The Waterfall Ad Strategy | 171
Unlock the cascade of success with our 'Waterfall Strategy'! This week, I unravel the strategic sequence of lead generation ads, visibility ads, and sales/retargeting ads that will revolutionize how you grow your business. Join me as we navigate through the complexities of advertising, prioritizing budget allocation, and understanding why the order of ad types is pivotal for sustainable growth. Whether you're running a course business or a membership model, you'll learn why an emphasis on lead generation is crucial and how to nurture your email list into a thriving community of potential clients.
In this episode, we chat about…
✨ What the waterfall strategy is and why it works [00:06]
✨ Lead generation ads [01:07]
✨ Visibility ads [03:22]
✨ Sales/Retargeting ads [07:53]
Episode Transcript:
Okay. So this week we're talking about something that I have always internally to myself, referred to as the waterfall strategy. Not really sure why. Maybe it'll come clear to me while I'm talking through this. But this is how three different types of ads that I recommend people are running work together. And they flow into each other and that's probably where the waterfall analogy comes from.
Each one of them flows into the other one and they work really, really well together. So we're going to talk about those three different types of ads and then why the order that I recommend and exactly how they work together.
So the three types of ads are lead generation ads. Visibility ads and sales or retargeting ads. That's the order that I recommend that they're implemented. That's the order of importance for budget as well. So let's dive in... lead generation is my number one most important ad that I think everybody should be running. And it's where I think 80% pause going back. I don't necessarily think everybody should run, be running lead generation ads, but if you have a course business, a membership or any sort of one to many where you need a lot of leads coming into your business.
I think that you should be running a lead generation ad. That's the best way to grow your warm audience. So that you have a pipeline full of people who are aware of your offer, learning more about your offer and are ready and prime to buy your offer the next time you offer it. So. Lead generation ads are number one.
I recommend 80 to 100 percent of your budget is going towards lead generation ads. These are the ads that they are going to get something free in exchange for their email address to join your email list. It can me a free PDF or a checklist. It can be video trainings. It could be a live webinar or a conference or a summit. Any sort of lead generation where you're growing, your email list is key.
Number one, most important.
This, I've talked about this so many times, but I could never repeat myself too many times. And I say this. Lead generation is going to help build long-term sustainable growth into your business. And buying cycles are getting sold so long right now. 3 6, 9, 12 months. So consistently building your leads and building their email list and having those people coming into the pipeline constantly. So that they're warming up, they're consuming your content.
They're getting to know you getting to trust you. The next time you have a launch, it'll be just a little bit bigger. And then the next time, a little bit bigger. And then the next time, a little bit bigger, because you'll have all of these warmed up people in your circle. Already and you won't be trying to get new people. To buy from you off the bat. You'll be able to really sell to those warm audiences. And so 80% of your budget, even up to a hundred percent should be going towards lead generation.
Step number two in the waterfall once you have your lead generation ads up and running. Step number two is visibility ads. These are ads that are going to some sort of content. Your only goal is to get more eyes on your content, become more visible. They can be the equivalent of a boosted social media post, Facebook or Instagram. You can even just boost a post for these ones. Or you can be driving content to long form, sorry, driving traffic to your long form content, like a podcast episode or a blog.
If you're going to be doing that. Driving it to your website, where there is a pixel, is what I recommend any time run, these types of ads for my own business. I run them to the marketscalegrow.com/171 page. And then because that is pixeled, I do not run it to the link for Apple podcasts.
I don't run it to the Buzzsprout page. I run it to my website. I've already said that because of the pixel, but it also is for people who aren't using Apple specifically, I mean, like 75, 80% of people who listen to my podcasts do listen to it on Apple devices, but that's still a good chunk, 25. Percent of people who aren't and the link that I have when it says, like, listen now on my website. It is a smart link that pops up all of the different listening choices so that whoever clicks on it, isn't just taken to Apple or Spotify.
They're given a whole bunch of different options where they can go listen, which is great. Really really recommend. Mine I think is through Chartable. I don't know if they still offer it. I've had it for like four years at this point. But highly recommend that you find some sort of option like that, where it's one link. But when someone clicks it, it gives them the option that they can go listen on any platform.
So if you want to know what I'm talking about, head to marketscalegrow.com/171. You'll find this episode and then there's the player at the top. And then right under it says, click here to subscribe to market scale, grow. If you click on that, it opens up my Chartable link. Where. It has Apple and Spotify and Google podcasts. And then a whole bunch of other ones that I don't know what they are. So that you can pick whichever one is the best for you. That makes the most sense for you.
And so, yeah. That's why I recommend that you drive their traffic to your website is so that you're not assuming where or how people are listening. And then most, most, most important is to pixel because all of my links. So when you go to marketscalegrow.com/171 or whatever episode it is. It's actually going to redirect you to jenzaiadimartile.com/podcast/episode171. And then what I have is an audience called "Podcast Audience", and anyone who has been to any podcast page in the last 180 days is part of that web, that audience. And so. I'm able to create an audience for my Facebook ads for podcast people.
So when I drive traffic to a podcast episode, I like this one. They would then get into that podcast audience. And then what I do is I set up. The lead generation ads they're already going. But I make sure that the podcast audience is going to start seeing those lead generation ads. So they come into my world to listen to a piece of content. They end up on my website and then they start seeing lead generation ads.
And so these work so, so, so well together because it can be very, very inexpensive, less than 10 cents per click to get somebody onto my podcast page to get them listening to the podcast. And then there would be considered a warm audience. Because they've interacted with me already. Potentially just once, but also possibly multiple times through different pieces of content.
And then once they've interacted with me, they start seeing those lead generation ads. Get on my email list where they start seeing emails and are part of my warmest of all leads. So that is how those two really work together.
The third one is those sales retargeting ads. And these work the best. If you have a trip wire or something that you're selling in your email sequence, so that once somebody has done a trigger action. That shown some sort of interest in what you're selling, then they start seeing those sales ads. The trigger action can be landing on that sales page or the checkout. It could be clicking on a button, whether it's on the thank you page. Or it could be clicking on a button in your email.
There's some sort of action that the person has taken that says, yes, I'm interested in learning more about this offer. Once they've done that action, they would then start seeing ads that remind them of the offer and remind them of the trip wire that they can purchase or remind them of your low cost membership that you're offering, whatever it might be.
I do recommend that this is a low cost offer that you're retargeting. So that it's a bit of an easier buy because these are still not your warmest of all warm leads that have been on your email list for months and months and months. And who are. In love with your brand likely. These are probably people who saw a podcast episode ad clicked on it. Joined your email list. There was a trip wire thank you page. They landed on that. And now they're seeing these sales ads. It's a really great way to just catch some more of the people who didn't buy immediately. Increase those sales.
So that is the order. Lead generation first about 80% of your budget. Then visibility, 10 to 15% of your budget. And then the sales retargeting ads, five to 10% of your budget. From most important to least important order of the ads. Order of the ads and also percentage of your budget.
When people, so just again, to kind of like remind those lead generation ads are always doing. Anyone who engages in your brand through Instagram, Facebook, your long form content should start seeing those ads.
So no matter how they find you, whether it's through that visibility ad that comes next. Or organically, they would start seeing ads immediately after. Then you have the visibility ads, which boost your visibility. It gets you more seen whether that is through boosting posts on Instagram and or Facebook, or if you're creating engagement ads using posts you've already made. Or if you're driving traffic to your long form content, which by the way, that is my personal preference is driving traffic to your long form content. That second, they work so well with those lead generation ads, because once somebody has consumed your content, they're more likely to sign up for your email list. And then the final one is sales retargeting. You obviously need to be selling something and make sure, make sure, make sure that you have some sort of trigger action in place.
It's not just everybody who's on your email list is seeing it. It's people who have taken a specific action to show some sort of interest. Needs to be hell yes offer like yes, yes, yes. I need this and needs to be low cost in my opinion. That's why tripwires are really great and memberships are really great because they are that low cost. They are a great introduction to you and your brand and what you have to offer.
It's a trust builder. Times 10. Offering something that is way, way, way under priced over delivered so that people know that you are amazing and that what you have to offer is really great. So. That's a waterfall strategy. Again, I'm not really sure why I call it the waterfall strategy, but for me, they would just like flow together and build on one another and I've always just imagined a waterfall with it.
So there we are. I hope that this was helpful. If you want help implementing this, reach out, send me a DM. This is what I do with my clients is I build these strategies. We work together to figure out the best lead generation strategy. The. The best content to be boosting. And what kind of offer they should be using as the trip wire or that low cost offer.
And so I would absolutely love to help you with this strategy as well, potentially even implementing your ads because I do love ads. And anyway, I hope that you've had a wonderful time listening and that this was so helpful and that you will be back next Saturday for the next Saturday strategy session.
Each one of them flows into the other one and they work really, really well together. So we're going to talk about those three different types of ads and then why the order that I recommend and exactly how they work together.
So the three types of ads are lead generation ads. Visibility ads and sales or retargeting ads. That's the order that I recommend that they're implemented. That's the order of importance for budget as well. So let's dive in... lead generation is my number one most important ad that I think everybody should be running. And it's where I think 80% pause going back. I don't necessarily think everybody should run, be running lead generation ads, but if you have a course business, a membership or any sort of one to many where you need a lot of leads coming into your business.
I think that you should be running a lead generation ad. That's the best way to grow your warm audience. So that you have a pipeline full of people who are aware of your offer, learning more about your offer and are ready and prime to buy your offer the next time you offer it. So. Lead generation ads are number one.
I recommend 80 to 100 percent of your budget is going towards lead generation ads. These are the ads that they are going to get something free in exchange for their email address to join your email list. It can me a free PDF or a checklist. It can be video trainings. It could be a live webinar or a conference or a summit. Any sort of lead generation where you're growing, your email list is key.
Number one, most important.
This, I've talked about this so many times, but I could never repeat myself too many times. And I say this. Lead generation is going to help build long-term sustainable growth into your business. And buying cycles are getting sold so long right now. 3 6, 9, 12 months. So consistently building your leads and building their email list and having those people coming into the pipeline constantly. So that they're warming up, they're consuming your content.
They're getting to know you getting to trust you. The next time you have a launch, it'll be just a little bit bigger. And then the next time, a little bit bigger. And then the next time, a little bit bigger, because you'll have all of these warmed up people in your circle. Already and you won't be trying to get new people. To buy from you off the bat. You'll be able to really sell to those warm audiences. And so 80% of your budget, even up to a hundred percent should be going towards lead generation.
Step number two in the waterfall once you have your lead generation ads up and running. Step number two is visibility ads. These are ads that are going to some sort of content. Your only goal is to get more eyes on your content, become more visible. They can be the equivalent of a boosted social media post, Facebook or Instagram. You can even just boost a post for these ones. Or you can be driving content to long form, sorry, driving traffic to your long form content, like a podcast episode or a blog.
If you're going to be doing that. Driving it to your website, where there is a pixel, is what I recommend any time run, these types of ads for my own business. I run them to the marketscalegrow.com/171 page. And then because that is pixeled, I do not run it to the link for Apple podcasts.
I don't run it to the Buzzsprout page. I run it to my website. I've already said that because of the pixel, but it also is for people who aren't using Apple specifically, I mean, like 75, 80% of people who listen to my podcasts do listen to it on Apple devices, but that's still a good chunk, 25. Percent of people who aren't and the link that I have when it says, like, listen now on my website. It is a smart link that pops up all of the different listening choices so that whoever clicks on it, isn't just taken to Apple or Spotify.
They're given a whole bunch of different options where they can go listen, which is great. Really really recommend. Mine I think is through Chartable. I don't know if they still offer it. I've had it for like four years at this point. But highly recommend that you find some sort of option like that, where it's one link. But when someone clicks it, it gives them the option that they can go listen on any platform.
So if you want to know what I'm talking about, head to marketscalegrow.com/171. You'll find this episode and then there's the player at the top. And then right under it says, click here to subscribe to market scale, grow. If you click on that, it opens up my Chartable link. Where. It has Apple and Spotify and Google podcasts. And then a whole bunch of other ones that I don't know what they are. So that you can pick whichever one is the best for you. That makes the most sense for you.
And so, yeah. That's why I recommend that you drive their traffic to your website is so that you're not assuming where or how people are listening. And then most, most, most important is to pixel because all of my links. So when you go to marketscalegrow.com/171 or whatever episode it is. It's actually going to redirect you to jenzaiadimartile.com/podcast/episode171. And then what I have is an audience called "Podcast Audience", and anyone who has been to any podcast page in the last 180 days is part of that web, that audience. And so. I'm able to create an audience for my Facebook ads for podcast people.
So when I drive traffic to a podcast episode, I like this one. They would then get into that podcast audience. And then what I do is I set up. The lead generation ads they're already going. But I make sure that the podcast audience is going to start seeing those lead generation ads. So they come into my world to listen to a piece of content. They end up on my website and then they start seeing lead generation ads.
And so these work so, so, so well together because it can be very, very inexpensive, less than 10 cents per click to get somebody onto my podcast page to get them listening to the podcast. And then there would be considered a warm audience. Because they've interacted with me already. Potentially just once, but also possibly multiple times through different pieces of content.
And then once they've interacted with me, they start seeing those lead generation ads. Get on my email list where they start seeing emails and are part of my warmest of all leads. So that is how those two really work together.
The third one is those sales retargeting ads. And these work the best. If you have a trip wire or something that you're selling in your email sequence, so that once somebody has done a trigger action. That shown some sort of interest in what you're selling, then they start seeing those sales ads. The trigger action can be landing on that sales page or the checkout. It could be clicking on a button, whether it's on the thank you page. Or it could be clicking on a button in your email.
There's some sort of action that the person has taken that says, yes, I'm interested in learning more about this offer. Once they've done that action, they would then start seeing ads that remind them of the offer and remind them of the trip wire that they can purchase or remind them of your low cost membership that you're offering, whatever it might be.
I do recommend that this is a low cost offer that you're retargeting. So that it's a bit of an easier buy because these are still not your warmest of all warm leads that have been on your email list for months and months and months. And who are. In love with your brand likely. These are probably people who saw a podcast episode ad clicked on it. Joined your email list. There was a trip wire thank you page. They landed on that. And now they're seeing these sales ads. It's a really great way to just catch some more of the people who didn't buy immediately. Increase those sales.
So that is the order. Lead generation first about 80% of your budget. Then visibility, 10 to 15% of your budget. And then the sales retargeting ads, five to 10% of your budget. From most important to least important order of the ads. Order of the ads and also percentage of your budget.
When people, so just again, to kind of like remind those lead generation ads are always doing. Anyone who engages in your brand through Instagram, Facebook, your long form content should start seeing those ads.
So no matter how they find you, whether it's through that visibility ad that comes next. Or organically, they would start seeing ads immediately after. Then you have the visibility ads, which boost your visibility. It gets you more seen whether that is through boosting posts on Instagram and or Facebook, or if you're creating engagement ads using posts you've already made. Or if you're driving traffic to your long form content, which by the way, that is my personal preference is driving traffic to your long form content. That second, they work so well with those lead generation ads, because once somebody has consumed your content, they're more likely to sign up for your email list. And then the final one is sales retargeting. You obviously need to be selling something and make sure, make sure, make sure that you have some sort of trigger action in place.
It's not just everybody who's on your email list is seeing it. It's people who have taken a specific action to show some sort of interest. Needs to be hell yes offer like yes, yes, yes. I need this and needs to be low cost in my opinion. That's why tripwires are really great and memberships are really great because they are that low cost. They are a great introduction to you and your brand and what you have to offer.
It's a trust builder. Times 10. Offering something that is way, way, way under priced over delivered so that people know that you are amazing and that what you have to offer is really great. So. That's a waterfall strategy. Again, I'm not really sure why I call it the waterfall strategy, but for me, they would just like flow together and build on one another and I've always just imagined a waterfall with it.
So there we are. I hope that this was helpful. If you want help implementing this, reach out, send me a DM. This is what I do with my clients is I build these strategies. We work together to figure out the best lead generation strategy. The. The best content to be boosting. And what kind of offer they should be using as the trip wire or that low cost offer.
And so I would absolutely love to help you with this strategy as well, potentially even implementing your ads because I do love ads. And anyway, I hope that you've had a wonderful time listening and that this was so helpful and that you will be back next Saturday for the next Saturday strategy session.
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