Google App Ads: Why Local Experts are a Waste of Money

I see you're looking for a Google App Ads specialist in Brighton. It's a logical first step, but honestly, it's probably the biggest mistake you can make. The idea that you need someone local for a digital service like app marketing is a leftover from a pre-internet age. Your users aren't just on the Brighton Palace Pier; they're across the UK, Europe, or the entire globe. The best person to reach them isn't the one who happens to share a postcode with you, but the one who has a deep, proven track record in growing apps just like yours.

The truth is, you're not buying local knowledge; you're buying niche expertise. You're buying access to someone who lives and breathes App Store algorithms, creative testing frameworks, and Cost Per Install benchmarks. That person could be in Brighton, but they're just as likely to be in Manchester, London, or working from a shed in the Scottish Highlands. Limiting your search to Brighton severely restricts your access to the top-tier talent that can actually move the needle for your app. Let's talk about what you should be looking for instead.

So, why is a 'Brighton specialist' the wrong way to think about it?

Brighton has a brilliant tech scene, no doubt about it. The whole "Silicon Beach" thing isn't just a nickname; there's a genuine cluster of innovative companies, creative agencies, and talented developers around the North Laine and New England Quarter. But here's the brutally honest truth: a local agency's expertise is in the local market – great if you're a restaurant in Hove, not so much if your app's potential user base is global.

The skillset required for Google App Campaigns is incredibly specific. It's about understanding user behaviour within a digital ecosystem, not understanding the local Brighton economy. The algorithm doesn't care if someone is on the Brighton i360; it cares about their in-app behaviour, their device history, and their likelihood to make a purchase. An expert understands how to feed that algorithm the right signals—the right creative, the right bidding strategy, the right in-app events—to find more high-value users, regardless of their physical location.

By fixating on finding someone local, you're choosing from a tiny puddle of talent when you could be fishing in an ocean. I remember one of our most successful app campaigns generated over 45,000 signups at under £2 per signup. The client wasn't in our city, and we didn't waste a single minute on a face-to-face meeting that could have been a 15-minute video call. We focused on what mattered: the data, the creative, and the results. In the end, hiring a local app ads expert is often a complete waste of money; you pay a premium for convenience that has zero impact on your campaign's performance.

What should I be looking for instead of a local agency?

Forget postcodes. Focus on proof. When you're vetting an agency or a consultant, there are only a few things that truly matter, and they can all be verified remotely.

First, you need to see case studies. And I don't mean a glossy page with a client's logo on it. I mean detailed breakdowns of actual campaigns. You need to ask tough questions:

• -> What was the Cost Per Install (CPI) or Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)?
• -> What was the target action? Were they just driving cheap installs or were they optimising for valuable events like trial signups, subscriptions, or in-app purchases?
• -> What was the Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)? For every £1 they spent, how much revenue did they generate back?
• -> Can they show you the creative they used? Can they explain *why* it worked?

For example, in one campaign we worked on for a software client, we ran a Google Ads campaign that brought in 3,543 users at a cost of just £0.96 per user. That's a concrete number you can evaluate. Another campaign for a medical job matching app saw us reduce the CPA from £100 down to just £7. That's the kind of specific, impactful result you should be looking for. Vague claims like "we increased their visibility" or "we boosted brand awareness" are red flags. They're what people say when they don't have the real numbers to back it up.

You also need an expert who understands the entire ecosystem. Running the ads is only half the battle. They need to be able to advise you on your App Store optimisation (ASO), your in-app onboarding flow, and your monetisation strategy. A great campaign driving traffic to a poor app listing or a confusing user experience is just pouring money down the drain. This holistic view is what separates a true specialist from someone who just knows how to click buttons in the Google Ads interface. If you're serious about finding the right partner, check out this ultimate guide to hiring a UK Google Ads expert; the principles apply just as much to app campaigns.

How much should I really be paying for a user?

This is the million-dollar question, isn't it? The short answer is: it depends. The cost to acquire an app user in the UK can vary wildly based on your niche, your target audience, and the competitiveness of the market. For a simple utility app or a hyper-casual game, you might see a CPI of £1-£3. For a more niche B2B tool or a high-value subscription service, it could easily be £10, £20, or even more.

But obsessing over the lowest possible CPI is a rookie mistake. A £1 install from a user who opens the app once and then deletes it is a £1 loss. A £15 install from a user who subscribes for £10/month for the next two years is an incredible bargain. The metric that matters isn't Cost Per Install; it's the ratio of your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) to your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

Most app founders don't have a clue what their LTV is, so they can't possibly know what a "good" CAC is. Without this number, you're flying blind, making budget decisions based on gut feel rather than cold, hard maths. This is where a proper expert adds immense value—not just in running ads, but in helping you understand the fundamental economics of your own business.

Let's make this tangible. Use the calculator below. Plug in your own numbers (or your best estimates) and see what your LTV is. This will tell you exactly how much you can afford to spend to acquire a customer while remaining profitable. This single calculation is more important than any campaign optimisation tactic.

Once you know your LTV, you can aim for a healthy LTV:CAC ratio, typically 3:1 or higher. So if your LTV is £210, you can afford to spend up to £70 to acquire that customer. Suddenly, a £10 CPA doesn't seem expensive; it looks incredibly profitable. This is the maths that allows you to scale aggressively and confidently, knowing every pound you spend is an investment, not a cost. For a deeper look into the numbers, this 2024 guide to UK app download growth is a must-read.

What does a winning Google App Campaign strategy actually involve?

Contrary to what some might tell you, running a successful Google App Campaign (UAC) is not a "set it and forget it" affair. It's a relentless process of testing and iteration. Google's AI does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of targeting and bidding, but its output is only as good as the inputs you give it. Your job—or your specialist's job—is to provide the best possible inputs.

This breaks down into three core areas:

1. Creative is King: The single biggest lever you can pull to improve performance is your ad creative. You need a constant stream of new images, videos, and ad copy to test. We're talking about different angles, different value propositions, and different formats. What works today will be stale in six weeks. An expert will have a robust framework for creative testing and production. They should be talking to you about user-generated content (UGC) style videos, static image best practices, and how to script compelling 15-second vertical videos. Without a strong creative strategy, even the best algorithm in the world will fail.

2. Smart Bidding & Events: You have to tell Google what you value. Just optimising for "installs" is the fastest way to get a lot of low-quality users who will churn quickly. You need to set up in-app conversion events (like 'trial_started', 'subscription_complete', 'level_5_achieved') and tell the campaign to optimise for those. This is how you signal to the algorithm what a 'good' user looks like. An expert will help you define these events and set the right target Cost Per Action (tCPA) or target Return on Ad Spend (tROAS) bids to acquire them profitably.

3. Audience Signals & ASO: While you can't directly target audiences in the same way as other Google campaigns, you can provide 'audience signals' to guide the AI. This might be a list of your existing customers or people who have visited your website. Furthermore, your App Store / Play Store listing is your campaign's landing page. A specialist will ensure your icon, screenshots, description, and reviews are all optimised to maximise the conversion rate from a click to an install. Every tenth of a percent you can improve that rate has a massive downstream impact on your CPI.

Here’s a simplified look at the continuous loop that a proper campaign strategy follows. It's not a linear path, but a cycle of improvement.

This process is time-consuming and requires a specific expertise. If you'd like to get a more granular view of what goes into it, this piece on a complete creative strategy for Google App Ads is a good place to start.

How to spot the pretenders and find a real expert

The world of digital marketing is, unfortunately, full of people who talk a good game but can't deliver. Now that you know what to look for, here are the major red flags that should make you run for the hills (or maybe the South Downs, since we're talking about Brighton).

• The "Guaranteed Results" Promise: This is the biggest lie in advertising. No one can guarantee results. There are too many variables—market changes, competitor actions, platform updates. A true expert will talk about a data-driven process of testing and optimisation, not about guarantees. They'll be confident in their ability to find what works, but they'll be honest about the fact that it's a journey of discovery.
• Focus on Vanity Metrics: If their pitch or report leads with "impressions," "reach," or "clicks," be very wary. These numbers are easy to inflate but mean absolutely nothing for your bottom line. An expert's conversation will revolve around CPA, ROAS, LTV, and other business-critical metrics.
• A "Secret Sauce" or Black Box Approach: If they're not willing to be transparent about their strategy, what they're testing, and what the results are, it's a bad sign. You should have full ownership and access to your ad account. A good partner is an extension of your team, not a gatekeeper.
• Lack of Specialisation: Be cautious of the full-service agency that claims to be an expert in everything from TikTok to SEO to app campaigns. While some are genuinely brilliant, app user acquisition is a deep specialism. You'll often get better results from a smaller, more focused consultancy that *only* does performance marketing for apps.

A good sign is someone who wants to understand your business first. They'll ask about your LTV, your user onboarding, your monetisation model. They'll offer an initial consultation or an account review to provide value upfront, before you've paid them a penny. This consultative approach shows they're interested in a long-term partnership, not just a quick sale. Finding the right help can be tough, but knowing what to look for makes it much easier. You might find our guide on finding an app ads expert useful for creating a checklist.

To give you an idea of what to budget for, here is a simple performance forecaster. It's not a guarantee, but it can help you model different scenarios based on typical performance ranges we see for UK app campaigns.

So, what's the plan?

Hopefully, it's clear now that your search shouldn't be for "a Google App Ads specialist in Brighton," but for "the best Google App Ads specialist I can find, period." The process of finding them involves a shift in mindset from local convenience to proven, niche expertise.

I've detailed my main recomendations for you below in a simple table. This is the checklist you should use when you start talking to potential partners.

Working with a true specialist can be the difference between burning through your marketing budget with nothing to show for it and building a scalable, profitable user acquisition engine. It’s not just about saving you from costly mistakes (though that’s a big part of it). It's about having a strategic partner who can help you navigate the complexities of the ad platforms, stay ahead of trends, and ultimately, grow your business faster and more efficiently than you could on your own.

If you're tired of the guesswork and want a clear, data-backed strategy for growing your app, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We'll review your app, your goals, and your current advertising efforts (if any) and give you some actionable advice you can use right away. It's a chance for you to see the level of expertise we bring and for us to see if we'd be a good fit to help you scale.

Hope this helps!