time to better understand your business.
But now you know these numbers! All of these terms make sense to you (yay!), and you know exactly how much you can spend to acquire a customer or re-engage old customers. You are feeling ready for apps, and now you are granted two paths forward.
Read the two paths and which one is right for you HERE
Want to skip this step and hire us? Sign up for a consultation to see if you are a fit here