Solved: Seeking Meta Ads Expert for Fitness eBook Launch

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out after my comment. Happy to give you some of my initial thoughts on your project. Sounds like you've got a solid base with the funnel and assets ready to go, which is a great start. A no-BS fitness eBook is a strong angle, there's definately a market for that.

You mentioned a performance-based setup, and while that's something we can discuss, my main focus upfront is always on making sure the strategy is actually sound enough to perform in the first place. There's no point putting a rocket engine on a car with wobbly wheels. The best media buyer in the world can't fix a broken offer or a message that doesn't connect. A lot of the time, when campaigns fail to scale, the problem isn't the ad account structure, it's the fundamental marketing principles underneath it.

So, before we'd even touch Meta Ads Manager, I'd want to get a few things crystal clear. Here are some of my thoughts on how we'd approach this to give you the best chance of acheiving that high-ROAS you're looking for.

We'll need to look at the 'Nightmare' you're solving...

First thing's first. You said the book is for "gym-goers frustrated with lack of progress". That's a good start, but we need to go deeper. A lot deeper. Forget demographics for a minute - age, location, all that stuff is secondary. The most powerful campaigns I've ever run, especially for info products, target a 'problem state', not a person.

You need to become an absolute expert in their specific, urgent, and expensive nightmare. What does that frustration *actually* feel like?

It's not just "lack of progress". It's the gut-wrenching feeling of spending 10 hours a week in the gym, meticulously tracking calories, chugging protein shakes, and after six months, you still look exactly the same in the mirror. It's the quiet embarrassment of seeing a new guy at the gym start three months after you and he's already lifting more than you are. It's the confusion of watching a dozen different fitness influencers on YouTube, all giving contradictory advice, leaving you paralysed and not knowing who to trust. It's spending hundreds of pounds on supplements that do nothing. It's the fear that maybe you're just not genetically cut out for it, that you're a 'hardgainer' and doomed to be skinny or chubby forever.

That is the nightmare. It's a direct attack on their effort, their self-esteem, and their wallet. Your ideal customer isn't just a "gym-goer". He's the guy who is one more disappointing workout away from quitting for good. He's on the verge of beleiving the whole fitness industry is a scam designed to sell him stuff.

Once you've got that nightmare pinned down, your entire strategy changes. You're no longer selling an eBook; you're selling the antidote to that specific, painful experience. This understanding is the foundation for everything else - the ad copy, the creatives, the targeting. Without it, you're just shouting into the void with generic "get fit" messaging that gets ignored.

We need to know what podcasts they listen to while they're doing cardio (probably not the mainstream ones). What subreddits are they secretly browsing for real advice? Which 'no-BS' influencers do they actually follow and trust? This is the intelligence that lets you build a campaign that feels like it's reading their mind, not just another ad cluttering their feed.

I'd say you need a message they can't ignore...

With that 'nightmare' defined, your ad copy writes itself. It stops being about features ("100-page eBook with workout plans!") and starts being about transformation. The ad's only job is to reflect their pain back at them so accurately that they feel seen, and then present your eBook as the only logical solution. You've got to speak their language.

We've had huge success with a couple of copywriting frameworks for this kind of product. Let's not sell the eBook, let's sell the outcome.

Framework 1: Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS)

This is brutal and direct. Perfect for the "redpill" style you mentioned.

• Problem: Hit them right between the eyes with their current reality. "Still look the same as you did 6 months ago?"
• Agitate: Twist the knife. Remind them of the frustration and wasted effort. "You're tracking every calorie, killing yourself in the gym, and for what? To watch other guys get the results you're working twice as hard for. The 'gurus' told you to just 'eat more and lift heavy'. It's not working, is it?"
• Solve: Present your eBook as the clear, no-nonsense path out. "The fitness industry lied to you. This isn't about 'secret' exercises or magic pills. It's about a simple, repeatable system built on principles they don't want you to know. Get the program that delivers visible results in 90 days, or your money back. No fluff. No BS."

Framework 2: Before-After-Bridge (BAB)

This one is more aspirational. It paints a picture of the future they want.

• Before: Describe their current state of frustration. "Picture this: You walk into the gym, feeling confused. You're not sure if you should be doing more volume, more intensity, or changing your diet again. You end up doing the same workout you did last week, feeling no closer to your goal."
• After: Paint a vivid picture of life with your solution. "Now, imagine walking into the gym with total confidence. You have a proven plan in your pocket. Every single workout is a step forward. You look in the mirror after a few weeks and see actual, undeniable changes. Your clothes fit differently. People start to notice."
• Bridge: Position your eBook as the vehicle to get them from Before to After. "Our eBook is the bridge. It's the exact, step-by-step roadmap to take you from frustrated and stuck to strong and confident. We cut through the noise and give you only what works."

Your ad creatives (the images and videos) must match this tone. No cheesy stock photos of supermodels. Use real, relatable transformations if you have them. A gritty, authentic video of someone explaining their frustration and how they broke through the plateau would be far more powerful. I remember one campaign we worked on for a course creator, they generated over $115k in sales in just over a month. A huge part of that was getting the messaging right. They tested dozens of UGC-style videos that spoke directly to their audience's pain points. It makes a massive difference.

Your "no-BS" positioning is your greatest asset here. We have to lean into it hard with every word you write.

You probably should nail down your numbers first...

Before you spend a single pound on scaling, you have to know how much a customer is actually worth to you. Most people get obsessed with a low Cost Per Purchase (CPP), but that's the wrong metric to focus on. The real question is, "How much can I afford to spend to acquire a customer and still be wildly profitable?"

The answer is in your numbers. For a one-off digital product like an eBook, the calculation is simpler than a SaaS company, but just as important.

Let's do some back-of-the-napkin maths. Let's say your eBook costs £37.

Average Order Value (AOV): This is your starting point. Right now, it's £37. Do you have any upsells, like a nutrition guide for an extra £10, or a community access pass for £15? An order bump on the checkout page is the easiest way to increase your AOV. Even a small increase here dramatically changes your scaling potential.

Gross Margin %: For a digital product, this is very high. After payment processor fees (let's say 3%), your gross margin is 97%.

Lifetime Value (LTV): For a single purchase, your LTV is essentially your AOV multiplied by your Gross Margin. So, (£37 * 0.97) = £35.89. This is the real value of one sale.

Now, we can figure out your target Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

A healthy LTV:CAC ratio is often cited as 3:1. This means for every £3 of value a customer brings in, you can spend £1 to acquire them.

Max Affordable CAC = LTV / 3
Max Affordable CAC = £35.89 / 3 = £11.96

This is your truth. Based on this, you can afford to pay up to £11.96 for a sale and still have a healthy, scalable business. If your ROAS is above 3x, you're in a great position. If it's below, we have work to do on the funnel or the ads.

Suddenly, seeing a £10 Cost Per Purchase isn't scary. It's a win. It's profitable. This math frees you from the trap of cheap clicks and lets you advertise aggressively and intelligently. We ran a campaign for a subscription box that hit a 1000% ROAS, and that was only possible because we knew their numbers inside and out, allowing us to spend what was necessary to acquire the right customers.

Knowing this number also tells you how much you can spend testing. If an ad set has spent £30 without a single sale (nearly 3x your target CAC), you can be pretty confident in turning it off. This data-driven approach removes emotion and guesswork from scaling.

You'll need a rock-solid audience and scaling structure...

Okay, this is where the rubber meets the road inside Ads Manager. With your message and math sorted, we can build a structure designed for profitable scaling. Your goal is high ROAS, which means we can't just throw money at a broad audience and hope for the best. That's how you pay Facebook to find non-customers.

When you use an objective like "Reach," you're telling the algorithm to find the cheapest possible eyeballs, who are cheap precisely because they never click or buy anything. We must always, always optimise for conversions (Purchases). You're telling Meta, "Go find me people who are like the people who have already bought my eBook."

Here’s how I would structure your campaigns, prioritised from hottest to coldest audiences. We'd test these methodically.

1. BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) - The Retargeting Campaign

This is your most profitable campaign and your first priority. These people already know you. They're on the brink of buying. We just need to give them a final nudge. The budget here should be smaller, but the ROAS should be very high.

• Ad Set 1: High-Intent Retargeting (last 7-14 days). Target people who Initiated Checkout or Added to Cart but didn't buy. The ad copy here can be direct: "Hey, looks like you left this behind. Still struggling to break that plateau? Here's your chance to fix it." Maybe even offer a small, time-sensitive bonus to push them over the edge.
• Ad Set 2: Website Visitor Retargeting (last 30 days). Target anyone who visited your landing page but didn't add to cart. They were curious but not convinced. Show them testimonials, different angles of the 'nightmare', or a video creative that explains the core concept of the book.

2. MOFU (Middle of Funnel) - The Warm Audience Campaign

These people have engaged with your brand but might not have visited the site. They're aware of you but need more convincing about the product.

• Ad Set 1: Video Viewers (last 90 days). Anyone who watched 50% or more of your video ads. These people are interested in your message. Retarget them with a different ad, maybe one that focuses on a powerful testimonial.
• Ad Set 2: Social Engagers (last 90 days). Anyone who liked, commented on, or shared your Facebook or Instagram posts. Similar to video viewers, they're warm leads.

3. TOFU (Top of Funnel) - The Cold Traffic Campaign

This is where you find new customers and where the real scaling happens. This campaign will get the largest share of the budget. We need to find people who fit your 'nightmare' profile but have never heard of you. This is where we test relentlessly.

• Ad Set 1: Lookalike Audiences. Once you have enough purchase data (at least 100 purchases, but more is better), we'll create Lookalike audiences. We'd prioritise them like this:
  1. Lookalike of Purchasers (1%)
  2. Lookalike of Initiated Checkouts (1%)
  3. Lookalike of your email list/customer list (1%)
  These are your goldmines. Meta is exceptionally good at finding people similar to your existing best customers.
• Ad Set 2: Specific Interest Targeting. This is where your research into the 'nightmare' pays off. We don't target "Fitness" or "Weightlifting"—that's way too broad. We get specific. We'd test interests stacked on top of each other. For example:
  -> People interested in [Specific 'no-BS' fitness influencer, e.g. Jeff Nippard, Athlean-X] AND [A popular gym chain, e.g. PureGym].
  -> People interested in [A major supplement brand, e.g. MyProtein, Optimum Nutrition] AND [A specific diet type, e.g. Intermittent fasting].
  -> People interested in [Competing digital fitness products or apps].
• Ad Set 3: Broad Targeting (Later Stage). Once your pixel has thousands of purchase events and is really 'smart', we can test a broad campaign with no interest or lookalike targeting (just age, gender, location). This can work incredibly well for scaling, but only once the pixel has a ton of data to work with. I wouldn't start here.

We'd run these as seperate campaigns with CBO (Campaign Budget Optimisation) turned on for the TOFU campaign, letting Meta allocate budget to the best-performing ad sets and creatives automatically. This structure gives us a clear view of what's working at each stage of the funnel and allows us to scale the cold traffic systematically without hurting the performance of our highly profitable retargeting efforts. A lot of people just lump everything together, which is a recipe for disaster.

This is the main advice I have for you:

To wrap this all up, here is a table summarising the main recomendations I'd make. This is the approach we'd take to ensure we're building a profitable and scalable machine for your eBook.

Scaling a funnel like yours isn't just about turning up the budget. It's a methodical process of optimising every single step, from the core message to the campaign structure. It's about knowing your numbers so you can make smart decisions. When you get all these pieces working together, that's when you build something truly profitable and clean, like you said.

This is where expert help can make a huge difference. We've scaled numerous campaigns for digital products, including software and courses, and we've seen what works and what doesn't. We've helped clients achieve significant app growth, like one campaign that generated over 45,000 signups at under £2 cost per signup, and we've helped others generate six figures in revenue in a matter of months. It comes down to applying a rigorous, proven process.

If this approach makes sense to you, I'd be happy to hop on that Google Meet call you suggested. We could do a free 20-minute strategy session, take a look at your funnel together, and give you some more specific advice. No strings attached.

Let me know what you think.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh