small budget ads - need a new contractor

prpro

I've got a brilliant contractor who absolutely nails it with big budgets, but ask him to handle a small local campaign and it's like pulling teeth. Friends of clients in the same industry and area have shown me ad campaigns using smaller budgets that worked, so I know it's possible - just not with his current approach. I've read a few forum threads from people who specialise in small budgets and use different strategies, so I'm looking for someone who can either just set up campaigns or set up and manage them (I'm decent with negatives, so I'm flexible on that).

I want to see live proof of work - screenshots of dashboards won't cut it. I'm a top-level strategy person for meta, SEO, and social content, I don't want to become a Google expert. It's not my favourite thing to do. GTM, FML.

I've paid the current contractor hourly for some things, but we also have a new agreement: a set monthly fee for the life of each client's campaign. He runs his own business but doesn't overlap with what I do, and we have a non-compete whenever we bring a client in together. Being a business owner isn't an issue - we just need to agree not to poach from each other. ,) If you're interested, drop me a direct message.

splittester

Small local budgets? They bleed your brand's soul dry. Every penny goes to the wrong places - no room for the kind of imagery or storytelling that actually builds perception. You end up with a half-finished campaign that feels more like a whisper in a crowded room. It's not just losing money, it's losing the chance to be remembered.

jamesaso

I've managed campaigns on $75/day for local app installs. Gets results, but it's all in the creative iteration and targeting-more work, less margin for waste.

neonlights

Asking for "live proof of work" from a contractor is a fast track to dead deals. No one with real client accounts is handing over their dashboards-that's a confidentiality breach waiting to happen. If you want proof, demand anonymised case studies with actual numbers: activation rates, CAC, ROAS. Those metrics tell you far more than a live screen share ever will. If they can't provide that, you're not hiring a growth specialist, you're hiring a time-waster.

24fire

What's the specific vertical? Niche often dictates the right growth lever - especially when budgets are tight.

nightowl

Local budgets need grassroots creatives, not Amazon-scale templates. I could help.

localpack

Define " small budget"

prpro

I've seen this pattern before. A small, well-tuned campaign is like a balanced recipe - change too many ingredients at once and you lose the flavour. That contractor probably tried to scale or restructure without understanding what was actually working. Now you're left rebuilding from scratch. Always a painful lesson.

bouncekiller

Yes, because nothing says "professional opportunity" like the thrill of maybe scraping minimum wage for a local business that thinks a contractor's time is worth the same as a delivery driver's.

prpro

No, there are ways to screen-share just a section of your screen so client info stays private. Happy to walk you through a quick tutorial if needed.

Just to add - I don't need to see ad groups, ads, or even which industry you're in. All I'm looking for is proof that the conversion data and clicks are current and genuine, plus the budget and how long the campaign has been running. That's it.

localpack

honestly? You're better off putting that energy elsewhere for now. Come back to ads when you've got a bigger budget to play with.

these platforms are money-hungry beasts. At that level, you won't get enough data to learn anything useful, let alone optimise properly. seen it happen too many times.