Social Media Ad Campaigns That Won’t Break the Bank at Any Growth Stage
Running social media ads on a tight budget can feel tricky, but you can make the most of every dollar with careful planning. As your business grows, your advertising strategy must evolve to ensure you meet new goals.
Whether you’re just starting, ready to take your business to the next level, or scaling it to new heights, there are smart, budget-friendly ways to use social media ads to boost your business! Here’s how to do it at each growth stage.
Content Overview:
Startup Stage: Building Brand Awareness on a Budget
You aim to get your brand noticed during the startup stage and attract your first customers. Since budgets are usually tight when starting, choosing cost-effective strategies that reach your audience without overspending is important. While this can be tricky, we have some tips for you!
Focus on Engagement
One of the best ways to introduce your brand is through simple, engaging ads like video ads or carousel posts (where multiple images are shown in a single ad). These formats are both affordable and flexible. On Facebook and Instagram, you can start with as little as $1 a day and grow from there as you get results, but you’ll see results faster if you start at $5 or $10 a day.
Test different ad designs and messaging to see which ones get the most engagement. Once you know what works, focus your budget on those high-performing ads. For example, if you run a local cleaning company, you may get better results from offering seasonal deep cleans than regular weekly services, but you won’t know until you test it!
We’re huge fans of testing to see what resonates with your audience. It’s the best way to ensure your ads speak to your ideal client avatar.
Build Your Audience
Another great way to attract customers at this stage is by offering something valuable for free—like a downloadable guide, checklist, or discount code—otherwise known as… a lead magnet. This encourages people to sign up for your email list, helping you build an audience of potential customers.
You’ll want to start looking for these on other business sites, and you’ll find pop-ups everywhere offering free ebooks and 10% discounts when you join their mailing list. That’s because they work! When you’re clicking around the internet and your competitors, you’ll get some inspiration on what free lead magnet you can offer your audience.
Tip: Use Facebook Lead Forms, which allow people to sign up without leaving the platform. This makes the process easier and can help lower your costs per lead.
Retarget Interested People
If people visit your website but don’t make a purchase or sign up for your lead magnet, retargeting ads can help remind them about your brand. These ads are typically more affordable since they target people who have already shown interest.
We recommend using your email list as a lookalike audience (LAL). This way, we can use the social media platforms targeting to ensure new potential customers are similar to the ones you already have!
Tip: Retarget people within 7 to 14 days after their visit to ensure your brand is still fresh in their minds. That’s key to marketing—staying at the top of your ideal client avatar’s mind!
Growth Stage: Scaling Without Overspending
Your business is gaining momentum during growth, but you need to balance spending more on ads while driving real results. The key here is to turn leads into loyal customers while keeping ad costs in check. Again, this can feel tricky, but with the right strategy, it will succeed!
FREE RESOURCE: $10/Day Ad Strategy
Focus on Conversions
Instead of just raising awareness, start running ads that encourage people to buy or sign up for a product or service. These types of ads lead to landing pages with clear messaging and a direct call to action (CTA), like “Buy Now” or “Sign Up.” Using tools like the Facebook Pixel to track sales, you can monitor which ads bring in actual customers, not just clicks.
Tip: Optimize your ads for actions like purchases, not just views. This helps ensure you’re spending your budget wisely.
Use Social Proof
People trust recommendations from others, so showcasing customer reviews or user-generated content (UGC) (like photos or videos from happy customers) can boost your brand’s credibility without the high costs of creating professional ads.
We love to use UGC content in our client ads! What’s better than a happy customer showcasing your product or service! It’s a great way to build immediate trust with your audience and saves you from having to create content (no video recording for you!)
Tip: Video testimonials or user-generated content usually perform better than static images. You can even offer small incentives, like discounts, to encourage customers to share their experiences. That’s a team favorite over here!
Expand Your Reach with Lookalike Audiences
Lookalike audiences are people who share similar traits with your best customers. Using tools like Facebook or LinkedIn, you can target new potential customers who are more likely to engage with your business.
Tip: Start with a small “1% lookalike” audience to keep your targeting focused, and expand it over time as you see results.
Established Stage: Optimizing for Long-Term Success
Once your business is well-established, your focus should be on maintaining growth, building customer loyalty, and optimizing your ad spend for the best results.
Build a Community
At this stage, keeping existing customers happy and engaged is crucial. You can offer loyalty rewards, referral bonuses, or exclusive promotions to encourage repeat purchases and word-of-mouth marketing. The whole point of having an online business is to have a community of customers who are thrilled with your product or service.
Tip: Dynamic ads are great for showing personalized content based on previous purchases or interactions, making customers feel more valued and likely to return.
Invest in Video Content
Video content is one of the most powerful tools for established businesses. Videos are more engaging than static images and allow you to tell your brand story compellingly. You can repurpose longer videos into shorter clips across different platforms, maximizing your content budget.
We love to take our clients’ videos and cut them into shorter clips they can use on social media! They record ONE video for us for their ad, and then we use that video for their social media ad, so they have many videos to use!
Tip: Consider creating videos that show behind-the-scenes looks, product demos, or customer success stories to strengthen your connection with your audience. Remember, as with all things marketing, authenticity is the key!
Promote Events and Launches
If you’re launching a new product or hosting an event, ads can help generate excitement and drive traffic. Use countdown timers and event-specific ads to build anticipation. Start with a smaller budget leading up to the event and increase it closer to the launch date for maximum impact.
Woo-hoo—we love launches! We often use these ads for clients hosting workshops, webinars, or challenges.
FREE RESOURCE: $10/Day Ad Strategy
Tips for Every Business
Regardless of your business’s growth stage, running social media ads on a budget requires strategic spending. The last thing we want is for our clients to waste money!
If you tailor your approach to your current goals, you’ll get the most out of every dollar you spend. That is what we all want… to make money while saving money!
If you’re new to social media ads or want to improve your results, my team and I spent the last few months creating a detailed **FREE Strategy & Workbook** to help you get started with as little as $10 per day.
The workbook walks you through our $10/day ad strategy and includes different types of ads, case studies, and expert advice from my social media ad specialists. It’s so good, I can’t believe we are giving it away for free!
So, are you ready to grow your business without overspending on social media ads? Or you’re new to ads and excited to give them a try, **Download the free strategy and workbook today!**
Pat yourself on the back. Focusing on what matters most for your business at each stage allows you to maximize your ad budget and see real growth through social media advertising. Now go and start watching those customers roll in!
Links for This Episode:
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