Andrew: Hey guys welcome today to masters in e-commerce for entrepreneurs, I’m your host Andrew Strauss, I’m here with Armando Perez from perezcarreno.com, he’s at Facebook Ads coach he’s in the business growth coach, he was a CTO lead gen expert he also, has a published author, I’m not going to do the Spanish version of it.
It’s an ad on Facebook, the practical guy on there, he does tons of e-commerce stuff and, he helps entrepreneurs basically overcome common barriers and mistakes and, getting them to get those clients and today we’re lucky to have Armando on our call and, we’re gonna go through a couple different things or one thing that we’re gonna talk about in either and, that will get to that but, I’m on those let the folks know a little bit more about you if I miss things on that side of things?
Armando: Well thank you, Andrew for having me it’s a pleasure to be here you’re on the spot I think you covered many of the topics we do – a lot of automation stuff and, some AI but, I think the introduction you made quite covers what we do.
Andrew: Great awesome yeah so, today Armando and I, we’re gonna talk about there are couple things that we were going to talk about one is you know sort of only you know the mistakes people make with Facebook ads and then there’s why there’s one little thing as why you should stay away from the little blue button and, you know this is all going to be sort of related to e-commerce and, on that side saying so, I’m gonna tell us, tell me you know what you see with all the clients that you’re dealing with the issues that people make when running Facebook Ads.
Armando: Well Andrew, one of the main issues is that people don’t realize that, they’re targeting a very broad audience there are more than two billion people using Facebook and, that number continues to rise and, sometimes you see and, we’ll get to the filter button but, sometimes you’ll see the button and, you’ll be like okay, I want to reach more people just like the platform says but, then sometimes you don’t take an account that you can reach millions of people.
What I’ve seen the mistake that I most often see is that people do very broad audience and, they don’t focus on one particular client persona especially if they don’t have an advertising background or they haven’t talked with an agency about that happens a lot they think, oh well my product can be bought by anyone and, they don’t start to think that that really, it’s maybe just women or just men or, a woman from 20 to 25 who lives in San Francisco in a certain zip code, who has interests in certain things.
Once the person steps back a little and, takes just one product and, thinks who can buy this verdict who would be my ideal customer then they can create ads that target those people specifically and they’ll save quite a bit of money.
Andrew: Sure yeah I could imagine that I think that’s one issue that people do seem to have is that they think their products for everything and, they’re like oh yeah it works for everybody but, they don’t sit back and, think okay who is my core customer right and, I think that’s a challenge that people have and, I don’t know how you how they figure that stuff out like what like in your coaching practices I mean like how do you get people to sort of like pullback be what they say the onion right and, get to that core piece?
Armando: That’s an interesting question, I do we there’s a thing we do even in our little talks where we’re just telling or helping entrepreneurs or business owners like in the local library and, incubators and, that we’re just helping them learn what’s out there even in those talks that are very non-technical we have a very nice exercise that people can do.
They first have to choose one product and, forget about everything else just focus one product and, then think who buys this and, then just think of one possible person and, they can think about their client history and, say okay who was a good customer and apart from that then they can do an exercise that we run through where they create a buyer persona and, this is a very known term in the advertising industry but, most people don’t know about it’s simply creating a paragraph where you say,
Well, this is James who is 22 years old who studied architecture in public college and, his hobbies are music and art. he loves using AutoCAD and, he has two kids and, he’s married etc
It’s a little paragraph that sometimes you don’t take the time to think about it but, once you have it in front of you then it’s very simple to imagine James or Erika or whoever and, create an ad that speaks to them directly so, it’s very hard for us as humans to create something that will tailor to everyone’s needs at the same time because you can’t we’re all very different so, using this exercise people can focus first on a product and, then as you said peeling off the layers they’ll get one type of customer for that product another type of customer so, maybe for the same product.
They’ll figure out that the hand cream or the face cream they have yes it can be used by a woman in their 50s or 60s and a girl in her 18-20 years of age but, in reality when you’re gonna speak to them even if you think about how you would do in real life you wouldn’t sell them the same way you would take a totally different approach with the woman or 50s & 60s then with the younger one because they need the same cream but, maybe for different reasons so, that’s the sort of exercise we do it helps people a lot understand that they’re being very broad and, essentially helps them have a very better efficiency with their advertising.
Andrew: Right and, you find that products that solve problems tend to be better at you know for selling or is it just like you’ve read shoes and, you know I mean where do what do you think in terms of that messaging or that kind of a thing, you’re selling a product
Armando: Well in reality Andrew the thing with problems is that we always have a problem when you take it down to the need and, that’s part of the exercise where we ask very specific questions to deep dive into what their actual problem is so perhaps, they say hey I want a car and, that’s just the knee just the basic thing and, then we tell them ok good they want a car do they want any car? it’s like no no, ok hmm perhaps I want a truck with 4×4 and airbags.
Let’s dig deeper now that you know that why do they want that ok perhaps, they want this truck because they, don’t want to get stuck in the river here ok so, we’re talking about people who like off-roading and going outdoors and, doing that stuff so, that’s a real fear for them getting stuck in the middle of the river right so, once you start doing those questions in the simple exercise.
Then you start to see oh ok so, it’s not that they just need a car or one a car it’s what type of car and, then why they want it and, once you know that then. all the messaging that you use for the images for the videos for the actual title will be around that and, that way the people the right people when they see it they’ll be oh that’s exactly what I need.
Andrew: Right yeah that’s a good way of doing I mean again it’s like killing that on your back right so, what is they start when you start with that and, you keep going down and, down and, interesting, um so, you I know that you work both in Latin America and the U.S., you know how is that differently so, if you were solely just a U.S.-based product but, you wanted to sell into those Latin markets how is that messaging different how is the problem if it is it similar like how do you deal with that type of stuff?
Armando: It’s a good question, really the process is essentially the same but, what we really stress to people is you have to talk with a native or someone who has a hundred per cent coverage of both languages before you run anything why because we see too many products even products and, stores with labels that have a bad translation on them and, that doesn’t look good either way
If it’s a Mexican product coming to the United States or if it’s an American prefer it going to Mexico or to South America, it looks bad on the company and, if we’re talking about that imagine if you’re looking at the ads so, if people are looking for a product that solves their needs and, the ads sort of cover said but, then they see a bad translation that well that speaks badly about your company because it means you didn’t take the time to even show it to one actual person who knows the language and, would tell you okay that court could work.
It’s really not what it seems to mean right there so, that happens a lot because there are words especially in Spanish there are a lot of words that you can use in like six different connotations and, it’s the same word you don’t even have to change the accents just the same word and, it means five different things depending on the context so, that sort of things you have to look out for and, the other thing is pricing.
Pricing will be different if you’re seeing a product in the States versus in a country in Latin America because some of those countries have well the currency exchange can sometimes affect things and, it’s just the way you organize a pricing it makes us the same thing it’s just the way you’re and, I said so that and, there are actual Studies on this if you can show them the price in their currency there are about ninety-five per cent more likely to buy than if it’s in a foreign currency because it when they when they see that.
It’s okay this is what it costs when they see something, they have to transform then it first of all it takes one more step and, second of all especially if they have a high exchange rate it’s like oh so, it’s twenty times more than that.
Andrew: Right!, yeah so, the way to really do it is obviously not the changing of the page you know further from Spanish – to English from Spanish a Mexico to the US dollars it’s just kind of yeah it just needs to split display automatically what the price is so, they’ll kind of know what the exchange rates gonna be and, everything on that.
Armando: Yes
Andrew: So, with your with your clients do you have many that sell on both cross-border type stuff I mean and, if it is that in the products I guess if I solves a certain problem I guess they’ll be more in tune to buying that but, there are things that there’s one product a type of product that sells better in one inside of the country than the other?
Armando: Well as I’m sure you’re aware, the things that we buy and sell in America is are very similar right and, the experience buying and, selling is very similar what I’ve seen deters people sometimes from the ultimate purchase is payment options so the lines are being blurred and, you know this especially with the platform you’re doing between locations because I can now just glue something.
I see a part they like you mentioned the red shoes okay nice so, I’m not really thinking where’s that store located it’s in Oklahoma is in New York is in Texas I don’t really mind it’s something I want to buy and, I’ll buy it so, that starts to happen crosswords as well especially if you have a good shipping logistic system right but, the thing is payment methods in countries like Mexico there are few people who with access to credit cards.
Many of them are used to other payment methods like going to the convenience store and, paying there or going to the bank and, things like that which are implemented quite well in those countries where there’s API’s and, services that help businesses like small e-commerce businesses or large e-commerce businesses take payments offline payments in convenience stores that are located all around the country.
Andrew: Right! because yeah I know because the credit cards are pretty prevalent here in the US than debit cards but, not so much in say Latin America and, things like that so, it’s a little bit more of a barrier to entry or at least to buying something so, that is that I guess something that one needs to think about when they’re when they’re doing that kind of stuff right.
Armando: Yeah, and, the good thing is and, we’ve we looked for a long time and, then we found this year no last year we finally found a provider that does it but, I’m sure many others will come it’s a way for American companies to offer those kinds of payment options so, before you had to rely on credit cards or maybe PayPal to do those kinds of cross-border transactions.
When people didn’t have credit cards you were in trouble because they couldn’t pay you they had the cash in hand they were like where can I go and, pay for it right and, then we found this company that does it where you set up an account and, they receive the funds for you they may have an API that connects your store and, everything.
Then after a certain threshold, they just transfer like wire the money to your account so, it’s the same as PayPal and, it’s made for offline payments specifically so, I think those types of solutions will help e-commerce thrive a lot more between different countries.
Andrew: Right the locality kind of thing like if you’re buying you know stuff in say Monterrey Mexico you want to pay in a local bank or that kind of currency and, then you know you it processes in Mexico and, you buy from the US and, so, that’s a foreign currency exchange kind of thing is came of there all right interesting so, that that’s income in terms of the ads that you see like when you’re running these things do you find video ads better performing than static ad’s?
Armando: It’s funny you mentioned that most of the time I will say yes, video ads get apart from having very specific benefits that I’ll mention they are very good at converting people or keeping people interested if you do a well-created video and, it doesn’t have to have a massive production.
You mean it’s good if you hire someone to do it but, if you just want to use apps and, do it yourself you can and, if it says the right thing and, the volume is OK and, it has the words there if it covers what it’s supposed to cover then people will watch it they’ll see it and, watch it.
They’ll watch it on their phones or watch it on the computer and, as we always say if a picture is worth a thousand words well the video is 24 or 30 pictures in a second so, you can tell that and, it captures people’s attention so, we have seen it but also, the studies from Facebook have seen it at many other companies have seen it usually the video ads will have a better engagement rate than and, the static ads but, it’s not a rule.
It’ll depend on the audience and, it depends on that on that niche where you’re trying to reach people and, though the time where we’ve seen that static ads work when you do a mixture of both so, let’s say you run a video of the six things you should know before starting your e-commerce store or whatever so, people are watching it and, then you run a second ad to those people who watched 75% of that video which is a boring thing to do right whereas we farmed up those people.
That’s second that you can do with just a static image in a call to action and, it works quite well because you already want them up with the video so, this time it’s just no distractions just this is what you need to know to click here and, then run the chatbot, or you’re on the lead a door or whatever.
Andrew: Right because they’re familiar with your product or they got that whenever they watch 75% of that stuff so, there’s no need for video, I don’t think guys do already another video now let me ask you on the side so, is do you find differences on static or video conversions from Latin America to the US, I mean?
Armando: Well they say and, it’s not just the countries but, but, the people so, there are studies that say that the Hispanics, the Hispanic population consumes more video no that’s an interesting thing to note and, yeah if you’re gonna go to a Hispanic market both in the US which is the second largest Hispanic population in the world that goes to Mexico before Spain people don’t know that then.
You have to consider these things and, if you can then if your product can sell to the Hispanic demographic then consider doing an ad also, in Spanish and, just starting it to Spanish speaking people and, it works because people will be more likely to convert worse where something speaks their language and, as I mentioned before if possible if you can show it in their currency if it’s out outside of the United States that’s a good thing to know as well and, apart from that it’s good to know that the pricing for the ads is way different.
you’ll get a way lower rate for your ads outside the United States most of the time because there’s less competition of people running the ads and, because of the currency difference as well.
Andrew: Right, cool yeah that’s that was that was those I was curious on that side of things if that you know made a difference on that side of things so, if you have a product and, it can sell from both sides then you know look towards selling it into this managed market or Hispanic market you know I think it’s a good way I think people get so, focused on just the US there’s a huge market outside the US.
Armando: Yes
Andrew: Cheaper I say and, they’re very used to e-commerce over there as well so, so, that’s pretty that’s pretty awesome so, there was one thing I didn’t want to ask you so, I know that we had the we were talking about staying away from this little blue button if you want to briefly go into, that’d be awesome because this is kind of a thing I think people do but, you know you got you here right or wrong ways on things and, maybe you can share with that.
Armando: Sure, there’s the little blue button for those that don’t know about it if you have a Facebook page which you should if you have a business and, you want to promote it on Facebook should have a Facebook page it’s free it’s worth it just do it. If you have a Facebook page Facebook will try to remind you ever so, often to boost your posts or boost your page and, it’s a little blue button that you’ll see all around Facebook.
It’ll help you reach more people and, that’s what they’ll say you put a post-up and, maybe it reached 500 people and, it’ll say reach another 150,000 people in your area by clicking here so, who wouldn’t want that right so, you click it and, it’ll give you some options and, it’s been getting better before you would say never use it because the options were too limited but, now there are a few more specific targeting options age and, then you get some of the more detailed demographics of behaviours and, what phone they have and, the location and, things like that so.
It’s getting better in reality I think the weakest point of the boost post is that when you use it you don’t have control over where you want to show your ad and, this is what most people don’t know and, this is why it’s one of the main issues when people run ads for the first time and, they don’t get results they say hey I spent this amount of money and, I don’t see any results what happened were there all the money go I don’t even see engagement and, things like that so, what usually happens is that your ad you expect it as a Facebook user to show on the Facebook Timeline right the newsfeed so, you’re thinking okay
I’ll make an ad you’ll have this dimensions it’ll have a text on top because that’s how it’s showing it to me and, and, it’ll show in the newsfeed on the phone on the computer that’s what we think but, in reality there are 13 different placements for the ads so, when you do that you’ll be showing it in the newsfeed on computer and, the mobile and, then you’ll be showing it on Instagram and, on Instagram stories which is one of the biggest mistakes I see because you’re thinking okay this is this is my ad for Facebook right it’s a banner like a horizontal thing.
Certainly someone your future client, of course, it’s opening Instagram stories is seeing all these wonderful videos Fullscreen vertical videos and, then your ad comes up between them and, it’s a square thing in the middle with the text overlay on top and, it looks horrible hey so, that’s the things you don’t want it so, that’s what happens you’ll see it on Instagram you see the stories you’ll see it on the on apps so, someone built a free app and, people are using it and, then you suddenly get an ad that’s for here’s me showing as well and, when someone gets surprised in an app like okay you watch this ad, you can get a free life that’s your ad will be there and, then in between other videos on Facebook on between other people’s videos which can be annoying sometimes after some other videos inside instant articles.
There are 13 different placements and, that’s what people don’t consider and, that’s where a lot of the money that you’re spending can go to this is one of the issues we stress as well they this happened with Google ads before a lot would say okay here’s my campaign in Google ads and, you’re thinking it’ll only be in search but, in reality, it was so, also, showing in the Display Network which is around the internet.
If you didn’t create it with that in mind then it’ll look very bad in those other placements and, you spend your money just dilute it all around pleasure so, that’s why we really stress that if you can stay away from that from the button just go to the ads manager which anyone can use there’s a lot of courses and, materials online that’ll give you a little walkthrough even Facebook gives you a little walkthrough right in you can create it from there you’ll have sort of the same things you’ll just have more control
You can decide to do whatever you can delete add that we talked about earlier where you get your clients number and, email and, whatever little form you can create canvas ads you can create video ads you can create messenger bought ads etc, you can do a lot of things and, that you can’t do from the boost post so, that’s sort of why we recommend going the other way.
Andrew: Right! awesome well you know around oh this was a fantastic I mean there was so, much stuff that we covered in a short period of time you know I really want to ask you just like one other question like what is a tool that you use that you find very helpful that other sellers could use to get them through their day
Armando: Oh, there’s a bunch but, I would say that for a lot of people these two have really helped it’s called Canva C-A-N-V-A and, it’s a free tool that virtually replaces Photoshop or illustrator if you’re just doing something quickly it’s online to abase just go on there
Then you can just create your designs there’s a lot of templates so, for creating static ads it’s great very simple to use don’t want cost you a thing and, then you’ll download it when it’s ready to post and, that’s it and, another would probably be spark odorous spark Adobe Photoshop and, all that they have one tool that’s similar to Canva and, then they have other tools for video and, and, things like that they’re also free.
Andrew: Awesome cool so, this is great so, if people want to get in touch with you want to use you can start with you one of the head tours from the US to Latin America yeah what’s this way, they can contact you and find out about you?
Armando: Well that’s a good question Andrew, thank you there’s a they can go to perezcarreno.com that’s a main website in English you can go to academiaads.com as well if you’re if you want to see more of the Hispanic side of things and, there’s also, translation button in the bottom where you can see more information and, there’s always a messenger bubble in the bottom where you can contact us directly or just send an email to info@perezcarreno.com and, we’ll gladly talk
Andrew: Okay awesome yeah Armando is great I mean he’s you know he’s very easy to reach out to he’s always there on and, getting back to you it got great service so, if you are looking to do things towards the Latin America market and, in the English market as well around those you know tops and, what he does so, I and, all these will be in our show notes so, we’ll have all that kind of stuff there as well but, Armando I really appreciate the time you have taken out to come and, share with our audience and, I look forward to talking with you again.
Armando: Perfect I really appreciate it Andrew got to be in the show.
Andrew: Great thanks.