Naman Dudeja · Founder, Drome Media · March 2025 · 9 min read
Introduction
I've spent the last two years running Meta ad campaigns for Indian businesses — coaches, agencies, D2C brands, SaaS founders, consultants. I've seen what works in the Indian market specifically, and it's often very different from the Western playbooks everyone copies.
My name is Naman Dudeja. I run Drome Media. And in this post, I'm going to share what's actually working on Meta in India right now — not theory, not recycled advice. Real patterns from real campaigns.
Why Indian Meta Ads Are Different
The Indian audience is uniquely skeptical and uniquely aspirational at the same time. They want results but they've been burned by fake promises. They respond to specificity, authority, and social proof in ways that generic Western-style ads completely miss.
CPL (cost per lead) in India is significantly lower than Western markets — but so is average deal size. The game is about qualifying hard and closing efficiently.
What's Actually Working Right Now
Creative: UGC-style videos outperform polished branded ads in almost every category we've tested. A founder speaking directly to camera about a specific problem — no fancy editing, no stock footage — consistently outperforms a professionally produced ad. Authenticity wins.
Copy: Lead with the pain, not the solution. "Struggling to get consistent leads for your agency?" outperforms "We help agencies grow." Every time.
Targeting: Broad targeting with strong creative is now outperforming narrow interest stacks in most of our campaigns. Meta's algorithm is better than your targeting instincts — give it a good creative and a clear pixel signal and let it find your audience.
Offer: The offer is 80% of the campaign. A weak offer with great creative still fails. The best offer we've found for B2B services in India: a free strategy call that promises a specific deliverable — "30-minute funnel audit where we map out your exact 3-step lead generation system."
The Campaign Structure We Use at Drome Media
Campaign level: Conversion objective, campaign budget optimization (CBO). Budget: start at ₹500-1000/day minimum for meaningful data.
Ad set level: Broad targeting (age, location), no interest stacking. One ad set per campaign to start.
Ad level: 3-5 creatives minimum. Different hooks, same offer. Let Meta optimize.
Pixel: Ensure purchase, lead, and initiate checkout events are firing correctly before scaling.
Retargeting: Where The Money Hides
90% of leads don't convert on the first touch. Your retargeting campaign is where the real ROI lives. We run a 3-layer retargeting stack: Day 1-3 (video view or landing page visit) → Day 4-7 (social proof/testimonial ad) → Day 8-14 (direct offer, urgency-based copy).
Most Indian businesses don't run retargeting at all. Which means if you do it, you immediately have a competitive advantage.
The Number One Mistake Killing Your Meta Ads
You're judging campaigns too early. Meta's algorithm needs 50 optimization events per week to exit the learning phase. If you're pausing campaigns after 3 days because "it's not working," you're killing every campaign before it has a chance to perform.
"Be patient with data. Be ruthless with creative. That's the game."
— Naman Dudeja, Founder, Drome Media
Want results like these for your business?
Naman Dudeja and the Drome Media team work with a limited number of founders each month.