Like it or not, Facebook is a necessary evil in the marketing world.
Whether you use it for pushing your products…
Networking your way to the top…
Or finding the solution to your latest funnel conundrum…
It has its place.
And if you wade through the sludge long enough, you’ll even find groups providing REAL value.
But this isn’t an article listing the best places to find marketing gold on Facebook.
(Chances are you’ve already found them)
Instead, it’s about a trend I’m sure you’ve seen over the last few years.
The BIG QUESTION posts!
In fact, I want to talk about one post in particular. ⬇️
I won’t reveal his name as it’s not important.
But it was written by a friend of LeadsHook in a popular copywriting FB group.
Now, you might be thinking:
“That’s a valid question.”
Or…
More learning towards:
“That’s classic clickbait.”
Well, whichever side of the fence you’re on, this question is not as simple to answer as it appears.
I’d suggest you continue reading as I think you will enjoy going down this rabbit hole.
Before we go on, let me ask you first…
“THE most powerful WORD in marketing is..?”
What’s your knee-jerk answer?
‘Sale’
‘Guarantee’
‘You’
Well, the author of the post’s answer was:
“ASK…You have to ask your market what they want.”
This is a GOOD answer, but it doesn’t go far enough…
At LeadsHook, this was our CEO, Nik Thakorlals answer:
“Asking is incomplete and sometimes takes us way off track.
The lion in the wild does not dance, and it differs from the dancing lion at a circus.
The circus lion has forgotten or never learned to hunt.
In the same way, the lion from the wild is more likely to eat the ringmaster than dance in the circus…
They look the same, but if we ‘asked’ them, we’d get two different answers.
The only way to bypass some of these big issues we face when doing market research (not possible to get rid of all) is to split-test various positionings / appeals.
That way, we can see WHO is buying what and then ASK to see if we can learn something.
We’re not saying don’t ask…
But it’s not the remedy for marketing success.
Why not just ask?
There are 6 main reasons (And probably some more if you look hard enough)
✅ Researcher Bias (A Big one)
✅ Sampling Error
✅ Self-Selection Bias (Especially Online) E.g. Audience that FB likes vs FB conversions.
✅ Response Bias
✅ Non-Response bias
✅ Confirmation Bias
Discover More Types of Biases Here.
All of these can be minimized if a big budget exists.
Otherwise, it’s just too expensive to do good valid research.
We find it more insightful quickly check out old promos, see comments and reviews on Amazon, Reddit, blogs, etc.
The language and emotional intensity are much more authentic when someone is angry or when a person is delighted.
Then come up with 2-5 big ideas/positioning to test and shove into the marketplace.
Get a bloody nose and reiterate.”
And having reviewed over 3000 funnels, and counting…Nik knows what he’s talking about.
So, How Does Relate To Your Business?
Glad you asked 😉
Peter Drucker is quoted to have said:
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
For us, drilling down on market segmentation, customer profiles, or customer avatars is the most strategic activity in any business.
But, whatever you call it, ultimately, it is a profile of the person (or group of people) who is most likely to benefit from your products and services.
And yes, there are attempts at market segmentation…
But most are overly simplified and thus become useless.
(Only considering data like age, gender and geography are just not robust enough to be useful.)
TRUE market segmentation is also about understanding the emotional needs of your market…
Or their proverbial ‘Hot-Buttons.’ 🔥
Here’s an example:
A few popular angles to sell a Fat loss product are:
- Get a hard attractive body
- Attract an ideal partner
- Get a new lease on life and grow old gracefully without pain and suffering
However, each of these appeals may have similar demographic and geographic profiles.
It’s not that easy to differentiate them.
Of course, we can pick up FB audience insights also to show us different interests. But are these variances enough?
Not really.
What’s the real problem here?
Each of these appeals has a totally different emotional hot button, and the tone, imagery, and sales process will sometimes be different.
How do you find these appeals and positioning?
Simple…
If you’re using LeadsHook…
The basic idea is to cast wide and then track who converts…
Then use Reverse Market Research and Pivot Tables on your Decision Tree to see who is giving you recurring revenue, and learn about your profitable market segments.
The common issue is most people split-test horizontally.
Split-test Opt-in page A vs Opt-in page B.
And then sales page X vs Y
The problem with horizontal split-testing is the “hidden” assumption that optimization at each step gives the same outcome as optimization at the lifetime value level.
They are NOT the same.
I’ve seen funnels where a market segment does not convert well with any opt-in page but has the highest lifetime value.
In most badly run tests, this group of people will never be discovered because their page will be deemed a failure and removed…
Even though they’re the ideal customer.
This is a sure-fire way to miss your source of highest profits.
This can be avoided, of course.
By sharpening your Market Segmentation, and making 100% sure your campaign’s technical side is ‘fixed up’ so your Decision Trees are delivering you all the relevant data.
This will side step the “Just Ask” method and any biases that comes with it.
Instead you’ll have REAL data on your market.
Meaning you won’t miss any groups who’ll scale your business…And you’ll stop pumping wasted Ad dollars into the groups who won’t.
This is why the ‘Fix It Up’ Tech Overhaul exists…
For those who know data is the key to finding those ‘hidden’ profitable segments.
And those who find the technical mumbo jumbo of marketing makes them want to punch a hole in their laptop.
And those experiencing issues like these…
🛑 Data or leads not transferring?
🛑 Not tracking much?
🛑 Pixels not firing or firing multiple times?
🛑 Are custom fields not showing up?
🛑 Integrations seem to be miles apart?
🛑 Decision trees are just not embedding?
If you’re struggling with the technical aspects of your campaign and want it taken care of, so your Decision Tree does what it does best…
…Vacuuming up data, and supplying you with market insights your competition hasn’t even dreamt of.