Solved: Finding a B2B Consultant (The Real Reason)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

I understand the struggle. Finding a B2B advertising consultant who actually knows their stuff, especially someone who can get you in front of the right people, is a real challenge. It seems like most just talk a good game. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience running these sorts of campaigns. Honestly, the problem often isn't just about finding the right person, but about fundamentally rethinking the entire approach to B2B advertising itself.

Let's get into it.

We'll need to look at how you're choosing a consultant in the first place...

First off, when you're looking for an agency or a consultant, you have to cut through the noise. Anyone can promise you results. Tbh in paid advertising, you can't really promise anything specific because it's impossible to predict exactly how ads will perform. It's a massive red flag if they do.

So what should you look for?

Take a good, hard look at their case studies. Do they have real, detailed experience in B2B? Even better if it's a similar niche. See if they can show they've driven actual results. I remember one campaign where we generated leads for B2B software clients on LinkedIn for as little as $22 per lead, and another where we got over 4,600 registrations for a B2B software tool using Meta Ads. That's the kind of proof you want to see. It shows they've been in the trenches and know what works.

Next, get on a call with them. Don't just listen to a sales pitch. See if they offer a free initial consultation or a strategy review. This is where you test their expertise. We do this for potential clients, and it’s always super helpful for them because they get a taste of the thinking that will go into their project. Ask them direct questions about your business. What would their initial strategy be? Which platforms would they use and why? If their answers are generic and they can't give you a clear, opinionated take, they probably don't have the deep expertise you need.

And a quick word on references. If you've seen detailed case studies, had a strategy call where they've clearly demonstrated their knowledge, and you *still* feel the need to call one of their previous clients... it's probably not a good fit. For us, that's often a sign that there's a lack of trust from the begining, which is a difficult foundation to build a succesful partnership on.

I'd say your real problem isn't the consultant, it's the strategy...

Here’s a brutally honest take: you could hire the best consultant in the world, but if your underlying strategy is flawed, you'll just be paying them to burn your money more efficiently. The biggest mistake I see in B2B advertising is a complete misunderstanding of who the customer is.

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, boring ads that speak to no one and get ignored.

To stop wasting money, you must define your customer not by their job title, but by their *nightmare*. You need to become an expert in their specific, urgent, expensive, career-threatning problem. Your ideal customer isn't just a "Head of Sales"; she's a leader who is terrified of missing her quarterly target because her team's lead flow has dried up. Your ideal customer isn't a "CTO"; he's a man who lies awake at 3 AM worried that his company's outdated tech stack is about to cause a catastrophic data breach that will make headlines.

Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a *problem state*. Once you've isolated that nightmare, everything changes. You can craft a message that hits them right where they live.

Then, you find out where these people congregate. What niche podcasts do they listen to on their commute? What industry newsletters do they actually open and read? What SaaS tools are already on their company credit card? Are they in specific LinkedIn groups? Who do they follow on Twitter? This intelligence is the blueprint for your entire targeting strategy. You have to do this work first, or you have no business spending a single pound on ads.

You probably should delete your "Request a Demo" button...

Now we get to the second-biggest failure point in B2B advertising: the offer. I'm going to be blunt. The "Request a Demo" button is probably the most arrogant, user-hostile Call to Action ever invented. It presumes your prospect, a busy decision maker, has nothing better to do with their time than schedule a meeting to be sold to. It's high-friction, low-value, and instantly positions you as just another comoditised vendor begging for their time.

Your offer's only job is to deliver a moment of undeniable value. An "aha!" moment that makes the prospect sell *themselves* on your solution. It must solve a small, real problem for them for free to earn you the right to talk about solving their bigger problems.

If you're a SaaS company, this is your unfair advantage. The gold standard is a free trial (with no card details) or a freemium plan. Let them actually use the product. Let them feel the transformation. The product itself becomes your best salesperson. I remember one campaign for a B2B SaaS client that generated over 1,500 trials just by focusing on a compelling free trial offer. Another campaign achieved over 5,000 trials. The sale becomes a formality when the user is already convinced.

If you're not a SaaS company, you're not off the hook. You must bottle your expertise into a tool or asset that provides instant value.

-> For a marketing agency: A free, automated SEO audit showing their top 3 keyword opportunities.
-> For a data analytics firm: A free 'Data Health Check' that flags the top issues in their database.
-> For a corporate training company: A free 15-minute interactive video module on 'Handling Difficult Conversations'.
-> For us, as a B2B advertising consultancy: It's a 20-minute, no-obligation strategy session where we audit failing ad campaigns for free.

See the pattern? You give value first. You solve a small problem to prove you can solve the big one.

You'll need to pick the right battleground to reach decision-makers...

Once you know their nightmare and have an offer that provides real value, *then* you can think about which platform to use. This is how you reach the right decission-makers. It’s not about spraying and praying; it's about precision.

Are your ideal customers actively searching for a solution to their nightmare? If they're typing things into Google, then Google Search ads are likely your best bet. You target keywords that show clear commercial intent. Not "what is cash flow management", but "fractional CFO services for startups" or "best accounting software for small business". You're catching them at the exact moment of need. It’s powerful, but it only works if they are already problem-aware.

What if they aren't searching? What if they're suffering in silence? This is where social media ads come in, but you have to be smart about it. For most high-ticket B2B, your best option is LinkedIn Ads. Why? The targeting. It’s unparalleled for reaching specific professionals.

Let's say you sell data enrichment software. Here's how you'd think about LinkedIn targeting:

With LinkedIn, you can test different ad formats. A sponsored content ad (an image or video in the feed) pointing to a Lead Gen Form often works best to start. It pre-fills the user's details, making it super easy to convert. The leads might be less qualified than someone who fills out a form on your landing page, but the cost per lead is often much lower. As I mentioned earlier, I've seen CPLs of $22 for B2B decision-makers this way. It's a numbers game you can win.

A quick word on Meta (Facebook/Instagram). It *can* work for B2B, especially if you target small business owners. You can use interests like "Business Page Admins" or target followers of certain B2B software pages. But the targeting is much less precise than LinkedIn. And whatever you do, avoid "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" campaigns. You're literally telling the algorithm to find the cheapest people to show your ad to, who are by definition the least likely to ever buy anything. It's a complete waste of money. Always, always optimise for a conversion event, like a lead or a sign-up.

We'll need to talk about what success actually looks like...

So many businesses get obsessed with the wrong metric. They ask, "How low can my Cost Per Lead (CPL) go?". That's the wrong question. The real question is, "How high a CPL can I *afford* to acquire a truly great customer?". The answer to that lies in a number you absolutely must know: your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

If you don't know this, you're flying blind. Here’s a simple way to calculate it:

1. Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What does an average customer pay you per month? Let's say it's £500.
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue? Let's say it's 80%.
3. Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of customers do you lose each month? Let's say it's 4% (meaning the average customer stays for 25 months).

Now, for the calculation:

In this example, each customer you acquire is worth £10,000 in gross margin to your business over their lifetime. This number is your north star. A healthy business model aims for at least a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means you can afford to spend up to £3,333 to acquire a single customer.

Suddenly, that £250 lead from a CTO on LinkedIn doesn't seem so expensive, does it? It looks like an absolute bargain. This is the math that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth and frees you from the tyranny of cheap, low-quality leads.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

This is the main advice I have for you, based on what we've just discussed. This is the framework we use to turn B2B ad accounts around.

As you can see, this is about more than just setting up an ad and hoping for the best. It's a complete system for thinking about B2B growth. It's about understanding your audience on a deep level, optimising your entire funnel, creating compelling offers, and fine-tuning every single element.

That's where professional help can make a huge difference. A true expert doesn't just manage your ads; they challenge your assumptions and help you build this entire system. With years of experience and a deep understanding of the advertising landscape, a good partner can help you identify the best strategies to drive real, profitable growth.

If this approach resonates with you and you'd like to discuss how we could apply it to your specific business, I'd be happy to schedule a free, 20-minute strategy session with you. We can take a look at what you're currently doing and give you some actionable advice on what to do next. No strings attached.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh