3 Types of Pinterest Ads to Run
What types of Pinterest ads can I run to build my business? A lot of people want to run Pinterest ads, but they don’t have a strategy for how to structure ad campaigns or what they can even promote.
If you’re newer to running ads on any platform, it could be a mystery! So I wanted to bring you a guide to 3 types of Pinterest ads you can run.
If you’re confused about how to use Pinterest ads, go back and read my previous posts!
Pinterest Ads: A Complete Guide for Getting Started will help you to get started with running ads.
Do Pinterest Ads really work will help you to understand this ads platform where you will learn about ad costs, customer journey and more.
3 Types of Pinterest Ads to Run
Once you’re ready to start running ads, these ideas will help you to jumpstart that first campaign.
By far, my favorite ad campaign strategy is “Freebie to Tripwire” ads.
Freebie to Tripwire Funnels
This is by far my favorite way to run promoted pins on Pinterest. When it comes to setting up a Pinterest ad campaign, most people think about lead generation ads.
Freebie to tripwire funnels are a great way to turn your cold freebie seekers into customers faster than you normal!
Get the Digital Product Blueprint
What is a tripwire?
I call these products “tripwires,” but they are also labeled splinter offers or small offers.
Generally, a tripwire is a low-priced product placed right after a free lead magnet that is closely tied to the freebie. It will encourage the person signing up for your freebie to take one step further in their journey to solve their problem.
For example, my freebie on my website is a Pinterest Strategy Guide and my tripwire is my Pinterest System. It’s a paid product that helps the freebie seeker take the next step in their marketing journey.
How do tripwire funnels work?
Great question! A tripwire funnel is set up using three main pages.
Page 1: Freebie
Your first page is going to be your lead magnet that you give away for free. This page will poke at the pain that your ideal client has and position your free offer as step one in the solution.
Oftentimes this page could include swipe files, how to guides, strategy guides like mine, checklists, mini courses, etc.
Ultimately you want your freebie to relate to your high ticket offer you will sell later in your funnel.
Page 2: Tripwire Sales Page
Then, page 2 is your tripwire sales page. This page generally sells your product at a lower price for a short amount of time.
For example, on my tripwire page I sell my product for $17 for 30 minutes. Once that timer runs out the page redirects to the full-price sales page and they can’t get back to it.
The tripwire page is where the lead magnet redirects to after they hit the submit button on your form.
The last page of your funnel will be a thank you page, and this is only if they purchase the tripwire product.
If they buy the tripwire product, you can send them to a thank you page to let them know what they can expect next.
Alternatively you can also send them to an upsell page. The options are limitless, but I would encourage you to test this out.
Pros & Cons of Tripwire Funnels
Pros:
- You can turn your freebie seekers into buyers faster
- Make money back from of your funnel right away to cover ad spend
- Build trust, authority and credibility quickly
Cons:
- Running ads can cost money without profit right away
- Some people who click your ad will not like being presented with a product so quickly
- Upselling to another product for some people can be challenging later on
List Building Ads
While running a freebie to tripwire is a fun way to make your ad spend back, some people aren’t quite ready to build a product to sell. That is totally fine, and you can still run list building ads on Pinterest.
A general list building ad is usually positioned with a free lead magnet and a simple thank you page behind it.
You nurture the people who sign up for your freebie in email and use that as an opportunity to get to know you and your business.
You can use list building ads as a way to generate leads before a launch as well.
What types of lead magnets work on Pinterest?
This is a question I get frequently and it really depends on your niche, your audience, and their pain points.
However, I have seen swipe files, editorial calendars, checklists, planner pages, mini courses and more used as lead magnets.
My suggestion? Ask your audience what they need help with, then combine that with what you think they need. Most often I have found that what someone thinks they need and what they actually need are different. That’s why I use a tripwire funnel like I mentioned above.
Your first step is to start researching on the platform to see what else is out there that’s similar to your product. But remember that your audience is not necessarily someone else’s audience.
What works for them may not work for you.
List Building Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Directly impacts your business goals
- Builds your email list without distraction
- Improve brand awareness Builds credibility and trust in their inbox
- Helps to sell products later on
Cons:
- List-building landing pages aren’t generally found unless you link to them directly
- It can be costly to run ads to your landing pages & optimize the landing page without gaining lead
- It can also be costly to run list building ads if you’re not selling anything to recoup your investment
Straight to Sales Page
If you have a product or service that you want to sell, you can always run ads straight to a sales page. This strategy is most often used in open/closed cart launch strategies, but I also use this with clients to promote their paid programs.
Depending on the price point and audience you may very well notice straight to sales page converts well for you.
An example of straight to sales page ads that I have used is running ads during one of my client’s membership open carts.
We list-build with a tripwire funnel all year, but several times throughout the year we open cart to their membership.
When that happens, our ad destination changes to the enrollment page for her membership.
You can promote your SLO (self-liquidating offers) on Pinterest all of the time, too. I really love doing this for clients to recoup their investment into my services and their ad spend.
We run ads to their products priced between $27-$97 all the time, without any gates in front of them.
You can sell products on autopilot by using a straight to sales page method as long as your sales page converts.
Straight to Sales Page Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Buyers who are ready to buy can do so without distraction
- Sales pages are often very informative & can cut down the time to nurture to a sale
- Sales pages with testimonials can improve brand loyalty and trust
- Pixel visitors & retarget them later
Cons:
- Some people may not be ready to buy, but you paid for them to see your page anyways
- It can take time to optimize a sales page to convert to sales
- It can also be costly to run sales page ads if you’re not sure if your product is proven to sell in the market
Wrap Up
Running any type of ads on any platform comes with a bit of risk. Yes, you can lose money, but you will never know if you don’t try. Ads strategies will vary depending on your business, audience, offers, price points and more. These are 3 ads you can run on Pinterest are options to get your wheels turning and see what you can really do with Pinterest ads.
Gather the data and use it to your advantage when running ads. If all else fails, return to Do Pinterest Ads really work? to read more about how you can improve your targeting.
