Solved: Preventing a 10k$ Ad Spend Waste on Facebook

Hi there,

Thanks for your enquiry! It sounds like you had a whirlwind of a time last year. Getting 70 customers in a week is a fantastic result and proves you've got an offer people want, which is honestly the hardest part. The challenge, as you've found, is making that success predictable and profitable, rather than just breaking even and causing a load of stress.

I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on how you can move away from the ad-hoc 'boosting' method to a more structured approach this year. The goal is to get you more control over your budget and better, more consistent results without the panic of being overbooked. It's all about building a proper sales machine that you can turn up or down as needed, instead of just throwing money at posts and hoping for the best.

First, we need to talk about the "Boost Post" button...

Alright, let's get the biggest thing out of the way first. You need to stop using the "Boost Post" button. I know it's tempting and easy, but you're essentially paying Facebook to find the worst possible audience for your business.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when you boost a post, the default objective is usually "Engagement" or "Reach". You are giving Meta's powerful algorithm a very specific, and very unhelpful, command: "Find me the largest number of people who will 'like' this photo for the lowest possible price." The algorithm does exactly what you asked. It seeks out users inside your targeting who love to click 'like', leave a comment, but are least likely to ever pull out a credit card and actually book a session. Why? Because those users aren't in high demand for advertisers who want sales. Their attention is cheap. You are actively paying to find people who are good at engaging, not people who are good at buying.

The fact you broke even last year is a testament to how good your offer must be, because the system was working against you. To get serious results and properly control your budget, you have to use the main Facebook Ads Manager interface. This lets you choose a "Conversion" or "Sales" objective, telling the algorithm to specifically hunt for people who are most likely to take the action you actually want them to take – booking a photoshoot. This single change is the most important one you can make. It's the difference between hoping for customers and actively engineering a system to create them.

I'd say you need a proper advertising funnel...

Okay, so once we're using Ads Manager, we don't want to just run one ad at everyone. A much better approach is to think like a real salesperson and build a relationship. In advertising, we call this a funnel. It basically splits your audience into three groups based on how well they know you: cold, warm, and hot. You'll talk to each group differently.

Top of Funnel (ToFu) - Awareness: This is your cold audience. These are people in your local area who fit the demographic (e.g., parents with young children) but have likely never heard of you. Your goal here isn't necessarily to get a booking straight away. It's to introduce yourself and your beautiful work. You want to stop them scrolling with a stunning photo or a short, engaging video of a fun session. The message is simple: "Beautiful Christmas photoshoots available locally."

Middle of Funnel (MoFu) - Consideration: This is your warm audience. These are people who've shown some interest. They've visited your website, watched one of your videos, or engaged with your Facebook or Instagram page. They know who you are, but they haven't committed. Your goal here is to build trust and remind them of your offer. You could show them a carousel of your best work, a testimonial from a happy family from last year, or an ad explaining what makes your sessions special.

Bottom of Funnel (BoFu) - Conversion: This is your hot audience. These people are on the verge of booking. They might have clicked through to your pricing or booking page but got distracted. Your goal here is to give them a final nudge to take action. The message can be more direct and create a bit of urgency, like "Still thinking about it? Christmas slots are filling up fast!" or "Don't miss out on creating your family's Christmas memories."

Structuring your campaigns this way is so much more effective because you're sending the right message to the right person at teh right time. You're not asking a complete stranger to marry you on the first date; you're building a relationship that leads to a booking.

You probably should prioritise your audiences...

Since your goal is to be more conservitive with the budget, this is the most important part. You don't have to tackle the whole funnel at once. You should work backwards, starting with the people most likely to convert. This gives you the quickest return and helps fund the advertising you'll do to find new people.

Here’s how I would prioritise your audiences, from highest to lowest priority:

1. Bottom of Funnel (BoFu) - Hottest Leads: These are your golden geese.
   • Website Visitors (Booking/Pricing Page): Anyone who landed on your specific Christmas photoshoot page or your general pricing page in the last 30-60 days. They were actively considering you. You absolutely must run ads to them.
   • Past Customers: This is a huge one. You have a list of 70 happy families from last year. Upload that email list to Facebook and target them directly! They already know, like, and trust you. A simple "We're back! Book your 2023 Christmas session" ad could get you an amazing response for very little spend.


2. Middle of Funnel (MoFu) - Warm Interest:
   • Social Media Engagers: Anyone who has liked, commented, shared, or saved one of your posts on Facebook or Instagram in the last 90 days. They're familiar with your style.
   • Video Viewers: If you use video (and you should!), you can create an audience of people who watched a significant portion (e.g., 50% or more) of your videos. This is a strong signal of interest.


3. Top of Funnel (ToFu) - Finding New People: Only once you have your BoFu and MoFu campaigns running and profitable should you really start spending significant money here.
   • Lookalike Audiences: This is where it gets powerful. You can ask Facebook to find new people who are statistically similar to your best customers. Create a Lookalike audience based on your email list of last year's 70 customers. This is often far more effective than just guessing with interests. You can also create Lookalikes of your website visitors.
   • Detailed Interest Targeting: This is what most people think of as "targeting". You'll target people based on their interests and behaviours. For you, this would be things like: Parents with pre-schoolers/toddlers, people who live within a 15-mile radius of your studio, and people with interests in things like "Family portraits," "Christmas cards," or who follow pages of local family attractions. Be specific. Targeting "Photography" is too broad.

By starting with your BoFu audiences, you spend your first pounds on the people most likely to give you a return. A small budget can go a very long way here. As the bookings come in, you can reinvest the profit into your MoFu and then ToFu campaigns to grow and find new customers. This is how you build a sustainable system instead of just burning cash.

You'll need a message they can't ignore...

You said your offer is good, and I believe you. But in advertising, the offer isn't just the price and the deliverables; it's how you communicate the value and solve a problem for the customer. Your ad needs to speak directly to the nightmare that is getting a decent family photo for the Christmas card.

Let's use a simple copywriting framework: Before - After - Bridge.

The Before State: Paint a picture of their current pain. "Another year of trying to get the kids to sit still for a blurry iPhone photo? The forced smiles, the chaotic background, the stress of trying to get just *one* good shot for the Christmas card..." You're showing them you understand their frustration.

The After State: Describe the dream outcome. "Imagine a relaxed, fun-filled session where your family's genuine laughter and connection are captured in beautiful, magical photgraphs. The perfect photo for your Christmas card, delivered stress-free, creating a memory you'll cherish long after the decorations are packed away."

The Bridge: This is your offer. "Our limited-edition Christmas Mini-Sessions are the bridge from holiday photo stress to cherished family art. Click here to see the available slots and book your session before they're all gone."

This structure is much more compelling than just saying "Christmas Photoshoots £XXX". You're not selling a photoshoot; you're selling relief from stress, a beautiful memory, and the feeling of being a parent who has it all together.

And for your ad creative, think beyond just showing your best final images. Of course, you need those, but also test:

• A short video (15-30 seconds): Show behind-the-scenes clips of a real session. Kids laughing, you interacting with the family, the magical set. This sells the *experience* and builds immense trust.
• A Carousel Ad: Show a sequence. Image 1: A stunning hero shot. Image 2: A close-up of the beautiful set. Image 3: A glowing testimonial from a past client. Image 4: A clear call to action with the price/details.
• User-Generated Content (UGC): If you have permission from last year's clients, a simple video of them talking about their experience would be incredibly powerful. It's more believable than anything you can say about yourself.

Testing different messages and creative formats is vital. What works for one audience might not work for another. Ads Manager lets you easily test these against each other to see what drives actual bookings, not just likes.

Let's talk numbers: What can you actually afford to spend?

This is where we get rid of the "burning cash" mindset and adopt an investor's mindset. You're not spending money; you're acquiring customers at a profitable rate. To do that, you need to know your numbers. The key question isn't "How low can my cost per booking go?" but "How high a cost per booking can I afford and still make a healthy profit?"

Let's do some simple maths. You need to figure out your profit margin on each photoshoot.

• Average Revenue Per Photoshoot: What's the total price a customer pays? Let's say it's £250 for this example.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): What are your direct costs for that session? This includes your time, editing software subscriptions (allocated per shoot), props, any prints included, etc. Let's say this is £50.
• Gross Margin: This is your profit before advertising costs. In this case, £250 - £50 = £200.

So, you have £200 of gross margin per customer. Now, you can decide how much of that you're willing to reinvest to get the *next* customer. A common target is a 3:1 return on ad spend (ROAS). This means for every £1 you spend on ads, you want to get £3 back in revenue. To get a £250 booking, you could afford to spend up to £83 (£250 / 3) and still hit this goal.

Suddenly, seeing a "Cost per Booking" of £60 in your Ads Manager doesn't look like burning money. It looks like you're printing money – you're paying £60 to make a £200 profit. This is the math that lets you scale confidently. Use the calculator below to play with your own numbers and find your maximum affordable cost per acquisition (CPA).

This is the main advice I have for you:

So, how do we put all this together into an actionable plan? It's about starting small, proving the model with your warmest audiences, and then scaling up methodically. Forget about a £10k budget for now. Let's talk about making your first £500-£1000 work as hard as possible. I've detailed my main recommendations for you in a table below. This is a simple campaign structure you can implement.

This approach transforms your advertising from a gamble into a system. You start with the lowest-hanging fruit to get cash flow and data. You use that success to fund expansion into colder, larger audiences. You let the data from Ads Manager, not your gut feeling, tell you which ads and audiences are working so you can confidently scale your budget.

It can feel like a lot to take in, especially moving from the simplicity of 'boosting' to the depth of Ads Manager. It's not just about setting up an ad; it's about understanding the strategy, testing creatively, analysing the data, and optimising constantly. It takes time and expertise to get right.

That's where professional help can often make a huge difference, preventing costly mistakes and accelerating your path to predictable, profitable results. If you'd like to go through your specific situation in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can look at your goals and sketch out a more detailed strategy together. It might be helpful to have a second pair of expert eyes on it before you start spending this year's budget.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh