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Welcome to the Marketing Matters podcast for small business owners, entrepreneurs and really anyone who has anything that you want more people to find. Because you being the best kept secret helps no one, right? And that's because you can be so great at what you do. But if you aren't great at advertising what you do, then no one can find you. Right? That's why in every single episode I'm going to 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. I'll show you how to score and be known by more. Let's get started. People ask me all the time and they say should I advertise my product differently than a service based business advertises their product or service? And it's a really fair question because what you probably really care about is are you doing the right thing for your business to make sure that your ads are performing well. And I respect that so much. I also want to make sure that any dollar I spend is done the right way. And so I don't know how long it's been since I shared and especially if you're new on the podcast or YouTube channel, welcome. I have done advertising all day for over a decade and actually some of my larger clients were a product based business, believe it or not. And so a few things I'll share with you. I worked with Dollar Tree and if you didn't know, Dollar Tree sells all their products online but in bulk. So we had a lot of nonprofit organizations or crafters or big corporate companies come and buy bulk Dollar Tree items because There are these Dollar Tree $1 Chargers that we used to sell online. And so that Dollar Tree is a product based business. I also worked with Rockport Shoes, so they're a shoe company based in Boston. And I'll never forget flying into Boston and preparing for their Black Friday, which we absolutely killed it on and really performed well for their CMO and for that year for their Black Friday ads compared to the previous year. And so let's say we've got Dollar Tree, we've got Rockport Shoes, I worked with some makeup brands, I worked with a lingerie company, so. So I am very familiar with selling product based businesses. And what's really cool is the strategy is actually not that different. And I'm going to explain to you why that's the case and what I am going to share today is kind of the differences between advertising a product based business versus a service based business and where honestly how consumers consider Trust. Because I imagine that when you buy a dress online versus when you decide to hire a, a handyman or a plumber or a chiropractor or someone that delivers an actual service to you, there's a little bit more of like this trust factor, right? Like yes, of course we want to make sure that we're plugging in our information on a website that's legit. But we do typically have more trust for a product based business over a service based business. So that plays a role. And I'm also going to share a few other little tidbits like that just to help you think about how do you advertise a product based business differently than a service based business? Before I do that, I want to share with you, there are some clients and some wins I'm going to share. And before I share them those wins, I want to invite you to also win in the Win with Paid Ads challenge. So when you click the link below this podcast or YouTube video, you'll get to join for five days of live coaching from an expert to answer your advertising strategy questions. And we break down in the Win with Paid Ads challenge. It's five days for a reason. Because day one is messaging, which is what you say. Day two is setting, which is where you say it. Day three is targeting, which is who you say it to. Day four is testing, which is how you improve your ads. And day five is scaling and profiting. And so you get a training every day. And then before or after you get the opportunity to ask your question and learn from the other six, seven and even eight figure entrepreneurs asking their questions for their business. And you can learn so much, which I imagine would be really helpful for you, right? So click the link below, get your ticket to the challenge and I cannot wait to meet you there very, very soon. So let's jump into some clients and share their wins from winning with paid ads. And the first one is actually a product. So I'm going to give you two product based businesses because this is really for my product based business owners who might have hesitation on can I learn ads? Is the strategy still the same? So this is from a client of mine, we actually worked at oh Charlie's together. So I would go clean toilets and then wash my hands, come back, be at the hostess station and we would close that restaurant down. And she was a waitress, so she was actually cooler than I was. I was cleaning toilets, she was getting to serve tables. You know, it's funny, I actually wanted to be a waitress so badly because I like love People. And I was like, I want to just take orders and be able to, like, deliver food and all of this. And I remember the manager was like, yeah, we're just going to keep you up front. And I asked three times and they were like, nope, you're going to. Because I will tell you, I'm very good at organizing. So, like, the time management of someone coming in and seating each, you know, waiter or waitress based on their availability, like, it was really fun. The cleaning toilets part wasn't fun because that was part of my checklist that you had to do. But long story short, Megan and I actually met and our lives were so different. And what's really cool is it's almost like our lives prior to paid advertising and being business owners versus actually owning a business and scaling a company. And so Megan owns this company called Wolf and Wean, and it's a wiener dog company who sells like online products for dogs. And yes, if. Even if your dog is not a wiener dog, there are still products for you. She has different sizes, but it was born out of this company for wiener dogs. And before she met, she was actually running a little bit of ads. And I actually have this screenshot because she actually joined my program and gosh, I think we were two months in when she sent me this because it was January. Yeah, I believe she joined in November. So this is January. It's actually the end of January. So it says this is a Facebook messenger. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see this is the screenshot. So I'll have it here for you. So this is from Megan. She said, just thought I would share some fun stats with you. She says I'm filling out some of my end of month data. She said, Number one, my revenue for January 2025 was 50% of my entire annual revenue from 2024. Number two, my email list has nearly doubled in eight weeks since starting ads, from 4,000 to over 7,000. She says my tech subscribers have doubled. And number four, she said my Facebook account has surpassed 11,000 followers, adding over 3,000, all because of ads and you. And I'm at this point, and I've said this once, I'll say it a million times, it makes my heart so happy to get these messages. So I love when my clients just send me a message on Instagram or Facebook or email it or Facebook Messenger. I don't get tired of it. So if you are one of those people and you're still getting results, I love when someone sends me an update from a year ago and they're like, hey, I just want to let you know it's going really well. I love that so much. It makes my heart so happy. So keep em coming. But I'm not surprised now because it's not like the method doesn't work because it's me. The method works because it is a method. And a method is something that is developed through time and skill and failing to create a path for you to move forward with the least amount of resistance. And so when I get messages like this, it's so special. But this is actually from the same exact strategy that I would have given a service based business owner in the sense that awareness always comes first. So the first thing we do with Megan's ads is we get new people to find her every single day. Right? If you feel like you're screaming into a void and it's the same seven people commenting on your post, there's another world out there that exists and it's called paid advertising. It's where you can make certain that you get in front of new people and actually exclude people that are familiar with you. The second thing is we drove into the nurture phase which is consideration, which is if you think of a funnel being wide, like the top is the people that don't know you, that's the largest. And then the middle phase is when they're in the consideration phase. And that's where you're, you're still reminding them of what you have to offer consistently. And then there's the bottom phase of the funnel which is conversion where you're asking for the sale, you're saying, hey, let's work together. And so that is the same strategy regardless of whether you have a product based business or a service based business. It's let's bring in new people, let's share with them why you're different, let's guide them into a decision to move forward and buy. And so that was just one example. There was another product based business owner business that I wanted to share. Before I do, I want to share a little bit of the differences between product and service based. So I will tell you it varies based on the product or service, right? There's not a one size fits all with advertising, but products can convert quicker. Like for a physical product, if you are looking for a new face oil and you find this face oil and it like looks really cool, great reviews. Like people will just add it to their cart like pretty quickly. They don't have to read about the founder, do a whole deep dive. Sometimes people do Everybody buys differently but, but on average people are more likely to buy a product a little bit quicker because with the price point, like under a certain price point a purchase can be impulsive and decisions can be made real quickly because there's less risk involved with a product. Especially because often products have a refund option or a guarantee, whereas many services don't. And so that is something that stands out with product base is they can typically convert faster. And what that means is your ad to sale time is typically shortened, but it also means your messaging has to be clear and allow you to stand out from every other person that has the same product that you do too. The second thing is services like I mentioned earlier typically do require a little bit more trust, especially a high ticket service because the sales cycle is a little bit longer, it's more personal, requires more touch points and so oftentimes you're building a little bit more of a multi step journey when you're advertising for a service based business versus a product based business. And the one thing that also is common between both a product based business and a service based business is third party validation and trust. I don't care who you are or what you sell, other people are not going to buy your thing until other people have bought your thing and were very happy about it. They whipped out their credit card and they were like I'm glad I did. And they said that and the best thing that you can do is have referrals. And so with a service based business there's typically more of those steps in that journey. And this is such a minor logistical difference. But in your actual ad copy, an ad copy is the words in your ad like what you actually say, whether it's in the words in the video or the words in a caption. But in your ad copy the difference for a product based business might be shop now or buy now versus a service might be book now, download now, learn more, get started, something like that. So those are a few nuances I wanted to share with you this other example of a client that I have and she sent me a screenshot and it's her 36 to 1 return on her ads from Black Friday. This is Lauren Bagmeat. She is the owner of Homebound Apparel and she opened one store and she's had this one store for a couple of years but then she wanted to open a second location because after working together she was able to generate over six figures in revenue for her like online shopify store and create some incredible revenue there. And, and so she was able to have her physical location, have her Shopify store kill it, and then open her second location. And what's so cool. And if you've heard me share this story on the podcast before, you'll remember how jazzed it gets me. And it's that the coolest thing about Lauren because of her ads is that when she opened the second store location, that second store this January had the exact same revenue as her other store did in the first month. Could you imagine starting a business from scratch and knowing because you know how to advertise, you're not risking paying all this for the building, the staff and the products and the technology and like hoping people buy. That would create so much anxiety. And it's so fun when you actually know, like, she could open with confidence because store number one was doing well, online store is doing well and she knew there was opportunity and she didn't have to wait to move on to it because of how well her ads are performing. You know, it reminds me of a story I actually got just this week. It was so special. I'll give you the summarized version, but one of my clients, she owns a seven figure company called Kiss this Makeup. And just like any business, the revenue and performance can go like this. And the goal of a CEO or a founder or a business owner is to make sure that when there are ups and downs in the business that you're taking care of. And so J. Marie was in just the normal. This is what happens with a business where there's ups and downs. And when we met, I remember it was in a bit of a dip. I know that she had specifically told me, obviously as a seven figure business owner, they had multiple months where they were passing six figures in revenue. But at this point the company was not in a great place. Okay. It was declining and she was having to let some of her team go and it's very hard for her. And I remember being on the phone with her and I'm like, I am in the middle of selling, AKA if you didn't listen to the podcast, you're not selling poison. I believe that selling is serving. So I'm on the phone selling J. Marie on why she needs to buy the ads training program. And I remember her like sharing with me the mathematical stats of where the business was at number wise, like expense rise versus income wise. And I remember being like, this is really hard. And she has every reason to be like, no, I'm not going to add to the expense ratio right now. And I remember thinking that's the Very reason that she has to advertise because if she doesn't, then her business may have to shut down if people don't know about it. And so I knew that that was the case and so I sold belief into her and this method and it was really special. This past week we were on a group call and her revenue has more than doubled since we last spoke. She's hiring again, the company is growing again, and she's booked out through March of 2026 with her company. And I just remember being on the call with her and like seeing and feeling the like stress and pressure that like financial weight puts on you. Because I've been there and like being on it only makes you. I'll tell you what, struggling with money and finances, it like always gets me. Like, money has like been such a stressor for me. My. And so it's like so freeing when you get to the other side because you appreciate it more when you've actually had to go through struggling. And so like seeing her thrive and be on that call, like glowing, like, hey guys, we're growing. I'm booked out now. I'm gonna get my team booked out. Like, it is such a freeing experience. And that's why when someone says they can't afford to advertise, I can look at them in the soul. And I'm seeing J. Marie and I'm saying, you can't afford not to. Your business can't grow if no one knows about it. Right? And so her business has grown exponentially back to where she was before from meta ads. She's like, ashley, I've been so busy because my meta ads are blowing up. I haven't even started Google. And I'm like, I think her Google Ads are going to outperform her meta ads. It's insane. She's sitting on a gold mine. And I just am so excited for the future of her company and for her and for her team and for every bride and person that gets to work with her because advertising sped things up. And what's really cool is that same strategy. She's what I would call a service based business. Is the same strategy that Lauren and Megan that I just read to you here today is it is your. Like, I really want you to think about it like this. Let's think about a coffee machine. If you have a product or service based business and you're gonna have some nuances with your coffee. Let's think about it like this. You still have to have a coffee maker. You still have to have coffee Beans. The beans still have to be ground. Unless you want whole beans floating around in your coffee, you still may add some sort of flavoring and seasoning to it. Like those core elements are the same. Creating awareness, consideration, and persuading people to work with you because the value of it is there. That is the same for a product based versus a business based business or a product versus a service based business. The difference is the ingredients, the type of coffee beans, how long you roast it, what coffee maker you decide to use. If you put vanilla or caramel, that's the spice, that's the creativity, that's the piece that makes it different. Like, yes, a product based business. You have a shopping feed. You have this like a shopping feed, by the way, it's actually called a feed. It's data, it's what is the name of the product? What is the price of it, what is the image of it? That's a product feed. And yes, as the product based business owner, I'm gonna guide you on a little bit of a different way to make your coffee. We'll put some vanilla in there, we'll put, put some cinnamon on top. But the actual core strategy of getting new people to find you every single day and having you be the one that is not most easiest to find, but that is also most top of mind, that is the goal. And that is exactly what we talk about in the Win with Paid Ads challenge. I actually go through my framework of my whole find, remind, find, rewind strategy. And I only share that in a paid environment, which is like the Win with Paid Ads challenge. So I hope this is helpful and I hope no matter what you're selling, whether it is a product or a service, that at the end of the day, day, you are selling a solution. And we're gonna get more people to find you automatically every single day. And it all starts with the Win with Paid Ads challenge. I hope that was helpful and I cannot wait to see you not only in the challenge, but also on the next episode.