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Hey there - it's Brian 👋

Should I start with Facebook or Google ads?

I get that question from people getting started with ads.

So this week we’re putting them head-to-head to help you decide how to best start for your business.

Here’s 9 easy questions to help you decide whether you’re a better fit for Facebook or Google ads.

At the end, I’ll tell you factor is the most important, and give you trusted resources to get your ads taken care of (or free tools to do it on your own).

Let’s make your business an outlier: 👇

How a trip to Bali sparked this Google vs Facebook showdown

So this week I caught up with the founder of a business that helps Australians with disabilities.

His girlfriend became one of my best friends in the Bali founder community. She runs Australia’s first HIIT-to-the-beat fitness studio out of Brisbane.

The Bali community was incredible.

It was a group of founders who wanted to build a meaningful business, but just wanted to do it from somewhere interesting.

Anyway.

He said to me - I want to help more people, but I need them to find out about what I offer.

So he wants to get started on ads.

His next question: should I start with Facebook or Google ads?

This is such a common question that I wanted to give you 7 indicators that Facebook or Google is better for you.

So let’s dive in:

Quick context setting:

When I say “Facebook” here I’m referring to “Meta” and everything they own (including Instagram!)

When I say “Google ads”, I’m focusing on ads that show up when you type into the search.

Okay here’s the first thing you need.

1) How well does your customer know about your solution?

If the solution you sell is well known, customers can type it into Google:
• Battery replacements
• Dentists
• Gyms

If they don’t know it exists, it’s a better fit for Facebook.

On Facebook, you can stop the scroll with a visual then tell them a story that teaches them why your solution is so important.

Summary:

Do customers know about your solution enough to search for it? Google

If they don’t? Facebook

2) Is your solution B2B? Or B2C?

B2B tends to sell better on Google. B2C tends to do better on Facebook.

Sure there’s some B2B on Facebook, but if I’m going to use a social platform to sell B2B I’d rather use LinkedIn.

Summary:

B2B: Google (or LinkedIn)

B2C: Facebook

3) How good are your content creation skills?

Facebook ads need to stop the scroll and tell a story.

If you don’t have the skillset (yet) to get attention, keep attention, and persuade, Facebook may be a harder platform to run ads to.

For Google on the other hand, you don’t need to stop the scroll. People actively look for your solution.

The persuasion in Google is less on the ad and more on your sales page.

Summary:

If you have the ability to stop the scroll (or pay someone to): Facebook

If not: Google

4) Are visuals a big part of why people buy from you?

You don’t get as much visual with Google search. If your solution gets people foaming at the mouth or if you can create a powerful emotion with the dream you sell, then Facebook wins in this category.

Summary:

Visual = Facebook

Less visual = Google

🧔🏻‍♂️ Brian’s nerdy side rant:
Consumer products are an obvious visual, but… if you sell something without imagery (like a service), the dream outcome can still be a powerful visual.

Example: for my Australian friend, I’d show how people with disabilities live such a better life with his community. That’s a powerful visual.

He’s selling the dream outcome.

Is your dream visual? Do you have the skills (or money) to create the visual?

5) How long does it take your customer to buy?

If your solution is an impulse buy, Facebook is best there. Lower ticket items people can buy right on the spot.

BUT

Facebook is also great at “re-targeting.” A fancy word for showing the same customers your solution over a period of time.

The goal with re-targeting is to shorten the time it takes to buy (example: from 30 days down to 15 days).

Summary:

Either impulse buys or long sales cycle: Facebook

If time isn’t as important: Google

🧔🏻‍♂️ Brian’s nerdy side rant:
Google does have re-targeting too. It can be used to shorten the time it takes to buy. It’s just not as great as Facebook’s re-targeting.

6) Are you looking to build brand awareness?

Trick question!

Please do not spend money on brand awareness.

I have business owners frustrated with their marketing because they build “brand awareness” and don’t get sales.

Here’s a few real horror stories I heard from this week alone:
• “I spent $30,000 on white papers that would make me seen as an expert. No sales.”
• “I hired 3 marketing agencies. One spent 3 weeks on my slogan. Another re-designed my website to look better. Still, no sales.”
• “I don’t know if my marketing is working. I can’t tell.”

Brand is important later on (closer to $15M in revenue).

In the meantime, focus on marketing that gets you paying customers.

7) Do you have more money or time?

So Facebook will get you cheaper clicks, but you’ll spend more time experimenting.

Why?

Facebook users are shown your ad (vs. Google users who actively search for your solution).

This means Google users are more aware that they have this problem your business solves. Or better - they know your solution exists and are actively searching it out.

So on Facebook, you’ll need to persuade Facebook users more.

You’ll have to go through multiple steps:

1) Get their attention
2) Teach them that they have a problem.
3) Teach them your solution exists.
4) Build their trust that you are the best person to deliver that solution

The hardest part: You do all this while holding their attention. Trust me - it’s hard to compete for attention when they could be on YouTube or scrolling to the next post.

There’s a benefit though:
There are WAY more people you can sell to that are unaware of your solution. And the clicks are cheaper. So if you can figure out how to effectively guide them through each step you’ll make a lot of money.

With Google ads you can skip right to step 4: trust building.

So there’s less to experiment with. Easier to learn.

Summary:

If you have more time to experiment: Facebook

If you’d rather spend the money and move faster: Google

So should you start with Facebook or Google?

So here’s the most important question of the 7 you just looked at…
It’s #1 - “how well does your customer know about your solution?”

If they don’t know it well enough to type it into Google, then Facebook is a good fit.

If your customer would search for something related to your business, then Google is a good option.

For people first starting out, I prefer to lean them towards Google. There’s fewer steps to learn so you can get started quickly.

If you want to get started with Facebook or Google ads you have 3 options:

1) Learn on your own and try it yourself
2) Have someone to do it for you
3) Get an advisor to coach you through it

If you want any of these 3, just click here to let me know and I’ll get you set up with the right resources to get it taken care of.

See you next Thursday 👋

Brian

P.S. I don’t want you to waste time and money.

I've learned a few things since being deep in the ad world:

1) Most agencies are NOT good
2) There are amazing free resources to learn Google and FB ads
3) There are NOT good resources to learn how to build ads into all your marketing systems (funnels, other channels etc)

Let me know here if you’re exploring Google or Facebook ads and I can connect you with the right resources depending on what you need.

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