A simple guide to running your first ad campaign

Before you spend anything

• Decide the one action you want: a call, a form, a booking.
• Make sure the page for that action is fast and clear.
• Set up tracking so enquiries are recorded, not guessed.
• Write down what a customer is worth to you.

Setting up a first campaign

Choose one platform, one audience and one offer. Write two or three variations of the message. Set a daily budget you can maintain for at least three weeks, because the first week is mostly the platform learning.

What to measure

Cost per enquiry is the number that matters, followed by the share of enquiries that become customers. Clicks and impressions only help you diagnose why that number is what it is.

When to change something

Leave it alone for the first week. After that, change one thing at a time: the message first, then the audience, then the page. Changing everything at once means you learn nothing.

Before you spend a pound

Decide the single action you want people to take, such as booking a call, requesting a quote or buying a product. Build or choose a landing page focused on that action, with a clear headline, proof, and a short form or button.

Set up conversion tracking and check it works by completing the action yourself. Without tracking, you cannot tell which ads are producing results.

• One goal per campaign.
• A focused landing page.
• Working conversion tracking.
• Cookie consent configured correctly.

Structuring a first campaign

Keep the structure simple. On Google, start with a small number of tightly themed keyword groups that match what customers search for, and add negative keywords to filter out irrelevant searches. On Meta, start with one audience and two or three ad variations.

Set a daily budget you are comfortable with and resist changing things every day. Platforms need time and data to optimise.

Reading the results

After a few weeks, look at cost per conversion rather than clicks. Pause ads and keywords that spend without converting, and shift budget to the best performers.

Check the quality of the enquiries too. A cheap lead that never buys is not a good lead. Feed what you learn back into the targeting and the landing page.