Solved: Meta Ads Strategist (The Real Reason)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Finding a good ads person can be a right pain, I get it. Especially when you're told you need someone who 'understands the local market'. I've heard this a lot and I'm happy to give you some of my initial thoughts. The truth is, getting results in York, or anywhere else for that matter, has very little to do with the strategist's postcode and everything to do with understanding how to find your actual customers online. It's a different skillset entirely.

Let's unpack this a bit.

You need to know what to look for...

First off, let's talk about how you even spot a good strategist from a bad one. It's a minefield out there, full of people who've watched a few YouTube videos and now call themselves an expert. The real measure of a good agency or consultant isn't the fancy jargon they use or the promises they make. Tbh, if anyone promises you specific results, run a mile. It's paid advertising, not a magic wand. Nobody can guarantee a certain return because there are too many variables.

What you should be looking for is proof. Proper, detailed case studies are a good start. Not just fluffy testimonials, but actual walk-throughs of what they did for other businesses. Have they worked with anyone similar to you? Doesn't have to be in York, but maybe in a similar industry. Have a look at what results they actually acheived. Are they talking about vanity metrics like 'reach' and 'impressions', or are they talking about what actually matters: leads, sales, and return on ad spend? I remember one campaign we worked on for a luxury brand launch where we achieved 10 million views on Meta Ads. While impressive for awareness, the focus should always be on what truly matters: leads, sales, and return on ad spend.

Another thing is reviews. What are other clients saying? Are the reviews detailed or just generic "they were great" comments? Real clients will often mention specific things that were helpful.

The best test, though, is to get on a call with them. A good strategist should offer some sort of free initial chat or a strategy review. This is their chance to impress you with their expertise, not just their sales pitch. They should be asking you smart questions about your business, your customers, your margins. They should be able to look at what you're doing and give you some immediate, actionable advice. That's what we do in our free consultations, we'll litterally open up their ad account and point out what's going wrong. It gives them a real taste of what they're paying for. If you walk away from that first chat without having learned something valuable, they are probably not the right fit for you.

And a little inside tip, a bit of a red flag for us is when a potential client asks for references to call up our past clients *after* they've already reviewed our work and we've done a free account audit with them. At that point, it just signals a deep lack of trust that's probably not going to go away. You have to find someone whose work and expertise you can actually trust from the get-go.

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

Right, let's get to the heart of your problem. This idea that you need a strategist "in York" to understand the "local market" is, frankly, a myth. It's a hangover from the days of printing flyers and putting an ad in the local paper. Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) don't work like that.

Your customers aren't just a collection of people who happen to live within the York city walls. Targeting everyone in a 10-mile radius of the Minster is one of the fastest ways to burn through your money I know of. It tells the platform nothing about who these people are, what they need, or whether they'd ever be interested in what you sell.

You need to stop thinking about your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) as a demographic and start thinking of it as a problem state. Your customer's defining feature isn't their address; it's the urgent, expensive, or frustrating nightmare they're dealing with that you can solve. A Head of Sales in York isn't worried about being in York; he's worried about his team missing their quarterly target. A new mum in Acomb isn't defined by her postcode; she's defined by her desperate need for a reliable babysitter so she can have one night out. Your ad needs to speak to the problem, not the location.

A brilliant strategist doesn't need to know the best pub in York. They need to be an expert in human psychology. They need to know how to use Meta's tools to find that Head of Sales who's also shown interest in Salesforce and follows sales gurus, or that new mum who has joined parenting groups and liked pages for baby brands. These are the signals that matter. The fact they live in York is just the final filter you apply, it's not the starting point.

Think about it. We ran a campaign for a home cleaning company and got them leads for just £5 each. We weren't based in their city. We focused on understanding their needs and reaching them effectively, rather than just their geography.

I'd say you need a proper targeting hierarchy...

So, how do you actually do this? You need a structure. Just chucking a few interests into an ad set and hoping for the best is a recipe for disaster. I see it all the time in accounts we take over. You need to think about it like a funnel, guiding people from not knowing you exist to becoming a paying customer. We usually break it down into three stages.

This is a simplified version of how we structure accounts for pretty much any niche, from local services to multi-million pound software companies.

This is your cold audience. These people have never heard of you. Your only job here is to get your message in front of the *right* kind of strangers. This is where you use Meta's detailed targeting options.

• -> Interests, Behaviours, Demographics: This is your bread and butter to start with. But you have to be smart. If you're a high-end landscaper in York, don't just target 'Gardening'. That's everyone with a pot plant. You'd be better off targeting people who are homeowners, have a certain income level (if available), and have shown interest in 'Grand Designs', 'Chelsea Flower Show', or luxury outdoor furniture brands like 'Gaze Burvill'. You layer these interests to build a picture of your ideal customer. You're looking for interests that your ideal customer has, but the average person in York doesn't. That's the secret.
• -> Lookalike Audiences: Once you have some data (e.g., a list of past customers or at least 100 people who've taken an action on your website), you can ask Meta to find more people just like them. A lookalike of your best customers is often the most powerful cold audience you can build. But you need data first, so you start with interests.

These are people who have shown a flicker of interest. They've visited your website, watched one of your videos, or liked your Facebook page. They know who you are but they haven't bought anything yet. Your job here is to stay top of mind and build trust. You do this through retargeting.

• -> Website Visitors: Anyone who has hit your website in the last 30-90 days. You can show them testimonials, case studies, or different aspects of your service.
• -> Video Viewers: Anyone who watched a good chunk of one of your video ads. They're clearly interested. Show them a follow-up ad that pushes them to the next step.

This audience is cheaper to advertise to than a cold audience and usually converts much better. Ignoring them is like letting a potential customer walk out of your shop without saying a word.

This is your hottest audience. These people are on the verge of buying. They've added a product to their cart, or they've visited your contact page but didn't fill out the form. They are so close. Your job is to give them a final nudge.

• -> Add to Cart / Initiated Checkout: If you're an e-commerce store, these are your golden geese. Retarget them immediately with an ad that maybe offers a small discount or free shipping to get them over the line. Remind them what they left behind.
• -> Visited Key Pages: For a service business, this could be someone who viewed your 'Pricing' or 'Book a Consultation' page. They're highly interested. An ad showing them a strong testimonial or clarifying the next step can be really effective.

Here’s a very basic table showing how you might structure these audiences in your campaigns:

Even with a small budget, you should split it between finding new people (ToFu) and reminding the interested ones (MoFu/BoFu). Most local businesses just spend all their money on the cold audience and wonder why nobody buys.

You probably should fix your offer before you spend a penny...

This is probably the most important point I'm going to make. You can have the most perfectly targeted campaign in the world, but if what you're offering is weak, confusing, or high-friction, it will fail. The number one reason ad campaigns fail isn't the targeting, it's the offer.

I see so many business owners, especially in services, with an offer that's basically "Here's what I do, call me for a price." This is a terrible offer. It puts all the work and all the risk on the customer. They have to pick up the phone, try to explain their problem, wait for you to come up with a price, and hope it's not astronomical. It’s too much effort.

A strong offer solves a specific, urgent problem for a specific audience and makes it incredibly easy and low-risk for them to say yes. You need to productise your service. Turn it from a vague concept into a tangible, easy-to-understand package.

Let’s go back to the plumber example:

• Weak Offer: "White Rose Plumbing - Your local plumbers in York. Gas, heating, leaks. Call for a free, no-obligation quote."
• Strong Offer: "Sick of that dripping tap? Get our £79 Fixed-Price Tap Repair service. We'll fix it within 24 hours or the visit is free. Click here to book your slot online in 60 seconds."

See the difference? The second one is specific. It names the pain ('sick of that dripping tap'). It has a clear, fixed price, removing the fear of the unknown. It has a timeline ('within 24 hours'). It has a guarantee ('or the visit is free'), which reverses the risk. And it has a simple, low-friction call to action ('book online in 60 seconds'). This isn't just plumbing; it's a solution packaged as a product. It's something you can actually sell with an ad.

Before you spend any more money on ads, you need to ask yourself: what is my irresistible offer? Can I create a 'foot-in-the-door' offer? Something small, high-value, and low-cost (or free) that solves one tiny problem for them and proves your worth. For a marketing agency, it might be a free SEO audit. For us, it's the free strategy session. For a personal trainer, a free taster session. You must give some value first to earn the right to ask for the big sale.

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

Once you have a great offer and you know who you're targeting, you need to write the ad itself. Most local business ads are incredibly boring. They just state what the business does. "John Smith, Accountant in York." Nobody cares.

Your ad copy needs to grab them by the collar. It needs to enter the conversation that's already going on in their head. Two simple frameworks work wonders here.

1. Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS)

You state the problem, you poke the bruise to make it hurt a bit more, and then you present your offer as the perfect solution.

2. Before-After-Bridge (BAB)

You paint a picture of their current frustrating world (Before). You show them the happy world they want to be in (After). And you position your product as the bridge to get them there.

Here are some examples of how this might look for a couple of fictional York businesses:

The difference is huge. The second versions are emotional. They connect. They sell the outcome, not just the service. This is what a good strategist should be helping you with – the message is just as important as the targeting.

And please, don't pay Facebook to find non-customers...

One last, but very important, point. A common mistake I see is businesses using the wrong campaign objective because it seems cheaper. They'll run a "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" campaign, and be thrilled they're getting in front of thousands of people in York for just a few quid.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when you tell Meta you want 'Reach', you are giving it a very clear instruction: "Find me the cheapest possible eyeballs". The algorithm, being very good at its job, will go and find you all the people in your audience who are least likely to ever click, engage, or buy anything. Why? Because their attention is not in demand, so it's cheap. You are literally paying the platform to find you the worst possible audience for your business.

For a business that needs to make sales or get leads, awareness is a byproduct of good advertising, not the goal itself. The best kind of awareness is when someone becomes a happy customer and tells their friends. That only happens from a conversion.

Unless you have a multi-million-pound budget like Coca-Cola, you should almost always be using a "Conversions" or "Leads" objective. Yes, the cost per result will look higher, but you're optimising for what actually matters – an action that leads to revenue. You're telling Meta "Find me people in York who are not just *like* my customers, but who are also likely to actually fill out my form/buy my thing *right now*." It's a much, much smarter way to spend your money.

I know that's a lot to take in, so I've detailed my main recommendations for you below in a simpler format:

Getting all of this right isn't easy. It takes a lot of testing, a deep understanding of the platform, and a fair bit of experience to know what levers to pull. This is why businesses hire specialist agencies. It's not just about saving time; it's about avoiding the costly mistakes that almost everyone makes when they start out.

The right partner won't just 'run your ads'. They'll challenge your offer, help you define your customer, write compelling copy, and build a scalable system for growth. That's a world away from just picking a location and some interests.

If you'd like to go through your specific business and challenges in more detail, we offer a completely free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session. We can have a proper look at what you've been trying and give you some clear, actionable steps. It's a good way to see if we're a good fit and, at the very least, you'll walk away with some valuable advice you can implement yourself.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh