Solved: First Facebook Campaign Setup with Low Budget

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I had a look at your situation with your first campaign and I'm happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance. It can feel like a bit of a minefield when you're just starting out, especially with a small budget, but it's definately possible to get results if you approach it the right way. The key isn't really how much money you have, but how you spend it to learn as fast as possible.

I'm going to walk you through a simple but powerful framework that moves beyond just 'running ads' and focuses on building a system that can actually sell your baby blankets profitably. We'll cover everything from your budget and ad copy to the underlying offer that makes people want to buy in the first place.

Your Budget Isn't the Problem, Your Mindset Is

Let's get the biggest worry out of the way first: your budget. People will tell you that you need thousands to even get started with paid ads. They're wrong. That €150-€200 is perfectly fine, as long as you have the right goal. With that budget, your goal is not to make a massive profit. Your goal is to buy data.

Every single euro you spend should be seen as an investment in learning. You're learning which images get attention, which headlines make people click, and which audience is most interested in your products. The profit comes later, once you've used your small budget to find a winning combination. The idea that you need a minimum of €20 per day is a complete myth, probably started by people who want you to spend more money. You can absolutely start with €5 or €10 per day. It'll just take a bit longer to gather the data you need to make smart decisions.

From my experience with eCommerce in developed countries, a typical conversion rate is around 2-5%, and the cost-per-click (CPC) can be anywhere from £0.50 to £1.50. If we do the maths, that means your cost to acquire a single customer (Cost Per Acquisition, or CPA) could be anywhere from £10 to £75. For instance, one campaign we worked on for a cleaning products company achieved a fantastic 633% return, but that was after significant testing and optimisation. When you're starting out, your costs will likely be higher.

Let's be optimistic and say you manage to get a €20 CPA. With a €200 budget, you're looking at maybe 10 sales. That's not a failure; that's 10 pieces of valuable data. It tells you that something is working. The interactive calculator below will help you visualise this. Play around with the numbers to see how CPA affects the number of sales you can expect from your starting budget. This should help you set realistic expectations.

I'd say you need to fix your offer before you fix your ads

Here’s a hard truth: most ad campaigns don't fail because of bad targeting or a low budget. They fail because the offer isn't compelling enough. Right now, you're selling a baby blanket. Your competitors are also selling baby blankets. To stand out, you need to stop selling the product and start selling the outcome or the transformation.

Think about your ideal customer. She's probably an expectant mother. What is her emotional state? She's excited, but also anxious. She wants to create the perfect, safest, most beautiful environment for her new baby. She's scrolling through Instagram and seeing hundreds of generic, mass-produced baby products. Her deep, urgent problem isn't a "lack of blankets." It's a fear of being generic, a desire to feel unique, and a need to provide the absolute best for her child. Your offer needs to solve that problem.

This is where you need to be really clear. You're not just selling a piece of fabric; you're selling "the first special thing your baby will ever own," or "the softest welcome to the world," or "a unique piece for a one-of-a-kind nursery." This isn't just fluffy marketing talk; it's about connecting your product to a real human emotion. When you do this, price becomes less of an issue, and your ads become infinitely more powerful.

Let's look at how we can frame this. Your product has features (e.g., '100% organic cotton') and benefits (e.g., 'gentle on baby's sensitive skin'). But the real magic happens when you connect that benefit to a transformation (e.g., 'peace of mind for you, knowing your baby is wrapped in pure, chemical-free comfort').

You probably should stop writing copy that sounds like an ad

Now let's talk about your copy. The hook you wrote, «Já ouviste falar do segredo que tornará a chegada do teu bebé única?», is clever, but it has a major flaw: it sounds like an advertisement. People on social media have developed an incredibly sensitive filter for anything that feels like a sales pitch. A question that mentions a "secret" immediately triggers that filter.

Instead of trying to be mysterious, be direct and empathetic. The best ad copy doesn't feel like copy at all; it feels like a helpful suggestion from a friend. A great framework for this is the Before-After-Bridge.

• Before: You describe the customer's current state of frustration. "Scrolling for hours trying to find something special for your new baby's nursery, but everything looks the same?"
• After: You paint a picture of their desired future state. "Imagine wrapping your baby in a blanket so soft and unique it becomes the centerpiece of your nursery photos—the one thing everyone asks about."
• Bridge: You introduce your product as the simple way to get from Before to After. "Our handcrafted blankets are the bridge. Designed in Portugal with the softest organic cotton for a truly special welcome."

This structure works because it focuses entirely on the customer's world, not yours. It shows you understand their problem before you even mention your solution. When it comes to the call to action, you should absolutely be direct. Forget long, winding stories. After you've made that emotional connection, you need to tell them exactly what to do next. "Shop Now," "Discover the Collection," "Find Your Unique Blanket." Be clear and direct. Don't say "BUY IT" in a shouty way, but make the next step obvious and easy.

Here are some examples of how you could apply this directly to your ads, moving away from the 'secret' hook to something much more potent.

We'll need to look at your visuals because they do all the heavy lifting

On platforms like Facebook and Instagram, the visual (your image or video) does 90% of the work. Your copy is important, but only after the visual has done its job of stopping the scroll. A long story in the caption is useless if the image is boring and people just scroll right past it.

You need to invest your time (not necessarily a lot of money) in getting incredible visuals.

• Lifestyle Photos are a must: Don't just show the blanket folded on a white background. Show it in a beautifully styled nursery. Show it draped over a cot. Show a close-up of a baby's hand clutching the soft fabric (you can ask a friend with a baby to model!). These images sell the dream, not just the product.
• Short Video is Powerful: A simple 10-15 second video clip can be incredibly effective. Show someone running their hand over the blanket to demonstrate its softness. Show it being unfolded to reveal the unique design. You don't need a professional videographer; your smartphone is good enough if the lighting is good.
• Consistency is key: Your ads, your product pages, your whole website should feel cohesive. If your ads are warm and emotional, your website can't be cold and corporate. It all needs to tell the same story.

The user's journey from discovery to purchase is incredibly fast. The visual is the hook that starts the entire process. If it fails, nothing else matters. The flowchart below illustrates just how critical that first visual impression is.

You'll need a simple campaign structure built for sales

Now, let's put it all together into a campaign structure. Forget all the complicated strategies you might have read about. For your budget and goals, you need something simple and effective. Your number one priority is to set your campaign objective to Conversions and your conversion event to Purchase. Do not optimise for clicks, reach, or engagement. You need to tell Facebook's algorithm that you want buyers, and it is incredibly good at finding them if you give it the right instructions.

Here is the simple structure I'd recommend starting with:

Campaign 1: Conversion Campaign (Objective: Sales)

• Ad Set 1: Broad Interests (Prospecting)
  • Audience: Women in Portugal, aged 25-40, who have shown interest in things like "Baby shower," "New parents," "Pampers," or follow popular baby product brands or parenting bloggers. Group these related interests together. Don't make your audience too small. Aim for at least 1-2 million people.
  • Budget: Start with 70% of your daily budget here (e.g., €7 if your daily budget is €10).
• Ad Set 2: Website Visitors (Retargeting)
  • Audience: Create a custom audience of everyone who has visited your website in the last 30 days. Even if it's a small number to start, this is crucial. These are warm leads who already know you. Your ad to them can be slightly different, maybe with a small discount or a reminder.
  • Budget: Put the remaining 30% of your daily budget here (€3). This audience is smaller but much more likely to convert.

Inside each ad set, you should test 2-3 different ads. Don't overcomplicate it. You could have one great lifestyle image, one short video, and maybe one carousel ad showing different designs. Use the same direct, benefit-focused copy for all of them to start. After a few days, you'll start to see which ad and which ad set is performing better, and you can start moving your budget towards the winners. This is how you use a small budget to learn efficiently.

The only metric you need to obsess over is ROAS

Finally, let's talk about how you measure success. Forget about likes, comments, shares, and even your cost per click. There is only one metric that truly matters for an eCommerce business: Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). It's a simple calculation: for every euro you spend on ads, how many euros in revenue do you get back?

ROAS = Total Revenue from Ads / Total Ad Spend

If you spend €100 on ads and generate €300 in sales, your ROAS is 3x. This number tells you if your advertising is profitable. To know your breakeven point, you need to know your product's profit margin. For example, if your blanket sells for €50 and your total cost to produce and ship it is €20 (a 60% gross margin), your breakeven ROAS is 1 / 0.60 = 1.67x. Any ROAS above 1.67x means you are making a profit on every sale driven by your ads. I remember one campaign we ran for a subscription box client that hit a 1000% ROAS (10x), but a good starting goal for a new store is often 2x-4x.

Use the calculator below to understand your own numbers. This will shift your focus from vanity metrics to the financial health of your ad campaigns.

This is the main advice I have for you:

To bring everything together, here is a clear, actionable table of my main recommendations for you to implement for your very first campaign. Focus on these steps in order, and you'll be giving yourself the best possible chance of success.

I know this is a lot to take in, and it can seem overwhelming when you're just starting. The reality of paid advertising is that it involves a constant cycle of testing, learning, and optimising. It's part science and part art, and it takes experience to navigate effectively and avoid costly mistakes, especially when your budget is tight.

Working with a specialist can help you bypass months of frustrating (and expensive) trial and error. We can help you implement these strategies correctly from day one, interpret the data your campaigns are generating, and make the right decisions to scale profitably.

If you'd like to discuss your project in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can review your plans and provide some more specific guidance. It's a great way to get a second pair of expert eyes on your strategy before you spend your first euro.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh