Running conversion ads against cold audiences– and lookalikes are mostly cold audiences, too.

I get that sales are your goal and that you aren’t interested in “wasting” money on building thru-plays or engagement.

But you might as well be THAT GUY who hastily walks up to every attractive woman he sees to immediately proposition her.

Not only will your face sting from the SLAP of rejection (in the form of higher base CPMs that lead to higher CPAs), but you’ll pollute your brand message and alienate your brand ambassadors.

If your CPMs are over $25 (the “check engine light” of your Facebook ads, no matter the objective), consider whether you’re being penalized.

The funny thing, as some of you have noticed, is that if you haven’t polluted your remarketing audiences, you often get better results choosing to reach instead of conversion for bottom-of-funnel ads.

Here’s why– if your targeting/copy is solid upstream, then you don’t need to choose the conversion objective for remarketing. You might not have 50 conversions per ad set to optimize anyway.

So take the pressure off the algo by choosing reach for remarketing. And then choose conversion as the objective for top-of-funnel creative to focus the signal.

What’s missing here is running conversion-oriented content with a conversion objective.

Weird, I know– think about it to understand why.

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other organizations that have many locations. He has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs because of his partnership with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Companies like GoDaddy, Fiverr, onlinejobs.ph, 7 Figure Agency, and Vendasta partner with him to create training and certifications. Dennis created the Dollar a Day Strategy for local service businesses to enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring. He's coaching young adult agency owners who serve plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians in conjunction with leaders in these industries. Mr. Yu believes that there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers need to be certified and licensed. His Content Factory training and dashboards are used by thousands of practitioners.

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