“If we just run some ads, we’ll get more leads… right?”

Maybe.
But for a lot of small businesses, ads are not the first step, they just become an expensive way to send people to a leaky bucket.

We see it all the time:

• random “boosted” Facebook posts
• Google Ads sending traffic to the home page
• no tracking, no follow-up, no idea what actually worked

Then the conclusion is: “Ads don’t work for us.”
In reality, the foundations weren’t ready.

In this article, we’ll walk through the 5 things to fix before you spend a dollar on ads, so that when you do invest, you’re building an asset, not donating to Meta and Google.

Why Most Ad Budgets Get Wasted

Most businesses approach ads like this:

1. Create an account.
2. Throw in a few keywords or interests.
3. Point everything at the home page.
4. Cross fingers.

The problems:

• The offer is vague.
• The landing page doesn’t match the ad.
• There’s no tracking, so no idea what a lead actually costs.
• There’s no follow-up system, so leads go cold.

Ads simply amplify whatever system you already have.

If that system is messy, ads will just help you waste money faster.

So before we talk budgets and targeting, we fix the basics.

The 5 Foundations Every Business Needs Before Ads

You don’t need a perfect funnel or fancy automation from day one.

But you do need these five things in decent shape.

1. A clear offer and ideal customer

If you can’t answer “What exactly are we offering, and to whom?” in one or two sentences, your ads will struggle.

Strong offers are:

• Specific, not “we do everything”, but “we do this for these people”.
• Outcome focused…what problem are you solving?
• Easy to understand in 3 seconds.

Weak:

“We provide high quality landscaping services for all your needs.”

Stronger:

“Driveway, retaining wall and mini digger hire packages for home owners in South East Melbourne.”

Weak:

“We help with your books.”

Stronger:

“Fixed fee bookkeeping for tradies and small service businesses across Melbourne.”

Before ads, write down:

• Who is this for?
• What problem are we solving?
• What’s the main outcome or benefit?
• Is there a hook? (e.g. fixed fee, fast turnaround, risk-free trial, no lock-in, X-day guarantee)

This is what your ads and landing pages should revolve around.

2. A landing page that matches the ad (with one main job)

Sending ad traffic to your generic home page is like sending customers into a warehouse with no signs.

A good landing page:

• continues the same message as the ad (same offer, same language)
• is focused on one product or service
• has one primary call to action (call, book, get a quote, request a demo)
• answers the key questions a stranger would have before taking that step.

For example, if your ad says:

“Mini digger hire from $X/day in South East Melbourne.”

Your landing page should lead with that exact offer, not “Welcome to XYZ Group – we offer a wide range of services”.

Key elements to check:

• Headline: matches the ad.
• Subheading: adds clarity (who it’s for / area served).
• Proof: reviews, photos, guarantees.
• Simple layout: especially on mobile.
• Primary CTA: repeated a few times down the page.

Think of the landing page as a dedicated salesperson for that one offer.

3. Proper tracking: know your numbers

Running ads without tracking is just guessing with your wallet.

Before you spend, you should be able to answer:

• How many enquiries did we get last month from the website?
• Roughly how many came from Google / Meta / organic / direct?
• What’s a lead worth to us (average job value, lifetime value)?

The tech can sound intimidating, but the basics are straightforward:

At minimum, you want:

• Google Analytics 4 installed correctly
• Key conversions tracked, such as:
  • contact form submissions
  • quote / booking form submissions
  • click-to-call events
• Google Tag Manager or similar, so you’re not touching the site code every time you need a new event
• Ad platforms (Google Ads / Meta) connected so they can see which clicks led to conversions.

This lets you see things like:

• “Google Ads generated 22 quote requests at $63 per lead last month.”
• “Meta retargeting brought back 10 extra bookings from people who visited but didn’t enquire first time.”

Without this, you’re operating purely on feeling.

4. A follow-up system so leads don’t go cold

Ads can’t fix what happens after someone enquires.

If:

• calls go to voicemail
• emails sit unanswered for days
• quotes aren’t followed up

…your cost per lead goes up and your cost per sale explodes.

Before you scale ads, make sure you have:

• A clear process for answering calls and enquiries quickly.
• Templates for follow-up emails and SMS.
• A simple pipeline in a CRM or even a basic spreadsheet:
  • New lead
  • Contacted
  • Quote sent
  • Won / Lost

Even basic automations help:

• Confirmation email + SMS when a form is submitted.
• Reminder SMS before booked calls.
• A nudge if you’ve sent a quote and heard nothing for a few days.

Ads bring attention.
Your follow up process turns that attention into revenue.

5. Basic remarketing and exclusions

Most people won’t convert the first time they see you.

Remarketing (or retargeting) means:

Showing ads specifically to people who have already interacted with your business, visited your site, watched a video, engaged with your page, etc.

You don’t need anything fancy to start:

• A simple “come back” campaign showing:
  • reviews
  • before/after work
  • reminders of your key offer
• Exclusions so you’re not annoying:
  • exclude people who already submitted a lead form
  • exclude existing clients if that makes sense

This turns your website into a warm audience generator:

1. Cold campaigns bring in strangers.
2. Your landing page and offer capture a portion as leads.
3. Remarketing nurtures the others until they’re ready.

It also lowers the risk of your ad spend because you’re not constantly chasing only brand new people.

Real World Example: From “Boosting Posts” to a Simple System

Here’s a common scenario we see at Elev8d.

Starting point:

• Business boosts the occasional Facebook post.
• No specific landing page, everything points to the home page.
• No tracking beyond “people saw it”.
• Mixed results, no idea what actually led to calls.

What we changed:

1. Clarified the offer
   • Turned “we do everything” into one strong front-end offer that was easy to advertise.
2. Built a focused landing page
   • Matching the ad headline and visuals.
   • One main CTA: “Request a quote”.
3. Set up tracking
   • GA4 + Meta events for form submissions and click-to-call.
   • So we could see cost per lead properly.
4. Created two simple campaigns
   • A cold campaign to the target area with the main offer.
   • A remarketing campaign for website visitors who didn’t enquire.
5. Improved follow-up
   • Basic email/SMS templates.
   • A simple pipeline so no leads were forgotten.

Result:

• They could now see:
  • how many leads came from each campaign,
  • what a lead actually cost, and
  • where to increase or decrease budget.
• Most importantly, they stopped guessing…decisions were made on numbers, not vibes.

A Simple “Ready for Ads?” Checklist

Before you open your wallet, run through this list:

Offer

• I can clearly state what I’m offering and who it’s for in one or two sentences.
• The offer is strong enough that I’d be happy to put money behind it.

Landing page

• I have a specific page for this offer (not just my home page).
• The headline and message match what my ads will say.
• There’s one primary call to action.
• It looks and works well on mobile.

Tracking

• GA4 is installed and I can log in.
• My key actions (forms, calls, bookings) are tracked as conversions.
• My ad platforms are linked so they can see these conversions.

Follow-up

• We respond quickly to new leads.
• We have a simple way to track leads and follow-ups.
• We have at least basic email/SMS templates ready.

Remarketing

• We have (or are planning) a basic remarketing audience of site visitors.
• We know how to exclude people who have already enquired or purchased.

If you’re ticking most of these off, you’re in a good place to start.

If you’re crossing more than you’re ticking, it’s worth fixing the foundation first….you’ll save yourself a lot of wasted ad spend.

How Elev8d Helps You Stop Donating Money to Ad Platforms

At Elev8d, we don’t see ads as “turning on traffic”.
We see them as plugging into a system.

That system includes:

• a clear, compelling offer
• a high converting landing experience
• fast, mobile friendly pages
• proper tracking and analytics
• follow up processes that turn leads into revenue.

We help clients:

• audit their current setup (site, tracking, offers)
• fix the most expensive leaks first
• then design and launch ads on Google and Meta with the right foundations in place
• and report back in plain English: cost per lead, where leads are coming from, what’s working and what isn’t.

If you’re thinking about putting money into ads or you’ve tried before and it didn’t quite work. It might not be the ads themselves. It might be the system around them.

Get the foundations right, and your ad spend stops feeling like a gamble and starts behaving like an investment.