When I see people advertising on facebook, generally my skin starts to crawl. Their usual formula is facebook advertisement offering something that promises me maximum returns with no effort (the false marketing) and then puts me into a funnel where they try and sell me hard onto whatever they are offering. It really does make me want to vomit.
Until recently I couldn’t quite work out why. I have been a consultant since 2003 so I know all of the games that people play to ‘sell you stuff’, yet I couldn’t put my finger on why this form of marketing repelled me so much.
Then it hit me.
I am a member of an online mastermind group with fellow consultants and coaches and experts from all around the world. There was a discussion about how to ‘warm prospects up’ quickly once they sign up for your free tool from a facebook advertisement. People in the group realised that rather than go straight for the sell, they had to spend some time building a relationship with this complete stranger that has just clicked on their advertisement before they can successfully sell to them.
And here is the point and why facebook marketing just does not sit well with me.
I am a traditional ‘attraction marketing’ man. I want someone to find me at the precise moment in time that they are looking for my services. I want them to have reached the point that they know that they need some help to generate a steady stream of new clients from a marketing consultant. This is the first key difference. They head to Google and type in “marketing consultant” or “how do I grow my consultancy business” and they find my website. If they like what I say then they can download my free resource and discover more about the methods of growing a consultancy business that I teach.
The two monumental differences between this approach and false facebook marketing are these:
1. They have reached the point where they have realised that they need some help themselves without any external prompting from me. I haven’t stalked them on facebook and whacked them around their head with my advertisement promising them the earth when they don’t even realise yet that they have a problem or a scratch that needs itching; and
2. They decide to download my free guide having read some of the content on my website and liking what I say. They don’t just ‘give in’ to my video promising them the world but that they must take action right now or this chance will be gone forever and another so called expert (not them) will be making a billion pounds a month by spending 3 seconds a week working on their business.
These two points are crucial. It is precisely for this reason that the people selling the ‘false facebook marketing funnel way’ have to spend so much time and money warming up their prospects before they will even think about buying their services. They weren’t ready to buy and they didn’t go looking for help. The poor people were just watching a soppy cat or dog video when a facebook advertisement popped up in front of them, vaguely interested them and then they made the fatal mistake of clicking on it. One video, 200 emails later, £100 spent on them on following them around the internet with remarketing and finally this poor consultant has had enough and clicks unsubscribe. The facebook marketer has failed again. No one has gained from the relationship. The consultant or expert that clicked on the advertisement can’t even remember how they ended up on their email marketing list because they didn’t go searching for the help.
So, there you have it. This is why I hate faceboook, funnels and false marketing for consultants. Be genuine. Find people when they are looking for you. Show them that you know what you are talking about THEN offer themselves something free for them to discover more about you.
On that note, if you like what I say and you want to know how to build your expert business, whether you are a specialist consultant or coach in any industry using attraction marketing so that you attract the right prospects at exactly the right time, click the button below:
