The Traffic Engine course structure was designed to take students through paid traffic principles and platform-specific methods in an order with the highest probability of producing deep learning and ROI-positive results.
However, comments and questions have reminded me that there are many paths through the course material. Here are a few scenarios with my corresponding suggestions.
Scenario #1 — Proven Offer Sold Online
If you have an offer that you’ve sold (or are selling) online, I recommend the following progression through the course material:
- Understand the framework / principles in Modules 0 — 2;
- Review your offer(s) and adjust your messaging through the lens of the Value Proposition Design Canvas in Audience and Offer Masterclass, Part II;
- Create one Google Ads search campaign with one ‘bullseye’ keyword phrase in Module 3;
- Review Module 4 to learn how to analyze Google Ads campaign performance when your Google Ads campaign is generating traffic;
- Create one Facebook campaign with one ad in Module 5;
- Review Module 6 to learn how to evaluate Facebook ad performance;
- Setup Google Display Network and Facebook retargeting in Module 7;
- Review Module 6.5 and identify 1-2 new expressions of your offer to test with Facebook;
- Update Facebook campaigns (and inform future campaigns) with testing results from Module 6.5;
- Review Module 8 to understand the framework for scaling;
- Setup 1-3 more Google Ads search campaigns (depending on available ad spend);
- Evaluate Google Ads search performance regularly (every 72 hours, minimum). Scale winners following guidelines in Module 8;
- Setup 1-3 more Facebook campaigns (depending on available ad spend);
- Evaluate Facebook ads performance (every 72 hours minimum). Scale winners following guidelines in Module 8;
- Build additional retargeting campaigns (depending on the sophistication of your funnel / model); and
- Continue to add Google Ads (search) and Facebook campaigns as long as those campaigns remain profitable (verify metrics every 48 — 72 hours).
Scenario #2 — Idea(s), But No Proven Offer
If you have an idea for an offer, or you’re brainstorming ideas for an offer, I recommend the following progression through the course material:
- Understand the framework / principles in Modules 0 — 2;
- Review the Audience and Offer Masterclass, Part I, and complete the exercises;
- Review the Audience and Offer Masterclass, Part II, and complete the exercises for one specific audience segment;
- Review Module 6.5 to understand how to test different offer ideas using Facebook;
- Setup a minimum viable version of your offer, or, if you’re planning to use a co-created offer model, setup the minimum viable infrastructure to attract and build a core audience;
- Review Module 5 and setup a Facebook campaign to test 2-3 variations of your offer;
- Review Module 6 to evaluate Facebook performance.
How you proceed from here will depend on performance, which will be unique to your business model, offer, and audience.
For example, if you’re sending traffic from an ad to a low-cost offer sales page to generate customers for free, then you’ll evaluate performance based on the relationship between the cost to acquire a customer (CPA) and the average order value (AOV) of those customers.
If you’re sending traffic from an ad to a higher-priced offer intending to make a profit on each sale, you’ll evaluate performance with return on ad spend (ROAS).
Or, if you’re planning to co-create an offer with a small audience, you’ll consider the cost to acquire a lead and the overall responsiveness of the leads you acquire. You’ll also want a target number of leads in mind before making your offer by email (e.g., 200 — 250).
No matter what approach you’re taking, the goal is to prove that your offer works as quickly as possible with the minimum investment of time, energy, and dollars.
Your minimum viable approach will be unique to you and your offer. You’re looking for ‘signs of life’ — once you’ve seen those, focus on building out the offer assets (landing pages, sales pages, email sequences, etc.) Do not invest time and energy gold-plating your offer until you’ve seen objective evidence that there’s interest and purchasing intent.
This topic — where and how to start? — was discussed at the beginning of Q&A Call #2. Listen from 4:55 through 11:37.
Once you have a proven offer, follow the outline in scenario #1, above. If your initial idea doesn’t get traction, repeat the process in scenario #2 with another idea. Remember, eight out of ten offers fail — that’s part of the process. If your first idea isn’t an overwhelming success, welcome to the club.
Scenario #3 — Product(s), But No Traction
If you’ve already invested time and energy to create a product or products, and have the infrastructure to sell those online, I would start by focusing on the product you think has the highest likelihood of success.
Don’t try to sell everything — focus with precision and prove that you can sell one thing to one audience. This is where I would start:
- Review the Audience and Offer Masterclass, Part II, and complete the exercises for one specific audience segment;
- Create one Google Ads search campaign with one ‘bullseye’ keyword phrase in Module 3;
- Review Module 4 to learn how to analyze Google Ads campaign performance when your Google Ads campaign is generating traffic;
- Create one Facebook campaign with one ad in Module 5; and
- Review Module 6 to learn how to evaluate Facebook ad performance;
The goal is to get product-specific performance data as quickly as possible, then make a decision about how best to proceed. If the product/offer works economically (based on your definition of success), then proceed with the remainder of the outline in Scenario #1 above.
“Works economically” means that you’re generating profit (as measured by ROAS) if that’s your intent, or generating customers at break even or better (as measured by CPA/AOV).
If your first choice of product does not perform well, you have a couple of options — repeat the process in scenario #3 with a different product, or use Facebook to test different expressions of your offer for your first product choice.
If you were to choose to test, follow this outline:
- Review Module 6.5 to understand how to test different offer ideas using Facebook;
- Review Module 5 and setup a Facebook campaign to test 2-3 variations of your offer; and
- Review Module 6 to evaluate Facebook performance.
Scenario #4 — Working With Clients
If you’re working with clients, I recommend going through the entire course start to finish so you understand the big picture, as well as the specific frameworks for each platform.
The Traffic Engine is a holistic model for traffic generation where the various parts function systemically to produce superior results. Client work is demanding. Stack the deck in your favor by understanding the entire framework first.
You may find that some clients are unwilling to do the work in the Audience and Offer Masterclass, Part II, believing that they already know their audience. Let performance guide your decision-making. If a client offer performs well with paid traffic, it’s OK to skip the Value Proposition Design Canvas. If a client offer underperforms, the VPDC is a very effective troubleshooting tool.
In my experience, the VPDC is a force-multiplier. If the client is unwilling to do the work, there’s no reason you can’t use the tool to inform your messaging and strategy. I think you’ll find it to be exceptionally valuable once you’ve gone through the process start to finish.
Ad Accounts and Other Tools
To get the most out of The Traffic Engine course, you’ll need to setup Google Ads and Facebook advertising accounts, and setup and install a Google Analytics account. I recommend deploying all tracking codes with Google Tag Manager as well.
Links to instructions for creating these accounts will be included where appropriate in the course material. Or you can setup those accounts in advance (which I recommend):
Create a Google Tag Manager account.