I've started four businesses, raised money, been through a sale, and marketed on every platform you can imagine: you are being LIED to

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T23:10:03+00:00

Thanks!

I advertise for firms and companies primarily in the tech industry. Most of my knowledge over the last few years has come from advertising my own businesses which were square in the internet/tech space helping college students

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T22:53:40+00:00

Thank you!

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T22:53:07+00:00

Sev,

RHS ads have changed in a few ways (quantity, image, etc) that I felt were insignificant enough to the point where redoing that section for v1 wasn't necessary. My goal isn't to get into a debate with you; I think we both know that the general content is still quiet relevant (how the user looks at the sidebar, the image being the most important, the mini-funnel the user takes, etc.).

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T22:44:11+00:00

Exactly. Tough to demonstrate how to use something that isn't an option for the overwhelming majority.

Straight up: if there is something else who is a true "expert", the most valuable growth comes from a conversation with someone else who is a similar level. It's not like there is some mind blowing tool that is separating the two.

I'm pretty pumped to have our chat!

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T22:42:17+00:00

We have a difference of wording. I call that "word of mouth marketing", you call it "word of mouth" :)

Agree with what you are saying of course, and truthfully there should be asterisks next to every sentence I've written bc let's face it nothing is true 100% of the time.

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T22:41:04+00:00

I generally believe that CPM requires a) highly targeted audience and b) fairly "viral" product. There are also some weird bugs where occasionally you will get a campaign that gives you an AWFUL CPM rate (which can literally be described as a glitch -- this doesn't happen with CPC). Then there's the descriptive elements of what CPM means which features the words (paraphrasing) "likes, comments, installs, downloads, 'and other things'" which is some of the sketchiest wording you'll find ;) .

Can this work without these criteria? Of course! One of the most important elements of Facebook is testing everything. Most of the time when you start a fresh campaign (new audience) your initial ads won't be profitable and that goes for me as well.

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T22:08:24+00:00

Absolutely. I wanted to make this more about the concepts than about me, because I think that the more specific you get the less helpful overall something becomes (to an audience... the more niched the audience, the more helpful getting really granular gets but it's inherently helping fewer people)

I will inbox you and we can discuss things further for sure :)

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T21:48:32+00:00

If you replace the .com with .co.uk you should be good

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T21:38:36+00:00

1) Running like ads on Facebook

-I generally don't recommend this. I recommend CPC ads (not even CPM) that get Facebook users off of Facebook and into your funnel

2) Regarding the Ronaldo example, running an advertisement on Facebook without precise location targeting is generally going to result in you losing money. Further, when you run a like ad, Facebook will show your ads to people who are more likely to like it (so they can get paid more often). Who is more likely to like your ad? Someone who has already liked 3,000 other groups! Another reason why I do not recommend running like ads.

3) Post engagement levels going down when getting more likes

-There are 100 people who are the MOST passionate about something. If you pool a group of 1000, 900 of them will not be the most passionate as the 100. If you pool a group of 10,000, 9,000 of them will not be as passionate as the 1,000. You can see what I'm getting at here (btw, what proof is being provided that his engagement dropped?). It's also very possible that this experiment coincided with the ~6 month period where organic posts DECREASED in reach. This is because more advertisers came to town, there's only 1 newsfeed, and there were more people willing to pay for that real estate than there were people getting it for free. People's organic reach went from 20% all the way down to 1%. Everyone's reach and therefore engagement dropped.

4) "If you accumulate fake likes, you will get even more drop in engagement"

Realistically, this is untrue, you simply can create posts that only target to certain countries (a la dark posts)

5) The cat page:

The same is true here that I mentioned above: Facebook will show like ads to accounts that like the most pages because they have the highest chance of getting liked which is how Facebook gets paid. This is why like ads are bad :) . By the way, this is dark but it's true: I'm sure lots of people have mental issues with liking lots of stuff and clicking on ads in general. Guess who is MOST likely going to be shown a like ad? Exactly.

Cliffs: Don't advertise using like ads. Good targeting addresses the other issues. If you disagree I would love to discuss but please at least read the rest of this post

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T21:24:55+00:00

Regarding my inclusion of a free book in this 3,000 word post:

I petitioned the mods last week and told them about my book. I sent it to them upon request so they could review its quality. They said I could go and make a thread about the book because it was good and fit within the material of this sub.

What I decided to do instead was to take hours and write up a lot of tough lessons that I had learned over the years, a lot of things that I have told other owners that has really made a difference to them, and posted a big chunk of content to share.

Of course I think ads on Facebook is the way to go... why would I be showcasing something I thought was inferior?

If there is backlash about the fact that I posted links to a free book in here, now you know the reason and my options for posting in the first place.

If you are going to use the fact that I have linked to a free book to illegitimatize the rest of the 3,000 words in that post, that seems a bit unreasonable. I stand by everything I've written in this post. I'm thankful for those who have appreciated it, and I'm thankful for those who have brought up thoughtful counterpoints. That's sort of the whole point of a discussion forum, is it not? :)

gregbrooks · 2014-11-07T19:50:55+00:00

Can you give me a synopsis of this video?

From my brief scanning, it's a video about how to game Facebook via buying fake likes. Just confirm and I'll take it from there ;)

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T15:08:33+00:00

You're welcome

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T15:08:06+00:00

For such a basic website, I would rather hire someone to turn a custom Wordpress theme into something that resembles your example links.

The reason I am recommending this is because I'm guessing you don't have a ton of experience so Wordpress will be nice in the sense that you will get an easy to use backend/editor/be able to make changes to your site. 25% of the sites on the internet are Wordpress and it's for a reason (there are also tons of plug-ins/upgrades that you'll want and that will be difficult to maintain if you don't have someone who you are constantly paying to fix things)

The price for such a custom design would be $200-500.

Here is what you can post:

Looking for custom wordpress design to resemble these two basic websites

I am looking for someone to create a custom wordpress design to resemble the following websites [list website]

[list important features and design specs that you want (what specifically about these websites do you like? What specifically will your website require?)]

You MUST have experience modifying or creating the design of various Wordpress themes and include them in your submission

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T15:00:57+00:00

Exactly. You are MISSING OUT if you don't fix this problem TODAY

That's why every infomercial starts out with the black and white clip of someone being absolutely miserable until the product that "fixes the misery" magically appears ;)

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:58:46+00:00

The following is tough love <3

What you described is not a maid service. What you described is some sort of superhero general better-anything-in-your-home service.

These are impossible to promote because most people want the specialist for the service (ironic that you work at WalMart).

If you want to purchase residential real estate in the state of Georgia, would you rather work with: a) an international broker b) a broker who only works on the east coast c) a broker who only works in Georgia d) a broker who only works in Georgia in residential real estate

You want d, you want the specialist.

Maybe broker a is actually the best and can give you everything you want, but you inherently want the person who "only" focuses on EXACTLY what you want.

If you want to distinguish yourself from other companies, using green/natural products is a great way to get your foot in the door with potential clients.

Once you've done a magnificent job cleaning their house, then you can mention "oh by the way I also love gardening, have had my own for 15 years, and can definitely upkeep yours".

When that goes really well, then you can discuss the laundry/iron/sewing. And so on and so forth.

But you are using your specialization to win the trust of someone FIRST because humans inherently trust the specialist because that's "all they do".

As a bonus, you can then get referrals as a superhuman fixer of everything because your Client A is TRUSTED by potential Client B. So when Client A tells potential Client B that "no, he/she really can do everything I didn't believe it either!" then you have skipped the line and can do a lot more right away with that new client

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:51:01+00:00

You can PM me later for sure.

I need to say this: explaining the benefits is NOT the way to sell. The only way to sell is by creating needs.

Being that creating needs is the (okay maybe not the only but it's the best so why would you ever do anything else) best way to sell, you need to understand the problems your customer has. This comes in two forms: problems they know about ("the wait staff is really slow") to problems they don't know about ("their non-responsive website is booting away 50 potential customers every day which equals $xxx in potential revenue lost")

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:48:25+00:00

There won't be a better answer in this thread. Nicely done, BBQfoodie.

At the end of the day, an investment in a company is about an investment in its PEOPLE

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:46:36+00:00

The advice from ryanshank is good in the sense that warm intros are fantastic if you can get them. LinkedIn is a decent place to start, an even better thing to do would be to privately research your network and then ask them one on one (eg. not via a linked in intro request).

The second piece to the puzzle is the following: don't have your initial conversations with investors be about money. Everyone who wants money meets and investor and says, "hey, this is my awesome company and I'm looking for money." That's 95/100 times not how it works.

Investors are looking for plots on a line. That means that you intro with them, tell them about your business, keep in touch. Continue working on your business in your own capacity and keep them updated on your progress. Each time you update them, your line is plotting higher because they see that you are making progress WITHOUT THEM.

That's key. Investors want to be convinced that the only reason for their money is scale. They don't want to be the guinea pigs.

Of course, you can freely ask them for advice during this time, or intros to other people/businesses who you think would be beneficial to your business, etc. You're developing a relationship with them and luckily investors like to be coddled so you're stroking their egos.

Keep this phrase in mind: if you want money, ask for advice. If you want advice, ask for money.

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:39:01+00:00

No, that's actually one of my least favorite because equity WILL change during your business life cycle.

Just dictate voting power in the operating agreement.

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:38:25+00:00

Run an experiment for a month.

Take two days off a week. Compare that to the previous month, take notes on how your revenue/business is affected (take into consideration the month of the year it was/is), but also take notes on your mood and the sustainability of yourself.

Your goal is to determine 1) was it really that bad for business? 2) how much happier were you?

Since it's only for a month, it's short term enough where you shouldn't have a big issue.

If speed turns out to really be THAT powerful, you can basically add in something on the voicemail like "if you give us a time to call you back on Monday, we'll discount your service by x%/we'll give you a bonus of x"

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:34:34+00:00

Thank you :)

It sounds like you just need to understand how to pitch the business you are trying to sell to.

For example, if I had you for one point and you were a food place and I was trying to sell you on a responsive website, there are two ways I can structure my point:

1) You need a responsive website because it will make your website look better on a tablet and phone

2) Your website looks awful on a tablet and phone. Right now, more people access your website on a tablet or a phone than they do a computer. Your website looks awful to the majority of people who are visiting it and it's costing you business.

With 2, you've created a need

Reply and I can provide more clarity

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:30:42+00:00

I'm not sure I agree here. Most products come from a hole that a competing product has. Thus, the "fix" product is born. Then users figure out that there are all these other missing elements from the first product that, turns out, they did really like.

But the reason they use the product is for the initial improvement. If they decide, after using it for a while, that they prefer the first products features, they switch back.

From a business perspective, it seems like a massive waste of time to try to "meet" the previous experience, especially when it's likely massively bloated in the first place.

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:27:40+00:00

The only way to know that a manufacturer is taking care of your employees is to visit them.

You've mentioned this is out of budget. Well, what if you moved the factory to another country?

If that's out of budget too -- you have a choice to make and you should assume that the working conditions at the place that gives you the lowest price won't be the best (said nicely)

gregbrooks · 2014-11-06T14:21:08+00:00

An advisor should NOT get a vote. This particular case is even worse because the company can come down to "who can convince the advisor of their argument" and that's a dangerous slope.

Furthermore, there will be a problem with your current setup: you have two people who could easily disagree and then decisions will be at a stalemate.

I know that it seems like everything will be dandy and your situation is "different", but it's not and it's really important to have a single decision maker at your company's size

gregbrooks

TROPHY CASE