Meta ads on a small budget

A realistic starting budget

For most small local businesses, a typical starting point is somewhere between 10 and 20 euros a day, or roughly 300 to 600 euros a month, on top of any agency fee. Less than that can work, but results take longer to read because Meta has less data to learn from.

Pick one goal for your first campaign. If you want enquiries, run a leads campaign. If you want bookings through your website, run a sales or conversions campaign. Mixing goals splits a small budget too thinly.

The pixel and your cookie banner

The Meta pixel is a small piece of code on your website that tells Meta when someone visits, fills in a form or books. It is how the platform learns who your best customers are.

In Spain and the rest of the EU, you need visitors' consent before that code runs, which is what your cookie banner is for. Make sure the banner actually blocks the pixel until someone accepts. Adding Meta's Conversions API, which sends events from your website server, helps fill some of the gaps left by people who decline.

Simple audiences that work

Keep targeting simple and let Meta do much of the finding. Two setups cover most businesses on the coast.

• Local customers: a radius of around 15 to 30 kilometres around your town, from Estepona to Fuengirola, with ads in English and Spanish as separate versions.
• Buyers in Ireland and the UK: target those countries with broad settings, add one or two relevant interests such as property abroad, and send people to a page written for them.

Creative that earns attention

Real photos of your work, your team and your premises usually beat polished stock images. Short vertical videos of 10 to 20 seconds, filmed on a phone, work well on Instagram and Facebook alike.

Make the offer clear in the first line, such as a free valuation, a first visit price or a quote within 24 hours. Run two or three versions at once so you can see which one people respond to.

How long to test and what to measure

Give a new campaign at least two to three weeks before judging it, and avoid changing it every day, as each edit resets Meta's learning. Then compare the versions and move budget to the best one.

Measure cost per lead and, where you can, cost per customer. Likes and reach are pleasant to see but do not pay the rent. Log each lead in your CRM so you know which ads bring people who actually buy.