Cara J McDonald

04/15/2021

*What’s a Pixel?? (and 5 Reasons You Desperately Need One)*

A Facebook pixel is a piece of code installed on your website to track site engagement. Use this new data to form new audiences and reconnect with customers.

Short version: When it comes to targeting leads, it’s a piece of evil genius.

Pixels make our lives an open book to Facebook marketers; they make your quest for targeting ideal clients 100,000,000x easier.

Here are a few of my favorite things pixels can do for coaches/consultants....
With pixels installed at different stages of your funnel/sales prospect’s journey, you can:

1. Analyze your sales funnel. If the conversion rate is lower than you anticipated at any stage, that’s where you can focus your efforts to tweak your funnel.

2. Build website custom audiences for retargeting. Create audiences of people that have taken the desired action (leads, purchases etc) to exclude from retargeting. This saves you money and stops leads and customers from getting annoyed by being hit up for an action they’ve already taken.

3. Track the number of conversions like newsletter signups or purchases, the cost per conversion (CPA) and the conversion rate (CVR).

4. Create lookalike audiences in seconds. These pixel-based lookalikes will dynamically update over time so they will always be relevant when using them in cold traffic campaigns.

5. You can optimize for conversions. Conversions. Conversions. This is your new battle cry... Optimizing for link clicks cost roughly 3 times more per conversion than when optimizing for conversions. Simply put the pixel allows you to get the same results for $1,000 that you’d get by spending $3,000 on ads when not using the pixel.

Are you using your pixel wisely? Do you know how to “season” it and make sure it doesn’t get “contaminated” by bad campaigns? Hit me up with a DM.

04/11/2021

This time last year, I started sort-of doing yoga. I'd hammer out a workout, then do something else, then come back to it. I did it a couple times a week, it was fun-ish.

I sort-of got results.

Because I was only sort-of doing it.

In December I started doing yoga daily and it has changed my morning routine, mental state, and self image—not to mention my abs.

The key? Consistency. That built the habit. And: (annoying yoga person alert): now I can't NOT do it. I love what it has added to my day, my wellbeing, and my identity.

What is one small change in your business you could make consistently? Listening to a daily educational podcast? Weekly FB live video? A regular financial check in? Where can you put consistency to work in your marketing strategy?

04/11/2021

Hot tip: FB's color scheme is blue and white. To get ads noticed, choose images with yellow or orange. Explanation in comments 👇

04/08/2021

Ever been in social media jail—or had your ads account shut down? Tackling sensitive topics in an ad is no joke. Here's how to avoid getting flagged and gracefully write ads that are compliant and reach your ideal client.

04/05/2021

What have you been holding off on because you're "not ready"? Writing your brand story? A FB live? Committing to an ad strategy?

04/05/2021

If you're like me, your instinct is to treat every FB live or video like a minor Hollywood production. 😎

But that's not the secret. Here are some great tips for hooking viewers—no extra effort, good hair, or fancy camera needed.

Discover a four-step system for creating videos people will click on, watch, and share on social media.

04/05/2021

1) Here's a sad tale...I'll often talk to people after they're spent ten of thousands of dollars on coaches, trainings and marketing programs. What most of these "programs" lack is the personal touch—the customized advice that fits YOUR business. OR they are coaching businesses being run by coaches who coach coaches for coaching... who aren't really in the trenches but are selling theories, or wishful thinking about scaling and working from the beach for two hours a week. Right?
😥⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And most of these programs or coaches will get you to waste far too much time on things like website, logos, printing business cards, writing personal letters from the perspective of your ideal customer avatar, etc and spend far too little time on the MONEY MAKING tasks of your business.

✨⠀So many people have said to me: If ONLY I had spent some advertising at the beginning. Even when you don't feel ready. When it's scary. Or funds are tight. BUT but but... Advertising (even a little a day!) is a great way to find out 1) who likes what you're speaking about! 2) What kind of offerings might they like!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

So here's the truth: start advertising way before you think you need to. Start recording FB lives on various topics and promote them!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀�✨⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

All those courses and programs that you think will be the ticket to your success are NOT. They are, my friend, just another fancy distraction from just putting yourself out there.

03/23/2021

This simple perspective shift will instantly help you add clarity, detail, heart and soul to your copy—no matter what kind of writer you are.

03/23/2021

Oh, I know. Everyone has an opinion about this: Post, don't bother. Post some more. Forget about it. Try guest blogging instead. Boost a few more posts. Wonder where the $ goes....

But here's the truth.

People grossly underestimate the importance of regularly posting to your page. People get discouraged and think that no one is noticing nor engaging.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀�

But you know who does notice? Facebook. Yup. In fact, we’ve done some recent experiments and noticed that running ads from pages that are posting/active at least once per day and have LOTS of engagement see their ads costs reduced by as much as 88%. 88%!!!!! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

�So simply do not underestimate just HOW important it is to post to your page daily. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
�What do you post? Post 10 inspirational/engaging posts like memes or entertainment, 4 information posts and 1 direct call to action. The 10X4X1 rule 😊 Watch the magic happen!⠀

03/22/2021

Monday inspiration from a master of the "show, don't tell" school.

03/17/2021

"I'll invest when I know there will be an ROI."

To be blunt? Few things frustrate me as much as hearing this.

And I hear it a lot.

Most people are not afraid to invest if they KNOW THEY WILL GET A RETURN.

Kind of a no-brainer, right?

Wrong.

That's like saying, "I'd be happy to get married if I could be guaranteed divorce, sickness or death won't happen."

Good luck with that.

I know we all understand there are no guarantees in life, but it always strikes me how many people think this is a valid mindset for and approach to advertising...

"I'll invest so long as I know there will be an ROI."

That's like saying, "I'll buy a lotto ticket if I know it's a winner."

And I get that.

It's not their fault.

Many well-meaning entrepreneurs have been led to believe that in order to invest in advertising, we've got to know there's going to be a clear ROI (return on investment).

We see SO MANY people flaunting how they make $10 for every $1 they invest in ads, so it's no surprise we have these totally unrealistic expectations about what's "normal" online.

So can I tell you a secret from someone who's spent a LOT with Facebook(TM) ads?

A guaranteed ROI doesn't exist.

This is never possible.

The people who reap the reward are those brave enough to take the risk.

Do we want it to be a calculated risk? Most definitely!!

Do we want to make sure we have the best people on our teams? No brainer!!

But can any product or service be "guaranteed" to succeed?
Sadly... no.

While I can commend you for being business savvy, even the most seasoned of entrepreneurs know that testing a new offer takes time, effort, investment and time to make tweaks.

Every truly honest business owner knows not every great idea becomes a great business.

And even if you've got a great idea, it can take a few months or more to crack the funnel and make the needed modifications to optimize (and this is always evolving).

If there were such thing as a "guarantee," then the business world be so much simpler and far more people would be in business.

The person who gets the biggest reward is the one brave enough to take the risk.

I can promise you the people with the MOST successful online products did extensive advertising testing, tweaking to their offers, putting in blood, sweat and tears, having faith it would work out and the courage to persist and fund their dreams maybe when it didn't even seem possible.

Above all, they have the mindset that advertising is an investment and even if it doesn't have the results you dreamed of, it's gonna give you a ton of data about what you could be doing better.

Because at the end of the day, that's the real power behind Facebook ads: It's finding out information that's going to help you drill down on your ideal client, streamline your social strategy, improve your lead magnet, re-think your webinar.

It's knowledge. Powerful knowledge.

So forget about ROI for a moment. What kind of knowledge do you need in order to quit your day job? Reach the clients who are dying to work with you? Break 50K months?

Are you willing to make that investment—in your course, your product, your vision, your own ideal life?

03/17/2021

What have you had to unlearn in order to learn something new?