Google Ads
For people already searching for what you sell. Highest intent, usually the fastest route to an enquiry, and the most expensive per click. Best when a single job is worth a decent amount to you.
Marketing
For when you need the phone ringing this month.
Google Ads, Meta advertising, social content and email for UK small businesses. Built around cost per enquiry, not impressions and vanity numbers.
The honest bit
Do not start here.
Advertising sends people to your website, and if you are weighing that up against just posting on social, this guide covers it. If that website is slow, confusing or hard to contact you through, all advertising does is help more people bounce off it faster, and you pay for every one of them.
So we fix the site first. Once it converts properly, ads become a lever you can pull rather than a hole you pour money into.
If you come to us wanting ads and we think your site is not ready, we will say so. It is a worse sales pitch and a much better outcome.
Start with the websiteYoursthe ad budget is separate and you set it, always
Trackedconversion tracking is set up before a penny is spent
Plainmonthly reporting you can read in two minutes
What we run, and when it is worth it.
Not everything suits every business. This is roughly how we decide what to point at your budget.
Meta ads
Facebook and Instagram, for reaching people who do not yet know you exist. Cheaper per click, lower intent, and strong for visual trades where the before and after does the selling.
Social content
Posts written in your voice rather than corporate filler. Consistency matters more than volume here. Two decent posts a week beats twenty rushed ones and then silence for a month.
Email follow up
The cheapest marketing you own, and the most ignored. Quotes that went quiet, past customers due another service, a seasonal reminder. These people already trust you.
How we run it
Measured on enquiries, not impressions.
It is easy to make an ad report look impressive. Thousands of impressions, a healthy click through rate, a graph pointing up. None of it matters if the phone did not ring.
So before anything goes live we set up conversion tracking properly, which means we can see which campaigns produced actual enquiries and what each one cost you. Then we spend more on what works and switch off what does not.
Every campaign includes
- Conversion tracking configured before launch
- A landing page that matches the advert, so you stop paying for bounces
- Negative keywords, so you are not paying for the wrong searches
- Call tracking where it makes sense
- A clear cost per enquiry figure, not just clicks
- Honest advice when a budget is too small to be worth running
Common questions about marketing.
Mostly about money, which is fair enough.
No, and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. Your ad budget goes directly to Google or Meta and stays entirely under your control. The £20 covers your website. Campaign management is quoted separately so you can see exactly what you are paying us versus what you are paying the platforms.
It depends entirely on your trade and area, because a click costs very different amounts for an emergency plumber and a dog groomer. Tell us what one new customer is worth to you and we will work backwards from there. If the numbers do not add up we will tell you rather than take the work.
Ads buy you traffic today and stop the moment you stop paying. SEO takes months but keeps working. If you need work right now, start with ads. If you are building something for the long haul, start with SEO. Most businesses eventually want both, in that order.
Campaigns can be paused whenever you like, and plenty of clients run ads seasonally around their busy periods. Ask us for the exact terms on management before you start and we will put them in writing.
Next step
Tell us what a customer is worth to you.
From that one number we can tell you whether advertising makes sense for your business, and roughly what it would take.