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Stop Burning Money on Bad Ads – How to Get More for Less

December 05, 20242 min read

For businesses investing in digital advertising, it’s easy to fall into the trap of burning money on ineffective ads. With platforms like Google Ads and Meta Ads, you have the potential to drive highly targeted traffic and increase conversions—but only if you’re running optimised campaigns. The reality is, if you don’t focus on precision and performance, your ad spend can quickly spiral out of control, leading to wasted budgets and poor results.

Understanding Why Ads Fail

The first step in getting more for less is understanding why your ads might be underperforming. Often, businesses make the mistake of using broad targeting, vague messaging, or not fully optimising their campaigns. Without clear goals or accurate performance tracking, it’s impossible to know if your ads are reaching the right audience.

The key to success lies in precision targeting. Both Google Ads and Meta Ads offer robust targeting features, but using them incorrectly can lead to wasting money on clicks from irrelevant users. Google Ads allows for keyword targeting, location targeting, and remarketing, while Meta Ads offers advanced targeting based on interests, demographics, and behaviours.

Optimising Your Google Ads

Google Ads works best when you focus on high-intent keywords—phrases that potential customers are actively searching for. A poorly optimised keyword list can lead to irrelevant traffic, increasing costs and lowering your ROI.

Here are some ways to optimise your Google Ads campaigns:

  • Negative keywords: Ensure you’re using negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches.

  • Use smart bidding: Google’s automated bidding strategies, such as Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition), can help maximise conversions.

  • Create compelling ad copy: Your ad copy should be highly relevant to the search query and emphasise the value proposition of your offering.

Maximising Meta Ads Efficiency

Meta Ads are great for building awareness and engagement, but they also require a solid strategy to avoid wasting money. With advanced targeting options, Meta allows you to narrow down your audience based on interests, age, behaviour, and more. However, without careful optimisation, it’s easy to overspend.

Here’s how to optimise your Meta Ads campaigns:

  • Audience segmentation: Break your audience down into smaller, more specific groups to increase relevance.

  • Lookalike audiences: Use data from your existing customers to target users who share similar characteristics and behaviours.

  • Ad creative: Focus on engaging, visually appealing ads that speak directly to your target audience.


    If your ad campaigns are burning money without delivering results, it’s time to rethink your approach. By focusing on precise targeting, optimising your bids, and creating compelling ad copy, you can ensure you’re getting more for less with your advertising spend.

Want more leads for less? Let’s audit your ad strategy. Book a FREE consultation today.

Tony Gutierrez is a dynamic entrepreneur and Master NLP Practitioner with nearly 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development. Trained directly by Dr. Richard Bandler, Tony brings expert-level communication skills and a deep understanding of human behaviour to his work.

Over the years, he has launched and scaled a wide range of successful ventures across the UK and Europe—including a London-based marketing agency, a real estate firm in Spain, and a chain of Scandinavian furniture stores.

Today, he is the co-founder of Ultimate Marketing, UltimateCRM, and Ultimate Lifestyles, where he focuses on driving innovation in digital marketing for a number of global clients, delivering a powerful managed CRM and lead generation solution, along with tailored strategies that deliver real, measurable growth.

Known as the Picasso of creativity, and admired for his strategic thinking, results-driven mindset, and ability to uncover opportunities others overlook, Tony continues to lead with vision—delivering long-term value for his businesses and clients worldwide.

Tony Gutierrez

Tony Gutierrez is a dynamic entrepreneur and Master NLP Practitioner with nearly 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development. Trained directly by Dr. Richard Bandler, Tony brings expert-level communication skills and a deep understanding of human behaviour to his work. Over the years, he has launched and scaled a wide range of successful ventures across the UK and Europe—including a London-based marketing agency, a real estate firm in Spain, and a chain of Scandinavian furniture stores. Today, he is the co-founder of Ultimate Marketing, UltimateCRM, and Ultimate Lifestyles, where he focuses on driving innovation in digital marketing for a number of global clients, delivering a powerful managed CRM and lead generation solution, along with tailored strategies that deliver real, measurable growth. Known as the Picasso of creativity, and admired for his strategic thinking, results-driven mindset, and ability to uncover opportunities others overlook, Tony continues to lead with vision—delivering long-term value for his businesses and clients worldwide.

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