5 Things You Must Do Before Running Facebook Lead Gen Ads

Introduction:

I’ve been consulting and working with small businesses for the past 10 years now. From companies who are just starting out, to companies that are doing over $200M annually. I’ve helped set up Facebook lead gen ads for them to help them scale and 5-10x their investment. You can learn more about my background here. But before you start running Meta ads or even think about hiring a lead generation company for your small business, you need to make sure you have the foundations established. 

Here’s what happens when you start running Facebook lead gen ads at scale. Potential customers will see your ads. The serious ones will then go to your website, your Google My Business page, look at your social media pages, look at your services and your reviews. And then, if you look legitimate and credible, they will contact you. 

If you DON'T have these digital marketing strategies established, they’ll click your ad (costing you money) and then they’ll LEAVE and go to your competition. 

So it’s vital to establish your foundations appropriately before dumping a bunch of money into FB ads to get more customers. 

If you build your house on a crumbling foundation, you’re doomed for success. 

These are the 5 crucial foundations you need to have to start getting more leads and customers for your small business.

1. Make Sure You Have a Modern Website That's Optimized for Conversions

Your website is like your digital storefront. Think about walking around town or at the mall. You see “Company A” who has a beautiful storefront. You know exactly what they do. It’s clean, the door is open, and they have signage outside of their store that lets you know all about them. 

Now picture company B. They’ve got cobwebs on the door. Paint chipping off the walls. You don’t feel welcome there. You don’t know exactly what they do. It looks like everything was set up in the 90’s and you don’t know if you can even trust them. 

Which company are you shopping from? 

If your website is not properly established and optimized, you’ll just be spinning your wheels without getting any results (and if you do get results, they will be EXPENSIVE). You will have trouble converting leads into customers and you will continue to feel frustrated. 

Now, you don’t need an "immaculate" website with all the bells and whistles, or something that costs you $10,000. But you do need to have some sort of website established so that you can prove your credibility to potential customers.

Here’s how to optimize your website for lead generation:

• Properly establish your homepage. It should be a general overview about your company. It should lead with some sort of high-level “headline” about who you are and what you do. Don’t make it vague. Your website visitors should know exactly who you are and what you do in the first 2 seconds of visiting your page, and it all starts with a succinct and precise headline. 

• Next, you should go a little bit deeper into your company. Give us more details like,

  • Where are you located

  • What specific services do you offer

  • List any reviews or testimonials

• End your homepage with a call to action - like filling out a form or calling you.

• You should also have additional pages set up for:

  • Specific services

  • Testimonials (very important)

  • Contact Page

  • About you
    

Your website should look fresh, clean, updated for 2024, and give a potential customer all the info they need to know they can TRUST you.

If you’re missing these pieces, you’re going to lose a lot of money when running Meta Ads.

2. Make sure your Social Media Pages are Established and Optimized

When a potential customer is checking out your FB ads, they’ll also likely check your social media pages. Do you look legit? When was the last time you posted?

They’re thinking, “Is this a company I can TRUST?”

How do you get them to trust you on your Facebook page? 

• Make sure your Facebook page is COMPLETELY filled out. It should include all of the same details as your website. 

  • Services you offer

  • About you

  • Where you work (service radius)

  • Testimonials and reviews

  • How to contact you

  You also need to post on a consistent basis. If you don't already have a Facebook Business Page, you can set one up here.

  Most businesses do not need to post every day. Or even every week. But you need to have some sort of posting schedule established. It can be every few weeks, it could be around the holidays, or, it can just be whenever you get a new positive review.

  You don’t need to spend hours out of your week posting to your FB page, but you should have content on your page that shows that you’re an authority in your market and shows that I can trust you. 

3. Establish a Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is process that you follow that takes a cold prospect, who’s never heard of you before, and turns them into a paying customer. 

If you have no process for converting people, you will not make it. 

As a digital marketing agency, we’ve consulted and built sales funnels for countless small businesses, and we’ve boiled it down to a science. 

I believe that simple is always better. Here is a simple sales funnel to use for FB ads for small businesses: 

• Cold prospect sees your FB ad

• They click the ad

• They go to a landing page that “sells” them on you, your company, and your services

• They “opt In” and provide Name, Phone, and Email

• Now we qualify them by asking basic questions about their finances and motivation. (We want to verify that you aren’t wasting your time with poor-quality prospects who will waste your time)

• Then, they can schedule an appointment with you for an initial quote/consult

This process needs to be smooth as butter. If it’s clunky, you will lose money and time. 

4. Set up your CRM to Manage Leads and Customers

Now that you’ve got your sales funnel established, you need to make sure the tech aspects of your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is set up to manage all the leads you’ll be getting. 

Your CRM needs to be linked with your sales funnel and website to direct and manage your leads. 

There needs to be processes for:

• Leads that opt in

• Leads that don’t opt in

• Nurturing sequences for leads that book a meeting with you

• Reminder sequences to make sure leads show up to their consults/quotes

• Re-engagement campaigns to bring back in customers who have bought from you in the past

All of these need to be automated. If you find yourself constantly calling and texting leads manually, you will get burnt out and you’ll NEVER be able to scale. AI and automations will be the key to achieving financial freedom and helping you cash flow this business, without having to exert too much effort. 

5. Prime Your Meta Ads For Lead Generation

This is a CRUCIAL step.

If you’re ready to run FB lead generation ads for your small business, pay close attention if you’ve never spent money on Facebook.

You cannot just start throwing money ad lead gen ads and start expecting results on DAY 1 if you’ve never spent any money there. 

If you’re a new advertiser, you must now help Meta understand that you are a credible and trustworthy advertiser. If you skip this step as a new advertiser, you are almost guaranteed to lose time, money, and get your Facebook page BANNED.

Just like your prospects, Facebook doesn’t know you yet. There’s no way for them to know if you’re just a hungry entrepreneur or a Russian hacker. 

They key is to START SLOW. At least for the first 2-3 weeks.

Start by setting up a small traffic or engagement campaign on a small budget, let’s say $10 daily. Create a nice post about your testimonials and service and put that budget behind it, with the ONLY goal of creating traffic to your page, likes on your page, or engagement (likes/comments) on your post.

Why do this?

First, you’ll show potential customers that once again you’re credible, “oh good, they have likes on their FB page and people like this company’s posts”

But also, it’ll show Facebook ads manager that you’re not a scammer. It’ll require you to pay your bill for the first few weeks, (you’ll get charged $10 every day or $20 every other day). If you pay your bill on time for the first 2-3 weeks, Facebook’s algorithm will show that you’re an advertiser THEY can trust and will help you reach more people.

I know Facebook can be frustrating sometimes, but they’re going to be your best friend in helping you get more customers.

If you do this process exactly to the T, Facebook will know they can trust you, and you’ll be able to do a lot more with your lead generation ads in the future.

Once you’ve crossed this 2-3 week threshold, you’ll feel completely comfortable in starting a full fledged Facebook lead gen campaign and start driving 20-30 new “hot” and “qualified” prospects into your business every month

Meet with your customers and CLOSE them

If you’ve made it this far, you’ll know that you need to have all the foundations set up for your small business before you can start launching Meta ads left and right.

Over the past 10 years, we’ve helped countless businesses profitable build, grow, and scale their small businesses. You can learn more about our Lead Generation Services with Facebook here.

If you need help with ANY part of this process, we’d be happy to help. Feel free to reach out to us and we’ll give you a Free, No obligation consultation on the exact process you should follow to help you find and close new customers. 

See you on the other side,

Mark

Start your Meta Lead Generation checklist:

Remember imperfect action beats inaction, get started and keep going. Reach out if you need assistance.

• Create (or update) your website. Make it clean, modern, and optimized for conversions.

• Create (or update) your Facebook Business Page. Include EVERYTHING on your website

• Post on Facebook on a regular basis

• Set up a Sales Funnel to manage leads that you'll generate with FB ads

• Set up a CRM system to track leads, appointments, and closed prospects.

• Prime your FB page with small, gradual advertisements, before fully stepping up into lead gen ads. "Warm up" your Page

• Reach out to us if you need help with ANY of the above