Something new is happening at Paperboy.
We launched our first paid ads this week.
After years of growing almost entirely through referrals, we’re entering a new phase where we’re trying to be a little more focused on active growth. We feel good about our processes, our systems, and our ability to deliver. Now it’s time to expand how we generate leads.
And as you can probably imagine, I’ve spent a TON of time lately going deep on paid marketing strategies for high-ticket services. And since a lot of you are in a similar spot (selling services in the multi-thousand or tens-of-thousands range) I wanted to share exactly what we’re testing. Feel free to steal it.
The caveat before you spend a dollar
Before you do anything... please don’t run paid ads if you don’t have a clear picture of who your audience is and what keeps them up at night. If you can’t speak directly to their problems, you’re going to waste a lot of money. Get that clarity first.
The funnel
Here’s the setup we’re running:
Step 1: The ads
We’re running 30–60 second video ads on Meta (Facebook + Instagram). Each ad is targeted at a slightly different pain point. Short, direct, designed to do one thing... get people to click.
Step 2: A free training (not gated)
The ads drive to a short training video on a landing page. No sign-up required, we opted to keep it open rather than treat it like a webinar or something that required registration.
Here’s the key insight on this training: it’s not designed to deliver all the value. My first instinct was to pack everything in — an hour of my BEST material. Big mistake. Nobody’s making it through an hour-long video from a cold ad. The reality is the training has one job: get them to take the next step.
Step 3: The application form
Right below the video is an application form. This does two things:
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It filters. Paid campaigns bring in a lot of unqualified leads. That’s just the nature of it and there’s really no getting around it. A few simple hoops weed out people who aren’t serious.
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It qualifies. The questions help you figure out if someone is actually a fit. Things like: What does your business revenue look like? Are you actively looking for a solution right now, or just browsing? That’s useful and actionable data.
Step 4: Two paths
Based on how they answer, leads go one of two ways:
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Qualified → straight to Calendly to book a call
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Not quite ready → a downsell offer. We basically say: “You’re not at the stage where the full Paperboy engagement makes sense yet — but based on what you told us, here’s something that does.”
That downsell isn’t about creating a new revenue stream. The goal is to recoup some of your ad spend so that unqualified leads aren’t just dead weight. If even a fraction of them convert on a smaller offer, it offsets your costs.
Where we’re at
We’re treating this as an experiment. I can’t tell you yet whether it works quite yet but we’ll find out soon. But based on everything I’ve researched, this funnel structure is probably the most optimal path for high-ticket lead gen through paid.
I’ll keep you updated on results as they come in.
In the meantime — have you ever run paid campaigns for a high-ticket service? What did you find? Any tips or horror stories? Send em my way.
— Shane