Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your Facebook Ads. It sounds like you're in a common spot, trying to make a small budget work in a competitive space. The good news is, it's doable, but not by thinking about it in the way most people do.
The core issue isn't really about finding secret "low-competition keywords" or just layering interests. That's a symptom of a bigger problem. The real challenge is getting so deep into your ideal customer's head that your targeting and your ads feel like they were made specifically for them. We need to shift from guessing at interests to understanding intent and pain.
TLDR;
- Stop hunting for magic "keywords" on Meta. Your focus should be on defining your customer by their deep-seated desires and problems, not by generic interests like "watches".
- Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a demographic; it's a 'nightmare' or a strong aspiration. For your niche, it's likely the desire for status and style without the financial anxiety.
- Structure your campaigns around a proper sales funnel (ToFu, MoFu, BoFu). Don't just throw money at cold audiences. Prioritise retargeting as soon as you have data.
- The most important number isn't your Cost Per Click, it's your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Our interactive calculator below will show you how much you can actually afford to spend to get a customer.
- Never, ever run "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" campaigns on a tight budget. You are literally paying Facebook to find people who will never buy from you. Always optimise for conversions (Purchases).
We'll need to look at your customer, not your product...
This is probably the biggest mistake I see people make, especially with new stores. They're obsessed with their product – the watches, the handbags, the "luxury-inspired" angle. So they go onto Facebook and target people interested in "watches". Makes sense, right? Wrong. It's lazy, and it's why your first £100 will evaporate with nothing to show for it.
Who are you actually selling to? A person who types "watches" into Facebook could be a collector of £20,000 Rolexes, a teenager looking for a cheap Casio, or someone just browsing. You're trying to sell a specific feeling: the confidence of luxury style, without the price tag. Your customer isn't just someone who likes accessories. Your customer is likely someone who feels a pang of envy when they see a celebrity with a designer bag, who reads Vogue but shops at Zara, who wants to project success and style but has real-world budget constraints. Their pain point isn't "I don't have a watch". Their pain point is "I feel my external style doesn't match my internal ambition," or "I want to fit in with a crowd that has more money than me."
Forget the sterile, demographic-based profile. "Women aged 25-40 in the USA" tells you nothing of value. It leads to generic ads that speak to no one. To stop burning cash, you must define your customer by their pain and their aspirations.
Your ICP isn't a person; it's a problem state. Once you've isolated that problem, you can find them. Where do these people hang out online? They probably follow specific fashion influencers (the high-end ones, for aspiration), read online magazines like Hypebeast or Who What Wear, and are interested in luxury brands they can't quite afford yet (think Chanel, Gucci, Dior). They're probably also tagged as "Engaged Shoppers" by Facebook because they're always browsing online stores. Now we're getting somewhere. This is the blueprint for your targeting, not just "bags".
Vague Demographic Targeting
- Female, 25-40
- Lives in USA
- Interest: "Handbags"
- Leads to generic ads, high costs, and low relevance. You're talking to everyone and therefore no one.
Pain-Point Psychographic Targeting
- Feels their style doesn't reflect their ambition.
- Aspires to luxury brands but has a mid-range budget.
- Follows high-fashion influencers & magazines.
- Behaviour: Engaged Shopper.
- Leads to hyper-relevant ads that resonate deeply and drive action.
I'd say you need a proper campaign structure...
Okay, once you know *who* you're talking to, you need to structure your ads properly. Don't just create one campaign and hope for the best. You need to think like a proper marketer and build a funnel. In Meta ads, this means splitting your efforts into different stages. Because your budget is small, we'll keep it simple.
When I audit client accounts, most are just a mess of campaigns with no clear strategy. The ones that work follow a logical progression, guiding a user from stranger to customer. The further along in the funnel an audience is, the better it will perform. It's just common sense – someone who has already added a product to their cart is much more likely to buy than a complete stranger.
Here’s a simplified structure I would prioritise for you:
1. Top of Funnel (ToFu) - Prospecting: This is where you find new people. Your goal here is to introduce your brand to the ICP we defined above. You'll use interest-based targeting here. This is your 'cold' audience.
2. Middle/Bottom of Funnel (MoFu/BoFu) - Retargeting: This is the most important part, and where you'll make your money. This campaign targets people who have already interacted with you in some way but haven't bought yet. They've visited your website, watched one of your ad videos, or engaged with your Instagram page. They are 'warm' leads. With a small budget, you can combine these into a single retargeting campaign.
Your daily budget should be split. Maybe 70% on your ToFu prospecting campaign to bring new people in, and 30% on your BoFu retargeting campaign to close the deal. The retargeting budget is crucial because most people don't buy on the first visit. You need to stay in front of them. For eCommerce clients, a solid funnel is key. I remember one women's apparel store we worked with achieved a 691% return on ad spend on their campaigns with us.
ToFu: Prospecting
Goal: Find new people.
Audience: Interest/Behaviour Targeting based on your ICP.
Budget: ~70% of spend.
MoFu: Consideration
Goal: Re-engage site visitors.
Audience: Website Visitors, Video Viewers (last 30 days).
Message: Show different products, highlight benefits.
BoFu: Conversion
Goal: Close the sale.
Audience: Added to Cart, Initiated Checkout (last 7-14 days).
Message: Offer a small discount, remind them of what they left behind.
You probably should build your audiences like this...
Now let's get practical. Inside your ToFu (prospecting) campaign, you'll create different ad sets to test audiences. This is where your question about layering comes in. Don't just throw "PayPal" on top of "watches". It's too random. Layering should be logical and based on your ICP.
For a new account, you'll start by testing detailed targeting (interests and behaviours). You need to feed the Facebook pixel data before you can do anything more advanced like Lookalike audiences. Here's how I would group and test them. Create a seperate ad set for each of these ideas, give them a small daily budget (£5-£10 each), and see which one performs after a few days.
Ad Set 1: Aspirational Brands
Target people interested in high-end luxury brands they likely can't afford. This taps directly into the desire for that aesthetic.
-> Interests: Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Cartier.
Ad Set 2: Aspirational Media
Target people who consume media about luxury fashion. They are actively soaking up the style you're trying to emulate.
-> Interests: Vogue Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, Elle Magazine, Who What Wear.
Ad Set 3: Competitor-Adjacent
Target people interested in other "affordable luxury" or high-street fashion brands that have a similar vibe.
-> Interests: Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Coach, Tory Burch, Zara, Mango.
Ad Set 4: Behavioural Layering
This is where you get a bit more specific. Take one of the best performing interest groups from above (let's say Aspirational Brands) and layer it with a high-intent behaviour.
-> Layer 1 (Interests): Chanel, Gucci, etc.
-> Layer 2 (AND must also match Behaviour): Engaged Shoppers.
This tells Facebook: "Find me people who like Gucci AND who have also clicked the 'Shop Now' button on an ad in the last week." This is a much stronger signal than either interest on its own.
| Ad Set Theme | Example Interests/Behaviours | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Aspirational Brands | Rolex, Cartier, Patek Philippe, Chanel, Hermès, Gucci | Targets users who desire high-end luxury, making them receptive to an affordable alternative that offers a similar style. |
| 2. Aspirational Media | Vogue, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Hypebeast, Highsnobiety | Reaches an audience that is actively consuming content about fashion and luxury trends, indicating a strong interest in aesthetics. |
| 3. Competitor-Adjacent | MVMT Watches, Daniel Wellington, Kate Spade, Michael Kors | Targets customers already buying from brands in the "affordable luxury" space. They have already proven they will spend money in this category. |
| 4. High-Intent Behavioural Layer | (Interests from above) AND Behaviour = "Engaged Shoppers" | Narrows the audience to people who not only have the interest but have also recently demonstrated buying behaviour online. This is your most qualified cold audience. |
For your retargeting (BoFu) campaign, keep it simple. Create one ad set that targets "All Website Visitors in the last 30 days" and a second, more aggressive one that targets "Added to Cart but did not Purchase in the last 14 days". Show them the products they looked at or left in their cart. This is low-hanging fruit.
You'll need a message they can't ignore...
Targeting is only half the battle. Your ad creative and copy need to speak directly to the pain point we identified earlier. Don't just show a picture of a watch and say "Buy Now". You need to use a framework like Problem-Agitate-Solve.
You're not selling "affordable luxury-inspired accessories". You're selling a feeling. The feeling of confidence, of fitting in, of looking the part without the financial stress. Your ad needs to reflect that.
Here's how you could apply it:
Headline: The Luxury Look, Without The Luxury Price Tag.
Ad Copy:
(Problem) Ever scroll through Instagram and get a serious case of style envy? That perfect watch, that classic handbag... always just out of reach.
(Agitate) It's frustrating when your budget doesn't match your taste. You feel like you have to choose between looking good and being financially responsible.
(Solve) You don't. Get the timeless, high-end style you crave at a price that makes sense. Our collection gives you that rush of confidence, without the buyer's remorse. Shop now and elevate your look today.
This kind of copy connects on an emotional level. It shows you understand their internal struggle. Combine this with really high-quality photos or, even better, short videos (user-generated style content works amazingly well), and you'll have an ad that actually gets clicks from the right people. For example, we ran a campaign for a cleaning products company that saw a 633% return.
You need to understand your numbers before you spend a penny...
This is so important, especially on a tight budget. The real question isn't "How low can my cost per click be?" but "How much can I afford to spend to acquire a customer and still be profitable?" The answer is in a metric called Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
If you know what a customer is worth to you over their entire time buying from you, you can make much smarter decisions about your ad spend. Most new store owners have no idea, so they panic when they see a £20 cost per purchase, even if that customer goes on to spend £200 over the next year.
Let's do a quick, simplified calculation. You'll need to estimate a few things:
1. Average Order Value (AOV): What's the average amount a customer spends in one transaction? Let's say it's £60.
2. Purchase Frequency: How many times do you expect a customer to buy from you in a year? For a new store, let's be conservative and say 1.5 times.
3. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin after the cost of the goods? Let's say it's 60%.
The calculation for a simple 1-year LTV would be:
LTV = (AOV * Purchase Frequency) * Gross Margin %
LTV = (£60 * 1.5) * 0.60
LTV = £90 * 0.60 = £54
In this example, each new customer is worth £54 in gross profit to you in their first year. A healthy ratio of LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to £18 (£54 / 3) to acquire a single new customer. Suddenly, you have a real, data-backed target for your campaigns. A £15 Cost Per Purchase isn't a failure; it's a success!
Use the calculator below to play with your own numbers. This will give you a much better sense of what you can afford.
This is the main advice I have for you:
There's a lot to take in here, I know. It's not as simple as picking a few interests and pressing 'go'. To be succesful, especially with a small budget, you have to be smarter than your competition. I've broken down the key actions into a table for you below. This is the roadmap I would follow.
| Step | Action | Why It's Important | Objective to Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Define Your ICP | Go beyond demographics. Define your customer by their core problem or aspiration (e.g., "wants luxury style without the debt"). | This is the foundation for all your targeting and ad copy. Without it, you're just guessing and wasting money. | N/A (Strategy Work) |
| 2. Setup Funnel Campaigns | Create two separate campaigns: one for Prospecting (ToFu) and one for Retargeting (BoFu). Split your budget ~70/30. | Ensures you're both finding new customers and converting the ones who have already shown interest. It's efficient. | Sales / Conversions |
| 3. Test ToFu Audiences | In your Prospecting campaign, create multiple ad sets testing different interest categories: Aspirational Brands, Media, Competitors, and Layered Behaviours. | Systematically finds which pocket of your ICP is most responsive and profitable on Meta, allowing you to scale the winners. | Sales / Conversions |
| 4. Implement Retargeting | In your Retargeting campaign, create ad sets for "Website Visitors (30d)" and "Add to Cart (14d)". Exclude purchasers. | This is where most of your profitable sales will come from. It reminds warm leads to complete their purchase. | Sales / Conversions |
| 5. Write Better Copy | Use the Problem-Agitate-Solve framework in your ad copy to connect with your ICP on an emotional level. | Good copy dramatically increases your Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate, lowering your overall costs. | N/A (Creative Work) |
| 6. Know Your Numbers | Use the LTV calculator to determine your target Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Monitor your campaigns against this number. | Allows you to make objective, data-driven decisions about which ads to keep running and which to turn off. | N/A (Analysis Work) |
So, what now?
Getting this stuff right takes time, testing, and experience. You're competing against businesses with big budgets and dedicated marketing teams. The strategy I've outlined is a professional approach, but implementing it, monitoring the data, and making the right adjustments day-to-day is a full-time job in itself.
The difference between burning through your budget and building a profitable sales machine often comes down to expertise. Knowing which tiny lever to pull, which audience to scale, which creative is fatiguing – these are things you learn from managing hundreds of campaigns and millions in ad spend.
If you're serious about growing your store and want to make sure your ad budget is an investment, not an expense, it might be worth considering expert help. We offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can take a proper look at your store and your goals and give you a more detailed, tailored strategy.
Hope this has been helpful either way. It's a lot to digest, but focus on understanding your customer first and the rest will start to fall into place.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
