Short answer: sending ads straight to your offer wastes money because you're asking strangers to buy (or opt in) before they know you. On any given day only around two or three in every 100 people are ready to buy, so you end up paying a fortune to fight everyone else for that tiny group. The cheaper way is to warm people up first: run low cost engagement ads with value videos to a cold audience, then retarget the people who watched 25% or more to your free event or low priced offer. When I switched to this, my cost per lead for launches roughly halved.

If you've tried ads and decided they don't work, or that they're far too expensive, you're not alone. People set up an ad, point it at their offer, spend a few hundred dollars, get a handful of leads (or none) and switch it off for good.

But the problem usually isn't ads. It's the order you're doing them in. Below I'll show you why, then walk you through the exact four step setup, with the scripts, the numbers and a 30 day plan.

This is part of my ultimate guide to lead generation for coaches, where ads are one of several ways to fill your funnel with the right people.

The mistake almost everyone makes

Most people create an offer or an opt-in page, then run ads straight at a cold audience: people who have never seen them before. Sometimes it's a free challenge. Sometimes a low priced offer. Sometimes, worse, a mid or high ticket programme. Then they're confused when every lead costs a fortune.

Think about how you buy. You see someone, maybe a few times. You watch something they've made. You start to trust them. Only then do you sign up or buy. Some people make that journey in a day, some take a year, but nobody skips it entirely. Ads that go straight to an offer ask people to skip the journey. A few will, and you'll pay a lot for them.

Why cold traffic costs so much

On any given day, only around two or three out of every 100 people are ready to buy. If your ads only chase those two or three, you're fighting every other business in your space for the same tiny group, which is why costs go up and up. Cold audiences don't know your face, your voice or your results, and the platform charges you for every bit of persuasion it takes.

So we do the opposite. Instead of chasing the two or three who are ready today, we go for everyone else and warm them up first. When they are ready to buy, we're the obvious choice.

Cold, warm and hot audiences

• Cold: people who don't know you yet.
• Warm: people who've started to know, like and trust you. They've watched your videos and engaged with you.
• Hot: people who trust you and are ready to buy.

Ads that go straight to an offer try to turn cold into a buyer in one jump. My Cold Warm Hot audience pools approach moves people from cold to warm cheaply, then makes the offer to warm people.

The cheaper way, step by step

Step 1: Audit where your ads point today

Open your ads manager. For every live ad, write down who it targets (cold or warm) and where it sends people. Any ad sending a cold audience straight to an opt-in page or sales page gets paused.

Time: 15 minutes. Done when: no cold audience is being sent straight to an offer.

Step 2: Record value videos for strangers

Create short talking head videos (roughly 90 seconds to three minutes) where you give genuine value: an aha moment or an action step. One video, one problem. A good source of topics is the top 20 questions people ask you. This is likely someone's first impression of you, so make it genuinely useful.

Time: One afternoon for three to five videos. Done when: you have at least three videos, each answering one real question.

Step 3: Run them as engagement ads to a cold audience

Run them as engagement ads optimised for video views, to a cold audience that matches your ideal client. You're not asking anyone to click off the platform or buy anything, just to watch. This is where "$5 a day" ads come from, and you can start that small. Full steps in the $5 a day ads strategy.

Time: 1 hour to set up. Done when: your videos are live at around $5 to $10 a day.

Step 4: Build and keep your warm audience warm

Everyone who watches, likes or comments gets quietly tagged by the platform as interested in you. That pool is gold, because you can advertise back to them for far less than it costs to reach strangers. Keep it warm with a weekly mix:

• How-tos: practical, useful content, like how to get a sale in the next 24 hours.
• Stories: where you were compared to where you are now. Emotion drives buying decisions.
• Proof: results, numbers, evidence that you walk the walk.
• Beliefs and your why: so the right people feel at home with you.

Swap videos weekly: keep the ones that perform, turn off the ones that don't, test new ones. Start this before you need it, so when you launch you already have a warm pool waiting.

Time: 20 minutes a week. Done when: you have a custom audience of video viewers that grows every week.

Step 5: Make the offer to warm people

Now run your lead or sales ads to people who've watched 25% or more of your videos. The offer can be a free event (webinar, masterclass or challenge), a conversation (get them into your DMs) or a low priced offer. Don't run ads for a mid or high ticket offer straight to cold traffic. Bring people into something free or low priced first, then sell the bigger offer.

Time: 1 hour. Done when: your opt-in ad targets 25%+ video viewers, not strangers. If writing ad copy isn't your thing, the Copywriter inside Ascendia OS writes your retargeting ads in your voice for you to approve.

Step 6: Track cost per lead, cold vs warm

Compare what you paid per lead from cold traffic before with what you pay from your warm audience now. Then make sure there's a $27 offer on your thank you page, so the revenue can cover your ad spend.

Time: 10 minutes a week. Done when: you know your cost per lead and your thank you page offer is live. No thank you page offer yet? The Funnel Builder in Ascendia OS builds the opt-in page, thank you page and checkout for you, ready to go live.

What happened when I made the switch

Before, the ads for my launches went straight to the free event, targeting cold audiences. When we changed to building a warm pool with value videos first and then targeting those viewers, our cost per lead for launches roughly halved. Same offer, same event. We simply stopped asking strangers to say yes before they knew us.

The bonus: those value videos double up as organic content. I post the same videos on Instagram and Facebook, so one piece of work feeds both my ads and my everyday content.

Worked example: same budget, twice the leads

Example (illustrative numbers): a business coach spends $600 a month on ads for her free training.

• Before (cold traffic straight to the opt-in page): say each lead costs her $6. That's 100 leads. At a 3% average, 3 sales of her $997 programme.
• After: she spends $150 of the $600 on $5 a day engagement ads, and $450 retargeting 25%+ viewers. If her cost per lead halves to $3, that's 150 leads from the smaller budget, and they already know her.
• Result: 50% more leads for the same money, warmer leads, and a growing warm audience she can use for every future launch.
• Add a $27 offer and $11 bump on the thank you page: if 8 to 10% of those 150 leads buy, that's 12 to 15 buyers and around $450 to $570 back, covering most of the spend.

Benchmarks

Common mistakes (and the fix)

• High ticket ads to cold traffic. Fix: free or low priced first, then the bigger offer.
• Waiting until launch week to start. Fix: run engagement ads in quieter weeks so the warm pool is ready.
• The same message on repeat. Fix: rotate how-tos, stories, proof and beliefs.
• Thinking videos need to be perfect. Fix: phone, little takes, a simple editing app. Some of my best performers are a ten second hook to camera and a whiteboard walkthrough.
• No offer on the thank you page. Fix: add a $27 offer so the ads can pay for themselves.

Free or low priced offer: which to retarget to?

Both work. A free event brings in more leads, though you can attract some freebie hunters. A low priced offer brings in fewer, but they're more qualified, more likely to show up and the revenue can cover your ad spend. If you go low priced, make it quick to consume and make sure it gets them a small result. I compare the two in free resource or $27 offer: which works better?

Your action plan

Today

• Audit your live ads and pause any sending cold traffic straight to an offer.
• Write down the top 20 questions people ask you.

This week

• Record three to five value videos using the script above.
• Launch them as engagement ads at $5 to $10 a day.

Next 30 days

• Rotate videos weekly across how-tos, stories, proof and beliefs.
• Retarget 25%+ viewers to your free event or $27 offer.
• Compare your cost per lead with what you paid before.

Ads are a way to speed up visibility. It isn't enough to be the best at what you do anymore, you also need to be the best known. For every other way to bring in leads, read the ultimate guide to lead generation for coaches. Why talking head videos work so well right now is in the trust economy: why talking head videos sell. And if you want my whole system for turning that warm audience into repeat sales, it's inside Content To Clients®.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my Facebook ads so expensive?

Often because they're sending a cold audience straight to an offer. Strangers are the most expensive people to convert. Warm them up with value videos first, then retarget the people who watched.

Should I run ads to a cold or warm audience?

Both, for different jobs. Use cold audiences for low cost engagement ads that build awareness. Use warm audiences (people who watched 25% or more of your videos) for your lead and sales ads.

What type of ad should I start with?

Engagement ads optimised for video views, using short talking head videos that give real value. They're cheap, they build trust, and they create the warm audience you'll retarget later.

Can I run ads straight to a high ticket offer?

I wouldn't, especially to a cold audience. Bring people into something free or low priced first, build trust, then sell the bigger offer.

How much should I spend on ads to start?

You can start engagement ads from around $5 to $10 a day. Build your warm audience first, then increase spend when you're retargeting them to a free event or low priced offer.

Laurie Burrows is a UK-based marketing and sales strategist who has built a business that's generated multi-seven figures in sales through social media and digital marketing. Today, Laurie helps business owners use social media, content and digital marketing to get seen, attract more clients and make more sales. She's also the founder of Ascendia OS.