Welcome to visionaries where we explore stories, strategies and insights from the world's most inspiring entrepreneurs, brands and creators. Were on a mission to help visionaries like you stand out and monetize their knowledge, influence and message online. Exploring topics like business, marketing, creativity, and personal development. Let's build your vision for a happier more meaningful life, business and community together.
Today, Michelle Bridger joins visionaries. Michelle uses Facebook and Instagram ads to help high ticket business owners achieve rapid growth. clients come to her when they have a successful funnel. But they're stuck on how to scale further, she and her team lead with strategy and are a powerful force in taking over ad accounts and helping business owners focus on serving more clients. Rather than living with their noses in their ad accounts. Michelle and her team aren't just focused on leads. They got their eye on generating more cells through the entire funnel. Michelle's heart is to partner with businesses that are focused on training and service. She and her team create strategies that increase brand awareness and help them quickly grow their bottom line and expand their impact. To date, her powerful methods have brought in over 29 million in revenue for her diverse client base. Michele, it's so good to have you on the show today.
I'm so glad to be here. This is gonna be fun. Yeah, so
fun. So to set the stage for everyone lost watching or listening. Who is Michelle, tell us a little bit about your story.
So I'm a Facebook and Instagram advertising expert. And I've been doing that for nine years, which is an eternity in this space. So I've watched a lot of really big names. Julie stoyan, Rick mulready Jenna Kutcher out, you know, the list goes on and on Renae, Christine, so many different people who are large in this space and just I love working in this area. Because in Facebook and Instagram ads, you can rapidly grow a business. So when your messaging is on point. And the growth that you can have is astronomical. And an example of that is Jenna Kutcher. When she brought me on, she was just a service provider. And she was at six figures and we did three launches and took her to $750,000. In that one year, it was her first launch year. So that's the power of Facebook ads. And so I love it. But I didn't always start out this way as the story goes. So I was a stay at home mom for eons and eons and eons. And then I went through divorce, and I needed an income I needed in a hurry. And I needed it from home because I was homeschooling my kiddos. And so um, I get a lot of prayer. And where I landed, was to start a business. And the business I learned was not that business was not a good fit. But I took a course in Facebook advertising to market it. And I went this is cool. I like this, this is me, you can target like this, oh, this is and I just was really enthralled with it. And so that was by that time I was in a mastermind. And so I was saying to my colleagues like you to a webinar, I'll advertise it for you. And, and they did. And the first one at sea we did about we spend about $800 in ads, and she made 12,000 and we're like yes. And so then, you know other people from the mastermind were like, Michelle, I need you. And so then I started to do webinars or I didn't do the webinars, but they did the webinars, I advertised it and they would have success stories and so it just kind of like going around the circle and doing these ads for them. And so then I narrowed fairly, pretty narrow to be those people who do online courses, and have stayed in that niche. We have some supplement brands that we've been with for a long time but but for the most part we do online courses and, and market those and that's, that's been our specialty and I have a team that are amazing. And really played in this space and done it well for a long time.
Yeah, so did you start directly with Facebook ads when you said nine and a half years ago when your journey started and online business and so that's that's huge, because you're right like that. That means you were especially in this space with these online consultants. I feel like the growth has really accelerated or in less than nine years ago. For many of those online who we know and think of what what when you first started what did you think? And that was present then that's different now from say, like Facebook and Instagram advertising.
Oh gosh. So this could go on and on. More things were targetable, then than they are now. So unfortunately, a lot of things that were targetable back then are no longer targetable. At that time, Facebook didn't own Instagram. And so that wasn't even part of the mix that you could advertise on. So that's probably probably two of them. But on the other hand of that Facebook has improved their game so much, because they want advertisers to come in and at all levels, because they spend money. And and so they've made it such a more usable platform and more of a plug and play kind of platform. So it's a lot more usable than it used to be. You see that Power Editor? I think power. If I'm saying that, right? If I'm remembering, right, there used to be two different platforms, ad manager, and Power Editor, if I'm remembering that, right, somebody, correct me if I did that, but But yeah, there used to be two different platforms.
Yeah. Which is actually that's an important thing to look at, right? For anyone getting into product development, or who are currently doing it, whether it's product software related, you know, even Facebook, a billion dollar company, goes through iterations and evolves, what the product is to make it even better for their audience. And, and so, you know, we talked about the story hit record. But what one thing that I find a lot of people in this online space experience is a deep money pit, have wasted money on paid ads, Instagram, Facebook, even YouTube. Why do you think that money pit may exist? And how do you get past it? And really invest? Well, in ADS?
Yeah, good question. So it, it can be a money pit. If you're you, your messaging isn't honed in if, if you're not clear on what it is that you're really trying to accomplish. So if ads are not clear, congruent and compelling, if they just won't go well, ads have to have a very specific, very targeted focus. If, if you're going to say something like, how to this is legit, totally off the top of my head how to profit more as an entrepreneur? Well, no one's going to be really interested in that, because it's so broad, and it's not like, it's just like, that isn't a great example. But But when, when things are too broad, when things are not specific, as an agency, I can tell, and my, my team that works with me, we're just like, I'm not gonna go well. And like we can predict it, we went through something recently with someone that we're working with, and we could tell that the product that they were bringing to us to advertising would not do well, because it was very big, very broad, trying to include everyone at every stage in their business. And it it will, you know, we could tell it was not going to go well. So we really counseled them to be more specific to hone in on just one segment of their audience, rather than trying to include everyone at all stages. So it's very, very important to be very specific, very clear. And then that's when it gets more compelling. Because when you can buy into something like, oh, they're talking to me, then people listen, and people are more likely to believe you.
Yeah, which really, to me speaks to some of the terminology that exists in the ad buying world, right from custom audiences, or target audiences look alike audiences, it's all about getting so specific to exactly who you're looking to serve. And it allows you to get just so custom. And that's one thing I love with what Facebook has done and plot ad platforms like that, is that when you can get so clear on who you serve versus like, entrepreneurs, it's that broad net of millions of people versus more of a niche focus of what type of entrepreneur are they? And even deeper, like, you know, what is that niche of a niche that you could target. And it's so to me, like, I think that is so powerful it is to recognize that ads do work, but when you have other key pieces in place, and you have that knowledge set from the messaging, your positioning, knowing your audience, well enough What would you say? Like what, what makes the Michelle Bridger approach to ads stand out and, you know, long lasting like it is that in I guess, Converse to other ad opportunities out there.
Let's see, we keep my clients, they come and they stay for a long time because we get them results. And so we stay focused on the strategy, we lead the strategy and we continue to lead the strategy. So clients come to me when they're like, I don't know ads, but my agency, they're not telling me what to do when they're looking to me for direct this. And and they just like, ah, they don't they don't know what to do. And so we leave the strategy, and we stay leading in the strategy. And we stay very proactive because you have to keep things fresh and innovative. And so my team and I are always looking at, okay, that worked. What's the next step? Well, that was a great testimonial that we just ran, what's the next thing we can ask for the client. So we're always trying to stay innovative and fresh and on top of things and lead the strategy. Another one is communication. So you know, when an agency gets really busy, it's easy for the communication to tank. And so you know, a lot of people come to me and they're like, I just got ghosted by my agency, and so we don't do that, we take really good care of them, and then they stay for a long time because we're really formed a deep relationship with them, we deeply care about their business, we intimately know what's going on with their business, who their target market is. And so that's one thing we dig in super deep is we want to know how do they think how does that client's target market think? What do they like? What's their income bracket? What are their concerns, what are their fears and when we know that then we can really speak to that in the ad copy the testimonials that we highlight then speak to those fears those concerns, those objections and we overcome those in the ad copy and also in the testimonial so it's on a lot of different ways but just really digging deep with the client to help them be a success and seeing them as individuals and getting to know their business.
Yeah, yeah, that's so good. Well, and one thing I think about too is how with the show be visionaries, and that many of entrepreneurs and brands that come to you right they have a vision for what they want to see happen and what these ads can help make happen for them what would you say for yourself and your business like what really lights you up around the future you're helping to create for yourself and your clients?
Hmm What lights me up is success in my clients business so when they're successful, we're you know, we're doing our job and then word of mouth gets out so they refer other people to me. So it's a fun cycle it's hard to find a Facebook advertiser or Instagram advertiser that is really bringing that growth that they're looking for. And And so again, my business I'm not running my own Facebook ads because I don't need to get lots of referrals. But what lights me up is when my clients are doing well when they get on a call we had a call just recently with a client and she's like, the target market is right on track I get on these calls with my clients and they just are so excited and it's hardly a sales call that you know, like you're hitting my target market and then we get all aglow and happy and and and so that kind of thing. You know, when we see their growth when we know we're hitting their target market, when we know speaking their target markets language, it's very gratifying to see their growth.
Yeah, yeah, it's a win win relationship. Really, you know, um, you know, one thing that's really speaks to me with with my vision, you know, as you love see people success, which is huge, is this idea that we can make brands more human. And how do you feel like the ads and the messages the content you put out, help to make brands more human online.
So my clients are entrepreneurs. For the most part, I have one very large supplement brand, but they're, for the most part, they're just their personal brands. And so we want their personality to show we want to have images that are them jumping or being silly or somehow to be showing their their personality, because that's one, it's definitely going to grab attention. It. But it also would be more likely to draw in their target market, then we want the copy to speak the phrases and the way that they speak. And so we want to highlight what makes them unique and different and special. And we do that in the messaging. And it starts with the ad copy. It's it's comes across in the, in the images and the videos that we run, we're always, always, always, always always running videos, and images both. And then but then the ad copy is just a reflection of what's going on in the landing page. And so we're looking at the entire funnel from start to finish from AD to landing page to thank you page to sales page to initiate checkout to thank you for purchasing, we have our eyes on that entire funnel, because we want the messaging to really highlight who that that that client is what makes them special, what makes them unique, and most importantly, how they can serve. How are they speaking to their target market in that specific, compelling and congruent way?
Yeah, yeah, that's so powerful. Well, and one thing I think about that, too, from an ad side, you know, the ad creative, which makes the visual, right still motion to the copy. What would you say, you know, usually people scroll stopping stops with the visual, but they see video or still? And then reading the copy, do you find that a lot of people get to reading the copy? Or do they skip over the copy sometimes and just jump right into the click through to the next page? Like what do you find is most attractive?
We're actually looking at both we're looking at the click through rate all which means that in order to see the entire ad copy, would they have to have click see more. And so therefore we're looking at the click through rate all and we're looking at, they click the link, and we're looking at about we were really happy if we have a three to one ratio there, which means they click to see more 30% of them clicked to go to the link. So that's what we're looking for. We want them to read all of the ad copy because we're not looking to be click Beatty, like if we did that, if we were just looking for the click and not to prequalify them for the sale or to take the next action. That's not at all what we're about. We want to pre qualified people with the ad copy and then the ad copy. They're like, Oh, that's me, Oh, if only I could you know, whatever it is, I've got to be on this challenge. I've got to be on this webinar. I got it because man, they just spoke my language. So then No, we've done our job. And then they move on through the funnel. And they're more likely so much more likely, if we've got them in the ad copy and spoke to them. Well, they'll show up at the webinar, they'll read the sales page, they're more likely to purchase. So it all starts with the ad copy.
Yeah, and that's huge to point out too because that is one thing I've thought about because I very much my business is related to content and visuals. And there's a lot of fun you can have with just the visuals alone to stop people scroll. But sometimes a visual can be completely unrelated to the copy and the message you're trying to deliver. And there's those are kind of incongruent pieces, sometimes at least what I've seen with different ads, that it stops my scroll, but then I'm like, Oh, this is not really for me. And sometimes, and sometimes I least see both work. But do you find that you need to have both Connect pretty closely or can the visual be pretty, pretty generic? Sometimes,
you know, I want them to connect. But here's an example. This morning I was preparing for the summit that you're doing and the talk that I'm doing and I was going through examples that I'm going to be using that top and looking through testimonials that we've used over time for different clients and one of them was a gal sitting in a lawn chair there my client sitting in a lawn chair, her knees pulled up. She's in a bright yellow shirt, and it says these stories make me laugh. Well what are you going to do you're going to read the copy and then in the copy we have testimonial after testimonial after testimonial of these huge success stories that make her laugh and so you know, that image is very eye catching visually. And then it makes you want to read the Copy To me that's a huge success. Yeah, because what we are like I'm not looking for an image that's disconnected with the cop. Now it is good to have a lifestyle image in what that means is that it might be my clients family, it might be my client, you know, standing on what looks like the side of a cliff, I like I'm not coming up with a great example. But it's like, it's not really about the copy. But it's also like it's still somehow centered around my client. But I'm definitely not looking to, you know, talk about how to avoid burnout, and we have an image full of pink balloons and yellow rainbows. like it'd be no, like that would be, but I do know of companies where they've been running massive, like hundreds and 1000s of dollars worth of ads per month, and then they just run out I feed ideas. And so then they're trying anything and so sometimes I think that's what you see. But But I want them to have some connection. Definitely not just looking for that clickbait.
Yeah. Which is that clickbait definitely comes down to I mean, sometimes the most generic ads that are visually they do stand out, at least like to pull you like, Oh, that's interesting. But yeah, like I do find there's a kind of a disconnect at that point. And, and I find the ones that definitely call to me are the ones that not only helped me connect to the brand as a human being, oh, I recognize that person, or that person looks like me, or runs a business like me. And then yeah, the copy does some selling. But it's It is interesting to kind of break this down, I'm, I'm glad you have, and I'm sure you're going to share even more nuggets and insights. And the visionary summit coming up soon. So this is that this is so helpful. And I love learning about these processes, because a lot of people fear the approach of paid ads. Because there are a lot of success and failure stories of people, I think get caught up with like, hey, I want to replicate the same success as this person. So it's like lightning strike twice, you know. So what would be a kind of a send off message to those who want to see more success from their ad efforts, their marketing efforts? And that reassurance that here's the next right step you can take.
So I would really look to see what is your target market really want and not assume that you you have it nailed, but really make sure that you know, specifically what it is that they want. And that takes asking a lot of questions. It takes really good listening. It takes some investigation and some work to end to have it be clear. And so once you think you know what it is whether it's a PDF, or whether it's a webinar, then make sure it's absolutely clear. And this takes running it by colleagues and especially people who are your target market, because so often someone will bring us an offer to advertise. And we're like, you know, it's not clear like we don't understand, like, how does this connect with this? And and so we help them in my agency to bring clarity and we ask specific questions. And then often the messaging will be refined to make it more clear, because if it's not clear, it just simply won't convert and then compelling. So we're having a really good copywriter help you to bring out your story to enter connect to, it's so important to have good copy so that you have your congruent all the way across. So clear, compelling and congruent. So your ads should be congruent with your landing page. And the whole process should be speaking the same language all the way across the same messaging all the way through. Because if you're not congruent from AD to a landing page, people just be like, No, no, that's and you'll and you'll see it because you have a high bounce rate and a low landing page conversion rate. Yeah.
Oh, that's so good. That's so powerful. Michelle, and I'm so appreciative of your time and everything you've had to share. Where can people learn more about you and what you offer
so they can go to Michelle Bridger calm. Michelle bridger.com. If you want to have insights from the email list, it is Michele's free gift.com but love to connect with you and you know if you're ready to run ads and you know ready to find out more if it's a good fit for you, you can go to Michelle schedule calm. I'd love to connect
amazing. Thanks so much.
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