Introduction
If you’ve ever run ads and still found yourself asking, “So… where did my money go?”, you’re not alone.
After our last webinar on ad budget, we received messages from business owners trying to make sense of their ad results: why costs keep changing, why ₦20k doesn’t stretch far, and why one month’s success turns into the next month’s silence.
So, let’s address the questions that come up most often — and the honest answers most marketers won’t tell you about ad budget.
1. Why do ad costs keep changing?
Because ads work on an auction system. You’re not paying a fixed price; you’re bidding for attention.
CPMs (which is the cost you pay per 1,000 impressions) go up when:
- Your audience is in high demand (e.g. festive seasons, end of the month, election cycles(for government agencies)).
- You’re targeting the same people too often. Yes, your audience may need a refresh either by expanding audience size, excluding previous engagers or stacking new layers of interest. You don’t just target one audience forever.
- Your creatives or copy are underperforming. Creative fatigue exists and it can have a high impact on your CPM.
💡 Tip: Track your average CPM monthly — if it spikes suddenly, it’s time to refresh your creative or audience.
2. Can ₦20k really do anything?
₦20,000 sounds like a good test ad budget — until you realise it only buys about 33,000 impressions at ₦600 CPM. That’s barely enough for your audience to see your ad once — and people need to see it 3–6 times before taking action. You can calculate how much you really need to spend on ads even if you have never run ads before.
💡 Tip: ₦20k is useful for testing creatives, not for building conversions.
3. Why are awareness ads cheaper than sales ads?
Because you’re paying for different outcomes.
Awareness ads buy reach and recall.
Sales ads buy action.
An awareness ad might cost ₦2,000–₦5,000 CPM, while a conversion ad could range ₦10,000–₦30,000 CPM — depending on how specific and competitive your audience is. This is why you must always have a clear goal before running your ad. You can still run an awareness ad and achieve sales if you have a conversion system to support your ad budget. This sytem includes:
✅ Nurture (content, community, email)
✅ Conversation (WhatsApp, DMs, sales team)
✅ Retargeting (organic or manual follow-up)
✅ Clarity (clear offer + next step)
💡 Tip: Always run awareness and conversion ads together — one builds memory, the other collects action.
4. What’s the right daily spend for my business?
Start from your goal, not your comfort.
If you want 50 new customers a month, work backwards from your conversion rate (say 2%) and CPM.
That’s how you’ll discover that the right daily spend for visibility often starts from ₦3,000–₦10,000/day, depending on your industry. We broke this this down during our ad budget webinar.
💡 Tip: Test with a clear metric in mind — “I want X leads/conversations,” not “I want more visibility.”
5. Why do my ads perform well one month and drop the next?
That’s called creative fatigue. Your audience has seen your ad too many times, and the algorithm starts showing it less. It could also be aiudience fatigue and you will need to refresh your targeting. (See question 1 above)
💡 Tip: Refresh your visuals every 3–4 weeks, even if the ad is performing well.
6. Should I boost or use Ads Manager?
Boosting is quick, but limited. Ads Manager gives you control — who sees your ad, where, and for what objective.
Boosting only lets you reach more people; Ads Manager lets you reach the right people.
💡 Tip: Boost to test engagement. Use Ads Manager for serious results.
7. How do I know if my ads are working?
Track what matters. Likes don’t pay bills — conversations, CTR, and cost per lead do.
Use a Visibility Scorecard to evaluate how well your content, targeting, and conversion systems are aligned. From Now till December, Slvr WLf will be running a Visibility Scorecard Giveaway for two businesses every month. You can enter the giveaway by DM-ing us the word “Scorecard” on Instagram or LinkedIn.
💡 Tip: Don’t chase cheap clicks — chase clear data.
Conclusion
The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all ad budget.
Your goal, industry, audience, and creative all shape what’s “enough.”
But when you start asking the right questions — and tracking the right numbers — your ad spend stops feeling like a gamble and starts becoming an investment.
👉 Still unsure where your ad budget is going? Enter our Visibility Scorecard Giveaway to see how your campaigns actually perform.
Meet Abigail Anaba—your go-to expert for mastering digital strategy. With a postgraduate award in Creating Strategic Advantage from Warwick University, Abigail transforms complex digital challenges into clear, actionable insights. Her unique blend of storytelling and journalistic precision not only makes her strategies engaging and relatable but also drives real results.