Solved: Scaling Facebook Ads in Nottingham (TLDR Inside)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I've had a look at your question about scaling Facebook ads in Nottingham. It's a common problem, a lot of businesses struggle with this once they've found something that works on a small scale. It's not as simple as just bumping up the budget, especially in a defined local area.

I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on how you might be able to approch this. It's less about reaching a 'wider' audience and more about going 'deeper' with the audience you already have and the ones you haven't reached yet.

We'll need to look at the "Wider Audience" Trap...

First off, let's tackle the idea of a 'wider' audience in Nottingham. It's a bit of a trap. When people say they want to scale, they usually mean they want more customers, and they think the way to get them is to show their ads to more people. So they increase the budget, maybe expand the location radius to include Derby or Leicester, and loosen up the interest targeting. And what usually happens? The cost per result goes through the roof, and the quality of leads drops off a cliff.

Why? Because in a local area, you hit audience saturation and creative fatigue much, much faster. The same people see your ads over and over, and they either convert or they start ignoring you. Just shouting louder (more budget) or at more people (wider targeting) doesn't work. It just annoys the people who weren't interested in the first place and costs you a fortune.

The solution isn't to go wider, it's to get smarter and go deeper. It's about structuring your campaigns to move people through a journey, from not knowing who you are to becoming a paying customer. This is where a proper funnel comes in, even for a local business. It's something we build for all our clients, from small local services to big B2B software companies. For you, this means thinking about three distinct groups of people in the Nottingham area.

Most businesses only do ToFu. They just throw money at cold audiences and hope for the best. To scale, you need to build out your MoFu and BoFu campaigns properly. These are your warmest, cheapest, and highest-converting audiences. You should be spending a decent chunk of your budget talking to people who already know you exist. This is how you acheive profitability at scale, not by just targeting more cold traffic.

I'd say you need to redefine your customer

Okay, so we have a structure. Now, who are we actually targeting within that structure? This is probably the single biggest point of failure for most ad accounts I see. People target demographics. "Men aged 30-55 in Nottingham who like DIY". It's useless.

You need to stop thinking about who your customer *is* and start thinking about what nightmare they're having that you can solve. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person, it's a problem state. What is the specific, urgent, expensive problem that keeps them up at night?

Let's pretend you're a high-end kitchen fitter in Nottingham.

• Bad ICP: "Couples, aged 40-65, living in affluent areas like The Park or West Bridgford, with an income over £100k". It's generic.
• Good ICP (The Nightmare): "A homeowner who's deeply embarrassed by their dated, dysfunctional kitchen. They hate hosting parties because of it. They've had a quote from a big national chain that felt impersonal and pushy, and they're terrified of spending £30k on a project that gets messed up by unreliable tradesmen. Their nightmare is the disruption, the mess, and the fear of making a hugely expensive mistake."

See the difference? The second one gives you everything you need for your ads. You know their pain (embarrassment, fear), their frustrations (impersonal service, unreliable trades), and their desire (a beautiful kitchen without the stress). Your ad copy can now speak directly to that nightmare. Instead of "New Kitchens in Nottingham", you can say "Tired of that dated kitchen? We deliver stunning results without the drama. See our 5-star Nottingham reviews." It's a completely different approach.

You need to do this exercise for your own business. Who are you really saving? What is their specific Nottingham-based nightmare? Once you know that, your targeting and your ad copy will become a thousand times more effective.

You'll need to calculate your real numbers...

This is the bit that separates amateurs from professionals. You're struggling to scale because you're probably focused on the wrong metric. You're likely looking at your Cost Per Lead (CPL) or Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) and trying to get it as low as possible. That's a mistake. That's how you stay small.

The real question isn't "How low can my CPA go?" It's "How high a CPA can I afford to acquire a great customer?" The answer is your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

If you know that the average customer is worth £5,000 to your business over their lifetime, would you still be worried about a £100 CPA? Of course not. You'd be trying to find ways to spend £500 or even £1000 to get more of them. Knowing your LTV is what gives you the confidence to scale agressively. It's the most important number in your business, and most businesses don't even know what it is.

I've put a simple calculator below to help you figure it out. Play around with the numbers. See how a small improvement in your churn rate or average monthly revenue can dramatically increase what you can afford to spend on ads. This is the maths that unlocks growth.

You probably should change your offer...

Finally, let's talk about your offer. This is tied to your customer's 'nightmare'. The biggest reason campaigns fail to scale is a high-friction offer. Things like "Contact Us", "Book a Call", or "Request a Quote". These all feel like a big commitment to a cold prospect. They're asking the user to do all the work and take all the risk.

To scale, you need a low-friction, high-value offer. Something that solves a small piece of their problem for free, proves your expertise, and builds trust. It gets your foot in the door.

What could this look like for a local business in Nottingham?

• For a tradesperson (e.g., roofer): A "Free 10-Point Drone Roof Inspection Report". It's high-tech, high-value, and gives them a tangible asset without any sales pressure.
• For a professional service (e.g., accountant): A "Free 15-Minute 'Find Your Hidden Tax Savings' Call". It's specific, time-boxed, and promises a clear benefit.
• For a local gym: A "Free Personalised Fitness Plan + 1 Day Pass". It's much better than just a generic 'free trial'.

You have to give value before you ask for a sale. Your ads should drive people to this low-friction offer. You'll get far more people raising their hands, you'll build a massive retargeting audience of interested prospects, and your sales conversations will be with people who've already gotten value from you. It changes the entire dynamic.

This is a much better way to grow than just throwing more money at the same old "Contact Us" ad and hoping for a different result.

This is the main advice I have for you:

Scaling locally isn't about brute force. It's about being strategic and systematic. I've put the main steps into a table for you below. This is the framework we'd typically implement for a client in your situation.

As you can probably see, there's a lot more to scaling ads than just the settings in Ads Manager. It's about deep strategy, understanding customer psychology, and knowing your numbers inside and out. It can be a lot to handle when you're also trying to run the actual business.

Getting this structure right from the start can be the difference between a campaign that profitably scales and one that just burns cash. If you feel like you could use an expert eye to help you implement this kind of strategy for your Nottingham campaigns, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can dive into your specific situation and give you a clear plan of action.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh