Finding a good paid ads consultant in London is a proper headache. The market's flooded with people who talk a good game, flash a fancy website, but end up just burning through your cash with nothing to show for it. You're right to be skeptical. Most founders get it wrong because they ask the wrong questions and look for the wrong things. They get sold on promises of 'brand awareness' or 'sky-high reach', which is usually code for 'we're going to find you the cheapest, least-interested people on the internet'.
The truth is, a great consultant doesn't sell you ads. They sell you a system for finding customers, profitably. It's not about slick pitches; it's about a deep, almost obsessive, understanding of who your customer is and what keeps them up at night. Forget everything you think you know about vetting an expert. We're going to talk about what actually matters.
So, you're a London startup founder. Why is finding a good ad consultant so bloody difficult?
The first thing to get your head around is that London is one of the most competative markets on the planet. For everything. That includes getting your customers' attention. You're not just up against other startups in Shoreditch or Canary Wharf; you're up against global giants with nine-figure marketing budgets. A consultant who doesn't get this, who gives you a generic, one-size-fits-all strategy, is setting you up to fail.
The biggest myth they'll sell you is the idea of guaranteed results. If anyone promises you a specific ROAS or a fixed number of leads before they've even touched your account, walk away. It's impossible. Tbh in paid advertising, you can't really promise anything. There are too many variables: your offer, your website, your pricing, your competition, the mood of the algorithm that day... an expert knows this. They talk in terms of process, testing, and probabilities, not certainties.
The real issue is that most consultants and agencies are lazy. They set your campaign objective to "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" because it's easy. The numbers look good on a report – "Look, we reached a million people in London!". But who are these people? When you tell a platform like Meta to optimise for reach, you're giving it a simple command: "Find me the largest number of people for the lowest possible price." The algorithm does exactly that. It hunts down users who are cheap to show ads to precisely because they never click, never engage, and certainly never buy anything. You're paying to advertise to the worst possible audience. A good consultant knows that real awareness is a byproduct of sales, not a prerequisite for them. You want a competitor's customer to switch to you and rave about it, that's brand awareness that matters.
Alright, how do I spot the real deal from the cowboys?
Before you even think about getting on a call, you need to do your homework. This part separates the pros from the pretenders, and it'll save you a ton of time.
First, take a good, hard look at their case studies. Don't just glance at the logos. Dissect them.
-> Are they relevant? If you're a B2B SaaS founder, a case study about a local eCommerce sock company is pretty much useless to you. You want to see that they have experience in your world. Have they worked with software? With B2B decision makers? With high-ticket services?
-> Are the results real? Look for actual numbers. Not fluffy statements like "increased engagement." We're talking revenue, return on ad spend (ROAS), cost per acquisition (CPA), number of trials or leads. For one of our medical SaaS clients, we took their CPA from a painful £100 down to just £7. For another B2B software client, we got them leads from decision makers on LinkedIn for $22 a pop. These are the kind of concrete results you should be looking for.
-> Are they UK-focused? Do they show results in pounds (£)? It's a small detail, but it shows they operate in your market and understand its economics. A £5 cost-per-lead for a home cleaning company we worked with in the UK is a great result, but that number means something different than $5 in the US.
Next, check their reviews. What are other founders and business owners saying? Are the reviews detailed and specific, or just generic "they were great to work with" fluff?
If a consultant has solid, relevant case studies and glowing reviews, they're worth talking to. But here's a little inside tip, a contrarian view. If, after you've seen all their case studies and they've given you a free consultation or account audit, you then ask to speak to one of their current clients for a reference... that's a massive red flag for the consultant. Tbh, for us, it's an instant sign we're not a good fit. It signals a deep lack of trust that will probably poison the entire relationship. All the proof you need should be in their public results and the value they provide upfront.
Okay, I've booked a call. What do I ask so I don't get sold a dream?
This is where most founders get it wrong. The first call isn't for them to pitch you; it's for them to diagnose your business. The best consultants are more like doctors than salespeople. They should be asking you way more questions than you ask them.
If they launch into a presentation about their agency and how amazing they are, their process is broken. A true expert will want to get under the hood of your business first. They should be obsessed with one thing: your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). And not some useless demographic profile like "CFOs in London, aged 45-60." That tells you nothing.
A great consultant knows your ICP isn't a person; it's a problem state. A nightmare. They'll ask questions like:
-> What's the specific, urgent, expensive problem you solve?
-> What's the "before" state of your customer? (Stressed, losing money, facing a crisis).
-> What's the "after" state you provide? (Relief, predictable growth, looking like a hero to their boss).
-> Why would they solve this problem now instead of in six months?
For a legal tech SaaS, the nightmare isn't 'needing document management'; it's 'a partner missing a critical filing deadline and exposing the firm to a malpractice suit.' A consultant who gets this can write ad copy that cuts through the noise. One who doesn't will just talk about your features.
The goal of this first call is for you to walk away with genuine value, wether you hire them or not. They should give you actionable advise. We, for example, offer a free initial consultation where we'll actually review a potential client's ad account with them. It gives them a real taste of the expertise they'd be getting. If you leave a call feeling like you just got a generic sales pitch, they're not the one. You should leave feeling like you just got a dose of brutal honesty and a clear idea of what you've been doing wrong.
What should a proper strategy for a London startup even look like?
A strategy isn't just "let's run some Facebook ads." It's a coherent plan based on your business model, your customer, and your goals. It usually has three core components.
1. The Right Platform
This is fundamental. Where do your customers hang out?
-> Are they actively searching for a solution to their problem? If someone's boiler has just packed up in Islington, they're not scrolling Instagram. They're on Google searching "emergency plumber north london." For any business that solves an immediate need (trades, certain professional services), Google Search ads are almost always the starting point.
-> Are they not actively searching? This is for most innovative B2B SaaS products or new consumer brands. Your customer doesn't know you exist yet. Here, you need social or display ads. For B2B, especially if you need to target specific job titles at specific companies in the City, LinkedIn Ads is your best bet. It's expensive, but the targeting is unmatched. For B2C or some small business B2B, Meta (Facebook/Instagram) can work brilliantly if you get the targeting and messaging right.
2. A Message They Can't Ignore
Once you know the platform, you need to nail the messaging. This comes directly from understanding your customer's nightmare. You don't sell the drill; you sell the hole.
-> For a B2B SaaS product: Use the Before-After-Bridge. "Your AWS bill just arrived. It’s 30% higher than last month, and your engineers have no idea why. Another fire to put out. Imagine opening your cloud bill and smiling. You see where every dollar is going and waste is automatically eliminated. Our platform is the bridge that gets you there."
-> For a high-touch service business: Use Problem-Agitate-Solve. "Are your cash flow projections just a shot in the dark? Are you one bad month away from a payroll crisis while your competitors are confidently raising their next round? Get expert financial strategy for a fraction of a full-time hire. We build dashboards that turn uncertainty into predictable growth."
3. An Irresistible Offer
This might be the most important part, and where almost everyone fails. You must delete the "Request a Demo" button from your brain. It's the most arrogant, high-friction, low-value Call to Action ever invented. It screams "I want to waste an hour of your time selling to you."
Your offer's only job is to provide a moment of undeniable value. An "aha!" moment.
-> For SaaS founders: The gold standard is a free trial or freemium plan. No credit card. Let them use the actual product and see its value for themselves. When the product does the selling, the sale is easy.
-> For service businesses or agencies: You must bottle your expertise. A free, automated SEO audit. A free 15-minute video module on a key skill. For us, its a free 20-minute strategy session where we audit failing ad campaigns. You have to solve a small, real problem for free to earn the right to solve the big one.
This all sounds expensive. What are the real costs and how do I know if I'm making money?
This is the question that should be at the heart of your growth strategy. But "How much does a lead cost?" is the wrong question. The right question is "How much can I afford to pay for a customer?" The answer lies in their Lifetime Value (LTV).
You have to do this maths. A good consultant will insist on it. Here's a simple way to calculate it:
LTV = (Average Monthly Revenue Per Customer * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Customer Churn Rate
Let's run an example for a London SaaS startup:
Example LTV Calculation (B2B SaaS)
Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): £400/month
Gross Margin %: 80%
Monthly Churn Rate: 5% (you lose 5% of customers each month)
LTV = (£400 * 0.80) / 0.05
LTV = £320 / 0.05 = £6,400
In this case, each customer is worth £6,400 in gross margin over their lifetime.
Now you have your magic number. A healthy business model aims for at least a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. So, with a £6,400 LTV, you can afford to spend up to £2,133 to acquire a single customer and still have a brilliant business. If your sales team closes 1 in 10 qualified leads, you can afford to pay £213 per lead. Suddenly that £150 lead from LinkedIn doesn't look so expensive, does it? It looks like a bargain.
This is the economic framework. Now, what can you expect to pay in the UK? It varies wildly, but here are some rough ballparks for a developed country like the UK, based on our experience.
| Objective | Typical CPA Range (UK) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| B2C Leads (e.g. signups, simple forms) | £1.60 - £15 | Highly dependent on the industry. A free newsletter signup will be on the low end, a quote request for an expensive service on the high end. |
| eCommerce Sales | £10 - £75+ | Entirely depends on product price. Focus should be on ROAS (Return On Ad Spend), not CPA. We've seen 1000% ROAS for subscription boxes. |
| B2B Leads (e.g. SaaS trial, demo request) | £50 - £400+ | Niche, seniority of target, and offer quality are huge factors. A lead for a CFO will cost far more than a lead for an office manager. |
These numbers aren't gospel. They're a starting point. A good consultant's job is to take your specific situation and systematically work to get your costs down through better targeting, creative, and landing page optimisation, all while keeping lead quality high.
I'm ready to start. What's my step-by-step plan?
Right, let's pull all this together into an actionable plan. This is the process you should follow to find a great consultant and set your startup up for success with paid ads. Don't skip steps.
This is the main advice I have for you:
| Phase | Action | Why It's Important |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Internal Homework | 1. Define your "Nightmare" ICP: Forget demographics. Write down the urgent, expensive problem you solve and for whom. 2. Calculate your LTV: Run the numbers. Know exactly what a new customer is worth to you. |
Without this, any advertising is just guessing. This is the strategic foundation. You can't brief a consultant or judge success without knowing these two things. |
| Phase 2: Vetting Consultants | 1. Dissect their case studies: Look for UK-based, niche-relevant results with real numbers (£, ROAS, CPA). 2. Check reviews: See what other founders say. 3. Book an initial call: Judge them on the quality of their questions, not their pitch. Expect to get real, actionable advise. |
This filters out 95% of the time-wasters. It forces you to choose a partner based on proven expertise, not a fancy sales deck. |
| Phase 3: Strategy Basics | 1. Nail your offer: Create a high-value, low-friction offer. A free trial, a valuable tool, a free audit. Kill the "Request a Demo" button. 2. Pick your starting platform: Is your audience problem-aware (Google Search) or unaware (LinkedIn/Meta)? Start with one. |
Your offer is more important than your ad copy. A great offer can make average ads work. A bad offer will make even the best ads fail. This is your biggest leverage point. |
| Phase 4: Launch & Measure | 1. Set a test budget: Base your starting ad spend on your LTV:CAC model. Be prepared to spend enough to get statistically significant data. 2. Measure what matters: Focus on Cost Per Qualified Lead or Cost Per Acquisition. Ignore vanity metrics like clicks and impressions. |
This ensures you're running ads like an investor, not a gambler. You're buying data to find a profitable acquisition channel, and you're judging success based on business impact, not ad metrics. |
Can't I just do this myself?
You could. Many founders try. Some even have a bit of initial success. But paid advertising is a full-time job, and it's a discipline that punishes mistakes harshly. The platforms are designed to take your money, and they will happily do so whether you get a return or not.
The value of a true expert isn't just in their ability to set up a campaign in Google or Meta. You can learn that on YouTube. Their real value lies in the thousands of hours they've spent inside hundreds of ad accounts. It's the pattern recognition. It's knowing what not to do. It's the strategic insight to help you fix your offer, the copywriting skill to nail your messaging, and the analytical mind to interpret the data correctly and make the right decisions, fast.
For a founder, your time is your most valuable asset. Spending it trying to become a world-class paid ads expert is almost certainly not its best use. Working with a pro isn't just an expense; it's an investment in speed and certainty. It's about finding that profitable channel for customer acquisition months or even years faster than you could on your own, and avoiding the costly pitfalls along the way.
If you're serious about growing your startup and want to talk to someone who thinks this way, we offer a completely free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session. We'll look at what you're doing now, tell you what's broken, and give you a clear plan of action. It's the same brutally honest, value-first approach we've talked about here.
Hope this helps!
