I want to share a simple solution to a problem I experienced recently. I run online marketing campaigns. A few weeks ago, my numbers weren’t looking great and out of boredom I launched a bunch of campaigns at the same time.
I think it happens to a lot of marketing people with creative brains – we have more ideas than we have time for and sometimes things can get messy. This is where I found myself recently and as soon as I found a way out of it – I thought I’d pass it on.
So – what’s the magic, complicated, scientific secret that turned things around?
I Turned A Whole Bunch of Campaigns Off
(Really… that’s it.)
I’m a curious person. I am always looking for new campaigns to run. I love testing new ideas and seeing if they work or not. This is a great thing and I consider it an asset.
The problem is – sometimes my test campaigns lose so much money they balance out my profitable ones and I end up making no money.
This is what was happening last month. Has it ever happened to you?
Think About It
- How many campaigns do you have running right now?
- How many different traffic sources are you running on?
- How much money are you currently making?
If your answer to Question 3 sucks… you need to address 1 and 2 immediately.
First: If you’re running more than 1 campaign and they’re not profitable – pick one and kill the other ones.
Right now, stop reading this and go pause those awful campaigns and then come back and read the rest.
Next: If you have more than 1 traffic source running and they’re not profitable shut ALL of them off but one. Do it right now. Kill all but one – leaving just one traffic source that you’re willing to focus on and master for the next 6 months.
Here’s What Happens
I just went through this. By turning off most of my campaigns I was able to turn a weak two months in a row into one of my better months of the year.
I ended up with 3 campaigns on 1 traffic source that are all related. All are making money. All are growing.
By focusing on one traffic source and a campaign that was working I was able to increase the main campaign’s profits by 400%. I added one placement. The campaign was ready to roll – all I had to do was pay attention.
In Conclusion:
There have been times in my career when I’ve been able to run 3-5 campaigns in different niches on different sources and make money on them all. But honestly it’s been a while (years) since that has happened.
By adapting to my new circumstances and changes in the business – I was able to pull my head out of the sand and drive my profits up and out of the gutter.
Remember
- Take a look at your current situation
- Audit your campaigns immediately
- Kill all but one campaign and one traffic source
- Focus
Then come back and thank me later.