CLIENT
Confidential
INDUSTRY
Exclusive art auctions
LOCATION
South Africa
SERVICES
Google Ads · Meta
BUDGET
~R70,000
3.3M
430
R148
20%
IN SHORT
An established art auction house wanted to reach more qualified buyers and sellers and grow revenue without overshooting its advertising budget. Bluestone built coordinated Google Ads and Meta campaigns that delivered 3.3 million impressions, 82,000 clicks and 430 leads at an average of R148 each, opening up an entirely new audience, where roughly 20% of buyers were brand-new clients, and finishing comfortably under budget.
THE CHALLENGE
Reach a rarefied audience without runaway costs.
In the exclusive art auction world, every new buyer or seller represents high value, but the audience is small, specific and expensive to reach. Our client came to us with a clear brief: find more qualified buyers and sellers, grow revenue, and do it without overshooting the advertising budget. The difficulty is that highly targeted markets usually mean high acquisition costs, so scale and efficiency tend to pull against each other.
Reach
Revenue
Control
THE APPROACH
We ran it through the Foundation Method.
The same three stages we bring to every project here, applied to a highly specialised market.
STEP 01
Ground
We mapped who the real buyers and sellers were, where they search, and what a viable cost per lead looked like in a market this specific, before committing a cent of the budget.
STEP 02
Build
We built coordinated campaigns across Google Ads and Meta, reaching collectors through search intent and sellers through targeted social placements, with creative made for a discerning audience.
STEP 03
Grow
We tracked every channel closely and continually shifted spend toward the campaigns delivering the best engagement and the most leads including seasonal, event-driven pushes.
THE RESULTS
Reach at scale - at a cost that worked.
From impressions to leads
3.3M
Impressions delivered across coordinated Google and Meta campaigns.
82K
Clicks, at an average click-through rate of 2.4%, strong for a market this specific
R0.78
Qualified leads generated at an average cost per lead of about R148.
430
Qualified leads generated at an average cost per lead of about R148.
Brand - New Buyers
A new audience, a new opportunity
One in five buyers had never engaged with them before.
Since taking over the campaigns, the business has tapped into an audience it had never reached. That expansion has been more than traffic growth: roughly 20% of their buyers are now brand-new clients, a shift that opens a steady pipeline for future sales and consignments.
In an industry where every new buyer or seller represents high value, reaching a genuinely new segment while keeping acquisition costs in check is a significant win.
Controlling costs
Under budget, with room to spare.
Careful channel management meant performance gains without spending everything available.
Budget allocated vs. spent
Came in under budget
Clear performance gains achieved with budget still in hand, efficiency, not just spend.
Traffic quality also improved
Recent Google Analytics data, past month
19,600+
total users in the past month
18,400
visiting for the first time
2,600
returning visitors, and growing
Returning visitors have grown steadily, showing consistent interest well beyond the initial campaigns.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Three lessons behind the numbers
Channels must work together
Google captured active search intent while Meta reached sellers through targeted placements. Coordinated, they covered both halves of the market.
Move spend toward what works
Tracking every channel closely and shifting budget to the best performers is what kept cost per lead down while reach went up.
Events drive engagement
Seasonal and event-driven campaigns like the “12 March Live Auction” and “Timeless Treasures” performed especially well for both engagement and conversions.
IN THEIR WORDS
“We’re reaching collectors we’d never have found on our own and doing it within budget.”
THE PROOF
Total Impressions per month
Cumulative qualified leads over 12 months
Illustrative of the trend — replace with your real dated Google Ads & Meta reporting for the live page.