Transcript: 

Michelle Grasek:

Welcome to the Acupuncture Marketing School Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Grasek, and I’m here to help you get visible in your community, take marketing action with confidence, and get more patience in your practice and more money in your pocket every week. We both know you’re a talented, passionate acupuncturist, and that acupuncture has the power to change lives. So let’s dive right into this episode and talk about how you can reach more patients.

Hi there and welcome back. Have you ever thought about running Facebook or Instagram ads for your practice? If you’ve ever opened Meta Ads Manager and immediately felt overwhelmed, this episode is for you. Today I’m talking with Jen Peterson, founder of Slay Social, about how wellness providers can use organic social media and paid ads together to reach more of the right people without spending all day creating content. Jen has a really practical approach to ads, and we dig into how much you should be prepared to spend on meta-ads if you want to give them a real chance to become profitable, why meta-ads and Google ads reach different potential patients at very different points in their decision-making process, how Jen uses awareness ads and retargeting together instead of expecting one ad type to do all the work, what your Instagram profile should ideally look like before you spend a dollar on ads, including the three posts Jen recommends pinning to the top, and what to look for when hiring someone to manage your ads, especially if you’ve been burned in the past. Jen shares so much great behind-the-scenes info on making your ads effective. Let’s dive in.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Faire Wholesale. Last year, I interviewed some acupuncturists, Tori and Marla, who suggested that I might be able to pay my clinic rent from retail sales. And I immediately thought, wow, I want to try that. So I have been experimenting with retail in my own acupuncture practice using Faire. And last year we brought in just over $4,000 in retail sales. And my goal is to see if we can eventually pay our clinic rent with retail income alone. And we are on track to make 36% more this year than last year. And we’re not selling expensive products. We don’t have a sales pitch. People typically purchase while they’re waiting for their appointment or at checkout. And some of our best sellers are $5 notebooks and $3 magnetic bookmarks. Faire makes it really easy to experiment because many brands have low first order minimums plus free returns for 60 days on your first order with each brand. I’ve also written multiple blog posts sharing the exact products that are selling well in my clinic. So I’ll link those in the show notes along with the Faire link. And if you’re new to Faire, you can use the code AMS10 for 10% off your first order over $400. But you absolutely don’t have to spend $400 to get started. Most people start under $100, but the code is there if you need it.

All right, the link for Faire and the code will be in the show notes to make it easy for you. Let’s jump into this episode with Jen.

Hi, Jen. How are you? Good. How are you? I am good. Thank you so much for being here today. Before we dive in, do you mind introducing yourself for the audience?

Jen Peterson:

Sure. I’m Jen Peterson and I own and founded Slay Social. So I help business owners figure out what the heck to post to bring in the right people to buy their product or service using paid ads.

Michelle Grasek:

And I noticed, I found you on Instagram. I say this to my audience all the time, that I find some of my best guests by stalking them on Instagram.

Jen Peterson:

I love it.

Michelle Grasek:

I noticed that you had worked with wellness providers and also that you have a really nice approach to social media where you’re helping people figure out what to say. As you just said, what the heck am I supposed to talk about? But in a way that’s very authentic to them and trying to make it that it’s not an exhausting process at the same time. How do you go about that? Like, what’s the big picture?

Jen Peterson:

What I’ve learned after a few years of doing this is that if the process is clunky and just not fun and doesn’t feel aligned or settled within our soul, we’re not gonna do it. We’re just not gonna do it. So truth. I try to find ways that are more documenting our process throughout the day instead of okay, we’re gonna sit down and we’re gonna make these four videos. And like that is that will come part of the process. But what I like to teach my clients is okay, people just want to see kind of what you’re doing behind the scenes, who you are. What can you do just to document during the day as you go so it doesn’t feel like just another thing on your list? It’s part of your habit throughout the day. So I feel like when people feel as if it’s just a habit, it’s become part of their day, like brushing their teeth, it’s authentic to who they are. And I find when we do it that way, it comes a little bit more naturally just to be yourself too. Like you know, it’s it’s less tempting to be performative because you’re just doing you, your life. And so I think it just comes across more authentic and people connect with that version of you more.

Michelle Grasek:

Yeah. So lately I have been asking myself, what is the lowest lift video that I can possibly create for Instagram? And this is for acupuncture marketing school for the podcast, not necessarily for my acupuncture clinic. But I have just been recording videos of me typing on my computer or walking when I’m just outside on a walk. And sometimes it’s no makeup. I’m in my exercise clothes. And in the past, I think that I would have felt like that wasn’t trying hard enough. Sure. It has made no difference. So I find that if I do a video of me typing and I put a good hook or piece of text on top of it, that is what seems to matter, right? No one cares. It’s not like views are lower because Michelle didn’t put mascara on today.

Jen Peterson:

Right. Right. I think it just depends on kind of what you’re doing, but yes, I think people get really wrapped up in that part and it paralyzes them.

Michelle Grasek:

Yeah.

Jen Peterson:

And so that’s kind of where I start. I’m like, just take some videos of you, yeah, just walking, doing your thing, and maybe not starting with the talking to camera videos, which are very intimidating, like it’s a form of public speaking, which is what the number two fear in the world. So, okay, let’s not start there. Maybe we work our way up, and I call myself the B-roll queen because I’m the same way. I don’t like doing a lot of talking videos, and so I hate to give that advice because I don’t do it often myself. I I do some, I challenge myself every so often. But I just feel more comfortable in that what I call B-roll videos of just putting up that really strong hook, giving the information, creating a curiosity loop so they’ll go down into the caption and spend some time reading there. And while they’re doing that, that video is just playing over and over and over. So the algorithm’s like, whoa, people are liking this video. Let’s send it out to the next group of people. So that’s kind of how that works is we’re getting that 100% watch time because you know, it takes them one whole watch of the video just to read what we’ve said. That’s kind of the tactic behind why those work.

Michelle Grasek:

I think in well, let me take a step back. So I love the B-roll idea because I really think, like you said, it’s it’s intimidating to think about jumping in and producing a polished professional level talking head video right off the bat. It’s just a barrier to entry. Exactly. And social media needs repetition and consistency. So if you can just record yourself, that B-roll you’re talking about while you’re walking around doing things. For people who are in their clinics, I have done this before where I will go in early and bring my little tripod and then just film myself opening the clinic and have lots of little clips of doing different things. It’s a little more involved when there are patients. You know, I like them to sign a waiver and then I also try to keep their face out of the video, even if they sign the waiver. But you can record a 60-minute treatment and just gosh, think of all of the clips you can get out of that. True. Right. So I really love the idea of B-roll as removing the barrier to entry so that people can get started, get their message out there without it feeling painful and stressful. Exactly.

Jen Peterson:

Yeah, because if it if you kind of have to go through that process every day, like you said, we need consistency and being posting off and not every single day. But if you have to go through that process of forcing yourself every day, it’s that’s just not sustainable. And right, you know, the journey has to be a little bit fun, right? It can’t just be all burdensome.

Michelle Grasek:

Yes. And you help people a lot with meta-ads, which I would love to talk about. I think they are really challenging. The back end of meta ads is an intense place. I find it intense anyway.

Jen Peterson:

Yeah.

Michelle Grasek:

Yes. And it’s changing all the time. So sometimes people will ask me, do you teach either meta ads or Google ads? And I have to tell them, like, gosh, no, I don’t teach them because you could record a training and then in a month it might look a tiny bit different. Exactly. How do you approach meta ads? Are you building them out and running them? Are you teaching people how to use them? What does that look like for you?

Jen Peterson:

I do all done for you for that exact reason that you just brought up. It does not work to teach a course. It’s so involved, and you can’t teach all the nuances. And to me, I just think it’s more of an ROI when people invest with me for me to just do it for them. They have enough on their plate. They did not sign up to become a marketing expert, they did not sign up to become a business suite expert. And so I find the frustration is so much lower if I just come in and do it. And my approach is that kind of like a full ecosystem. So I hear a lot, and you may have heard this as well, that meta-ads didn’t work for my business. And I believe that’s because it is an ecosystem. So we start with the offer itself. There are certain kinds of offers that work better with meta-ads and lend themselves a little better to the meta-ad. And Google ads totally different place in the customer’s journey. And so we just kind of know that they’re two different places. So meta ads is kind of like, you know, when people are just scrolling, looking at their dog videos for the day, they come across your ad. They did not know that they were gonna need you, but now they do. And so that’s a little different than with Google. They’re searching for you, they know they need you, and so they’re ready to buy. And so, as I said, different place in the funnel. So then I like to look at creative, making sure that that’s appealing. We’re in such a funny era with AI, and people have different opinions about that. And so if I’ve kind of had to straddle the line on making sure the creative is still appealing to people and we don’t turn people off because there are people that have very strong opinions about using businesses that have AI creative. So I do use AI, but not for not for graphics or things like that. And then I just make sure that the landing page or the place that we’re taking them to from the ad matches the whole experience. Oftentimes people will put an ad and then they’ll have the link just go to their homepage of their website or to a page that doesn’t have much more information than the ad did. And it feels disjointed to the consumer or to the client. And so I like to make sure that there’s enough nurture in each place in that whole funnel. And I think that’s sometimes what people don’t realize is that that’s that’s a whole synergy. So I start with okay, offer is that gonna be something that lends well to a meta ad? Is the creative appealing to our certain client? Are we using words that they use? And we can find out a lot of this information by how our organic content performs. So sometimes I’ll even just use a really great performing piece of organic content as my ad because it lowers the skepticism of people, you know, as they’re scrolling. A lot of times if we see an ad, we’re like add and scroll out. But if it if it’s a piece of content that looks like it’s organic to the feed, we can kind of get under that skepticism and have more likely web people to interact with our ad. So I like to tell people, you know, we think of a traditional advertisement a certain way, but I like to just take that content that did well and put it in front of more of the right people, not just people, more of the right people. And that is the key with ads, is that we get to choose. We get to choose the demographic, the interests, all of that of the people that will be seeing our ads. And I love that so much more than just hoping the algorithm understands what the heck we’re doing and depending on it because it’s just it doesn’t work the way we hope. Right.

Michelle Grasek:

You mentioned there are certain kinds of ads that tend to do better on meta. What would those look like?

Jen Peterson:

So, what I like to do for the first ad I put out is more like a brand awareness, an introduction. So I’m making sure that the ad is easily digestible by someone that’s never met us. So when I do so, what I’ll do is I’ll run a traffic ad first, and it’s more like an introduction. This is who we are, this is where we are, this is what we do, this is the type of client that would be interested in us, and sometimes this is a client that would not be interested in us. This is, you know, just getting more traffic to what we’re doing. And then what I do is I’ll go back and I’ll save that audience. So we use what’s called a Metapixel or Cappy, and that’s that tracks everybody that clicked and their demographics and who they are and all of that. So what I’ll do is I’ll go back, then the second ad I run, I’ll use an offer, like a buy one, get one, 50% off. I know that’s not something you would typically use to all of those people that already clicked and were interested and followed and interacted because they’re already warm, right? They already have some sort of knowledge of us and our philosophy and who we are. So we’re a lot more likely to convert them with an offer because they have that familiarity. So you may have heard that people need to have seven to eleven touch points with us, or sometimes people explain it as seven to eleven hours of our content consumed before they’re ready to purchase. Holy cannoli! That seems like a lot. And so I don’t know, you know, about seven to eleven hours, but I know that people do like to consume a little bit of our content and understand who we are before they make an investment in us. So this way, when they’re consuming that second ad, they’ve already had a little bit of context, and so we’re getting in that second touch point or third touch point, depending on kind of where we are in the process. But I think people sleep on the retargeting piece of meta ads, and that’s my bread and butter. That’s my favorite. I just think it works better.

Michelle Grasek:

Okay, so the first one is sort of like a fishing expedition. Who’s a good fit for this?

Jen Peterson:

Right.

Michelle Grasek:

And then you get that data, and then that’s what you’re using for retargeting on the second, and maybe the all of the maybe the rest, yeah.

Jen Peterson:

The rest of the ads. Yeah. And you know, we know a little bit about our audience when we launch that first ad. We’re not just gonna launch it cold to everybody. We we’ll have an age dialed in. Sometimes with acupuncture specifically, maybe we’re targeting patients that are pregnant or moms. So maybe we have different segments of our audience, and so that would inform who we choose to target in that first one. So it is a little wider open than the rest, but we do have a dialed in a bit so that we’re just not wasting our dollars on getting in front of people who will not be interested or qualified for our offer.

Michelle Grasek:

And do you find that the meta-ads work better the more specific you are with something like pregnant patients or moms, like you’re saying? Instead of just like women between 45 and 65 who live within a 20-mile radius, actually getting into all the details makes them more effective.

Jen Peterson:

Right. And I love telling a story with the ads too that they can see themselves in. So I like to do that with organic content too, because I like to get people to a point where they see the ad or content and say, oh, she’s talking to me.

Michelle Grasek:

Taking a quick break to remind you of today’s sponsor, Faire. I use Faire to restock the retail section of my acupuncture practice. Last year we brought in over $4,000 in retail sales. And this year we are on track to make approximately 36% more. My long-term experiment is to see if we can eventually pay our clinic rent with retail income alone. If you want to try it, I’ll link Faire in the show notes, along with my blog posts sharing the exact products that are selling while at my practice. And new FAIRE users can use the code AMS10 for 10% off a first order over $400. And of course, that is optional. You don’t have to spend $400. Most people’s first orders are under $100 because they are experimenting with Faire. All right, the links are in the show notes. Let’s get back into this conversation with Jen.

Jen Peterson:

And when people get that feeling, there’s just something about that. People are emotional when they make buying decisions. And so I know that that really gets me when I scroll across some content and like, oh, she’s talking to me. And so I really try to make sure that they can sort of picture themselves in this experience because that’s the next step to buying. They’re picturing themselves coming into the clinic. Now they’ve seen the inside. Now they know you, they’re familiar. So people are just a lot more likely to buy something that they feel they know a little bit. They understand the process, especially with things like acupuncture. Some people maybe, you know, not understand how all that works and be afraid of it. But if we can sort of educate them and help them to picture themselves inside the experience, I think that does help with conversion.

Michelle Grasek:

Yeah. And especially for acupuncture, I think it helps reduce the fear. And I’m so curious. I don’t know if you’ve ever discussed this with anyone before. I had a business coach who’s wonderful, and she was very anti-needle. She did not ever want to see a needle in an ad or on someone’s website. And she also worked with med spas. I think you would do as well. Yeah. But she was like, Why would I want to see an image on my Facebook of someone with a big Botox needle in their face? And I’m like, okay, Faire enough. However, acupuncture needles are different. And people are so unfamiliar with acupuncture. So we just have always been on the opposite sides of this coin. Yeah. I like to show the needles because they are tiny, but also I am looking for the people who are not so terrified.

Jen Peterson:

Right. They’re not going to be, if they’re terrified, they’re not going to be your client. Yeah.

Michelle Grasek:

Right. So that they’re they are going to come in. And she’s in the camp where she wants to show the happy person with the beautiful skin as the end result instead of the needles. So I’m really curious if you have thoughts on that. Needles or no needles?

Jen Peterson:

So I have done it. This brings up even a specific piece of content I made for an IV bar one time. And we were educating on that very thing. She came into the frame and she had this very big needle and we said, what patients think we use to start IVs or whatever it was. And then it was this loud sound. And then it went to this little think it is. What we actually use, I think it was actually like B12 injections. What we actually use to inject B12, which is like such a tiny, just little. So we were showing then because that’s the fear, right? Oh, where I’m gonna go when I’m gonna get acupuncture because these big old needles, it’s gonna be just like, you know, they’re comparing it to whatever experience they have. And so I think it’s valuable to maybe we’re not like getting in close and showing, you know, because some people just really can’t handle that, but just educating them. This is what it looks like. And as I said, I think they can picture themselves in the experience. We also we want to attract our clients too, but we also sort of want to repel the people that aren’t going to be ever our client. If they’re really terrified about needles, they’re probably not gonna be our clients, and that’s okay. We have our pool, and then we have our not our pool. So I think it’s okay to show that stuff within reason because there are rules, we have to follow all of the rules, but I do think, especially with acupuncture, that education piece is really important because there may be people on the line, and once they see, oh, it’s not this big stabbing ordeal. This is a very light, subcutaneous, whatever experience. And so they may be more likely after they can see what the difference is.

Michelle Grasek:

I love what you said. This it’s not this big stabbing ordeal. I’d love to put that on my website. Hey, guess what? This is you’re gonna take a nap, it’s gonna be so pleasant. It is not a stabbing ordeal. Whatever you’re imagining. It’s not it. I’ve been interviewed at the local radio for my practice, and that’s one of the things that I always mention is you know, acupuncture is usually very different from whatever people are imagining in a good way. It’s not big hypodermic needles. And you’re right. So the people who are on the fence, it helps them feel better about it.

Jen Peterson:

Right, right. And it’s okay to detract those that aren’t going to be in our pool. That’s totally okay. Yes.

Michelle Grasek:

I’m curious if you have examples for the offer ad that you would suggest for wellness people.

Jen Peterson:

So it really depends on where we’re at. You know, like IVs will be different, everything will be different, like the community has a little bit. So I kind of look at the demographic, and I do a lot of testing in the beginning too. So I have certain areas in wellness that I’ve worked with more, so I kind of have an idea. Of oh, these things work and these things don’t. It also depends on their goals. Like med spots have so many different services. So maybe they don’t want to lead with an ad about eyebrow waxing because that’s kind of a smaller profit margin type thing. And so maybe it could get people in the door, but they may not be our type of customers that they’re really looking for that are interested in lip filler and some of the more profit-gathering services. So I I kind of think of that too. You know, what’s our goal? Are we trying to book more of a certain service? Are we trying to break into the area with people knowing we offer this or that? So it really depends on the goals, the clinic, the demographic. And I really try hard to dial that in as much as I can before I start testing because it’s nerve-wracking as we’re spending money, we’re putting stuff into the world. And so I tell people that first month is sort of an investment in the testing and scaling. And so we may get the ROI on that a couple months later, once we’re scaling and we really know what’s working for our community. So kind of hold your breath those first few months. Trust me, trust me, that we’ll make that money back in time. And so it’s just a little different than organic content because you know that’s free. What do we have to lose if something flops? But when you start putting money behind it, the stakes become a little higher. So I try to really set those expectations in the beginning. Is you’re gonna see that money go out, and then it may be a little bit of time before we see it come in. And that’s just that’s just marketing as a whole.

Michelle Grasek:

Yeah, I’ve always been told that you should be prepared to invest at least three months for ads because it can take that long, even for the algorithms to really understand who you’re after and who is a good fit for you.

Jen Peterson:

Exactly. I try to be really upfront about that because it can be disappointing when you’re investing a lot into not only the ads themselves, but then also the person running them for you. It can feel really expensive in the beginning. But I really do think we’re to a point where we kind of have to pay to play with meta. There’s so many businesses competing for this attention. And I just I know that there are businesses that people have built organically, but it seems to me it’s mostly like successful coaches that are teaching people how to do well on Instagram. They’re the ones that do really well. And then the rest of us, just business owners, are like, okay, that’s not working for us. So I try to be really realistic and say, you know, if you are going organic only, you have to be prepared that that could take months, years. You have to be willing to invest that time. And so I like to classify ads as a fast forward button. So we’re just we’re getting in front of more people faster, and we’re we’re ripping through that building an audience and all of that just so much faster in order to scale. Because with just organic content, it just takes time and you never know what’s gonna hit. We can set ourselves up for better reach and virality and such, but I think so much of it is luck too.

Michelle Grasek:

So yes. Sometimes people will come to me and ask, what can I do to get more patients ASAP like yesterday? And that’s always the goal. Right. Faire. And they’ll bring up social media. Should I post more? Should I try harder? Should I have a different strategy on social media? And it’s not usually something that I recommend if they want patience right away, because it’s sort of a relationship-building platform. And like you said, it it just takes time for an audience to follow you and then the audience to get to know you and trust you. And even creating all that content for organic social is a bit of an investment. Like you’re talking, it could take months or years before it really catches on and you feel like, okay, I’m consistently seeing patients from social media. So I never tell people, don’t do it, but if you want something faster, then organic social is just a really challenging avenue to try to make that happen, especially if people have not been doing very much on social and their account is sort of outdated or they haven’t posted in a while. So it’s not like they’ve been maintaining their engagement with their audience. They’re kind of starting from scratch. Exactly. I’m curious if you feel like if someone has, we’ll say, an Instagram account that they haven’t touched in a little while and their brand is not super clear and strong in their previous posts. Do you ask them to work on their organic presence a little bit before you would start running ads? How would you approach that?

Jen Peterson:

Yes, absolutely. Because the first thing people do after clicking on your ad and going wherever you take them is they’re also gonna come and take a look at your accounts, make sure you’re legit, understand a little bit more about you. And we can all understand that if we went to an account that had nothing on it or last post was in 2022, that’s gonna make us lose trust pretty quick. So I like to optimize for the conversion with our organic content. So I have kind of a system I use for those first three pinned posts so that people can very quickly digest who we are, what we’re about, and what we offer in a succinct way. Um, I don’t want them to have to go reading, you know, a lot of content to understand that a confused person never buys. And if they have to go digging for who you are and your the clarity of your message, it’s just never gonna happen. So, yes, I like to have, I say, you know, between six and nine posts and those three posts at the top pinned with some really good succinct info there before we ever run an ad. I just think that it helps with the ROI and it helps, you know, meet the goals of what we want to do when we have a really good organic strategy helping. You really just can’t have one without the other. You really can’t. You could run an ad to a sad page and then we’d lose out there. Or I really believe that you almost have to run, even if it’s just like what I call a reach ad or a traffic ad, you have to have that. I just don’t think by itself organic content, especially when you’re a busy provider. I don’t want you to be spending all of your precious time burning yourself out. I explain this to my clients. It’s time or money. So we invest our time or we invest our money, but we can buy our time back with an ad. Ooh, I like that.

Michelle Grasek:

And six to nine posts is not that much. It’s not like you are asking people, please be consistent on Instagram for four months and then we’re prepared to work with you. I think could do six posts in like a couple weeks.

Jen Peterson:

Yeah, or less. Yeah, sometimes I’ll tell them just if you have them all done, just post them all in one day. That’s fine. Perfect. We’ll keep going after this, but as long as that’s there before we hit publish on the ad, that way people have they can come back to a place that’s ready for them.

Michelle Grasek:

What do you recommend for those pinned posts?

Jen Peterson:

I like the first one to be kind of like your story. How did you end up here? People just love a good. Why did you end up in this business? So things about you, I love that to be either a talking head or a carousel. I love when people put their old pictures of when they were in school and all of that, just your story. I feel like that just hits people in the heart. We’re just right where we want to hit them. It gives them something to relate to. So all marketing is getting someone to know, like, and trust you, right? But you have to give them enough information about you to know, like, and trust you. Do you have to overshare your whole life? No, but you have to give them enough to say, oh, she’s really into horses, me too. In all of the wellness space, there’s a lot of choices for acupuncturists, lip filler people, you know, like all the different things that we do. There’s so many choices. So, what’s unique about what you do? And maybe it sort of feels like I kind of do everything the same as the others, but there’s me. I’m the unique part of my business. And so give them enough to feel the vibe, to understand who you are, and give them a reason to choose you. And then the second one I like to be about what you offer, your different services, what kind of problems do they solve? What is your main offer? Uh so it doesn’t have to be every single menu list of everything you offer, but the big thing so that they can clearly understand this person does this to relieve this. So, what I’ll do is I’ll go over with my clients. Let’s get our big main sentence. I’m so-and-so who helps so-and-so do this, and just a really clear message there. So people are like, okay, that’s easy enough. And then the third one I like to be some social proof. You say you’re great, but what about people that have worked with you? Do you have a great case study? Did you work with someone for a few months doing their acupuncture and you helped them with their addiction or you know, all the different things that acupuncture does? It helps the person to have a well-rounded view of who you are as a person, what you offer, and what others are saying about what you do.

Michelle Grasek:

I can see people in my mind taking notes. Kind of makes me want to change my pinned posts as well.

Jen Peterson:

Yeah.

Michelle Grasek:

I can’t even remember what they are.

Unknown:

Yeah.

Jen Peterson:

Update them often, have fun with it. Just picture someone meeting you for the first time because we’ve been doing this for so long. We have so much vocabulary and education and just experience in this field where others may not. So it’s hard to kind of zip back to ground zero and remember, oh, they may not know that acronym for what we’re explaining, or they may not understand we say this, but they may have no frame of reference for that word because they’re not in this world. So it’s just important to zoom out and put fresh eyes on and think, okay, what would a person just meeting me understand from the three pin posts and the other content I’m posting to?

Michelle Grasek:

I am really curious if you have any suggestions for what to look for if someone is ready to hire an ads manager, or maybe things like red flags, things not to look for. Because I think that’s a primary fear of hiring someone to do your ads, is if you don’t have a direct reference, you know, like, oh, my friend owns a business and they use this person, so I’m gonna use them. Almost nobody has that. Right. So if we’re out there on our own choosing, how how can we approach that?

Jen Peterson:

So I have a lot of people come to me that have been burned by agencies. So there’s big agencies that do this, especially in the wellness space. They say that they’ve been doing this for all these different studios, and what they kind of do is they have the same ad for all the studios and they kind of just slip in the demographic of that, you know, put in your logo and your demographics, and they don’t really make it custom to what your business is and needs and your community. They’re kind of just getting content out there, and there is value in that prolific content stuff going out, I guess. But what I try to say is find someone wanting to understand your business and your goals and you as a specific person and your demographic area, and also understands that it’s not just about the ad itself. We have to have the organic content dialed in, the offer dialed in, because we could run ads that just are great. They’re getting great click-through rate, we’re getting great traffic, we’re getting all of this. But a lot of times as ad managers, we don’t have control over the offer or the pricing or the sales process after we get the person there. So I like to just dig in a little deeper. Of course, I’m not gonna come in and take control and tell you your pricing’s wrong or anything like that, but I like to look at a bigger picture than most ads people do. So I would look for someone that really just understands the synergy between all of these pieces so that you’re getting the most bang for your buck for the money that you’re spending on ads.

Michelle Grasek:

And is there a monthly dollar amount that you think people should expect to spend, or is it too hard to extrapolate that just because of the difference?

Jen Peterson:

It kind of depends, yeah, on the goal. I think we can spend a little less when we’re just running traffic. And then as we kind of go down that funnel, like we talked about, getting into lead generation and those more specific offers, we want to spend more. So I always tell people, I wouldn’t go any less than about 500 to 1,000 a month. That gives you enough money to sort of test and see what’s going on. And of course, you can spend less, it just takes a little bit longer, more days of running to extrapolate the data that we need to move forward in the process. So I do have clients that will spend less depending on what’s going on in their business in that season. Sometimes they’re in a slower season or they’re just running evergreen ads to keep up. So it kind of depends on the goal, but I like to say at least plan five, 500 to 1,000 at the least.

Michelle Grasek:

Well, I have one more question for you that I ask all of my guests, and that is what is your definition of success? Definition of success.

Jen Peterson:

Ooh, I love that. So I think I’ve learned, I’ve changed it as I’ve built my business over the years. And at first it was, you know, like the money part, the prolific clients, all of that. But now I’ve learned that it’s more about having a life in a business where you feel free. And that means you’re free to choose your time, free to choose your who you work with, free to choose what you’re doing in the mornings and the evenings. And that freedom is that’s what I chase now.

Michelle Grasek:

Well, thank you so much for being here and sharing all of this with us. Where can people find you online? If they want to work with you, how can they reach you?

Jen Peterson:

Yes. So I hang out the most on Instagram. My handle’s Slay Social with Gen. And then if you would like to work with me, you can check out my website. I offer a no-cost strategy call to get started in the beginning. And my website’s slaysocialwithgen.com.

Michelle Grasek:

Awesome. And I think you might also have a freebie on your website. Is it an evaluation or is it because I’m a stalker?

Jen Peterson:

I love it. I love a good stalker. Um, I have an audit that kind of helps you figure out where you are in all this process. So definitely check that out if you’re like, oh, am I ready for ads? What does that look like? What do I need help with? And the results of that audit kind of help me know what I can offer you to best serve you. So I help with ads, I do meta-ads, chat GPT ads, and then I also help with the organic content.

Michelle Grasek:

Awesome. Oh, we’re gonna have to do another episode on chat GPT ads. That makes my brain.

Jen Peterson:

That’s the whole thing. It’s really cool, actually.

Michelle Grasek:

Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Jen Peterson:

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Michelle Grasek:

As always, thanks so much for listening. If your marketing is feeling stuck, I’d love to help you figure out exactly what to focus on next. The Marketing Breakthrough Audit is a personalized 30-minute video review of your website, your Google Business profile, and other parts of your online presence with clear, practical recommendations tailored to your practice. No generic advice, just the changes I would prioritize if this were my own clinic. You can learn more and reserve your spot at Michellegrass.com forward slash audit. Thanks so much for being here. I’ll talk to you next time.