Ran ads for a lot of local service businesses — gyms, clinics, contractors — and the pattern is almost always the same mistake: they run one generic ad to "everyone in a 10 mile radius" and wonder why cost-per-lead is $80+.

What actually moves the needle:

1. Split by intent, not just location. Someone searching "emergency plumber near me" and someone scrolling Instagram are different buyers. Same offer, different creative and different landing experience.

2. Retarget before you ever ask for the sale. Local businesses skip this because they think their radius is too small to matter. It's not — a warm retarget audience of even 500 people converts way better than cold traffic.

3. Kill ads on a schedule, not a feeling. Set a real CPL ceiling before launch. If an ad crosses it after meaningful spend, cut it. Most owners let underperformers ride for weeks out of hope.

4. Report weekly, in plain numbers. Leads, cost per lead, booked calls. If your agency (or you, doing it yourself) can't show that weekly, you're flying blind.

This is exactly the system we run for clients at Adline — happy to break down more of it if anyone's curious.