Solved: Meta Ads Funnel for Plymouth Sales (Real Customer Inside)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I had a look at your question about finding a Meta ads funnel blueprint for sales in Plymouth. It’s a common problem – lots of people search for that perfect, proven template they can just copy and paste.

But I'm going to be brutally honest with you: the reason you're struggling to find one that works is because it doesn't exist. At least, not in the way you're thinking. A "funnel blueprint" is the last thing you should be worrying about right now. It's like trying to pick out the perfect door handles for a house you haven't even laid the foundations for yet. Any funnel, no matter how clever, will collapse if it's built on a weak foundation. The real work, the stuff that actually drives sales in a local market like Plymouth, happens way before you even open Ads Manager.

So, I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance, but we're going to ignore the funnel for a bit and focus on what really matters. We’re going to build that solid foundation first. Get this right, and the "funnel" part becomes almost trivially simple.

We'll need to look at your customer, not your funnel...

Right, let's get this sorted. Forget "people in Plymouth." That's not a target audience; it's just a location. It tells you nothing of value and leads to generic ads that speak to absolutely no one. This is the single biggest mistake businesses make, and it's why they burn through cash with nothing to show for it. To stop wasting money, you have to define your customer by their pain.

You need to become an obsessive expert in their specific, urgent, career-threatening, relationship-straining nightmare. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a demographic; it's a problem state. Let's make this real.

Imagine you run a high-end local landscaping service in Plymouth. Your old ICP might have been "Homeowners, aged 40-65, in affluent postcodes like PL9." It's useless.

Your new, pain-based ICP is "Sarah, 48, lives in Plymstock. She's embarrassed. Her neighbours, the Joneses, just had their garden professionally redesigned, and it looks like something out of a magazine. Her own garden is a mess of weeds and patchy lawn. She and her husband both work demanding jobs and are too exhausted on weekends to tackle it. They're hosting a big family BBQ in six weeks for their 25th anniversary and the thought of her critical mother-in-law seeing the state of the garden is giving her sleepless nights."

See the difference? We're not selling "landscaping services" to Sarah. We're selling her relief from embarrassment. We're selling her the pride of hosting a beautiful anniversary party. We're selling her the ability to finally one-up the Joneses. The garden is just the vehicle. When you understand this, your entire marketing approach changes. Your ad copy writes itself, your targeting becomes laser-focused, and your offer becomes a lifeline she'll grab with both hands.

Your task is to do this for your business. Who, specifically, in Plymouth is in pain right now? What is the expensive, urgent problem they are facing that you are uniquely positioned to solve? Don't move on until you can describe this person and their problem in excruciating detail. This is the bedrock of your entire strategy. Everything else is just noise.

I'd say you need an offer they can't ignore...

Once you know your customer's nightmare, your offer's only job is to be the perfect cure. Most businesses get this completly wrong. Their offer is usually a timid, high-friction "Request a Quote" or "Shop Now" button. This is arrogant. It presumes your prospect is already sold and is willing to do all the work.

A powerful offer does the opposite. It is high-value, low-friction, and delivers an immediate "aha!" moment that makes the prospect sell themselves on your solution. For a local business in Plymouth, this is your chance to shine. You have the home-field advantage over the national, faceless corporations.

What does an irresistible local offer look like?

• For a service business (e.g., plumber, electrician): Not just "Free Quote." How about a "Free 15-Minute Leaky Tap Diagnosis via Video Call"? Or a "Guaranteed Same-Day Quote for any PL postcode"? It's specific, it offers instant value, and it removes risk. I remember one campaign for a home cleaning company. Their offer was specific and removed all the risk for a new customer, which helped them stand out from competitors just offering a "Free Quote". It became one of our best-performing campaigns, bringing in leads for just £5 each.
• For a retail/eCommerce business (e.g., local boutique, bakery): Not just "10% Off." How about "Free Same-Day 'Desk Drop' Delivery to any Plymouth City Centre Office"? Or a "Build Your Own Local Hamper - We'll Hand-Deliver it Today"? This highlights your unique local advantage that Amazon can't compete with.
• For a professional service (e.g., accountant, web designer): Not a "Free Consultation." How about a "Free 5-Point 'Are You Paying Too Much Tax?' Check for Plymouth Businesses"? Or a "Free Homepage Speed & Mobile-Friendliness Audit"? You must solve a small, real problem for free to earn the right to solve the whole thing.

Your offer must feel like a life raft to your drowning ICP. It needs to be so good, so relevant to their specific pain, that they'd feel stupid for not taking it. Use the calculator below to honestly assess how strong your current offer is. If it's not scoring in the 'Irresistible' range, you need to go back to the drawing board before you spend a single penny on ads.

You probably should rethink your message...

Now you have a razor-sharp picture of your customer's pain and an irresistible offer to solve it. The final piece of the foundation is the message that connects the two. This is your ad copy and creative. Your ad has one job: to stop someone scrolling and make them feel seen, understood, and a little bit relieved that someone finally *gets it*.

To do this, you deploy a simple but powerful copywriting framework. The most effective one for most businesses is Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS).

1. Problem: State the problem your ICP is experiencing in their own words. Hit the nail on the head immediately. No warm-up.
2. Agitate: Pour salt in the wound. Describe why the problem is so frustrating, embarrassing, or costly. Twist the knife a little. Make them feel the pain more acutely.
3. Solve: Introduce your offer as the quick, easy, and obvious solution to their pain.

Let's write a few examples for hypothetical Plymouth businesses:

Business: A local IT support company for small businesses.
ICP: A small business owner in Drake Circus whose slow, crashing computers are killing productivity and stressing out their staff.
Ad Copy (PAS): (P) Is your office Wi-Fi slower than the Torpoint Ferry at rush hour? (A) Every spinning wheel is money down the drain. Your staff are frustrated, deadlines are being missed, and you're wasting time being the unofficial 'IT guy' instead of running your business. (S) We provide fast, reliable IT support for Plymouth businesses, guaranteed. Get a free, no-jargon network health check this week and find out exactly where the bottlenecks are. Click to book yours.

Business: A local meal prep delivery service.
ICP: A busy professional living in the Royal William Yard who wants to eat healthy but has no time to cook.
Ad Copy (PAS): (P) Another Tuesday, another last-minute dash to Tesco for a sad-looking ready meal? (A) You start the week with good intentions, but life gets in the way. You're tired of unhealthy takeaways, wasting money on groceries you don't use, and feeling guilty about not eating better. (S) Get delicious, chef-prepared, healthy meals delivered to your door in Plymouth. Stop stressing about dinner. Get 3 meals free with your first order this week. See the menu now.

This isn't complex, but it's powerful because it leads with empathy. It shows the customer you understand their world before you ask for anything in return. Your ad creative (the image or video) should then visually represent either the 'pain' (the Agitate stage) or the 'pleasure' (the Solve stage). A photo of a frustrated office worker staring at a loading screen, or a picture of a smiling family enjoying a healthy meal together. Simple, direct, and effective.

You'll need a simple, powerful campaign structure...

Okay, the foundation is solid. NOW we can talk about the "funnel." And the good news is, for a local business in Plymouth, it's far simpler than you think. You don't need a 12-step, multi-platform, automated webinar sequence. You need two things: a way to find new customers, and a way to remind interested people to come back.

First, a word of warning. Whatever you do, do NOT run a "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" campaign. This is the fastest way to waste money. When you tell Meta you want 'reach', you are giving the algorithm a very specific command: "Find me the largest number of people for the lowest possible price." The algorithm does exactly that. It finds users inside your targeting who are least likely to click, least likely to engage, and definately least likely to ever buy anything. Their attention is cheap for a reason. You are literally paying to find the worst possible audience.

From day one, every penny you spend must be on a campaign with a Conversions objective (or Leads, depending on your goal). You are telling Meta: "I don't care about clicks or views, find me people within my target area who are most likely to actually take the action I want them to take." This is how you find customers, not just tyre-kickers.

Here is your simple, effective structure:

Campaign 1: Prospecting (Finding New Customers)

• Objective: Conversions (e.g., Sales, Leads, Complete Registration).
• Budget: Allocate about 70-80% of your total ad spend here.
• Targeting: This is where your ICP work pays off.
  • Location: "Plymouth + 10 miles". Be specific.
  • Audiences (in separate Ad Sets for testing): Don't just target by age. Create ad sets based on the pain points and interests of your ICP. For the landscaper, you might target people interested in "Grand Designs", "Gardeners' World", and luxury home goods brands. For the IT support company, target "Business Page Admins" who also have an interest in accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks. You're looking for signals that they are your person.
• Ads: Your PAS ads go here. Test 2-3 different images/videos and 2-3 variations of your copy. Let Meta figure out the best combination.

Campaign 2: Retargeting (Bringing People Back)

• Objective: Conversions. Always.
• Budget: The remaining 20-30% of your spend.
• Targeting:
  • Audience: Create a custom audience of people who have visited your website in the last 30 days AND people who have engaged with your Facebook or Instagram page in the last 30 days. Crucially, exclude people who have already converted (e.g., purchased or become a lead). You don't want to annoy your new customers. Because you are local, this audience will be small to start with, which is why you combine them. As you grow, you can split them out.
• Ads: The messaging here is slightly different. These people already know who you are. You can be more direct. Remind them of the offer, add a testimonial, or overcome a common objection. "Still thinking it over? Here's what our Plymouth clients have to say..." or "Your free network health check is waiting for you. Only 3 spots left this week."

That's it. That's your "funnel." It's simple, it's focused, and it works because it's built on a solid understanding of your customer and a compelling offer. You don't need anything more complicated than this to start getting results in Plymouth.

We'll need to look at your budget and expectations...

The final, critical question is: what is a new customer actually worth to you? Without knowing this, you're flying blind. You have no way of knowing if your ads are profitable or just a costly hobby. Most business owners guess at this, or they focus obsessively on a low Cost Per Lead (CPL) without understanding the bigger picture.

The real question isn't "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a truly great customer?" The answer lies in its counterpart: Lifetime Value (LTV).

Let's do some simple maths. You need to know three things:

1. Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What do you make per customer, per month/year?
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue?
3. Monthly Churn Rate %: What percentage of customers do you lose each month? (Or calculate customer lifetime in months: 1 / Churn Rate).

The calculation is: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

Let's say you're that Plymouth IT support company. Your average client pays £300/month (ARPA), your gross margin is 70%, and you lose about 2% of your clients each month (Churn).

LTV = (£300 * 0.70) / 0.02
LTV = £210 / 0.02 = £10,500

In this example, each new customer is worth £10,500 in gross margin to your business over their lifetime. A healthy business model aims for a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means you can afford to spend up to £3,500 (£10,500 / 3) to acquire a single new customer.

Now, if your sales process converts 1 in 10 qualified leads into a paying customer, you can afford to pay up to £350 per qualified lead. Suddenly, a £50 CPL from your Meta ads doesn't seem expensive, does it? It looks like an incredible bargain.

This is the maths that unlocks intelligent, aggressive growth. It frees you from the tyranny of cheap leads and allows you to focus on acquiring high-quality customers who will stay with you for years. Use the calculator below to get a rough idea of your own numbers. It's probably the most important calculation you'll do for your business this year.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

So, to bring it all together, here's the 'blueprint' you should be following. It's not a set of ad settings to copy, but a strategic process. This is the work that leads to profitable, scalable advertising in a local market like Plymouth.

As you can see, this foundational work is intensive. It requires deep thinking, research, and a clear understanding of business metrics. It's why so many businesses skip it and jump straight to building ads, only to be disappointed with the results.

Working with an expert means you have a partner who forces you to do this foundational work correctly from the outset. We help clients dig deep into their customer profiles, pressure-test their offers until they're irresistible, and build campaigns based on profitable unit economics, not guesswork. It's about building a sustainable marketing engine, not just running a few ads.

If you'd like to walk through this process for your specific business and get a second pair of expert eyes on your strategy, we offer a completely free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session. We can audit your current approach and give you some concrete, actionable advice to implement right away.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh