Ditch Google Ads: Acquire Prize Draw App Users Profitably with Meta

You've got a prize draw app, a loyal base in a few spots in London, and you're pumping money into Google Search ads with keywords like "win prizes London" only to see it vanish. It feels like you're doing everything right, but the cost per new user is crippling. The truth is, your problem isn't your app or your prizes, it's that you're fishing in the wrong pond with the wrong bait.

Most businesses in your shoes default to Google Search because it seems logical. People are searching for what you offer, so you show them an ad. Simple. But for something like a prize draw, the intent behind that search is often the problem. You're attracting low-quality, transient users who just want free stuff, not a community of loyal players. We're going to tear down that approach and build a new one, one that finds high-value users where they actually hang out, ready to be entertained.

So, why are my search ads failing so badly?

Let's be brutally honest. Targeting keywords like "free competitions London" is a recepie for disaster. You're entering a bidding war against every other competition site, affiliate marketer, and survey company out there. The competition is fierce, which drives your costs through the roof. But the cost is only half the problem.

The bigger issue is the user intent. Someone typing "free prizes" into Google isn't looking to become a loyal member of your app's community. They are on a mission to grab as much free stuff as possible, from as many sources as possible, as quickly as possible. They'll download your app, enter once, and probably never open it again. Their lifetime value is likely zero, or close to it. So you're paying a premium price for a user who offers no long-term return. It's a fundamentally broken model for what you're trying to achieve, which is sustainable growth and market share.

You think you're targeting people with a need, but you're actually targeting people with a habit of getting freebies. They aren't your ideal customer. They're just a drain on your ad budget. It's time to stop paying to attract the worst possible audience for your business.

If not search, then where are my ideal users?

Your ideal users are on their commute through Clapham, scrolling through their phone. They're waiting for a friend in a coffee shop in Shoreditch. They're bored on a Tuesday night in Islington. They aren't actively searching for "prize draws" – they are looking to be entertained. And this is why platforms like Meta (Facebook & Instagram) are where you should be focusing your entire budget.

Think about the psychology. Prize draws are an impulse action. It's a small thrill, a bit of fun, a "what if?" moment. That fits perfectly into the social media mindset. People are in a discovery mode, not a search mode. They are open to seeing something new and engaging that offers a quick hit of dopamine. An ad showing a fantastic prize—a weekend away, dinner at a top London restaurant, tickets to a show—can stop them in their tracks.

This is where we've seen massive success for similar businesses. I remember one campaign we ran for a prize draw client that generated over £107k in revenue at a 618% Return On Ad Spend. We didn't touch Google Search. It was all done on Meta, by understanding that we weren't selling a utility, we were selling entertainment and aspiration. We found people in their moments of downtime and gave them something exciting to do. That's the shift in mindset you need to make.

How do I build a Meta campaign that wins in London?

Okay, so we're agreed, Meta is the place to be. But just turning on ads there with broad targeting will burn your money just as fast as Google. You need a surgical approach, especially in a diverse and dense market like London. This is about being smart with your targeting and messaging.

Your first and most powerful asset is your existing loyal user base. You said you have strongholds in certain London boroughs. This is pure gold. The first thing you need to do is export a list of these users (their emails or phone numbers) and upload it to Meta to create a Custom Audience. Then, you create a Lookalike Audience from it. You are literally telling Meta's algorithm: "go and find me more people in London who look exactly like my best, most loyal customers". This is, without a doubt, the most powerful targeting tool at your disposal and it should be the foundation of your entire strategy.

From there, you build out your campaigns in tiers. Start by targeting that 1% Lookalike audience in the specific boroughs you want to expand into. Dont just target 'London'. Be specific. Target Kensington & Chelsea, then target Wandsworth, then target Hackney. Run seperate ad sets for each borough so you can see which areas respond best. Once you've found traction, you can start layering in interest-based targeting. But don't just use obvious interests like "competitions". That's lazy.

Think about the prizes you offer.

-> Giving away a voucher for Dishoom? Target people interested in Indian food, who follow London food bloggers, and have visited other high-end restaurants.
-> Prize is a pair of tickets to a West End show? Target people who have shown an interest in theatre, specific musicals, or follow actors and theatre companies.
-> Prize is a high-tech gadget? Target people interested in tech websites like TechCrunch, follow tech influencers, and have an interest in early adopter technology.

By targeting based on the prize, you're reaching an audience that is already passionate and engaged with the reward. The prize draw becomes an exciting, relevant opportunity for them, not just another random competition. They're more likely to enter, more likely to be a high-quality user, and more likely to stick around.

What should my ads actually look and sound like?

Your ads need to stop the scroll. Forget boring text and generic stock photos. You need to sell the dream, not the app. The creative is everything on Meta. People buy with their eyes first.

The number one rule is to make the prize the hero of the ad. Use high-quality, vibrant images or, even better, short, snappy videos. If the prize is a meal, show mouth-watering footage of the food. If it's a holiday, use beautiful shots of the destination. If it's a product, show it being unboxed and used by someone who looks genuinely thrilled.

Your copy needs to be direct, emotional, and create a sense of urgency. Don't talk about your app's features. Talk about the feeling of winning. Use the Before-After-Bridge framework.

Before: "Another boring lunch break scrolling through the same old stuff?"
After: "Imagine telling your friends you've just won a £200 voucher to spend at Hawksmoor."
Bridge: "Our app gives Londoners a new chance to win epic local prizes every single day. Tap to enter in 10 seconds."

You're not selling a competition entry; you're selling a story the user can picture themselves in. It's about transformation, however small. From bored to excited. From unlucky to a winner. That's what gets the click. And test everything. Test different images, different videos, different headlines. The data will quickly tell you what resonates with your audience.

What sort of results are actually realistic?

This is the big question. It's impossible to give an exact number, as it depends on your prizes, your ad creative, and how well you dial in the targeting. But we can talk in realistic ranges. For a well-optimised campaign on Meta targeting the UK for app installs or leads, you might see a cost per click (CPC) of around £0.50 - £1.50. A good conversion rate from that click to an app install or entry would be 10-30%.

So, the maths suggests a cost per acquisition (CPA) could be anywhere from £1.60 to £15. That's a huge range, I know. But by using Lookalike audiences and highly relevant prize-based targeting, your aim should be to get to the lower end of that scale. In our experience, we've seen app install campaigns for clients achieve costs under £2 per signup, which is absolutly doable for you.

But the most important metric isn't CPA, it's Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). If your users make in-app purchases or you monetise through ads, you need to know what each user is worth. Let's do some quick back-of-the-envelope maths on Lifetime Value (LTV). Let's say a user generates £0.50 per month in ad revenue for you, and your churn rate (the percentage of users who stop using the app each month) is 20%.

LTV = (Average Revenue Per User * Gross Margin) / Churn Rate
LTV = (£0.50 * 100%) / 0.20 = £2.50

In this simple case, each user is worth £2.50 to you. That means you can afford to pay up to £2.50 to acquire them and still break even. If you can get your CPA down to £1.50, you're making a profit on every single user you acquire. Suddenly, that £10 CPA from your Google Search campaign looks even more insane, doesn't it? You were guaranteed to lose money on every user. By focusing on a better platform and a smarter strategy, you can build a profitable, scalable acquisition engine.

This is the main advice I have for you:

You're at a crossroads. Continuing with your current strategy is a fast track to burning through your cash. Here's a clear, actionable plan to turn things around. This is the exact approach we would take.

Why you might want some expert help

I've laid out the entire strategy for you here. It's a proven model that works. But knowing the strategy and executing it perfectly are two different things. Getting the audiences just right, writing copy that converts, producing creative that stops the scroll, managing bids and budgets across different London boroughs, and correctly interpreting the data to make optimisation decisions... it's a full-time job. It's what we do, day in and day out, for our clients.

Running paid ad campaigns is complex, and small mistakes can be costly. You could spend months and thousands of pounds trying to get this right on your own through trial and error. Or you could work with a team that has already made those mistakes, learned the lessons, and has a track record of delivering results for businesses just like yours, including in the prize draw space.

If you'd like to have a chat and get a second pair of expert eyes on your specific situation, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can review your plans and give you some direct advice. It might just be the best investment you make in your app's growth.

Hope that helps!