How To Do Facebook Ads For Local Businesses: Ben Heath

In this episode, Danny Leibrandt interviews Ben Heath, founder of Heath Media, a top-tier Facebook Ads expert with over 1M followers and $150M in managed ad spend. Ben breaks down how local businesses can effectively use Facebook (Meta) ads to generate leads and grow revenue.

Key Takeaways:

Meta Ads Philosophy: Ben views Facebook (Meta) ads as powerful interruption-based advertising on platforms where people already spend time. It's not about search intent but grabbing attention during the scroll.

Lead Campaigns for Local Businesses: Always tell Meta what you want—if you're after leads, optimize for leads. Meta’s algorithm has become increasingly smart, doing much of the targeting and timing work for you, especially with newer campaign types like Advantage+.

Manual vs. Automated Campaigns: While Advantage+ is evolving, Ben recommends local businesses still maintain more control using manual settings within these new structures, especially when lead quality matters.

Testing Is Essential: Treat ad spend like tuition—testing different creatives, offers, and strategies is crucial to finding what resonates. One winning ad could massively scale your business.

Offers Matter Most: For local businesses, a great offer (urgency, scarcity, guarantees) is often more important than the creative. He recommends Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers for inspiration.

Instant Forms vs. Website Leads: Instant forms on Facebook usually deliver more leads at a lower cost, but often lower quality. Website forms offer better-qualified leads, so test both.

Instagram vs. Facebook Ads: Meta determines which platform to show your ads on. Ben advises to advertise on both and let the algorithm optimize.

Metrics to Watch: The primary metric is cost per lead. Secondary metrics like CTR, CPM, and hook rate help diagnose issues but shouldn't be the focus.

Lead Magnet or Direct Offer? For low-ticket services ($50-100), go straight to an offer. Mid-ticket ($100–$1K) may benefit from a lead magnet. High-ticket ($1K+) should use a lead magnet or nurture strategy like omnipresent content.

Video vs. Image Ads: Video ads usually win (about 60% of the time), but only if they’re done well. Poor video can hurt performance more than a strong image ad.

Underrated Strategy: Use local influencers to create ad content—even micro-influencers in your area can massively boost credibility and performance.

Minimum Budget: Start with at least $10/day. It’s enough to learn and start testing, though serious results require scaling up.

Ben Heath, Founder of Heath Media:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BenHeath

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-heath-marketing/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bheathmarketing

Heath Media: https://heathmedia.co.uk/

Danny Leibrandt, Founder of Pest Control SEO:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DannyLeibrandt  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/dannyleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DannyLeibrandt   

Website: https://dannyleibrandt.com 

Pest Control SEO: https://pestcontrolseo.com/ 

Local Marketing Secrets Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LocalMarketingSecrets 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1TCL0LhZbsJS6mzanqnnT1?si=224075c9fbda42f5  

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/local-marketing-secrets/id1741176782 

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0bb5254-5d6c-4940-8211-085157cc1239/local-marketing-secrets 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Ben Heath

03:07 Understanding Facebook Ads: The Basics

09:00 Optimizing for Leads: The Local Business Perspective

15:07 Instagram vs. Facebook: Advertising Strategies

20:52 Website vs. Instant Forms: Lead Quality Discussion

25:05 Crafting Irresistible Offers for Facebook Ads

31:24 Lead Magnets vs. Direct Offers

34:44