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Welcome to the Win with Paid Ads podcast for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and really anyone who has anything you want more people to find. Whether you're starting from ground zero or scaling an eight figure business, you are exactly who this podcast was created for. Because you being the best kept secret helps no one. Right? That's why in every episode I'll show you how you can use paid ads to hit your goals 10 times sooner. It's time you finally learn how to win with paid ads. You or someone on your team can do this. I'll show you how to score and be known by more. Let's get started. My goal today is to change your mind about how you're thinking about your cost per lead and how to really get you to focus more on the type of lead and the value of the lead. Okay, so today is all about how you can stop treating your leads the same because not all leads are created equal. And the kind of origination of this story was when I was at my VIP day that I had invested six figures in to be in a room with an entrepreneur who had had a $100 million day. Many of you have heard of him, his name is Alex Hormozi. And I got to sit in a room with him and nine other business owners. They had audited my business and were able to give me feedback and they, I got to watch them give feedback on each of these businesses. Well, I also was sitting there and the guy at the very front of the table, he has an eight figure pest control business. And, and you may have heard me reference this example before, but I really want to dig into it today and really help you think the right way about your cost per lead versus your return on that lead today. And so this guy, he was basically saying that his sales team has to qualify to be able to touch his Google leads. So basically there are leads from Google, there are leads from YouTube, there are leads from Meta, and he was saying Meta is Facebook and Instagram. And he was saying for the leads that come from Facebook and Instagram, you have to close a certain amount to be able to be qualified to be able to touch the Google leads. Why? Because not all leads are created equal. Why? Because the intent behind someone finding you on Google versus finding you on Facebook and Instagram is different. So let me explain. I'm going to dive into just a few different pieces to really help you think about who buyers are on different platforms, how you want to pay for them, and how to really think about the math. Because if your advertising agency is telling you certain numbers, or maybe they're talking to you about engagement and lots of volume, but they're not talking to you about the actual cost per lead or the return on ad spend for that or the quality leads that you're. You're getting. Then you might want to consider actually bringing your paid advertising in house and letting my team actually teach you and or your team and that's actually what we do. So if you are anywhere remotely interested in learning paid advertising really quickly, just as just that reminder to click the link below this video or this podcast or go to paid adscoaching.com challenge and register for our five day win with Paid Ads challenge. Because on the other side of that, not only are you going to learn how you can actually win. And let me caveat, this is not the how to Set Up Ads challenge. To set up ads the right way, it takes way more than five days and way more than what we're able to do. And so what we do in those five days is actually show you the strategy to win and you will we guarantee or you get your money back. You will walk away saying this was exponentially far worth and far beyond even 10 times the value you paid. That's actually our guarantee is that we actually guarantee that you feel like the challenge is worth 10 times what you paid or we give you your money back. So I can guarantee you will get strategies to help you win. And the great news is at the end, if you were like, wait, I do want to learn how to set up ads on all of these platforms. That's exactly what we do. So get your ticket below. I can't wait to see you. We'll get to see you live. It'll be so fun. So let's jump in to why to not treat your leads all the same way. So would you rather have 100 leads at $5 a piece? So a $5 cost per leads or 10 leads that cost you 50 each? So it's the same, right? It's still $500. So if you could spend $500, do you want 100 leads at $5 cost per lead or spend $500 and get 10 leads at $50 each? Most people say, well, I duh, I want leads at $5. Until you actually really think about the conversion math here. So leads are not equal. They are just people in different mindsets and stages of the buyer journey. So there's two really main metrics you can look at. You can look at cost per lead or return on ad spend, which is if you put $1 in how many do you ultimately get out? Now, some of you have a service based business, some are retail business, some online, some in person. This absolutely applies to you because at the end of day someone is going to pay you money somehow. And some of you will optimize towards a cost per lead. But what you really want to optimize to is the quality cost per lead. Like someone who actually has the money to pay you. The smartest entrepreneurs and the business owners I work with, they optimize for the value of the customer, not just the cost for a cheap lead. So here is why some leads are more valuable than others. So think about it. With Google, let's just talk about the platform first. So why some leads are worth more. So with Google, they are high intent, they are searching for solutions and their wallet is in their hand. Like they're like, I am trying to find a chiropractor near me. I am searching for the best podcast to teach ads for business. Oh, it's me. You found me, right? They are actually saying, I have intent. I am searching for this thing. I just don't know who to pick. I know what I want, I just don't know who I want. And even better, sometimes people are searching on Google who they want and they don't know that you exist. And so when they're searching for who they want and you show up instead, they might realize that they actually want you instead, which is actually really cool. That allows you to capitalize on the brand demand that another business, that another entrepreneur, that another company has created. On meta, there is absolutely low, middle and high intent there. But you are interrupting them with what you have. Whereas with Google you are findable for them in the exact moment, whereas meta you are findable for them in the middle of them doing something else. Now both can still be beneficial. I spend six figures, multiple six figures on meta ads every year. Probably our goal is to do a million this year on meta and then even do a million on others as well, including Google, YouTube and beyond. Our thought process is Google is high intent, Meta is middle intent. YouTube can be mixed intent. So like YouTube could be education based. They're like searching for a solution. They're watching somebody else's video about how to do the thing that you do and you could put your video on theirs. It can also be lead nurturing. Like it's also like, hey, I know you've seen me again, here I am again. So YouTube can be mixed intent. Email people tell me all the time, like Ashley, my ads are working but my email's really killing it. I'm like, well, how are you going your email list? We're like, well, I guess we are running ads to the email list, right? It's part of the funnel. It's part of the paid ads machine. It is all working together. You are able to say, I can put $1 in Meta that gets someone on my email list who I nurture, and then they see a retargeting ad and they buy. That all works together. That's why email is such a very big and powerful piece, and it's something that we teach as well inside our programs is how to nurture them via email. What messaging. And actually coming soon is going to be another episode about messaging and the words you say and why they matter so much. Because the words you say is what leads them to pay. And we're going to talk all about that. But email is a really big opportunity because it's so fueled by paid advertising and nurtured to continue to nurture that lead. So intent is what actually determines the value of a person. So where they find you deserve, like, where they're at in their funnel actually is the thing that will depend on how quickly they buy. It's like, where are they at on their intent journey? So let's think about this example. Okay, I had a client and they were like, meta is crushing. We're getting $15 leads, but Google is at 80. So I think we're just gonna pause Google because our meta leads are less than half the price. Like, it's insane. And I was like, what is your conversion rate per channel? And they actually hadn't done the math. They're like, I don't know. But we're definitely closing more on meta. And they were closing more because they were spending more on meta. But when they actually did the math, they realized that. That their conversion rate was less. And even though they were getting less on Google, it's because they were paying less even though the conversion rate was higher. So let's do some basic math. Okay? Let's pretend that you pay $5 per lead, and then you're getting $20 in value per that lead. So for every $5 lead, you're getting a 4 to 1 return. It's $20 in value. Let's pretend that you have a $20 cost per lead, but those leads that cost you $20 generate $200 in revenue. All right, so stick with me with this math. $5 cost per lead. Those $5 leads per person generate $20 in revenue. That's a 4 to 1 return. If you're paying $20 a lead and you're getting $200 in value, that is a 10 to 1 return. That means for every $20, you're getting 200. Well, if you look at the difference between a $5 cost per lead versus a $20 cost per lead, that DOL $5 cost per lead, but the value that's being created is 10 times greater. You're getting $200 per value per lead in revenue versus 20. So do you see how it's like, oh, if I pay four times more, what if they were ten times more valuable? That can often happen. There's simply going to be less people overall that can afford a certain price point than others. And so you being able to say, I'm willing to pay more for more, that is what's possible. And that's the mistake that entrepreneurs make is they're like, this cost per lead is better or worse. I'm like, right, what is their conversion rate and how much revenue is that client actually generating for you? And cherry on top, all of it works together. Sometimes the people that find you on Google, they are retargeted on meta and that's what gets them to buy. And it's like, well, wait, are you giving meta the credit or are you giving Google the credit? Google is how they found you. Meta is how they retargeted. It all works together. So you really want to think about what is the journey that they're going through and actually do the math on the cost per lead per platform. Because if your holistic cost per lead is averaging around $12 and your value is averaging around $100, you are getting a positive return. You are printing money, please, for the love, spend more. So often I see clients and they're like getting a 2 to 1 or a 3 to 1 return. And I'm like, why are you not spending more? And now I will say I am biased, but I really do try to get my clients to be higher than a 2 to 3. And I have clients that have had a 300 to 1 return. I've had people have a 50 to 1 return. I've had People have a 25 to 1 return. Like, I have seen the most outrageous returns. And sometimes when people are like, it's just a two to one, I'm like, okay, you can do better than a two to one. And also be excited about a two to one because that means you're spending 100,000, making 200,000. It means you're spending half A million and getting a million, that's a $500,000 profit. That is a 2 to 1 return. That's huge. So really think about not just what is your return, but what is your scaled return. And yes, there's going to be a point of diminishing returns and you will never know until you actually start scaling to see when is that point. So a lot of times the expensive lead is exponentially better and exponentially more valuable. And so sometimes if you kill the channel that is spending more, you're killing the profit, not the cost. So the lesson for you is really think about the lead economics. What is the actual money and value behind each person and each lead? So another example I wanted to give you, when you're thinking about intent and you're like what is the intent? So. And I have a few analogies to help you. So Google, if you think about the intent pyramid is I am looking for this right now. I am actually wanting this. So I am searching for it legitimately. YouTube and a podcast is, I'm researching like I'm interested. So I want to hear what they have to say because I'm considering this. So I'm in the middle. Meta is. Oh, I was scrolling. That's interesting. I wonder what this is about. Their intent is just different. One is searching, one is considering, one is just finding. Right? All three matter. And that's why we at the paid ads academy, we teach you how to be findable on more than just one platform. I want you to be there on Google, I want you to be there on YouTube, I want you to be there on Meta. I'm not saying one is better than the other. I'm saying there's often going to be people at all three levels intent on every patent forum. But predominantly Google is going to be the one with the highest intent. So here is an example. You're trying to think about where they're at in the journey. So for Google, someone might be typing in hire a paid ads agency. Now I'm biased, but I feel like I also have experience and data to support that. You or someone on your team could do this. You could learn ads on Google, YouTube, Meta, TikTok printers, LinkedIn and beyond. That is true. But if someone is searching hire a paid ads agency or Facebook ads coach for online businesses, those people are not only problem aware, they are solution aware and they are in market searching to find the person or thing they are looking for. And so their intent is high. Now I can't guarantee you convert those Google leads because if you Lead them to a page that doesn't show that you're credible or good and your messaging isn't right, Then they're just going to get there and be like, maybe this isn't my person. It's not the ads. Then it's the other side, which is the. The ability to guide them to convert, which is actually something that we talk about and teach about is like your messaging and your website and how to get that to convert. Because it's all part of your paid ads machine. So if you think about it, those people that are searching Facebook ads coach for online businesses, they are basically standing at the counter saying, I'm ready to purchase. Who can help me? It's like, if someone's like, are you searching for something? And you're like, yes, I'm actually searching for a pair of dark blue jeans that have sequins at the bottom. And they're like, oh, they're just right here. Like, they're literally saying, I'm searching. I showed up, I have my wallet out. I'm looking for this specific thing, right? Versus someone who's just like, I'm browsing. I'm not certain what I want. It's that intent. You can have the same two people walk into the store, but which one do you want to pay more for? The person who already knows exactly what they're looking for, and the person who's like, I don't know, I could be convinced. You know, you've been in a store and you've ended up buying something you didn't plan to buy because you're persuaded to do so, right? You felt like buying. But what do you do about the people who already feel like buying and are raising their hand trying to find you? You be findable for those people on Google, their intent is different. You should be willing to pay more for those people. Can I get an amen? Amen. All right, so let's think about meta, like Facebook and Instagram. So that is like people scrolling dog videos or baby photos. And then your ad pops up and it's like, want to fix your ads? Is like, maybe. But I need context, I need proof, and I need a compelling reason and message that actually changes my brain to get me to go from that's a cute dog video to wait, do I really want to learn paid advertising? Maybe you can actually change belief and mindset. And the way you do that is with your words, which is why we have a messaging episode coming up soon. So I just want you to expect that Google is going to cost More and also convert more once you really figure it out. Now some people, it's true, I've had people get a lead on their first day in their first week and their first month. And I've had people take a little bit of time refining what they're showing up for to make certain that you're showing up for the right person. So Google is a customer walking into your store, whereas Meta is like passing out flyers in the mall like, hey, you might be interested in this. So the next piece I want to talk about, and this is just a straightforward nugget for you, I just wrote it down in my notes, is why is worshiping a CPL such a trap? Well, it's because cheaper leads. This is crazy. Are you ready? Cheaper leads accidentally train the algorithm to find the wrong people. Think about that. The algorithm's like, oh, these people are really cheap. And listen, sometimes you can get leads cheap. I'm gonna be honest. I have clients that are getting quality leads for a tax strategy business for a couple dollars. It's possible. I have people getting quality leads for a nutrition business for a dollar or less. I have someone right now getting leads for their course based business for 20 cents. That is insane. I mean, I'm not surprised at this point just because I know that that's how it can work. And a certain percentage of those people will not be the right people, but a certain percentage of those people will. And so the thing I want you to think about is considering not training the algorithm for cheap people. And here's what I mean. All of you have a business, and so some of you do sell things that are lower in price, and some of you sell things that are higher. And so some of you actually do target an audience that doesn't have to have as abundance of disposable income. But some of you do target people that are at a certain place in their life or you're selling to other businesses. And so you need people that have a certain level of income. You want the algorithm to optimize towards those people. So I'll give you a trick with your ads, with your lead magnet, with everything that you're doing. Create something that is so specific and so valuable that only the right people would buy it. Let me give you a perfect example. I have this nutrition coach and she's like, I am getting leads every day. Oh my gosh, they're so cheap. I was like, what are they downloading? She's like, they're downloading my milkshake recipe, my healthy milkshake. And I'm like, great. So you're getting everybody in America that loves milkshakes, you're not getting everybody in America that loves milkshakes that actually wants to train their body for a fitness program. So how can you create a lead magnet and something that actually would indicate that they're actually trying to achieve the goal and they have the mindset that you want. So what could we do to say, hey, three unique strategies to burn fat that include blah, blah, blah. Like we'd have to do a little bit of research and a little bit of brainstorming and say, how can we create something that has the, that, you know, there's an intent to solve this problem? So I'll give you an example for my business. So one of the things that I've done in the past is I created the 10 messaging mistakes that people make in their ads that's preventing them from converting. That actually did really well. Because that said, I have ads and they're not converting and I want them to convert better, which is giving. I'm spending money on ads, or I'm interested in spending money on ads, which is also giving. I can make, I can change my own ads, which means they might be doing them themselves, which means they might be interested in what I have to offer or they might be interested in telling their agency about the messaging to improve it. So it's almost like I'm pre qualifying by saying, you know, you're doing your ads. Well, the next thing that I could do is say, hey, if you have a six or seven figure business, or seven or eight figure business, now I'm going to get less people that are responding to the seven and eight figure. You might think, well, my cost per lead is high, my click through rates row. Exactly. But you're getting the right quality person because you're pre qualifying with the right messaging for that. And so you have to treat that lead differently. All right, so we talked about the cost per lead and really thinking about that and the reason the algorithm will go after the cheaper lead is because it's going to optimize towards what you tell it to. If you say leads and cost per lead and give it a target, it's just going to say, how can I achieve this target? And the cheapest possible lead versus the highest quality lead. Because the algorithm sometimes is dumb, but it's obedient. Okay? And when I say it's dumb, I mean it's going to just give. It's going to go off the signals that you give it. And so if you tell it, hey, get the cost per lead. It's just going to go. It doesn't know, oh, let me go get a higher quality client for them because they're going to be happy. It's going to say, no, let me go after the person most likely to take XYZ action. So that's why I want you to give it an action by qualifying the person so that the right people are taking those actions. It's like an analogy that I was thinking about. It's like paying a recruiter per resume instead of per hire. Wouldn't you rather pay someone for the actual hire, the actual transaction, the actual one that works versus all the volume. It's like in a sales position, paying for activity versus closings. And there's a, there's absolutely a world where you can pay for both. But train the algorithm for the hire, not the resume, so it won't send you junk. You want the good stuff, right? All right, so last few nuggets for you is measuring your lead quality the smart way. So I just want you to be able to take a minute and I want you to look at your holistic data, like all of it, and say, what is my total spend? What is my total impressions, clicks, cost, click through rate, cost per click, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend. And then what is the value, the average order value or the lifetime value that I'm getting per customer? You should have that month by month, you should have that week over week, but at minimum month by month. And then you should sub break that out by all your different ad platforms that you have so that you're not getting isolated and looking at one platform, but actually able to say for the big picture, for the business, oh, when I spend more, I am getting more, or when I spend more, I'm getting a better quality client. So just really looking at the return on ad spend by channel, but also holistically, because you cannot optimize or fix what you are not measuring. And so it's crazy how often I'm like, well, how is the business doing overall? Ever since the ads, like, can you see the trend? And they're like, well, I don't know, it doesn't feel like it. And then they pull the data and they're like, wow, it's really growing. I'm like, right, because you can't optimize based on a feeling. You've got to optimize based on data. And you can't optimize based on data if you can't read it. So you have to learn how to read it so that you can make decisions that can transform your business. All right, so let's talk about lead qualities building and how you can use different quality leads to build a smarter funnel. So warm traffic is great for retargeting, right? You can retarget on multiple platforms. YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn. Every platform allows you to retarget and get back in front of people that are already familiar with you. Cold traffic, that depends. That can be. You know, honestly, there's no platform where it's only cold or only warm. And anybody that tells you that is wrong, in my opinion. Because there your people are on every single platform and some people are not problem aware or solution aware and many of them are. So it's really just your job to be findable for the people that are searching on all of those different types of platforms. So don't ever. If someone ever says, yeah, it's 100% only this platform for you, no, you can target your audience on all of those platforms and they're all there. You just gotta find the right target audience. Because remember this, your cheapest lead may actually be your least profitable lead and your most expensive lead may fund your entire month. And so really being able to figure out a way that you can find the high quality leads and just stopping thinking about how your goal is a $25 cost per lead. Your goal is to find the best efficiency for the highest value and quality of a lead. So remember, don't judge leads by just the cost. Judge them by their behavior and the value they provide. Don't just follow the platform. Follow the buyer, no matter what platform they're on. Obsess over the return on ad spend, not just the cost per lead be multichannel. So you actually have something to compare to. You're not going to know if your TikTok leads are better than your Facebook leads if you're not running on both. And you might be sitting on a gold mine by not actually seeing what you're doing. Where and what channels are your best quality leads on. So hope that was helpful. I just want you to really consider thinking about your leads differently and being able to like track it and measure it and know for certain where is not just the best cost per lead, but the best quality lead. And the last nugget I have for you because you're probably wondering, well, what should my cost per lead be? What should my return on ad spend be? Answer your question. It's going to really depend on what you sell. And some of you, what you sell, you should change. You should add more to it. You should make it better. You should increase your cart value. If your cart value is three or four dollars, that's not enough. You really need to figure out, how can we increase the cart value and be able to. Because no matter what, people say this all the time. They're like, ashley, my product is only $9. Can I have profitable ads? It really just depends on how good and how needed is that $9 thing. Because no matter what, you can be profitable if it's the right thing. That helps people and there's a demand for it. Some of you like some products. I'm like, there's just. Is there demand for that? And most of the time there is, but sometimes you might have to change it and adjust and pivot and add more to it. But no matter what, if you have a great product and you message it beautifully and you target the right audience and you know that people want it, you can sell it. You just gotta find the right quality lead on the right platform, and that's what we can help you do. So don't forget, join the Win with Paid Ads challenge if you're interested in really bringing paid ads in house so that you can create revenue today and every day versus outsourcing it, where you're kind of cutting into revenue or ignoring it and wasting or like missing out on revenue. So I hope that's helpful. I cannot wait to see you on the next episode. So go advertise your name and make it rain. I'll see you soon.