Is it possible to run profitable ads if you don't have a big ol' marketing budget?

Yup. I've got a campaign that's generating profit at only £3 per day.

Here's how.

Look, part of running ads is testing the market. You might lose a bit of money while you're figuring out...

• The angle that resonates
• The creative that grabs attention
• The format that generates clicks

When you put money behind the distribution, you get feedback on all of that super fast so can adapt. However, you might be operating at a loss until you get it all dialled in.

If you don't have the money to (potentially) lose, here's what you can do.

First, know the platform your ICP spends most time on.

Then, understand the problem they face and the solution you offer.

Next up, create a tonne of organic content that is specific to that ICP, problem, and solution formatted in a way that works on that platform.

"Pete, this is just organic marketing", you say. And you're right.

Keep this going for a little while to generate views, impressions, engagements etc.

You want to populate the ad pixel with those engagements.

You then build a simple retargeting ad set that delivers ads to...

• People who engaged with the organic content
• People who looked at your main product sales page
• People who looked at your account main page

The specifics of this differ depending on platform, but basically you want to build a list of people who have already engaged with you.

You build ads for these people that position your offer as the solution to the problem they looked at in your organic content.

Here's how the customer journey then might look on let's say YouTube...

1. The person looks for content that helps solve the problem of losing weight without exercise
2. They find and watch your video about 5 things they can do to lose weight without exercise
3. They then see ads talking about a product that gives them a diet plan
4. This offer kicks off your front end self liquidating offer
5. They're added to your list as a buyer and you can upsell them

All that for a low ad cost.

The trick here is in creating content that's dialled in to the key problem the ICP faces.

You have to be really focused with the content and publish several pieces to seed that audience.

The audience it generates will not be as large as doing something that's built specifically for reach, but that's ok, because it's reaching people who want to solve the problem.

Your ads are then a second step (not first) meaning the audience is already aware of and warm to you (making it easier to get the click).

It's a win all round.

If you're running ads, I'd recommend building a specific retargeting campaign into the mix.

If you're not running ads but want to, I'd recommend starting with something like this.

Any Qs, hit reply.

Pete "retarget'em" Boyle

P.S - I just published a video on this as well here ​