Solved: App Ads in Leicester Not Working? (The Real Reason)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your situation with Google App Ads. I've read through your problem, and my gut feeling is that the struggle to find "Leicester-specific" creative best practices might be pointing to a slightly different, and frankly more important, issue. Tbh, chasing hyper-local creative tricks is often a red herring that distracts from the foundational strategy that actually drives app installs and growth. The real wins are usually found a level above that, in your overall channel strategy, your core messaging, and your testing methodology. Let's unpack that a bit.

Why Chasing 'Leicester-Specific' Creatives is Wasting Your Time...

I know it feels intuitive to think that what works in London or Manchester won't work in Leicester, but in my experience running app campaigns all over the UK and beyond, it's just not really the case. Human psychology doesn't fundamentally change when you cross a county line. The desires, frustrations, and motivations that make someone download an app are remarkably consistent everywhere.

Think about it: an ad for a food delivery app works because it shows delicious, hot food arriving quickly. That appeals to a hungry person in Leicester just as much as it does to someone in Leeds. An ad for a fitness app works because it shows people achieving their health goals and feeling great. That resonates with someone in a Leicester gym just as much as someone in a Bristol one. You might get a tiny, 1% uplift by showing a shot of the Leicester Clock Tower in the background of your ad, but that's a micro-optimisation you worry about when you're spending tens of thousands a month and have squeezed every last drop of performance out of the big stuff. It's not where you start.

The "local" component of your campaign should be handled almost entirely by targeting, not creative. Within Google App Ads, and other platforms, you can specifically tell the system to only show ads to people within Leicester. The algorithm is incredibly good at this. Your job isn't to create an ad that screams "I AM FOR PEOPLE IN LEICESTER!"; your job is to create a compelling ad that solves a problem for your ideal user, and then trust the platform to show it to those users within your target location. By fixating on local creative, you're focusing on the paint job when the engine hasn't even been built yet. You're trying to solve a 1% problem when the other 99%—your channel mix, your offer, your core messaging—is probably where the real opportunity for growth is hiding.

I'd say you need to zoom out before you zoom in...

Before we even get to paid ads, it's worth taking a moment to consider the entire landscape of app promotion. A solid strategy rarely relies on just one pillar. When we work with app developers, we usually think about three broad categories: Organic, PR, and Paid. Each has its place, and understanding them helps put your paid ad efforts into the right context.

Organic Channels

This is about getting your app discovered without paying directly for each impression or click. It's often a slow burn but can build a powerful, long-term foundation for growth. I often see apps get their first crucial users by listing on directories like Betalist, Product Hunt, Indie Hackers, and Capterra. These platforms are frequented by early adopters—people who love trying new tech and giving feedback. Getting your app featured here can bring in an initial wave of dedicated users, provide invaluable feedback to iron out bugs, and generate some initial social proof. It's also worth thinking about App Store Optimisation (ASO). This is the SEO of the app world. Optimising your app's title, description, and keywords within the Google Play Store and Apple App Store can significantly increase your visibility to people searching for solutions like yours. It's a specialist skill, but even the basics can make a difference.

Public Relations (PR)

This is the art of getting other people to talk about your app. It involves reaching out to journalists, bloggers, and publications that cover software news or your specific niche. A single well-placed article in a popular tech blog or local Leicestershire publication could drive more high-quality installs than a week's worth of ad spend. It's difficult and time-consuming work with no guarantees, but the credibility that comes from a third-party endorsement is immense. This isn't my area of direct expertise, but it's a channel you shouldn't ignore, especially around your launch.

Paid Channels

This is our bread and butter, and what you're focused on. The massive advantage of paid advertising is its speed and scalability. Unlike organic or PR, you can turn on the taps today and start seeing results tomorrow. If you find a winning combination of channel, targeting, and creative, you can scale it up simply by increasing your budget. However, there's a critical prerequisite: you absolutely must have a plan to monetise your app. Whether it's through in-app purchases, a subscription model, or ad revenue, you need to know what a user is worth to you. B2C app installs can cost anywhere from £1 to £5, sometimes more. If your average user only generates £0.50 in revenue over their lifetime, you're going to lose money on every single install. You need a clear path to profitability before you start pouring money into ads. This is non-negotiable.

You probably should be looking at more than just Google Ads...

This brings us to the core of the issue. By focusing only on Google App Ads, you're fishing in just one pond, and it might not even be the best one for your app. A robust app advertising strategy involves testing multiple channels to see where your ideal users are and what messaging resonates with them. Here's how I'd prioritise them:

1. Apple Search Ads (ASA) - If you have an iOS app
This is often the most overlooked but highest-performing channel for iOS apps. ASA allows you to place your ad at the very top of the search results inside the App Store itself. The intent here is off the charts. Someone has literally just typed in a keyword looking for an app exactly like yours. They are in the perfect mindset to download. We've seen this channel produce incredibly high-quality users for clients because the barrier between seeing the ad and installing the app is virtually zero. One of our most successful campaigns, which drove over 45,000 signups, had Apple Search Ads as a core pillar of its strategy. If you're on iOS, this should be your first port of call.

2. Google App Ads - What you're using now
Don't get me wrong, this is a powerful platform. It gets your app in front of users across Google's entire ecosystem: the Play Store, Google Search, YouTube, and the Display Network. Its strength lies in capturing intent from searches on Google and the Play Store, similar to ASA. However, a huge chunk of its inventory is also discovery-based (e.g., video ads on YouTube, display banners). It's a solid all-rounder, but it's not the only game in town.

3. Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram) - For finding people who aren't looking
This is the powerhouse of 'discovery'. Meta's strength isn't capturing existing demand; it's creating it. People aren't scrolling through Instagram hoping to find a new productivity app. But Meta's algorithm is so sophisticated that it can identify users who are highly likely to be interested in your app based on their behaviour, interests, and demographics, and then serve them a compelling ad that makes them stop scrolling and take notice. For many of our software and app clients, Meta is the primary channel for scalable growth. I remember one campaign where we drove 5,082 software trials, and another where we generated over 45k signups for an app, predominantly using Meta. Its lookalike audiences, in particular, are incredibly powerful for finding more people who resemble your best existing users.

4. TikTok Ads - The wildcard for growth
Depending on your app and target audience, TikTok can be a goldmine. It's a platform built entirely around discovery, and its algorithm is exceptionally good at getting the right content in front of the right people. The ad format is inherently video-based and demands a more native, less-polished style of creative. If your app has a strong visual component or appeals to a younger demographic, this is a channel you absolutely have to test. It was a key part of the mix in that 45k+ signup campaign I talked about.

To help you decide where to focus your energy and budget, here's a simple flowchart that walks through the decision-making process.

We'll need to look at what actually makes a good creative...

Okay, so now that we've established that you need a broader strategy and that "Leicester-specific" creative isn't the goal, let's talk about what actually makes an app ad work, regardless of location. These are universal principles that tap into fundamental human motivation.

Principle 1: The Before-After-Bridge Framework
This is the single most powerful copywriting and creative concept in advertising. People don't buy apps; they buy transformations. They buy a better version of themselves. Your ad's job is to paint a vivid picture of this transformation.

• Before: Show the user's world without your app. What is their pain? What are they frustrated with? It’s a messy desk, a missed appointment, a boring commute, a confusing spreadsheet. You have to show them you understand their nightmare.
• After: Show their world with your app. The pain is gone. The desk is organised, the schedule is clear, the commute is entertaining, the data is beautifully visualised. This is the promised land.
• Bridge: Your app is the bridge that gets them from the 'Before' state to the 'After' state. The ad needs to make it obvious that your features are the mechanism for this transformation.

Principle 2: Show, Don't Just Tell
An app is an interactive experience. Static images of your logo or generic stock photos are a complete waste of an impression. The best app ads show the app in action.

• Screen Recordings: The easiest and often most effective creative is a simple screen recording. Show someone effortlessly using your app to solve a problem. Speed it up, add some text overlays to highlight key benefits, and put some upbeat music behind it. This demystifies your app and shows people exactly what they're going to get. It builds trust and reduces the perceived risk of downloading.
• Focus on the "Aha!" Moment: Don't try to show every single feature. Focus your screen recording on the one or two key moments where a user thinks, "Wow, that's clever" or "That would save me so much time."

Principle 3: User-Generated Content (UGC) is Gold
We've had several SaaS clients see really good results by switching to UGC-style videos. This is creative that doesn't look like an ad. It looks like a real customer talking to their phone camera, explaining why they love your app.

• Why it works: It's authentic. It cuts through the noise of polished, corporate advertising. It feels like a recommendation from a friend, not a sales pitch. This social proof is incredibly persuasive. On platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, this style of content feels native and is much more likely to be watched.
• How to get it: You don't need to wait for it to appear organically. You can reach out to your first few users and offer them a gift card in exchange for a short video testimonial. Or you can hire creators on platforms like Upwork or Billo to produce it for you. It's often cheaper and more effective than a high-production-value video shoot.

Principle 4: Ruthless, Systematic Testing
You will never, ever get your creative right on the first try. The key to success is not being a genius who can guess what people in Leicester want to see; it's about being a scientist who builds a system for finding out what works.

• Test One Variable at a Time: Start with 3-5 different videos or images. Use the exact same headline and body copy for all of them. Let them run for a few days. The ad with the lowest Cost Per Install (CPI) is your visual winner.
• Iterate: Now, take that winning visual and test it with 3-5 different headlines. Let them run. The one with the lowest CPI is your headline winner.
• Keep Going: Now you have a winning visual and a winning headline. Test different body copy. Test different Calls to Action. This methodical process of isolating variables and iterating on winners is how you consistently lower your acquisition costs over time. It's not glamorous, but it is teh only thing that truly works.

You'll need to know your numbers before you spend a penny...

This is probably the most critical part of the entire letter. You can have the best strategy and the best creative in the world, but if you don't understand the economics of your app, you're flying blind and will almost certainly crash. The goal of advertising isn't just to get installs; it's to get installs profitably.

First, let's establish a baseline. As I mentioned, B2C app installs in a developed country like the UK typically cost between £1 and £5. This can vary wildly based on your niche, the competition, and the effectiveness of your ads. If you're seeing a Cost Per Install (CPI) of £3, that's not necessarily good or bad on its own. It's only good or bad in relation to how much value a user brings to your business.

This is where the concept of Lifetime Value (LTV) comes in. LTV is the total net profit you can expect to make from a single user over the entire period they use your app. Knowing this number is your north star. It tells you exactly how much you can afford to spend to acquire a user. For an app, this can be tricky to calculate, but here's a simplified model:

• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): How much money does a typical user generate per month? This could be from subscriptions, in-app purchases, or ad revenue shown within the app. Let's say it's £2.00 per month.
• Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue? After app store fees (typically 15-30%) and any other costs of service, what's left? Let's assume an 70% margin.
• Monthly Churn Rate %: What percentage of your users stop using the app each month? This is the most important and often deadliest metric. A high churn rate will kill your LTV. Let's say it's 20% (which means the average user sticks around for 1 / 0.20 = 5 months).

The calculation is: LTV = (ARPU * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

In our example: LTV = (£2.00 * 0.70) / 0.20 = £1.40 / 0.20 = £7.00

This means, on average, each user you acquire is worth £7.00 in gross profit to you. Now you have your magic number. A common rule of thumb is that your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC, or in this case, CPI) should be no more than one-third of your LTV. So, your target CPI should be £7.00 / 3 = ~£2.33. Now that £3 CPI we talked about earlier suddenly looks unprofitable. This simple bit of maths changes everything. It turns advertising from a vague expense into a predictable investment in growth.

To help you play around with these numbers, I've built a small interactive calculator. You can adjust the sliders for your estimated click costs and conversion rates to see how it impacts your final Cost Per Install. This should make it really clear how improving your ads (to get a lower CPC) or optimising you're app store page (to get a higher CVR) can dramatically affect your profitability.

I'd say you need a proper campaign structure...

Once you have your channels selected, your creative principles defined, adn your numbers understood, you need to bring it all together in a logical campaign structure. Just throwing a bunch of ads into one campaign and hoping for the best is a recipe for disaster. A structured approach allows you to control your budget, test effectively, and speak to users at different stages of their journey.

I usually break this down into at least two, sometimes three, distinct stages, similar to a traditional marketing funnel.

1. Prospecting Campaigns (Top of Funnel - ToFu)
The sole purpose of these campaigns is to find new users who have never heard of your app before. This is where you'll spend the majority of your budget.

• Objective: Your campaign objective should be set to "App Installs" or "App Events" (if you're optimising for an action post-install, like registration).
• Audiences: This is where you test broadly. You'd use detailed targeting (interests related to your app's category), lookalike audiences (e.g., a 1% lookalike of your existing users or purchasers is incredibly powerful on Meta), and broad targeting (on Meta, once your pixel has enough data, you can literally target an entire country and let the algorithm find users for you).
• Creative Angle: Your creative here needs to be attention-grabbing and focused on the "Before-After-Bridge". You have seconds to explain your app's core value proposition and entice a click. UGC and punchy demo videos work very well here.

2. Retargeting Campaigns (Middle/Bottom of Funnel - MoFu/BoFu)
Not everyone who clicks your ad will install the app immediately. Not everyone who installs will become an active, valuable user. Retargeting campaigns are designed to bring these people back and move them to the next step.

• Objective: This could be "App Installs" (for people who visited the store page but didn't download) or "App Events" / "Conversions" (to encourage existing users to take a key action like making a purchase or subscribing).
• Audiences: These are custom audiences built from your own data. For example:
  • People who visited your app store page in the last 14 days (but didn't install).
  • People who installed your app but haven't opened it in 7 days.
  • People who installed but haven't completed the onboarding tutorial.
  • People who added an item to their cart in the app but didn't purchase.
• Creative Angle: The messaging here can be much more specific. For someone who didn't install, you might remind them of the key benefit or show them a testimonial. For someone who hasn't completed onboarding, you could show a short video tutorial of a key feature to re-engage them. For an abandoned cart, you could offer a small discount.

Here’s a simplified table showing how this might look in practice for a campaign running on Meta Ads:

This kind of structure gives you clarity and control. You can immediately see which parts of your funnel are working and which need attention, allowing you to allocate your budget much more effectively than if everything was jumbled together.

You probably should focus on a system, not a silver bullet...

To wrap this all up, I hope it's clear that the solution to your problem isn't a secret list of "creative best practices for Leicester". That's a silver bullet that doesn't exist. The real solution is to build a robust, repeatable system for growing your app. It's a system that involves choosing the right channels, creating ads based on proven psychological principles, understanding your user economics, and testing everything methodically.

This is a lot to take on, I know. It's a significant shift from tweaking creatives in a single campaign to managing a multi-faceted growth engine. The truth is, this is a full-time job, and it's what agencies and consultants like us spend all day, every day, doing. We've run these kinds of multi-channel app campaigns for numerous clients, driving tens of thousands of signups and learning countless lessons along the way.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you in a final overview table below. This is the main advice I have for you and the system you should look to implement.

Executing a system like this effectively requires significant expertise, time, and attention to detail. If you're serious about growing your app and want to accelerate the process while avoiding costly mistakes, it might be worth considering expert help.

We offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can take a proper look at your current campaigns, discuss your goals in more detail, and map out a specific, actionable strategy for you. It's a chance for you to get a taste of the expertise we bring to the table.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh