Facebook advertising is currently a popular way to market your business.
In fact, in 2014 I wrote how Facebook advertising pay per click is the best in the world, and it was then.
But with four more years of data from our online businesses and big business discovering what we small aggressive marketers knew back then; I, more than ever before am not all in on Facebook advertising, and you shouldn’t be either.
You need to diversify your business and set up a successful, proven online business model.
How do I know this business model is the best long-term formula?
Because I have personally had success with this method in two businesses, and I have coached hundreds of others into success with this formula.
With this alternative to Facebook advertising strategy, your business will be more diverse; you will know that your traffic is stable, you will attract your most valuable customers, and have sustainable, predictable income results.
Why I Am Not All In On Facebook Advertising and the #1 Facebook Ads Alternative
If you'd prefer to listen to this content from the video above, play it or download it from the podcast episode below.
Successful Facebook advertising may be transformational for your business... right now.
BUT, just like anything else, its successful life cycle for us little guys will eventually end.
Facebook advertising is a pay-to-play auction bidding game and supply and demand is changing its cost.
The trend is quickly changing in favor of big businesses, just like it did with Google AdWords, leaving small marketers to unsuccessfully compete with multibillion-dollar advertising budgets that are currently moving their ad spend to Facebook.
Very soon, small marketers will no longer be able to be profitable with Facebook advertising.
Don’t be caught by surprise! Be willing to adapt as you move forward.
Get what you can while you can through Facebook Advertising within your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
But while you do that, start building a solid foundation that you won't have to keep putting money into to see sales.
Not only is Facebook Advertising becoming more and more expensive, but it’s also just not the most efficient way to gain your best long-term customers.
When you use Facebook or any other paid advertising platform, you are interrupting the person you are presenting with your ad.
You hope that at least 3% of them resonate with your copy, message, image or video enough to click to your landing page.
You then hope that you can convert at least 25% of those people onto your email list and sell to more than 1% of those people your product, service, or affiliate offer.
You then hope that they are the type of person that is a match in the upper range of the lifetime value of your customers, they stay on your email list and continue to earn you money.
When you connect with a customer through interruption marketing, to keep selling to them, you will have to interrupt them over and over to gain repeat business.
You are continually coming from behind instead of coming from ahead, stuck in a place of expert copy and sales tactics to keep selling to them.
In this scenario, you are seeking customers instead of helping your best customers find you.
Who are Your Best Customers and How to Get Them
Your best customer for a successful long-term business is an information seeker.
These information seekers are willing to invest their time, energy, and money on information and products to help them solve their problems.
They understand the value these solutions provide and are willing to invest in them.
A better way to grow your reach is to ensure your result shows up when people type in a question, problem, or solution in a search box.
100% of these customers are searching for answers that your content and products will provide.
When people discover your content through searches, 100% of them are seeking information, and information seekers in your niche are the most valuable type of long-term customer for your business.
When your business shifts to generating more leads of information seekers, your business has hit a place that will weather any high or low.
You can achieve this through Authority Marketing.
Stop Pay to Play, Become a Search Authority Instead
People are craving information. They even google how to hold in a fart and want an answer!
Answers to questions and how to fix problems are searched for on Google, video platforms like YouTube, and Podcast platforms.
You can be ready for them, where they already are when they want your solution.
Different people prefer different platforms. Some prefer video, and some prefer to read, some only like to listen.
You can achieve long-term business success by focusing on one of these search platforms... YouTube, a Podcast, or a Website.
You can achieve astronomical business success when you stack The 3 Pillar Content Marketing Strategy.
Why?
Because the people that discover you on these information platforms will follow, subscribe, and want to get on your email list because they found you and you are changing their lives.
These are the people who will pay for your courses, ebooks, membership programs, expertise, products, and affiliate offers for the rest of your life!
They will be advocates of and word-of-mouth advertisers for your content because they have become fans of you and the information you provide and will want to share it with others.
They will buy what you offer and recommend because you have become their trusted advisor.
When you put your all into helpful content that can be found, when you’re giving honestly of yourself, when you are endorsing products and solutions you use, you will never have to pay to play again.
Making the Shift From Facebook Advertising to Authority Marketing
There are a time and place for running Facebook ads, doubling down on something that works when you’re getting a reasonable cost per lead, but in the long run, the number of leads from Facebook advertising will pale in comparison to the leads you can generate from free traffic over time.
You want the majority of your leads to come from searchable platforms as quickly as possible.
When people opt-in to your email list because they discovered you, you know that person is 100% in your target demographic. No detailed audience-educated guessing required.
No more interrupting your potential clients to generate leads. They will come to you willingly, making it easier to monetize the connection.
Using the search engines and authority marketing to sell affiliate products as well as information products to help people solve their problems is one of the most lucrative lifestyle businesses there is.
Long-Term Lifestyle Success Through Authority Marketing
Amazing things happen when you create helpful content over an extended period.
My wife and I have an online business in a tiny niche, but we receive over 8 million visits per year from more than 5 million unique visitors.
These are searchers of information discovering our content, digital products, and affiliate offers.
This free traffic has taken us years to build, but we could quit tomorrow, and it would continue to keep working.
I am not a writer like my wife, so I outsource my writing for my website, but the content begins as videos people can discover on YouTube.
As of the writing of this post, I have only been doing this authority marketing thing for myself for 18 months. It is astounding to me that in a year and a half I have achieved these results.
If your Facebook KPIs are right, don’t stop your Facebook advertising. And don’t neglect them as a valid possibility — just don’t base your entire business on a paid advertising model.
It takes time, energy and a lot of effort to build yourself as an authority.
However, when people come to you for answers and solutions in your niche, you don’t have to keep paying for ads or padding the pockets of platform owners.
You can build a long-term business where people actively seek and find you, see you as their advisor, and trust your recommendations for long-term lifestyle success.
Where to Go From Here - Authority Step #1
Your time is valuable. Put that time towards building yourself up as an authoritative voice — it’s a long-term game that leads to long-term success.
It’s a success that can’t be shaken by a price or advertising policy change.
Lay the groundwork and foundation now to adapt and succeed regardless of what the future holds for Facebook advertising. Focus your energy on building a long-term business through an authority site or an authority channel.
History repeats itself, and the Facebook ad platform is following the exact rise and fall of Google Adwords; eventually, the small marketers will be priced out.
Take step number #1 today and set yourself up for authority marketing success with this post. 5 Steps to a Successful Online Business
Your future self will thank you. No other efforts will produce for you true lifestyle freedom.
If you want a complete blueprint to start your own niche authority website, check out this webinar too: https://www.milesbeckler.com/authority-site