Same ₹1CR/Month. Two Completely Different Systems.

The situation

Pentagram Expert wanted the opposite of a high-volume pipeline: fewer, larger, better projects, not a call centre. In NCR, the highest-value projects rarely come from someone who clicked an ad five minutes ago — they come from clients who've already formed an opinion about the studio's taste and credibility. On top of that, the studio's Instagram presence was inconsistent and undersold the actual quality of its work.

The approach: filtration over volume

With a lean, consultative sales process and a project size where a handful of the right clients could hit the number, the funnel needed to filter before the phone ever rang — not after.

• Website-first funnel, not Instant Forms. The extra step of leaving the platform and reading a landing page naturally filters out low-intent clicks — only people willing to engage further convert.
• Heavier pre-qualification in the funnel. Budget, project scope, and timeline are surfaced before a lead is treated as sales-ready, so the sales team stopped re-qualifying people who were never a fit.
• Full brand and Instagram overhaul run alongside the ad strategy, so paid traffic lands on a presence that reads as premium — and organic followers started converting on their own.
• Narrow targeting to the specific micro-markets and household budget bands matching the studio's real project size, trading reach for fit.
• High-production creative — cinematic project walkthroughs, long-form before/after reels, and on-site testimonials — fewer ads, each held to a much higher bar than a volume account would use.

Campaign structure & ad split

Smaller and more concentrated than a volume account, across three campaign types:

• Conversion campaigns to the website (55–60% of budget). Optimised toward form completion, not clicks or generic leads.
• Retargeting (25% of budget). Website visitors who didn't convert, Instagram profile visitors, and engaged video viewers — where most qualified leads convert on their second or third touch.
• Brand & reach campaigns (15–20% of budget). Run separately to grow Instagram engagement and profile visits in target localities, feeding the organic side of the funnel.

The entire budget is concentrated in a small number of premium NCR localities — no multi-city split, since the audience stays narrow enough that filtration happens through targeting, not just the form.

The funnel, step by step

1. Ad served to a narrow, locality- and income-targeted audience across Instagram and Facebook feed and Reels.
2. Landing page, not an Instant Form — built around portfolio proof, testimonials, and brand credibility before any form appears.
3. Qualification form asks for budget range, project type, timeline, and locality — framed as a fit-check, which discourages window-shoppers from finishing it.
4. Submissions are screened against fit criteria — genuine fits go straight to a booked consultation, borderline submissions get a follow-up instead of a hard push.
5. Consultation call is long-format and consultative, closer to a design discussion than a sales pitch — only possible because the funnel already filtered out leads not worth the time.

The result

A lean, high-quality pipeline of around 50 leads a month, filtered hard enough at the top that a much higher share convert — landing at ₹1CR/M with a fraction of the leads Combine Design needs, plus a brand and Instagram presence that keeps compounding organically outside of paid spend. This works specifically because Pentagram Expert's ambition was fewer, bigger projects and its sales process is built for depth, not speed. A studio without a distinct brand story, or with a large team built for high call volume, would get more value from the Combine Design model above.