Solved: Best Paid Ad Channel to Validate Fitness Supplement MVP?

Hi there,

Thanks for getting in touch. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your software MVP launch and which ad channel would be best to get started with.

We'll need to look at what's important...

Okay, so you're launching a fitness supplement line MVP and want to validate the idea with a limited budget. That's a pretty normal situation for software. You've got a landing page with pre-order. You're on the right track. Now we need to drive *relevant* traffic to the MVP to gauge initial interest. A platform needs to be choosen that will generate a lot of relevant traffic quickly, and can't break the bank. I would avoid social media campaigns such as TikTok, as they are harder to measure relevance on and can generate a lot of costs.

When launching a software MVP, relevance is the most important thing, not scale. This means we can afford to be niche to start with and expand later down the line when the business is more profitable. In our view it is better to start with less data, but have high quality data than to go the other way. With this in mind, let's have a look at which is the best platform to advertise on...

I'd say you should start with Google Search ads...

I'd suggest Google Search Ads, hands down. It might not be as trendy as TikTok or Meta, but the level of intent you can capture is unparalleled, especially when validating a new product or service. Social media ads can be amazing for volume, but finding people who *already* know they want a fitness supplement is gold dust.

Think about how people search for these products. Are they looking for "best vegan protein powder for muscle growth?" Or "natural supplements for energy?" These are the keywords you want to target. It's all about capturing that existing demand rather than trying to create it.

I remember working with a client who built an app for helping people with sleep deprivation. They asked us the same question, where should they start? We suggested Google Ads. Immediately we found out that a lot of people were searching for "How to get more sleep" or "Why am I not sleeping." These are the kind of pain points we were able to target. This helped them massively to reach product-market fit.

You probably should consider narrow targeting...

The biggest thing with Google Ads is not to over spend. You do not want to generate thousands of views, you want to generate 50-100 very relevant pre-orders. The most effective way to do this is through narrow targeting. Don't fall into the trap of broad match keywords. Trust me, I've seen accounts were clients are spending millions and they have no idea where the money is going. The key here is going narrow to start with.

Use exact match keywords and phrase match modifiers (+keyword) along with a tight list of negative keywords, and you'll cut through the noise. I remember one software client selling an online course that was targetted at the over 50s. By ensuring all our keywords included "over 50s" or "for seniors" we cut through a load of wasted ad spend, and brought in the right leads. This also ensures that your products and landing pages are optimised for these keywords so you can get a higher qualtity score.

For example, if you're selling a vegan protein powder, negative keywords like "whey" or "casein" are vital to filter out the wrong type of traffic. If you can't take phone calls during the day, you can schedule the ads to only run when you are available.

You'll need an optimised landing page...

Your landing page is your shop window. Make it scream "pre-order," and highlight the benefits. A clear CTA (call to action) and a limited-time offer will drive urgency and conversions, even with a smaller audience. It's definately worth A/B testing the landing page copy if you can, you would be suprised what a difference it makes. It could be as simple as a change in button colour or a different headline to drastically increase sign ups.

We use a copywriter for this, and she has a lot of experience specifically with SaaS and converting users into customers. One thing that always helps is to have a very clear money back guarentee which removes any objections that potential customers may have.

Overall, Google Search Ads give you control, relevancy, and measurable intent – exactly what you need to validate your MVP. Plus, with a laser-focused strategy, you can make the most of a limited budget.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Hope that makes sense.

We've driven some great results for software clients in the past, and we're running campaigns for SaaS clients currently. For example, as I talked about, we recently achieved 3,543 users for a software client at £0.96 cost per user using Google Ads. In another case, we generated 5082 software trials at $7 cost per trial using Meta Ads. We also managed to reduce a software company's CPA (Cost Per User Acquisition) from £100 to £7 using Meta and Google Ads.

Scaling an MVP from 0 to something bigger isn't always easy. You might want to consider expert help from a paid ads agency, as they have a lot of experience and can help save you money and get the best results. If you would like a free consultation where we can discuss your strategy in more detail, feel free to book in some time using the link below.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh