Advertising Consultant Aberdeen: The Local Trap

So you're a small business owner in Aberdeen, and you've decided it's time to get serious about advertising. You've typed "small business advertising consultant in Aberdeen" into Google, hoping to find a local expert who gets the city, gets the market, and can pop round for a coffee. I get it. It feels safe, logical even. But I'm going to be brutally honest: it's probably the worst first step you can take.

The single biggest mistake I see businesses make isn't picking the wrong ad platform or writing bad copy; it's hiring the wrong person. And the most common reason they hire the wrong person is by prioritising geography over expertise. The fact is, in 2024, whether your consultant is in Dyce, Dundee, or Dubai makes absolutely no difference to your campaign's performance. What matters, and the only thing that matters, is whether they have a track record of getting results for a business just like yours.

Why is hiring a 'local' Aberdeen consultant a trap?

Let's be realistic. Aberdeen has a unique economy, heavily skewed towards energy, engineering, and related services. It's a fantastic city, but it's not London or Manchester. The pool of genuine, top-tier paid advertising specialists who happen to live within the AB postcode is, by definition, tiny. By limiting your search to Aberdeen, you're choosing from a puddle when you have an entire ocean of talent available across the UK.

Think about it. Say you run a B2B software company in the Altens Industrial Estate. Who would you rather have running your ads?

Consultant A: A local Aberdeen 'marketing generalist' who does a bit of everything – social media, websites, SEO, and paid ads for the local dentist, a chipper, and a tourism company.

Consultant B: A specialist based in Bristol who *only* does paid ads for B2B software companies and has a portfolio of case studies showing they've generated thousands of trial sign-ups and leads for firms just like yours.

It’s a no-brainer, isn't it? Consultant B understands your sales cycle, your customer's pain points, and the specific nuances of advertising a complex product. They know which platforms work (probably LinkedIn and Google Search, not TikTok) and what kind of messaging resonates with technical decision-makers. Their location is completely irellevant. Tbh, a good consultant will do more research on your specific Aberdeen market than a local generalist who just assumes they know it. I've worked with clients all over the world, and success has never, ever depended on sharing a postcode. If you focus too much on finding a local, you will almost certainly end up with a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. It's the classic local agency trap that many small businesses fall into.

So if not location, what should I actually look for?

You need to switch your mindset from finding a local vendor to finding a strategic partner. This means you need to become a ruthless evaluator of expertise. Forget the sales pitches and the fancy websites. You're looking for hard evidence.

Your entire evaluation process should revolve around one thing: case studies. Not vague testimonials, but detailed, data-backed accounts of their past work. This is non-negotiable. If a consultant can't show you specific examples of their success with businesses similar to yours, they're not the right fit. End of story.

When you look at a case study, you're not just looking for a big revenue number. You need to dig deeper. Let's say we're that B2B software company again. I'd be looking for a case study that shows something like "$22 Cost Per Lead for B2B decision makers" on LinkedIn Ads or "4,622 Registrations at $2.38 Cost Per Registration". Those are the kind of specific, meaningful metrics that prove expertise. A generic "we increased sales" is meaningless fluff.

You should be able to see yourself in their previous work. If you sell high-end cleaning products, a case study showing a "633% return" for a similar eCommerce brand is a massive green flag. If you're trying to launch an app, seeing a track record of "45k+ signups at under £2 cost per signup" tells you they know what they're doing. This is how you seperate the experts from the amateurs.

To help, here's a simple process you can follow to vet any potential consultant, no matter where they're based.

What questions should I ask on that first call?

The free initial consultation is your audition for them. A good consultant will come prepared, having already looked at your website and maybe even your competitors. They should be leading with insights, not just asking you about your budget. Tbh if someone asks for a reference call with one of our existing clients after we've already shown them detailed case studies and given them a free account review, it's a bit of a red flag for us. It signals a lack of trust from the get-go. A relationship built on skepticism rarely works out.

Here are the kind of questions you should be asking them, and what a good answer looks like:

• "Based on my website and business model, what's the single biggest opportunity you see for us with paid ads right now?"
  A good answer will be specific. For example: "Your website gets a lot of visitors but few add-to-carts. I suspect your product descriptions and images aren't compelling enough. We should start by split-testing new creative and then build a robust retargeting campaign for those who drop off." A bad answer is vague: "We'll increase your brand awareness and drive more traffic."


• "What ad platform would you prioritise for us and why?"
  They should have a clear justification. For a local electrician, they should immediately say Google Search ads and Local Service ads, because you need to capture people who are actively looking for help. For a niche B2B service, they should probably suggest LinkedIn. If they just say "Facebook is great for everyone," they're not thinking strategically.


• "What kind of initial monthly budget do you think is realistic for us to start seeing data and what would the cost per lead look like?"
  A pro won't pull a number out of thin air. They'll give you a range based on experience. For instance: "For consumer services in the UK, we've seen CPLs range from £5 for a cleaning company to around $60 (£48) for a more competitive niche like HVAC. I'd suggest starting with £1,000-£1,500 a month in ad spend to gather enough data to optimise from." They should manage your expectations, not promise the world.


• "What's your process for testing and optimisation?"
  You want to hear a structured approach. "We'll start by testing three different audiences and three different ad creatives. After 7 days, we'll analyse the data, turn off the losers, and reallocate budget to the winners. Then we'll introduce new variations to test against the winning ad." This shows they have a system, rather than just 'setting and forgetting'.

Getting answers to these questions is a crucial part of the process of hiring the right UK-based ad consultant. You should leave that call feeling like you've already learned something valuable about your own business, even if you decide not to hire them.

What sort of results are even possible for a small business?

This is the million-dollar question, or hopefully, the multi-million-pound question. The answer, frustratingly, is 'it depends'. It depends on your industry, your offer, your prices, and your sales process. However, a good consultant should be able to give you some realistic benchmarks based on their experience. The numbers are often what surprises business owners the most.

Many people assume paid ads are just a cost centre. But when done right, it's a predictable revenue driver. For example, one campaign we worked on with a women's apparel eCommerce brand achieved a 691% return on their ad spend. For every £1 they spent, they made £6.91 back. We also helped a company selling maps generate $71k in revenue from an 8x return. This isn't magic; it's the result of methodical testing and optimisation.

But it's not always about direct sales. For a service business, it's about generating qualified leads at a sustainable cost. Getting lots of traffic is easy, but it's useless if those clicks don't turn into customers. Many Aberdeen businesses find they have plenty of website visitors but no actual sales, and that's usually a targeting or an offer problem. I remember one B2B client for whom we reduced their cost per lead by 84% by refining their audience targeting on LinkedIn. That's the kind of impact an expert can make.

To give you a clearer picture, here are some typical Cost Per Lead (CPL) ranges we've seen for different types of UK businesses.

How much do I need to spend to get started?

This is the second most common question, and again, there's no single right answer. But we can work it out with some simple maths. The budget should be a direct result of your goals, not a number plucked from thin air.

You need to work backwards. How many new customers do you want each month? How many leads does it take to get one customer? What's the average cost per lead in your industry? Let's say you're a local service provider in Aberdeen. You want 5 new customers a month. You know that you close about 1 in 4 leads. So you need 20 leads per month. If your estimated CPL is £30, then your starting ad spend should be 20 leads * £30/lead = £600 per month.

This is the kind of basic calculation any good consultant should walk you through. It grounds the entire campaign in business reality. A campaign without clear goals is just gambling. If you're just starting out, running your first paid ads campaign can feel daunting, but having a clear budget and targets makes it manageable.

Use the calculator below to get a rough idea of what a starting budget could look like for your business. Adjust the sliders based on your monthly goals and the CPL estimates we discussed above.

Your Aberdeen Action Plan

Okay, we've covered a lot. Let's boil it all down into a simple, actionable plan. Instead of googling for local providers, this is the process you should follow. This is your roadmap to finding an advertising partner who can actually move the needle for your business, creating a paid ads strategy that leads to real growth.

Choosing an advertising consultant is a big decision. It's an investment not just of money, but of trust. By focusing on proven, niche expertise rather than the convenience of a local address, you're not just hiring someone to run ads; you're bringing on a partner who can help you build a predictable system for growing your business. The right person might not be just down the road, but they're the one who can help you reach customers far beyond the borders of Aberdeenshire.

Trying to manage this all yourself can be a false economy. The time you spend learning the platforms, the money you waste on ineffective ads, and the opportunities you miss can quickly add up to far more than the cost of hiring a professional. An expert can get you to your goal faster and more efficiently, avoiding the costly mistakes most businesses make along the way.

If you're an Aberdeen-based business and you're ready to stop thinking local and start thinking about results, we offer a completely free, no-obligation strategy session. We'll take a look at your business, your goals, and give you a straightforward, honest assessment of how paid advertising could work for you. No sales pitch, just actionable advice you can use right away.