A lead-generation campaign concept for NC Courage’s LGBTQ+ email list. Targeted to the Triangle’s LGBTQ+ community, voiced like the season campaign, built around one idea: every match is a Pride night — and there’s a seat saved for every fan.
For
NC Courage marketing team
From
The Gaygency
Date
May 26, 2026
Platform
Meta — Instant Lead Forms
Ad account
act_2516607155245878
Status
For NC Courage approval
01 · The campaign in one breath
One ad. Three fields. Every fan’s inbox.
An always-on lead-generation campaign on Meta, targeted to LGBTQ+ fans across the Triangle, designed to grow NC Courage’s email list of LGBTQ+ fans season after season. Three-field Instant Form, native to Facebook and Instagram, so fans sign up without ever leaving the app.
Objective
Leads
Meta lead-gen campaign with Instant Form (no landing page required)
Audience
Triangle LGBTQ+
35-mile radius from WakeMed Soccer Park, 18–54, LGBTQ-affinity interests + lookalikes
Flight
Always-on
Launches Jun 10 · runs through the season · quarterly review
Budget
$25–$50/day
Recommended $35/day · flexible to NC Courage
What we’re asking the fan to do
Tap an ad. Tap once more inside Meta’s pre-filled form. They’re in. We capture first name, email, and (optional) phone. The record routes through Zapier into Salesforce as a new contact tagged to this campaign. NC Courage sends the welcome email. They’re a fan for life.
02 · The creative
One Crest. Every Color. Now in the feed.
Three formats, one visual system. The same gradient, the same Georgia headline, the same navy field as the rest of the season campaign — so when a fan sees this ad in their feed, then sees a billboard, then sees an in-stadium banner, it all reads as one club.
Feed Square · 1080 × 1080
Primary placement · Facebook + Instagram Feed
Story / Reel · 1080 × 1920
Stories + Reels · Instagram + Facebook
Portrait Feed · 1080 × 1350
Portrait Feed · Facebook + Instagram
Note on the mockups. These are typographic, vector mockups in the same visual system as the 2026 Season Playbook and the May performance report. Final production assets can swap in player photography, in-stadium captures, or fan moments once approved — the typographic system is the floor, not the ceiling.
03 · Ad copy
Three voices. Same invitation.
All three variants are built off the themes NC Courage asked for: we are, you’re welcome here, this is your home, stay in the loop, big things this season and beyond. Each variant is tuned to a different fan mindset — community, belonging, hype — so we can A/B and let Meta pick the winner.
Variant A · The brand-mark opener
One crest. Every color. Every fan.
Headline
One crest. Every color. Every fan.
Primary text
Every color in our crest, every fan in our stands. NC Courage is building a home for the Triangle’s LGBTQ+ community — the families, the friends, the whole crowd — and we want you in it. Get on the list and we’ll keep you first in line on everything we’re doing for our fans.
Description
Free. One tap. No spam. Opt out any time.
CTA button
Sign Up
Variant B · The belonging line
There’s a home for you in our stands.
Headline
There’s a home for you in our stands.
Primary text
Whoever you bring. Whoever you are. We’ve been saving a seat. Join the NC Courage LGBTQ+ list and we’ll keep you first in line on every match, every moment, and everything we’re building for our community.
Description
The pitch is your home too.
CTA button
Sign Up
Variant C · Every match is a Pride night
Every match is a chance to come as you are.
Headline
Every match is a chance to come as you are.
Primary text
NC Courage is building something for the LGBTQ+ community in the Triangle — and we’re not waiting for one weekend to do it. Every game is yours. Every match is a chance to pull up, take your seat, and be exactly who you are. Get on the list and we’ll keep you first in line on everything we’re doing for our fans.
Description
The whole season. Your seat is saved.
CTA button
Sign Up
04 · The lead form
Three fields. Inside Meta. No landing page.
Meta Instant Forms pre-fill first name + email from the fan’s profile, so a sign-up is one tap and one confirm. Phone is optional and clearly labeled as “ticket drops only” so we’re honest about what we’ll use it for. Three screens: invite, fields, thanks.
NC Courage
Welcome to the inside.
We’ll send you every match, every Pride moment, every drop — and a heads-up the second tickets hit. Three fields and you’re in.
CONTINUE
Tap continue to start. You can review what NC Courage does with your info on the next screen.
Screen 1 · Intro
Sign me up
A few quick details.
First name required
Onya
Email required
onya@example.com
Phone optional · tickets drops only
(919) 555-0119
SUBMIT
By tapping Submit, you’re saying yes to NC Courage emailing you. We respect your inbox — opt out any time. See NC Courage’s Privacy Policy.
Screen 2 · Fields
You’re in
Welcome to the family.
First invite’s on the way. Watch your inbox — every match, every Pride moment, every drop comes from us first. Pull up. Cheer as one.
SEE THE SCHEDULE
Tap to head to nccourage.com/schedule. Or close to keep scrolling — we’ll catch up in your inbox.
Screen 3 · Thank-you
What we capture
First name · required · Meta pre-fills from profile
Email · required · Meta pre-fills from profile
Phone · optional · labeled honestly as “ticket drops only” so we don’t train fans to expect cold calls
Source tag · automatic · every record routes to Salesforce with LeadSource = "Meta Lead Ads — LGBTQ+ Inbox Campaign 2026" for clean reporting
05 · Audience + budget
The Triangle’s LGBTQ+ community, by way of Meta’s best signals.
Meta no longer lets advertisers target by “sexual orientation” directly, so we build the audience the way it’s already done well: a stack of LGBTQ-affinity interests, a Triangle geo, and a 1–3% lookalike of NC Courage’s existing email list. Plus an exclusion of fans already in the database so we don’t pay to re-acquire current subscribers.
Audience — Triangle LGBTQ+
Estimated daily reach ~120K–180K fans · estimated daily leads at $35/day: 15–35 (depends on creative CTR)
Lead generationOptimize for leads
Layer
Setting
Why
Geo
35-mile radius from WakeMed Soccer Park (Cary, NC). Includes Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Apex, Cary, Wake Forest, Garner, Holly Springs, Hillsborough.
Same regional footprint as the Belonging campaign. Captures the full Triangle market who could plausibly attend a match.
Age
18–54
LGBTQ+ ticket-buying skews 21–44 but Meta optimization works better with the wider bracket — the algorithm finds the right age inside the window.
Gender
All
The Courage’s LGBTQ+ fanbase isn’t a single gender. We let Meta optimize.
Interests (broad LGBTQ-affinity stack)
LGBT community · LGBT culture · LGBT history · Out (magazine) · Logo TV · RuPaul’s Drag Race · Pride parade · Human Rights Campaign · The Trevor Project · PFLAG · Equality · Marriage equality · Trans visibility
None of these are protected classes on Meta. They’re the standard affinity stack used by every LGBTQ+ org and LGBTQ+-targeted brand on the platform.
Plus the soccer overlap
NWSL · Women’s soccer · USWNT · OL Reign · Angel City FC · Megan Rapinoe · Pro soccer fans
Layered as a secondary stack — widens reach to soccer-leaning LGBTQ+ fans who don’t self-identify with LGBTQ interest categories but watch the sport.
Lookalike
1–3% LAL of NC Courage’s existing email list (uploaded as Custom Audience)
Highest-intent signal. Targets fans behaviorally similar to current NC Courage subscribers in the Triangle.
Exclusions
Current NC Courage email list (Custom Audience) · Current season-ticket holders (if list provided)
Don’t pay Meta to re-acquire fans already in the database.
Meta’s placement algorithm wins on lead-gen objectives. Creative is prepared in all three aspect ratios (square, portrait, story) to cover everything.
Languages
English, Spanish
Adds reach in the Triangle’s Spanish-speaking LGBTQ+ community at zero CPM penalty.
Budget & flight
Recommended $35/day · always-on, launches Jun 10, runs through the NWSL season · pause or adjust at any time
Daily budgetQuarterly review
Tier
Daily
Monthly
Through season†
Est. leads / mo*
Lean
$25
$750
$3,600
130–300
Recommended
$35
$1,050
$5,040
200–450
Push
$50
$1,500
$7,200
300–650
†Through-season figure assumes the campaign runs Jun 10 to end of the 2026 NWSL regular season (~Oct 31, ~144 days). NC Courage can pause anytime — budget caps automatically. *Estimated lead range based on Meta’s lead-gen benchmarks for sports/entertainment ($2.50–$5.50 CPL) and the strength of an Instant Form against the LGBTQ+ community in the Triangle. Final numbers depend on creative CTR, audience saturation, and Meta’s auction.
Why always-on through the season
The brand position is “every match is a Pride night.” The campaign should run the way the brand thinks — not anchored to a single tentpole date, but always-on through every game of the season.
Launches Jun 10 to give 2 weeks of lead time for NC Courage approval, Meta ad review (24–48 hours), and the Zapier → Salesforce wiring.
Quarterly review — The Gaygency pulls creative + audience performance every 90 days, refreshes copy variants, and confirms NC Courage’s budget tier for the next quarter. NC Courage can pause, raise, or lower spend at any check-in (or any time in between).
06 · Where the leads go
Meta → Zapier → Salesforce. Tagged, traced, opted in.
Every fan who submits the form is in Salesforce within 60 seconds, tagged to this campaign for clean source reporting, with marketing consent captured. NC Courage’s existing email system picks them up from there.
Field mapping
Meta Lead Ads → Zapier (or Make) → Salesforce Lead (or Contact — NC Courage chooses)
To confirm with NC Courage
Meta field
Salesforce field
Notes
first_name
FirstName
Required. Meta pre-fills.
email
Email
Required. Used as dedupe key.
phone_number
Phone
Optional. May be blank.
(system) created_time
LeadSource
Static value: "Meta Lead Ads — LGBTQ+ Inbox Campaign 2026"
(system) campaign_id
Campaign__c(custom)
Optional but recommended — lets NC Courage track lead volume by ad set + creative variant downstream.
(system) ad_id
Ad_ID__c(custom)
Same — tracks which copy variant converted.
(system) submitted_at
HasOptedInMarketing or EmailOptIn__c
Set to true — the Instant Form is a single-opt-in marketing consent under CAN-SPAM and the NC Courage Privacy Policy.
Zapier zap shape
Trigger: New Lead in Meta Lead Ads · Filter: Form = “LGBTQ+ Inbox Campaign 2026” · Action: Find-or-Create Lead in Salesforce
Trigger · Meta Lead Ads — new lead on Form ID {{to be assigned}}.
Step 2 · Salesforce — Find Lead by Email. (Dedupe gate.)
Step 3a (if not found) · Create Lead with FirstName, Email, Phone, LeadSource, Campaign__c, Ad_ID__c, HasOptedInMarketing = true.
Step 3b (if found) · Update Lead — bump LastModifiedDate, append “LGBTQ+ Inbox Campaign 2026” to LeadSource history (custom note), re-opt in if previously opted out only via campaign sources.
Step 4 · Slack notification to NC Courage’s marketing channel (optional — nice for real-time visibility).
What we need from NC Courage to wire Salesforce
A Salesforce API user with create + update permissions on Lead (or Contact — NC Courage’s pick).
Confirmation: should leads land as Lead objects (so the NC Courage team can qualify and convert), or directly as Contacts (if everyone here is already a marketing-qualified fan and the team doesn’t want a Lead-qualification step)?
Custom field names for Campaign__c and Ad_ID__c if NC Courage already has equivalent fields — otherwise we’ll create them.
Slack channel for optional real-time notifications (skip if not needed).
Every match is a Pride night.
Every seat is saved for someone.
07 · To push this live
What we need from NC Courage.
Everything below is a quick yes/no or a one-line confirm. Once these are in, The Gaygency builds the campaign in the NC Courage Meta ad account in paused state for one final NC Courage review, then unpauses on launch day.
1Confirm the Facebook Page
Run the ads from the North Carolina Courage official Facebook Page. Same page used for current Belonging + TOF campaigns. Yes / no.
2Confirm the Privacy Policy URL for the Instant Form
Meta requires a privacy policy URL on every lead form. We’ll point to nccourage.com/privacy-policy. Confirm or send a different URL.
3Pick a budget tier
Lean ($25/day), Recommended ($35/day), or Push ($50/day). Or set a custom number. Always-on through the NWSL season unless NC Courage prefers a different window. Pause, raise, or lower anytime.
4Pick a copy variant (or all three)
Variant A (We Are), B (Home), or C (Hype). Recommend launching all three under one ad set so Meta can A/B and let the winner scale — final say is NC Courage’s.
5Confirm Salesforce object + grant API access
Lead or Contact? Plus a Salesforce API user with create/update permission so Zapier can route in. We’ll handle the rest of the wiring.
6Approve the existing email list as the lookalike seed
We upload NC Courage’s current email list as a Meta Custom Audience to build a 1–3% lookalike. List is hashed before upload — never stored in raw form on Meta. Yes / no, plus the most current list export.
7Approve the welcome email NC Courage will send post-signup
Out of scope for this build, but the campaign only works if there’s a welcome email queued up. NC Courage handles that send via the current ESP — The Gaygency is happy to draft if needed.
What happens after these come back
The Gaygency builds the campaign in the NC Courage Meta ad account in paused state with all three creative formats, three copy variants, the Instant Form wired to the Privacy Policy URL, and the audience stack ready. Zapier zap is staged. NC Courage gets a 10-minute walkthrough link. On the agreed launch day, NC Courage clicks unpause — or we do, on instruction. Leads start flowing within 24 hours.