London's Guide to Hiring a Paid Ads Freelancer

Trying to find a decent paid ads freelancer in London feels like a full-time job, doesn't it? The city is absolutely swimming with people who call themselves experts. They’ve got the slick website, the trendy co-working space address, and they talk a good game. But when it comes to actually delivering results for a startup, most of them fall flat. They burn through your cash, give you vanity metrics like 'reach' and 'impressions', and leave you more confused than when you started.

The problem is that most founders don't know how to properly vet them. You're an expert in your own field, not in the dark arts of PPC. So you end up trusting the person who sounds the most confident, not the one who's actually the most competent. Let's fix that. This isn't about finding someone to just press buttons in your ad accounts; it's about finding a strategic partner who can actually help you grow.

So, why is this so bloody hard in London?

The London market is its own unique beast. You've got intense competition, not just from your direct rivals but for people's attention in general. Ad costs are higher, and customers are more cynical. On top of that, the startup scene here, especially in hubs like Old Street or Canary Wharf, moves at a breakneck pace. You're under pressure to show growth yesterday, and a bad marketing hire can set you back months and tens of thousands of pounds.

The biggest myth is that you *must* hire someone based in London. While local knowledge can be a bonus, a freelancer's postcode is far less important than their expertise in your specific niche. I'd take a specialist from Manchester who's scaled five B2B SaaS companies over a London generalist who's only ever worked with local e-commerce shops. The real challenge isn't geography; it's cutting through the noise to find genuine expertise. Many businesses are trying to figure out if they need an agency or a freelancer to navigate this landscape, and the answer depends entirely on finding that specific, proven experience.

What am I actually looking for then?

This is where most founders get it wrong. You're not looking for a list of certifications or a CV packed with big-name agency logos. You're looking for a very specific mindset. Three things matter above all else.

1. They're obsessed with your customer's 'nightmare'.

Forget the generic customer persona doc. "B2B companies in FinTech with 50-200 employees" tells a freelancer absolutely nothing useful. A great freelancer doesn't care about that at first. They want to know the *pain*. What is the urgent, expensive, career-threatening problem your product solves?

For a legal tech SaaS, for example, the nightmare isn't 'needing document management'. It's 'a partner missing a critical filing deadline and exposing the firm to a malpractice suit.' See the difference? One is a feature, the other is a disaster. A top freelancer builds the entire ad strategy around avoiding that disaster. If a potential hire isn't asking you deep, uncomfortable questions about your customer's biggest fears in the first call, they're a button-pusher, not a strategist.

2. They show you relevant results, not just impressive ones.

Anyone can make a case study look good. The question is, have they done it for a business like yours? If you're a B2B SaaS startup, you don't care that they got a 10x ROAS for a fast-fashion brand. It's a completely different skillset.

You need to see proof that they understand your sales cycle, your customer's buying journey, and your industry's benchmarks. For instance, we've worked with B2B software companies where we've achieved things like a $22 cost per lead from decision-makers on LinkedIn, or generated 1,535 free trials from Meta ads. These numbers mean something because they're specific to that B2B SaaS world. Ask them to walk you through a campaign for their most similar client. What was the objective? What was the targeting? What creative failed? What scaled? If they can't answer that fluently, they're hiding something.

3. They specialise.

Be very wary of the 'full-stack' digital marketer. Paid advertising is too complex for one person to be a true expert across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, and everything else. It's a massive red flag. You're a startup, you need a specialist who is deeply, obsessively good at the one or two platforms where your customers actually live.

Think about it: are you trying to sell a high-ticket B2B service to CFOs? You need a LinkedIn Ads expert. Are you a D2C brand selling a visually appealing product to millennials? You need a Meta and TikTok specialist. A good freelancer will tell you which platforms you *shouldn't* be on, not try to sell you a package that includes everything. This is a critical part of the whole process of finding and hiring a paid ads expert that's right for you.

How do I vet them without it turning into a second job?

Your time is your most valuable asset. You can't spend weeks on introductory calls that go nowhere. You need a system to quickly separate the experts from the amateurs.

First off, the initial call should not be a sales pitch from them. It should be an audit. A real expert will want to get their hands dirty. They'll ask for read-only access to your ad accounts before the call or spend the first 20 minutes digging through it with you on a screen share. We do this for free for potential clients because it's the only way to give actual, valuable advice. If they aren't willing to do that, they're not serious.

Then, you need to ask questions that expose their thinking process. Don't ask "how would you improve our ROAS?". Ask these instead:

• -> "Walk me through a campaign you ran for a company like mine that failed. What did you learn and what did you do next?" (This shows honesty and problem-solving skills).
• -> "Based on our business model, what would you say our max affordable Cost Per Acquisition is, and how did you get to that number?" (Tests their commercial awareness. The answer should involve LTV and margins).
• -> "What's your process for testing new ad creative and audiences? How do you decide what to scale and what to kill?" (You're looking for a systematic process, not just 'boost a few posts').
• -> "What information do you need from me on an ongoing basis to be successful?" (A good answer includes business metrics like sales conversion rates and customer feedback, not just access to the ad account).

While you're talking, keep an eye out for red flags. These are the tell-tale signs of a freelancer who will cause you more harm than good.

What should I expect to pay a decent freelancer in London?

This is the big one. Let's be brutally honest: you get what you pay for. The freelancer charging £500 a month is not the same as the one charging £2,500 a month. The cheap one is a cost; the expensive one is an investment.

Why? The £500 freelancer's business model relies on volume. They have 10-15 clients and can only dedicate a few hours to each per month. They'll set up a basic campaign and let it run. The £2,500 freelancer has maybe 3-5 clients. They have time to think, to analyse your data, to work on strategy, to test creative, and to talk to you. They will care about your results because their reputation depends on it.

In London, you should expect to pay a premium, but the pricing structures are usually the same:

• Monthly Retainer: The most common. A fixed fee each month for managing the accounts. Simple and predictable.
• Percentage of Ad Spend: Often between 10-15%. This can work, but can incentivise the freelancer to simply spend more, not better.
• Performance-Based: A lower retainer plus a bonus for hitting certain targets (e.g., £X per qualified lead). This can align incentives well but can be complex to set up.

A cheap freelancer is the most expensive mistake you can make. They will waste your ad spend, which is almost always your biggest marketing cost, and set you back months. Finding a good freelancer for your London business is about finding value, not the lowest price.

Before you can even assess if a retainer is fair, you need to know what a customer is worth to you. That's where Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) comes in. It's the most important number your freelancer will need from you, and most founders don't have it calculated.

I've hired one. How do I not mess this up?

Hiring the right person is half the battle. The other half is being a good client. Your freelancer's success is your success, and you need to set them up to win. Messing this up is a common problem, so we've actually written a full framework for managing freelancers and agencies to get the best ROI.

The first week is absolutley critical. You need a proper onboarding process. Don't just hand over the keys to the ad account and hope for the best. They need context, data, and clear goals.

Here's a simple checklist to get you started. If you give your new freelancer all of this in the first few days, you'll be miles ahead of most other clients.

Is it worth all this effort?

Yes. The right paid advertising partner can be the single biggest lever for growth in your startup. The wrong one can be a fatal drain on your resources. The market in London is tough, but it's also full of incredible opportunities for startups who get their advertising right.

Going through this vetting process is time-consuming, and it requires a level of expertise you might not feel you have. It involves asking the right questions, understanding the data, and seeing through the sales pitches. For many founders, trying to do this while also running a business is just too much.

This is where getting some expert help can be a shortcut. A quick, no-obligation chat can often reveal more about your strategy's potential than weeks of trial and error. We offer a completely free 20-minute strategy session where we'll go through your ad accounts, look at your current strategy, and give you actionable advice you can implement right away, whether you decide to work with us or not. It's a chance to get a second opinion from specialists who've scaled businesses just like yours.

If you're tired of guessing and want a clear path forward, maybe it's time for that conversation.