Meet Our Heroes
Twilight Skincare isn’t your typical beauty brand. Born from a passion for clean, effective skincare and a desire to build something real, this emerging brand entered a crowded marketplace with quality products but zero advertising momentum. Competing against industry giants like Drunk Elephant, The Ordinary, and Kylie Cosmetics isn’t easy, especially when you’re working with a modest budget and juggling a full-time job on the side.
The founder had big dreams: turn Twilight Skincare into a full-time business. But to get there, they needed traction. Fast. And they needed to do it without burning through cash or getting their ad account banned in the process.
Twilight Skincare’s product line appeals to women aged 18 to 45 who care about their skin and are willing to invest around $100 in quality skincare routines. The brand’s aesthetic strikes a balance between fun and premium, approachable yet aspirational. The challenge? Getting in front of the right audience without the massive ad budgets their competitors were throwing around.
Their Goals
The goal was simple but ambitious: generate real sales traction quickly so the founder could transition from side hustle to full-time entrepreneur. That meant proving the concept, scaling profitably, and building a repeatable customer acquisition system on a tight budget of just $1,000 to $1,500 per month.
They also needed clarity. Twilight Skincare had dabbled in Google Ads without success and had never run Facebook advertising. The founder wasn’t sure what offer would convert, what messaging would resonate, or even what their true customer avatar looked like. They needed a partner who could test, learn, and scale fast without wasting money on guesswork.
The Challenge
Twilight Skincare was stuck in the classic startup trap: great products, no visibility.
Here’s what we were working with:
- No advertising track record. The brand had never successfully run paid ads on Facebook or Google. Previous Google Ads attempts had flopped, leaving the founder cautious and uncertain.
- Uncertain positioning. The founder wasn’t sure how to position the brand’s value proposition. Should they lead with free shipping? A discount? A free gift? They needed help crafting an offer that would actually convert.
- Tight margins. With products priced at just 1.7x cost, there wasn’t a lot of room for error. Every dollar spent on ads had to count.
- Crowded competition. The skincare space is saturated with established brands that have massive marketing budgets, loyal followings, and polished campaigns. Standing out without a clear differentiator or proven messaging was going to be tough.
- Limited budget. At $1,000 to $1,500 per month, we couldn’t afford to waste time or money testing poorly optimized campaigns. We needed to be strategic, scrappy, and data-driven from day one.
The founder’s biggest fear? Burning through the budget with nothing to show for it, or worse, getting their ad account shut down before they even got started.
Our Process
We approached Twilight Skincare like a launch campaign, not a scale campaign. The goal wasn’t to flood the market with ads. It was to find what worked, double down on it, and build a foundation for sustainable growth.
Phase One: Audience Research and Offer Development
Before we spent a single dollar on ads, we needed to understand who we were talking to and what would make them buy.
We started by analyzing Twilight Skincare’s competitors. Brands like Blume, The Ordinary, and Drunk Elephant all have different positioning strategies, but they share one thing in common: they know exactly who their customer is and what she cares about. We studied their messaging, offers, and creative styles to identify gaps and opportunities.
Next, we worked with the founder to define the ideal customer avatar. Women aged 18 to 45 who care about skincare, value quality over hype, and are willing to spend around $100 on a routine. But we went deeper. What are her pain points? What does she scroll past, and what makes her stop? What does she want to feel when she uses Twilight Skincare?
With that clarity, we developed an offer strategy that balanced urgency and value:
- Free shipping on orders over $75 to increase average order value.
- A complimentary travel-size product with first purchase to create excitement and reduce barrier to entry.
- Educational, non-salesy messaging that positioned Twilight Skincare as a trusted skincare partner, not just another beauty brand.
This wasn’t about discounting. It was about removing friction and creating an irresistible first-time buyer experience.
Phase Two: Creative Strategy and Ad Development
With the offer locked in, it was time to build the creative. The founder wanted a “fun but premium” vibe, something that felt approachable but didn’t cheapen the brand.
We developed a creative concept that leaned into lifestyle imagery paired with clean, benefit-driven copy. The goal was to make Twilight Skincare feel like a discovery, not a commodity. We avoided the overly clinical tone of brands like The Ordinary and the influencer-heavy style of Kylie Cosmetics. Instead, we positioned Twilight as the smart choice for women who want effective skincare without the hype.
We created three initial ad variations:
- Product hero shots showcasing the packaging and key ingredients.
- Lifestyle visuals featuring women in relatable settings (morning routines, self-care moments).
- Before-and-after style messaging highlighting the benefits without making unrealistic claims.
Each creative variation was paired with copy that emphasized the brand’s unique value: high-quality, accessible skincare that works. We kept the messaging conversational and benefit-focused, avoiding jargon and leaning into emotional triggers like confidence, self-care, and simplicity.
The founder was kept in the loop on the creative concepts, but we handled the execution. They wanted to know the “why” behind each decision, and we made sure every creative choice was backed by strategy.
Phase Three: Campaign Launch and Testing
With a $1,500 monthly budget, we couldn’t afford to test everything. We launched with a focused campaign structure:
- Two core audiences: A broad interest-based audience targeting women interested in skincare, beauty, and wellness, and a lookalike audience modeled after Twilight’s existing website visitors and social media followers.
- Three ad creatives to test messaging and visual styles.
- One optimized landing page with a clear offer, social proof elements, and an easy checkout process.
We launched the campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, optimizing for conversions with a 7-day click attribution window. The first week was all about gathering data and watching for early signals. We monitored click-through rates, cost per click, add-to-cart rates, and most importantly, return on ad spend.
Within the first 10 days, one creative stood out: the lifestyle visual paired with messaging around “your skin, simplified.” It had the highest engagement, the lowest cost per click, and was driving actual purchases. We reallocated budget to that winning ad and paused the underperformers.
By week three, we had enough data to refine the audience targeting. The broad skincare interest audience was performing well, but the lookalike audience based on website visitors was outperforming it. We shifted more budget there and continued to optimize.
Phase Four: Scaling and Refinement
Once we had a winning combination, we didn’t just coast. We continued to test new creatives, refine messaging, and optimize the funnel.
We introduced a second wave of ads focused on testimonials and user-generated content style visuals to build trust. We also tested video ads showcasing the product in action, which performed surprisingly well with cold audiences.
On the backend, we worked with the founder to streamline the checkout process, add urgency elements (like limited-time free shipping), and introduce email capture strategies for abandoned carts.
The result? A predictable, scalable acquisition system that was generating consistent sales without burning through the budget.
Results
In just 90 days, Twilight Skincare went from zero paid advertising to a thriving customer acquisition engine.
Here’s what we achieved:
- 5.2x ROAS on an average monthly ad spend of $1,400, generating over $7,200 in revenue per month.
- Reduced cost per purchase by 40% as we refined audience targeting and creative strategy.
- Increased average order value to $92, driven by the free shipping threshold and bundled offers.
- Built a repeatable system that could scale beyond the initial budget without sacrificing profitability.
- Zero ad account issues. We kept the campaigns compliant, the messaging clean, and the founder’s peace of mind intact.
More importantly, we gave the founder something they didn’t have before: confidence. Confidence that the business model works. Confidence that the products resonate. And confidence that Twilight Skincare could become a full-time reality.
Within three months, the brand had gone from side hustle uncertainty to a scalable, profitable business with real momentum. The foundation was set. The traction was real. And the dream of going full-time was no longer a maybe. It was a when.
