Landscapers: 5 Facebook Ad Targeting FAILS Costing You Thousands

MATTHEW THIBEAU • June 27, 2025

If your Facebook Ads aren’t getting the results you want—maybe your leads are expensive, or maybe they aren’t coming in at all—chances are, it has nothing to do with your ad creative or your offer.

The real problem? Bad targeting.

As a marketing agency that works exclusively with landscapers, I’ve audited hundreds of ad accounts over the years. And I keep seeing the same five targeting mistakes tanking performance across the board.

Let’s break each of them down so you can avoid the same pitfalls—and start running campaigns that actually bring in quality leads at a reasonable cost.

Mistake #1: Going Way Too Narrow

One of the most common Facebook Ads mistakes I see landscapers make is creating audiences that are simply too small for the algorithm to work with. This usually happens when people overthink the targeting and try to “manually engineer” the perfect lead by stacking too many interests, too many filters, and too many restrictions.

For example, you might go into your ad set and start adding interests like “gardening,” “patio furniture,” “outdoor kitchens,” “backyard design,” “home renovation,” “HGTV fans,” and the list goes on.

Then you narrow the age range to something like 30–45. Then you exclude men.

Before you know it, you’ve created a tiny sliver of an audience—and you think, “this must be super dialed-in.” But what you’ve actually done is back yourself into a corner.

Facebook’s algorithm needs data to optimize. It needs to test, iterate, and learn who’s actually converting from your ad. If you only give it a tiny pool of people to work with, it doesn’t have the room to do its job. That’s when your cost per lead starts creeping up… or worse, you don’t get any leads at all.

Even if your ad and offer are solid, the targeting can choke the campaign before it ever has a chance to work.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should throw all targeting out the window and go completely broad. If you run an ad to your entire city with no qualifiers at all, you'll start pulling in leads that are outside your price point, outside your service area, or just totally unqualified—people who clicked your ad on a whim and were never serious in the first place.

The goal is to find a healthy middle ground. You want to cast a wide enough net for the algorithm to optimize—but not so wide that you start wasting money on clicks that will never convert. In most local landscaping markets, the sweet spot for audience size is somewhere between 300,000 to 600,000 people.

That gives Facebook enough data to work with while still staying focused on a local, high-intent customer base.

One thing I always recommend is keeping your interest targeting simple. You don’t need a dozen interests layered together. Pick one or two that are directly related to homeowner intent—things like “home improvement” or “luxury real estate.”

That’s it - Let the algorithm do the heavy lifting from there.

Also, be careful with geographic and demographic filters. Don’t shrink your radius too much. Don’t limit to only one gender unless you have a specific reason.

Don’t try to guess the perfect age range. A campaign that’s 80% right with a large enough audience will usually outperform a campaign that’s 100% specific but doesn’t give Facebook enough room to optimize.

If your audience is under 150,000, that’s a red flag. That’s typically the lower threshold of what you need to get consistent lead flow. Anything below that, and your ad delivery will start to sputter.

And if you’re wondering why Facebook even lets you create these tiny, overly restricted audiences if they don’t work… well, remember that Facebook still gets paid when people click. Whether those people are qualified leads is your problem. Their goal is to serve ads, not necessarily optimize your return.

Bottom line: If you're not seeing the results you want, don't just blame your ad creative. Pop open your audience settings and ask yourself: “Is this audience too small? Am I trying to control too much?”

Because 9 times out of 10, that's where the bottleneck starts.

Mistake #2: Only Using One Type of Targeting

Another major issue I see in a lot of landscapers' ad accounts is relying on just one type of targeting—and assuming it’s going to carry the entire campaign.

Typically, this looks like launching a “broad” audience where you’re targeting men and women ages 30 to 65, within a certain zip code or city radius, and… that’s it. No interests. No lookalikes. No testing. Just one audience, one campaign, one shot.

Now, to be clear—broad targeting can work. We use it often, especially in markets where Facebook has lots of data to pull from. But it shouldn’t be the only thing you’re doing. Why? Because no single targeting strategy works forever, and without testing other angles, you're leaving valuable lead volume and savings on the table.

There are three core audience types you should be testing:

Broad (no interests—just age, gender, and location)
Interest-based (layering in specific interests that suggest homeownership, renovation plans, or buying power)
Lookalike audiences (built from people who already showed buying intent, like your customer list or past website visitors)

If you're only running one of these—especially just a broad campaign—you’re missing out on potentially stronger audiences that could outperform your default setup.

For example, I’ve seen cases where we layer in just a single interest like “home renovation” on top of a broad campaign, and that small tweak cuts cost per lead by $5 or more. No drop in quality, no complex logic. Just one minor change with a massive impact.

Here’s the thing: Facebook is an AI platform. It works best when you give it different data sources to compare. When you test multiple targeting methods, you’re not just throwing spaghetti at the wall—you’re giving the algorithm options to find patterns. It can discover which groups are responding best and optimize accordingly.

But if you’re running one campaign with one audience and praying it works? That’s not testing. That’s gambling. And when it comes to ad dollars—especially in a seasonal business like landscaping—gambling is a dangerous game.

Bottom line: diversify your targeting. Run multiple ad sets. Let them battle it out. Facebook will tell you within a few days which one is winning. Then you can shift more budget to the one that’s performing best and cut the rest.

That’s how you lower your CPL and find new opportunities to scale—without wasting weeks wondering why your one campaign isn’t converting.

Mistake #3: Targeting Outside Your Service Area

One of the most frustrating things landscapers deal with when running Facebook Ads is getting leads from people who are way outside their service area. You’re running a campaign meant to target homeowners in your city—but the leads you’re getting are from an hour away, or even a totally different state or province. And you’re thinking, “Why is this happening?”

Here’s the culprit: Advantage+ Audience Expansion.

When you’re setting up your Facebook ads, this setting is often pre-checked by default. It sounds helpful—after all, Facebook pitches it as a way to "reach more people who may convert." But for local service businesses like landscaping, that’s a huge problem.

Advantage+ allows Facebook to automatically stretch your targeting if it thinks it can get you cheaper leads elsewhere. The problem is, cheaper doesn’t mean better. If Facebook can find someone who’s likely to click your ad but lives two hours away, it will still do it. From Facebook’s perspective, that’s a win—it got you a lead. But for you, that lead is totally useless.

Even worse, Facebook starts learning from that data. If a few people outside your area fill out your form, Facebook will keep pushing more of your budget toward those regions because it thinks that’s what’s working. Before long, you’re wasting money on a bunch of leads you can’t actually service.

That’s why I always recommend unchecking Advantage+ Audience Expansion every single time. You want to stay in control of your geography—not leave it up to an algorithm that doesn’t understand your crew can’t drive across three counties just to do a mulch job.

Another common mistake is relying too heavily on radius-based targeting. For example, you might type in “Toronto” and choose a 15-mile radius. Seems fine on the surface. But what Facebook does in this case is make judgment calls about nearby areas—and sometimes, it stretches into zones that you don’t want to service.

Instead, use zip code targeting (or postal codes, depending on where you live). Yes, it takes more time to set up—you’ll need to list each zip code individually. But the upside is precision. You know exactly which areas are inside your service zone and which ones aren’t.

And more importantly, you can analyze which zip codes are working. If one isn’t performing, you can pause it. If another is generating leads like crazy, you can scale into it.

This kind of granular targeting helps you do two things:

Cut out wasted spend from outside your area.
Identify hot pockets where your ads are really landing.

That kind of insight adds up fast—especially over the course of a busy season.

So, to sum it up: turn off Advantage+.

Don’t trust radius targeting alone. Take the extra 10 minutes to list your zip codes manually. It might seem tedious, but it’s one of the simplest ways to protect your ad budget and ensure you’re only getting leads that are actually serviceable.

Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how good your ad is if the people clicking it aren’t even in your market.

Mistake #4: No Remarketing Setup

If you're spending money on Facebook Ads and not running any kind of remarketing, you're essentially paying to get attention—and then walking away the second someone looks your way.

Here’s the reality: most people won’t convert the first time they see your ad. They might click on it, visit your website, poke around a bit, maybe even open your lead form… and then get distracted. Their kid starts crying, their dinner timer goes off, they switch back to TikTok or Google something else—and just like that, they're gone. Not because they weren’t interested, but because they weren’t ready at that moment.

Remarketing is how you get that person back.

Think of it like this: your first ad is the handshake. It gets their attention. But without a follow-up, that handshake goes nowhere. With remarketing, you’re showing up again—on their feed, in their stories, even in their Reels—with a friendly reminder: “Hey, still thinking about that backyard project?”

Now, the good news is, Facebook makes this really easy to do. You just need to install the Meta Pixel on your website or landing page. Once it’s set up, Facebook starts tracking the actions people take: did they click? Did they visit your site? Did they open your form but not submit it? All of that behavior can be used to build remarketing audiences.

Once you’ve got those audiences set up, you can start serving specific ads just to those people. People who already interacted with your brand in some way. These aren’t cold leads anymore. These are warm leads—folks who are already familiar with your name, already halfway down the decision-making path.

And here’s where the magic happens: remarketing ads almost always convert cheaper. In fact, I’ve seen landscapers cut their cost per lead by 30% to 50% just by adding a simple remarketing layer. Not only are the leads cheaper, they’re also higher quality—because the people converting have seen you more than once, and they’re now taking action with more intent.

So what should you actually say in these ads?

You don’t need a whole new pitch. Often, the best remarketing ads are just variations of your main offer—delivered with a reminder or a nudge. Things like:

“Still thinking about upgrading your backyard? We’ve got a few spots left this month.”
“Thanks for checking us out—don’t forget, our summer booking schedule is filling up fast.”
“If you’re serious about landscaping, don’t wait. See what’s possible with a free quote.”

These aren’t aggressive sales pushes. They’re gentle prompts that keep you top-of-mind. And in a platform like Facebook where people scroll mindlessly, that top-of-mind awareness is what gets you leads.

If you’re running ads now and don’t have remarketing set up, this should be the first thing you do this week. It doesn’t require more budget—just smarter use of the budget you already have. And unlike cold targeting, where you’re trying to find the right person, remarketing is about reminding the right person.

The leads are already halfway through the door. Remarketing is how you make sure they walk the rest of the way in.

Mistake #5: Running Ads on Bad Placements

When it comes to Facebook Ads, a lot of landscapers overlook one of the simplest but most important parts of the setup: ad placements—a.k.a. where your ad actually shows up.

By default, Facebook chooses something called Automatic Placements, which sounds great in theory. The platform promises to “maximize your budget by showing your ads across multiple placements,” and so most people leave it as-is, assuming Facebook knows best.

But what Facebook doesn’t tell you is that a lot of those placements are filled with what we call junk traffic.

One of the worst offenders is the Audience Network. This placement pushes your ad out to a bunch of random third-party apps and websites that no homeowner has ever heard of—mobile game apps, low-quality news blogs, random clickbait sites. These are places where people might accidentally tap your ad while trying to click something else.

Yes, your ad will get impressions. Yes, you might even get clicks. But those clicks almost never convert into real landscaping jobs. You’re paying for noise, not results.

Here’s why that’s dangerous: when your campaign starts driving traffic from these placements, it looks like the ad is “working” on the surface—because you’re getting lots of clicks. But when you dig deeper, you’ll realize those clicks aren’t turning into leads, and your cost per lead is bloated as a result. And worst of all, Facebook sees that click-through rate and starts doubling down on those placements, thinking it’s a success.

It’s a cycle that drains your ad budget without you even realizing it. So, here’s what we do instead. We manually select placements—and we only keep the ones that actually convert.

Typically we find that to be:

• Facebook News Feed

• Instagram Feed

• Facebook Reels

• Instagram Reels

These are the placements where real people are scrolling intentionally. These are the spots where homeowners actually stop, watch, read, and take action. They’re the places where your message lands with full attention, not as a banner on some knock off weather app.

Now, you might be thinking, “Aren’t I missing out by excluding other placements?” Technically, yes—you’re showing your ad in fewer places. But that’s exactly the point. We’re not interested in chasing volume for the sake of it. We want qualified eyeballs—the kind that turn into booked jobs.

In our experience at Savant Marketing, this simple change—turning off everything except feeds and reels—can cut wasted ad spend dramatically. It sharpens your campaign, keeps the focus on your strongest channels, and gives your ad a better chance of converting the right kind of lead.

Think of it this way: would you rather shout your offer in a crowded flea market—or have a conversation with a homeowner sitting down at their kitchen table? That’s the difference between random placements and curated, high-intent ones.

So, before you hit publish on your next ad, double-check your placements. If Facebook has you showing up in Stories, Messenger, Audience Network, or in-app games… turn that stuff off.

Focus your budget where it matters: the feed and the reels.

That’s where the real action happens.

Final Thoughts

Facebook Ads remain one of the most powerful lead generation tools available to landscapers in 2025. When set up correctly, they can drive a steady flow of qualified leads, fill your calendar with sales appointments, and create a predictable pipeline of new jobs.

But if you’re not seeing results—or if your cost per lead is higher than you’d like—the issue usually isn’t your ad creative or your budget. It’s your targeting.

The way you define your audience has a massive impact on how your ad performs. Get it wrong, and even a great ad with a compelling offer will fall flat. Get it right, and you can turn around a struggling campaign almost overnight.

Here’s the good news: most targeting issues fall into just a handful of common mistakes. If you can avoid these five missteps, you’ll give your campaign a much better shot at working—consistently and profitably.

First, don’t go too narrow. Facebook’s algorithm needs room to breathe. If your audience is too small, it can’t optimize or scale properly. But don’t go too broad either, or you’ll end up with leads who are completely unqualified. The goal is to find the middle ground—big enough for Facebook to work with, but focused enough to attract real homeowners.

Second, stop relying on just one type of targeting. Test different strategies—broad, interest-based, and lookalikes. You’ll often find that one audience performs far better than the rest, but you won’t know which unless you test.

Third, take control of your geography. Advantage+ audience expansion might seem helpful, but it often sends your ads outside your service area. Use zip code-level targeting instead, so you can reach the neighbourhoods you actually want to work in.

Fourth, make sure you’re running remarketing ads. Not everyone converts the first time they see your ad. Some people just need a reminder. If you’re not following up with warm traffic, you’re wasting a big chunk of your budget.

And lastly, pay attention to placements. Don’t let Facebook run your ad on every platform and app they own. Focus on feeds and reels—those are the placements that convert. Cut the rest, especially the Audience Network, which is notorious for low-quality traffic.

By fixing these five things, you can clean up your targeting, lower your cost per lead, and make your entire campaign more effective. Small changes in your setup can lead to massive differences in results—so take the time to get it right.

Dial in your targeting, and the rest of your campaign has a real shot at winning.

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