In this 10 part series, we are exploring simple steps you can take to get your digital house in order – before you start paying for advertising.

Last week in Step 8, we covered ‘How much should I spend on Advertising?’.

Now lets move on to Step 9.
 

After you have done your research you have just begun your work

– Bill Bernbach

Set realistic Advertising expectations

Before starting, its important to set the right expectations with all stakeholders involved.

Assuming nothing else changes (ie. no new Branding/Positioning/Offer), advertising existing offers will simply amplify the results you are already getting.

For example, if your online marketing funnel currently has a 2% Macro-Conversion Rate, advertising won’t improve this rate to 3%, it will simply get you more volume at your current conversion rate.

In fact, the greater your advertising budget, the further up the marketing funnel you will be targeting – its *normal* that the higher your ad spend, the lower the ROI. This is not because your ads aren’t performing better, but because with greater budgets, you’ve likely already converted the bottom of the funnel and are now reaching the middle and top of the funnel.

If this happening and you are concerned – consider introducing middle and top of the funnel microconversions, then work on strategies to progress these potential customers further down the funnel.

Download our Onboarding Template and Calculator to get industry benchmarks to help you plan out your expectations and targets.

Now that you have considered your Advertising Budget, stay tuned next week for the last step in Before you pay for clicks: Part 10.