Why "Spray And Pray" ("Boost") Is a Waste Ad Budget… And What To Do Instead

For many small businesses, in some cases even big ones, marketing is an expense.

And I have to admit…

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far away from here, I used to open up Facebook or Instagram, click “Boost”, and hope that the stars align themselves so money falls into my pockets.

And it was this way for wayyyyyy longer than I would’ve liked it to be.

I was literally spraying and praying my marketing budget away.

Which is what I thought everyone did.

And those who did make money from ads?

“They are lucky”
"I'm shadow banned"
“The algorithm doesn’t like me!”

Because of this “victim” mindset I was left...

Without any bookings or sales whatsoever. Therefore I had nothing to do except...

...Scroll through Youtube.

Because of that, I stumbled across some video explaining "How to optimize your ads."

And the first thing the dude does is open some "unheard" section called “Meta Ads Manager”.

Which made me realize there are 100s of settings I wasn’t even using.

Therefore…

I decided to analyze some successful ads and marketing to find out their settings.

Because I, sure as hell, wasn't going through all of them by myself.

What I found out is that…

Marketing is not random at all.

That... Good marketing is never achieved by “Boosting”.

What all the successful ads had nailed down to perfection was 3 simple elements.

Another nice thing about these elements was that…

No matter the market, location, or language, they made any ad perform better than it was before applying them.

And I guarantee you that even if teleported to another planet, in another galaxy....

...Implementing these elements would make even alien ads better.

You’d probably even become their worshipping figure because of them.

Anywayyy... The 3 elements are:

A clear, powerful, persuasive, and compelling message.
Your target audience - Who you're selling to.
The medium - Where you're reaching the target audience.

Now… There’s a lot to talk about each of these 3 elements. We can get super in-depth and complicated with it. But that’s going to take a lot more time than you have and it most likely won’t even fit in 1 article.

So... Let me roughly go over the 3, so you can move on from the theoretical into the practical side of things and make some money from your ads:

The Message:

This isn’t 1784 when people used to plow fields for days and saw like 1 ad a month.

Today…

We’re BOMBARDED with new information.

DAILY.

100s of ads a day and an overabundance of useless information from social media, TV, billboards, from everywhere.

It’s also the reason why you can’t be using clichés.

"We're cheap" or "We're the best". Yeeeaaaah... Okkkk... Haven't heard those anywhere else.

Instead...

Your message needs to cut through all the bs and clutter. It NEEDS to excite your audience.

While being...

Clear enough for a fifth grader to understand and compelling enough to make them act.

Which brings us to element #2.

Target Audience:

Identify who your message is for so, you can gear it towards them.

That way, you’ll be able to tailor your message so it has the highest chance of converting.

Focus your efforts on a specific group rather than trying to appeal to everyone. Something that is of interest to me, might be of no interest to you.

You can’t talk to me about skateboarding.

I’ll walk away, I’m not one bit interested in skateboarding.

If you sell blow torches, you don’t target women. Women don’t care about blow torches.

And yes… There will be an exception or two.

But you need to steer your marketing towards the group that is most likely to buy.

And of course...

Test a couple of different audiences to get your target market nailed down.

"But when you know your audience, how do you reach them?"

"How do you test which audience is better?"

That’s where element #3 comes in play.

Medium:

When you have a rough idea of who you’re targeting you need to think about how you’ll reach them.

In the past, it was super hard to reach your audience. You had to buy lists of addresses so you could send them MAIL. A physical letter.

Today… A whole lot easier.

Especially for retargeting and audience segmentation, but don’t worry about that for now.

First, determine the best way to reach your audience.

Use social media, google, and other platforms that allow precise targeting.

For some businesses (like 1%) social media might not work.

So, most likely, it'll be more costly.

That’s when creative problem-solving comes into play. Think of the best solution possible.

Look at local scales (cities, regions), specific interests they have, what makes them stop scrolling, etc.

And that's it.

That’s all you need to make a profitable ad.

Here’s a quick exercise, if you’re serious about your ads:

Come up with potential businesses (can be your business).
Develop a clear and compelling message.
Identify the target market.
Determine the best way to reach this audience.

Example:

Business: Michelin Star Restaurant
Message: "Treat your loved one to a truly world-class, romantic fine dining experience at the Aurora Jutan Michelin restaurant."
Target Audience: Couples between 35 and 55 with disposable income, within a 50 km radius.
Medium: Instagram and Facebook ads targeting the specified demographic and location.

Talk soon,

Kiril.

P.S. If you need help with your marketing or…

If you run a company that's doing revenue and you want it to run better...

We might be a good match.

You can always fill out this form (no obligation, no sales calls, no paying):

www.kirilcashflow.com/free-marketing-analysis

And if it seems like I’d be able to help you, I’ll get back to you.