Marketing campaign optimization usually comes down to a few fundamentals that most new business owners overlook at the start.
First, define the goal before touching anything else. A campaign designed to build awareness needs completely different metrics and tactics than one designed to generate leads or drive purchases. If your friend is measuring the wrong thing, the campaign will always feel like it is underperforming even when it is not.
Second, check the targeting. Most underperforming campaigns are not bad in terms of creative or messaging, they are simply reaching the wrong audience. Narrow the demographic, location, and interest targeting before assuming the content itself is the problem.
Third, test one variable at a time. A lot of beginners change the image, the headline, the audience, and the budget all at once and then have no idea what actually moved the needle. Run A/B tests on individual elements so the data tells a clear story.
On where to get help, it depends on the budget and the stage of the business. Some options worth considering are hiring a freelancer for a one-time audit, working with a niche agency that specializes in his industry, or starting with a platform like Google's free campaign tools to understand the basics before spending more.
For businesses in the UAE or the Gulf region specifically, finding an agency that understands the local market matters more than people expect. Something like
social media marketing Dubai focused services tend to perform better than generic global campaigns because the audience behavior, platform preferences, and buying patterns differ from Western markets.
The most important thing your friend can do right now is look at the data he already has, identify where people are dropping off, and fix that one point before scaling anything.