How a first-time 5K went from under 50 signups to 421 runners in seven weeks
A brand-new Fourth of July race with no page, no audience, and no email list hit its registration goal on Meta ads alone — at a cost per signup 24% under target, in one of Idaho’s smallest markets.
America250 Gem County 5K & 1-Miler
Emmett, Idaho
May–July 2026
Meta Ads
Source: Meta Ads platform data, May 18–July 5, 2026, plus confirmed RunSignup registrations.
The challenge
A first-time race has a cold-start problem: no brand, no followers, no proof anyone will show up. The America250 Gem County 5K & 1-Miler — a July 4th race celebrating America’s 250th birthday — had fewer than 50 signups and seven weeks to race day. And Gem County is a small market: there is no “new audience” to scale into. The campaign had to convert a limited local audience efficiently, then keep converting the same people week after week without burning them out.
The goal & the math
Targets were set before the first dollar was spent — so success was measured against real economics, not vanity metrics.
Result: 421 confirmed runners at $18.99 per Meta-attributed signup on the core campaign — 24% under the CPA goal, with every registration dollar tracked back to a 2.18x return on ad spend.
The strategy & scope of work
There was nothing to boost and nobody to email. So we built the whole engine: page, audience, creative, funnel — then let the data pick the winners and pointed the budget at them.
The build
What JC built & owned
- Facebook page and ad account created from scratch for the promoter
- Organic content to establish the page before paid launch
- Every ad creative — video, statics, and iterations — produced in-house
- Prospecting-to-retargeting funnel architecture and budget management
- Weekly optimization: scale winners, cut losers, refresh creative
What the data decided
- People-first static ads won: $13.75 per signup on the top ad
- Video hooks earned attention — best click-through rate at 3.48%
- Retargeting converted at $15.19 — less than half the cost of cold traffic
- Infographics and event-RSVP formats were cut early
The results
Retargeting took 49% of the budget and produced 71% of attributed signups. And the counterintuitive headline: ad frequency climbed to nearly 9x over the campaign’s life — normally a red flag — yet cost per signup fell almost every week, finishing at $7.15 in the final week as the retargeting pool matured and the price deadline hit.
| Week | Spend | Signups (attributed) | Cost per signup |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18–24 (launch) | $314 | 7 | $44.86 |
| May 25–31 | $260 | 13 | $20.01 |
| Jun 1–7 | $324 | 7 | $46.31 |
| Jun 8–14 | $327 | 11 | $29.76 |
| Jun 15–21 | $365 | 15 | $24.34 |
| Jun 22–28 | $342 | 16 | $21.36 |
| Jun 29–Jul 5 (final week) | $243 | 34 | $7.15 |
Where the signups came from
- Retargeting — 71% of attributed signups at $15.19 each
- Prospecting — filled the retargeting pool and converted the rest
- Top ad — one people-first static drove 59% of all attributed signups
- Winning hooks — “Only TV 5K” and “Why Do You Run” iterations
What it proves
- Small markets reward retargeting depth, not reach
- High frequency is survivable when creative stays fresh
- A real deadline beats a discount — the cheapest signups came last
- First-time events can hit big goals with a system, not a budget
Launching something with zero audience?
JC Performance Marketing builds the pages, ads, and retargeting systems that turn attention into action — and action into revenue. Even in the smallest markets.