Scaling ad spend is a key growth strategy for businesses in digital marketing, but many struggle to do so efficiently.

The risks of rising CPAs, ad fatigue, and diminishing ROAS discourage businesses from scaling their campaigns.

In this article, we’ll share a case study of how a corporate retail fashionwear brand successfully scaled ad spend while maintaining efficiency.

With strategic insights and actionable steps, this guide will help you understand how to scale ad spend effectively.

The Challenge

Our client, a corporate retail fashionwear eCommerce brand, faced significant challenges in scaling their ad campaigns.

Key issues included:

• Rising Costs Per Acquisition (CPA): CPA increased dramatically as ad budgets grew.
• Ad Fatigue: Repeated use of the same creatives led to lower click-through rates (CTR) and engagement.
• Limited Audience Reach: Heavy reliance on retargeting limited scalability.
• Budget Mismanagement: Rapid budget increases disrupted Facebook’s algorithm, reducing campaign efficiency.

Their previous ad spend was IDR 15,511,956, which generated a revenue of IDR 87,196,284 with a reach of 483,105 and 2.2 million impressions.

The client’s challenge was to scale their campaigns while maintaining profitability and efficiency.

They needed a clear strategy for how to scale ad spend without jeopardizing performance.

The Solution: A Proven Framework

Scaling ad spend efficiently requires planning, precision, and consistent optimization.

Here’s the step-by-step framework we implemented to address the client’s challenges:

1. Campaign Audit and Refinement

Before scaling, we reviewed and optimized the client’s existing campaigns:

• Analyzed Key Metrics: We examined ROAS, CTR, CPA, and frequency to identify gaps.
• Segmented Audiences: Retargeting, lookalike, and cold audiences were analyzed for performance.
• Refreshed Creatives: Underperforming creatives were retired and replaced with new designs.

This audit revealed the need for improved creative strategies and audience expansion, which are crucial steps in how to scale ad spend effectively.

2. Audience Expansion

Expanding the audience pool was essential for scalable growth.

We implemented the following strategies:

• Layered Lookalikes: Built 1%, 3%, and 5% lookalike audiences from high-value customers.
• Broader Demographics: Targeted broader age ranges and behaviors to unlock untapped markets.
• International Markets: Focused on regions with lower CPMs and similar buying behaviors to reduce costs.

These strategies increased the client’s reach from 483,105 to 639,889 and impressions from 2.2 million to 3.1 million.

Audience expansion plays a pivotal role in how to scale ad spend while maintaining efficiency.

3. Creative Optimization

Ad fatigue was a critical issue affecting engagement and ROAS.

We tackled this with a robust creative strategy:

• Introduced New Formats: Carousel ads, short-form videos, and interactive creatives were developed.
• A/B Testing: Tested variations of copy, visuals, and CTAs to identify top-performing creatives.
• Creative Rotation: Ads were rotated weekly to maintain audience engagement.

As a result, CTR increased by 28%, and engagement metrics improved across the board.

Creative optimization is a necessary part of how to scale ad spend sustainably and avoid diminishing returns.

4. Gradual Budget Scaling

We scaled the ad spend incrementally to avoid algorithm disruption.

Key steps included:

• Budget Increases: Increased ad spend from IDR 15,511,956 to IDR 30,695,840 over two months.
• Daily Monitoring: Regular tracking of ROAS, CTR, and CPA ensured stability.
• Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO): Used automated budget allocation to maximize performance.

This approach allowed us to scale ad spend while maintaining a stable ROAS of 6.02x.

Gradual budget scaling is one of the most effective strategies for businesses learning how to scale ad spend without risking efficiency.

5. Leveraging Automation

Automation tools helped streamline scaling and reduce manual efforts:

• Automated Rules: Paused underperforming ads and optimized bids on high-performing ones.
• Dynamic Ads: Personalized product recommendations based on user behavior improved conversions.
• Real-Time Dashboards: Provided transparency and allowed the client to track campaign performance.

Automation simplifies many processes involved in how to scale ad spend, enabling better results with less manual intervention.

Results: Scaling Ad Spend Without Sacrificing Efficiency

By implementing this strategy, we delivered exceptional results:

• Ad Spend: Increased from IDR 15,511,956 to IDR 30,695,840 monthly.
• Revenue: Increased from IDR 87,196,284 to IDR 184,757,377, marking a 112% growth in revenue.
• Reach: Grew from 483,105 to 639,889, improving audience visibility by 33%.
• Impressions: Increased from 2.2 million to 3.1 million, enhancing brand awareness.
• ROAS: Maintained a consistent 6.02x, even with the increased budget.
• Cost per Purchase: Kept at IDR 44,294, ensuring profitability across campaigns.

These results highlight the power of a structured and data-driven scaling strategy.