Choosing a paid ads agency feels like a minefield, and frankly, most businesses get it wrong. They get dazzled by slick sales pitches, fixate on the lowest price, and end up shackled to a team that just burns through their budget with nothing to show for it. The truth is, finding the right partner isn't about ticking boxes on a generic checklist; it's about finding a team of specialists who understand your business's real, urgent problems and have a track record of actually solving them. It's about finding a partner that can turn your ad spend into a predictable engine for growth, not just another line item on your P&L.
Forget everything you think you know about hiring an agency. We're going to break down how to properly vet a partner, what to look for beyond the surface-level guff, and how to spot the red flags that most people miss. This is about making a strategic investment, not just hiring another supplier.
So, when should you actually hire a PPC agency?
Let's be brutally honest. A lot of founders think they can just run ads on the side. They spend a few weekends watching YouTube videos, set up a campaign, and then wonder why their bank account is emptying at an alarming rate. Paid advertising isn't a hobby; it's a full-time profession that demands constant learning, testing, and deep platform expertise. The moment you start asking yourself when to hire a PPC agency is often the moment you already needed one yesterday.
The tipping point usually arrives in one of a few ways. First, you're spending a decent amount of money—maybe a few grand a month—but the results are flatlining. You've hit a plateau you can't seem to break through. Your CPA is creeping up, your ROAS is dropping, and you've run out of ideas. This is a classic sign that you've exhausted your own level of expertise. I remember one client, a medical job matching SaaS, who came to us with a £100 Cost Per User Acquisition. They were burning cash. We managed to get that down to just £7, but it required a complete overhaul of their strategy that they just couldn't have done in-house.
Second, you simply don't have the time. As a founder or marketing manager, your time is better spent on strategy, product, and sales—not obsessing over keyword match types or split-testing ad creative. If you're spending hours every week inside an ad account instead of working on your business, you're creating a bottleneck. The question of whether you should pay an agency to run your Google Ads becomes a simple calculation of opportunity cost. What could you achieve with those hours back?
Finally, you're facing a specific, costly problem. Maybe your Facebook ads are simply not profitable, or you're a B2B SaaS company struggling with a sky-high Cost Per Lead from Google Ads. These are not issues that a quick blog post can fix. They require a specialist with the experience to diagnose the root cause and implement a fix, fast. Trying to solve it yourself can mean months of wasted ad spend and missed opportunities.
The Vetting Process: How to See Through the Smoke and Mirrors
Once you've decided you need help, the real work begins. The market is saturated with agencies that all look the same, talk the same, and promise the same things. It can feel impossible differentiating between them. This is where you need a proper vetting process, a way to cut through the noise and find a team that actually has the chops. And our no-nonsense guide to choosing an agency is built on a few core principles.
Case studies are everything, but you need to know how to read them
Any agency can cherry-pick their best results and slap them on a webpage. Don't just look at the headline numbers. Dig deeper. Are their case studies relevant to your niche? If you're a B2B software company, an agency that only shows off eCommerce fashion brands probably isn't the right fit. We've worked on campaigns for everything from luxury brands to industrial products, and the strategies are worlds apart. We recently got a $22 CPL for B2B decision-makers on LinkedIn for a software client, a result we couldn't just replicate for a D2C subscription box where we hit a 1000% ROAS on Meta.
Look for specificity. "We increased traffic" is a meaningless statement. "We generated 5,082 software trials at a $7 cost per trial on Meta Ads" is a concrete result. Look for real numbers, real platforms, and a clear explanation of the initial problem. Be realistic, of course. If your product is brand new in a hyper-competitive market, you wont see the same results as an established brand. But the case studies should prove they have a process for getting results in situations similar to yours.
Another thing to look for is variety. Do they only have one or two stellar case studies from five years ago? Or do they consistently deliver for different types of clients? When you see results like 4,622 registrations for a B2B software at $2.38 each, and also a 691% return for a women's apparel brand, it shows strategic flexability and a deep understanding of different platforms and audiences.
The initial call is an audition... for them
Don't go into an initial consultation to be sold to. Go in to see if they genuinely have the expertise you need. A good agency will use this time to ask you smart questions about your business, your customers, your margins, and your goals. They should be trying to understand your business, not just trying to close you.
We offer a free initial consultation where we'll often do a live audit of a potential client's ad account. In that session, we give them real, actionable advice they can implement themselves. Why? Because it's the fastest way to demonstrate our expertise. If we can provide more value in 20 minutes than their current agency has in months, it becomes a very easy decision for them. Be wary of any agency that is cagey with information or just gives you generic platitudes. You're looking for a strategic partner, and that starts with them proving they can think strategically about your specific business challenges. If they just promise you results without a clear idea of how, that's a massive red flag. In paid advertising, nothing is guaranteed.
What about references?
This is a contrarian take, but it's one we stand by. If an agency has shown you detailed, relevant case studies, given you a free audit packed with value, and has plenty of public reviews, asking to speak to one of their current clients is a red flag for us. Tbh, it signals a fundamental lack of trust from the very begining. It tells us that despite all the evidence, you're still not convinced. That relationship is likely to be fraught with second-guessing and micromanagement, which isn't a recipe for a successful partnership. A good partnership is built on trust, and the vetting process is where that trust should be established. If it isn't, it's probably not a good fit for either party.
What Are You Actually Buying? Understanding Agency Models and Skills
Not all agencies are created equal. It's important to understand what kind of partner you're looking for, because hiring a generalist when you need a specialist is a common and costly mistake. Some agencies focus only on Google Ads, others specialise in Meta (Facebook/Instagram), and some, like us, are specialists in a few core platforms where we have deep expertise, like LinkedIn for B2B or TikTok for certain consumer brands. If you're a D2C apparel brand, you might want to evaluate a performance agency that knows Pinterest inside and out. If you're a luxury travel company, you need to find an SMM agency that understands high-end audiences.
Then there's the question of pricing. You'll typically see three models:
- Monthly Retainer: A fixed fee each month. This is the most common and provides stability for the agency, allowing them to dedicate resources to your account. It's simple and predictable.
- Percentage of Ad Spend: The agency takes a cut of what you spend on ads, usually 10-20%. This can align incentives, as they make more when you spend more (which hopefully means you're getting good results). However, it can also incentivise them to simply scale spend without focusing on profitability.
- Performance-Based: This sounds like the holy grail—you only pay for results. Some agencies might offer a low retainer plus a bonus for hitting certain targets, or even work on a pure percentage of ad profit. This can work, but it often requires very clear tracking, high trust, and is usually reserved for businesses that are already scaling with proven funnels. It's less common for new or complex accounts.
More important than the model, though, are the underlying skills. You're not just paying for someone to click buttons in an ads manager. The skills that truly matter are strategic. Can they do deep research to understand your ideal customer's actual pain points? Can they write compelling ad copy that speaks directly to that pain? Can they analyse the data to find insights and optimisation opportunities? Can they advise you on your landing page and offer to improve conversion rates? This is the difference between an ad manager and a growth partner.
The London Agency Scene: A Unique Challenge
If you're looking for a B2B ad agency in London, the challenge is amplified. The market is one of the most competitive in the world. You're not just competing with other businesses in your niche; you're competing with global corporations with eye-watering budgets, especially in sectors like finance and tech.
This is where local, specialist expertise becomes invaluable. An agency based in London will have a better feel for the nuances of the UK market, the local competition, and what messages resonate with a British audience. This is particularly true for B2B and SaaS. Finding the right B2B advertising agency in London means finding a team that understands the city's unique business ecosystem. They'll know the publications that tech leaders in Shoreditch read, the events that finance directors in the City attend, and the specific challenges that UK businesses face.
For B2B SaaS companies, this is even more critical. The journey to finding the right B2B SaaS marketing agency in London should be laser-focused on finding a partner with proven experience navigating this specific landscape. We've worked with numerous London-based SaaS clients, and the strategies that work in the US dont always translate directly. You need a partner who can build campaigns that account for UK-specific regulations, cultural norms, and pricing sensitivities. When you're trying to reach a developer audience for a technical product, you need a performance marketing agency that knows how to speak their language, and a generic overseas agency often won't cut it.
What a Good Agency Should Actually Be Doing for You
Hiring an agency isn't about outsourcing a task; it's about importing a specialist skillset and a strategic framework. A top-tier agency's work goes far beyond the ad platform itself. Here's what they should really be focused on.
They'll tell you your ICP is a nightmare, not a demographic
Forget the sterile, demographic-based profile your last marketing hire made. "Companies in the finance sector with 50-200 employees" tells you absolutly nothing of value. It leads to generic ads that speak to no one and waste your money. A great agency will force you to go deeper.
They know you must define your customer by their pain. You need to become an expert in their specific, urgent, expensive, career-threatening nightmare. Your Head of Engineering client isn't just a job title; she's a leader terrified of her best developers quitting out of frustration with a broken workflow. Your ideal customer isnt just 'a small business owner'; it's a founder lying awake at 3 am terrified of missing payroll. A good agency helps you identify that nightmare and build the entire strategy around solving it.
They'll calculate what a customer is actually worth
The question isn't "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a great customer?" A good agency will work with you to understand your numbers. The key metric here is Lifetime Value (LTV). Here's a simple way to look at it:
| Metric | Example |
| Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) | £500 / month |
| Gross Margin % | 80% |
| Monthly Churn Rate | 4% |
| LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Churn | (£500 * 0.80) / 0.04 = £10,000 |
With a £10,000 LTV, a healthy 3:1 LTV:CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) ratio means you can afford to spend up to £3,333 to acquire one customer. If your sales team converts 1 in 10 qualified leads, you can afford to pay £333 per lead. Suddenly, that expensive-looking LinkedIn lead doesn't seem so bad. This is the math that unlocks intelligent, aggressive growth.
They'll write copy that can't be ignored
Your ad copy needs to hit like a punch to the gut. A good agency partner will have strong copywriting skills to craft messages that speak directly to the customer's nightmare. They won't sell features; they'll sell outcomes.
- For a service business (Problem-Agitate-Solve): They don't sell "fractional CFO services"; they sell a good night's sleep. "Are your cash flow projections just a guess? Worried you're one bad month away from a payroll crisis? Get expert financial strategy that turns uncertainty into predictable growth."
- For a B2B SaaS (Before-After-Bridge): They don't sell a "FinOps platform"; they sell relief. "Your AWS bill just landed. It’s 30% higher than last month, and nobody knows why. Imagine opening that bill and smiling, seeing exactly where every pound went. Our platform is the bridge that gets you there. Start a free trial and find your first £1,000 in savings today."
They'll fix your offer
The most common failure point in all of B2B advertising is the offer. The "Request a Demo" button is arrogant. It presumes your prospect, a busy decision-maker, has nothing better to do than get sold to. It's high friction and low value.
A great agency will help you develop an offer that provides instant, undeniable value. For a SaaS business, this is a free trial or a freemium plan. Let the product do the selling. For a service business, it's about bottling your expertise. It could be a free, automated audit, a valuable template, or a short, sharp strategy session where you solve a real problem for them for free. For us, it's that free 20-minute ad account review. We solve a small problem for free to earn the right to solve the big one.
How to Work Together for the Best Results
Signing the contract is just the beginning. A successful agency-client relationship is a partnership, not a one-way street. You need to set clear expectations from the start. Results are not instant. The first 30-60 days are typically for testing, data gathering, and learning. Anyone who promises you a 10x ROAS in the first week is either lying or naive.
Communication is vital. You should expect regular, clear reporting that focuses on the metrics that matter to your business (leads, sales, ROAS), not just vanity metrics (clicks, impressions). You should also have regular strategic calls to discuss what's working, what isn't, and what the plan is for the next period.
Your role as the client is crucial. You know your business and your customers better than anyone. The agency needs your feedback on lead quality. Are the leads they're generating actually turning into conversations and customers? This feedback loop is what allows a good agency to refine targeting and messaging over time. The more responsive and involved you are, the faster you'll see results.
Ultimately, identifying the right paid ads consultant is about finding a partner you can trust to act as an extension of your own team. They should be as invested in your growth as you are.
Your Final Vetting Checklist
To cut through the noise, you need a plan. When you're talking to potential agencies, use this as your guide. Don't just ask them; have a clear idea of what a good answer looks like.
| Area of Vetting | Key Questions to Ask (Yourself and Them) | What a GREAT Answer Looks Like |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Niche & Business Acumen | "Show me case studies for businesses like mine (same industry, same model, e.g. B2B SaaS, D2C eCommerce)." | They provide specific, recent case studies with real metrics (£ revenue, ROAS, CPA, CPL) that are highly relevant to your business. They can talk knowledgably about your industry's challenges. |
| 2. Strategic Depth | "Based on my business, what would your initial 90-day strategy look like? What are the biggest opportunities you see right now?" | They give you specific, actionable ideas during the call. They talk about understanding your customer's pain, fixing your offer, and calculating your LTV—not just "we'll test some audiences." |
| 3. The Offer & Funnel | "What's your opinion of our current offer/call to action? How would you improve it?" | They challenge your "Request a Demo" button and suggest higher-value, lower-friction alternatives like a free trial, a valuable lead magnet, or an automated tool. They think about the entire funnel, not just the ad. |
| 4. Team & Expertise | "Who will actually be working on my account? What is their direct experience?" | You're speaking with the strategist or specialist who will be in the trenches, not a slick salesperson you'll never hear from again. They can point to their direct involvement in the case studies you discussed. |
| 5. Reporting & Communication | "What does your reporting look like? How often will we speak and what will we discuss?" | They promise a clear reporting dashboard focused on business KPIs and regular strategic calls to discuss insights and next steps. They talk about a partnership and a feedback loop. |
| 6. Honesty & Expectations | "What results can you guarantee? What's the biggest risk or challenge you see with my business?" | They guarantee nothing except hard work and expertise. They are transparent about potential challenges (e.g., "Your price point is high, so we'll need strong creative," or "Your sales cycle is long, so we need to track attribution carefully"). |
Choosing an agency is one of the most important marketing decisions you'll make. Getting it right can transform your business's growth trajectory. Getting it wrong can set you back thousands of pounds and months of lost time. It's not about finding the cheapest option or the one with the flashiest website. It's about finding a true partner, a specialist team that understands your world and has the proven ability to deliver results within it.
It requires you to do your homework, ask tough questions, and look for genuine expertise over empty promises. If you're tired of burning money on ads that don't work and are ready to partner with a team that focuses on strategic growth, we offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session. We'll look at your accounts and give you actionable advice you can use immediately. Get in touch for a free consultation.
