Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out!
I had a look at your situation with the Google Ads in Derby. It's a classic problem, and honestly, a very frustrating one. You're doing what you think is right—targeting locally, working on the landing page—but the phone isn't ringing and the ROI just isn't there. It feels like you're just burning money.
I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts. From my experience, the issue usually isn't about small tweaks or a magic button in Google Ads. It's almost always a fundamental problem with the strategy. It's not about *if* you're optimising, but *what* you're optimising for. The problem likely isn't your landing page design, but what the landing page is actually asking people to do. And it's probably not your location targeting, but *who* within that location you're trying to talk to.
Let's unpack this a bit. I've got a feeling we can get to the bottom of it.
TLDR;
- Your targeting is likely too broad. Targeting "Derby" isn't enough; you need to target the specific, urgent, and expensive pain point your ideal customer is experiencing right now.
- Stop focusing on generic keywords. You must prioritise high-intent, commercial keywords that signal someone is ready to buy, not just browse. This is the difference between getting clicks and getting customers.
- Your "offer" (what you ask people to do on your landing page) is probably too high-friction. "Get a Quote" is a turn-off. We need to replace it with something that provides instant value for free.
- The most important piece of advice is to stop thinking about low cost-per-click and start thinking about your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Knowing what a customer is truly worth allows you to spend confidently to acquire them.
- This letter includes an interactive ROI calculator to help you understand your numbers and a flowchart visualising a better customer journey.
We'll need to look at your Ideal Customer Profile... but not in the way you think
Okay, first things first. Let's talk about who you're actually trying to reach. Most businesses get this wrong from the start. They create a sterile, demographic-based profile that looks something like this: "Homeowners in Derby, aged 30-55, household income of £40k+". This tells you absolutely nothing of value. It's a surefire recipe for generic ads that speak to no one and get ignored by everyone.
To stop burning cash, you have to define your customer not by who they are, but by their pain. You need to become an expert in their specific, urgent, expensive nightmare. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a problem state.
Let's imagine you're an emergency electrician in Derby. Your ICP isn't just "a homeowner". It's a homeowner at 10 PM on a Tuesday whose lights have just gone out, the kids are scared, and they're terrified of a house fire. Their pain is urgent, specific, and they are not looking for the cheapest option—they're looking for the fastest, most reliable solution to their nightmare. They're searching "emergency electrician Derby now" or "24 hour electrician near me", not "how to fix flickering lights".
Or maybe you're a B2B IT support company. Your ICP isn't "small businesses in Derby with 10-50 employees". It's the office manager who just discovered a ransomware attack has locked up all their company files, payroll is due tomorrow, and the owner is breathing down their neck. Their career is on the line. They are in a state of absolute panic. Their problem is career-threatening.
You see the difference? The demographic is irrelevant. The pain is everything. When you understand the nightmare, you understand their search intent. You know the exact words they'll type into Google in their moment of desperation. This isn't just data; it's the blueprint for your entire advertising strategy. You must do this work first, or you have no business spending a single pound on ads. It's the fundemental first step that so many people skip, and it's why their campaigns fail before they've even started.
Once you've isolated that nightmare, everything else becomes clearer. You know what keywords to bid on, what to say in your ads, and what promise to make on your landing page. You're no longer just another service provider in Derby; you are the specific answer to a very painful problem. That's how you stand out. That's how you get clicks from people who are actualy ready to pay you. This is a realy critical mind set shift that will change how you approach your campaigns entirely.
I'd say you need to master your keywords...
Now that we've established that you need to target a *pain point*, not a demographic, let's talk about how that translates into your Google Ads account. This is where the rubber meets the road. Your choice of keywords is the single biggest lever you can pull to improve your ROI.
Most businesses in Derby are probably bidding on broad, informational keywords. If you're that electrician, they're bidding on things like "electrician Derby" or "electrical services". The problem is, the intent behind these searches is ambiguous. Is the person looking for a job? Are they a student doing research? Are they just casually price shopping with no real urgency? You've no idea. You're paying for clicks from a mixed bag of people, most of whom will never become customers.
You need to be ruthless. You need to focus *only* on keywords that signal high commercial intent. These are the keywords that your ideal customer, in their moment of pain, will type into Google. They are "pre-qualified" by the very words they choose to search for.
Let's build on our electrician example. Here's the difference:
| Keyword Type | Example Keywords | Why It's Good/Bad |
|---|---|---|
| Broad / Informational (Bad) | electrician derby electrical wiring how much to rewire a house |
Low purchase intent. These people are browsing, researching, or just curious. You'll get lots of clicks but very few actual leads. This is where budgets get wasted. |
| High Commercial Intent (Good) | emergency electrician derby 24 hour electrician near me local electrician for broken socket get an EICR certificate derby |
High purchase intent. These searches indicate an urgent, specific problem that needs solving now. The user is actively looking to hire someone. These are the clicks you want to pay for. |
You must structure your campaigns around these high-intent keyword themes. Each ad group should be tightly focused on one specific problem. An ad group for "Emergency Callouts," another for "Fuse Box Repairs," another for "Safety Certificates." The keywords, ad copy, and landing page for each ad group should all be perfectly aligned with solving that one specific problem. When someone searching for an "emergency electrician" sees an ad that says "Emergency Electrician in Derby - We'll Be There in 60 Mins" and clicks through to a page about your emergency services, the conversion is almost inevitable. It feels seamless because you're perfectly matching their intent at every step.
This approach requires more work upfront than just dumping a hundred keywords into one ad group, but the payoff is massive. Your Quality Score will go up, your cost-per-click will go down, and your conversion rate will increase because you're only showing hyper-relevant ads to people who are actively looking to buy what you sell. You stop wasting money on tyre-kickers and start spending it exclusively on potential customers.
"electrician derby"
"Best Electrician in Derby. Quality Service. Click Here."
Homepage with a "Request a Quote" form.
High Bounce Rate, Low Conversions, Wasted Ad Spend
"emergency electrician near me"
"Power Out? 24/7 Emergency Electrician in Derby. Call Now."
Landing page with a click-to-call button prominent.
High Conversion Rate, Qualified Leads, Positive ROI
You probably should rethink your offer...
Right, so you're now targeting the right people with the right keywords. They click your ad. What happens next? You mentioned you've been optimising your landing page, and that's great, but I suspect you've been focused on the wrong things—like button colours or headline placement. The most common failure point in all of local service advertising is the offer itself. What are you asking them to do?
For most businesses, the call to action is "Request a Free Quote" or "Contact Us". Honestly, these are perhaps the most arrogant and ineffective CTAs you can use. They presume your prospect, who is likely busy and stressed, has nothing better to do than fill out a form and wait for you to maybe call them back, only to then be sold to. It's high-friction, low-value, and instantly positions you as just another commodity they have to get quotes from.
You need to delete the "Request a Quote" button from your vocabulary. Your offer’s only job is to deliver a moment of undeniable value—an "aha!" moment that makes the prospect sell themselves on your service. You must solve a small, real problem for free to earn the right to solve the whole thing.
What does this look like for a service business in Derby? You have to bottle your expertise into a tool, a piece of content, or an asset that provides instant value and builds trust. Here are some ideas:
- For an Electrician: Instead of "Request a Quote," offer a "Free 10-Minute Home Electrical Safety Check (via phone)". This is low commitment for them but positions you as the expert authority. You get to diagnose their problem, build rapport, and the sale becomes a natural next step.
- For a Plumber: Instead of "Contact Us," offer an "Instant Leaky Tap Cost Calculator" on your website. They input a few details and get an immediate price range. It gives them the info they want, captures their details as a lead, and you've already provided value.
- For a Landscaper: Instead of "Get a Free Estimate," offer a "Free Personalised Garden Design Idea Pack". They answer a few questions about their garden, and you email them a PDF with some ideas. It showcases your expertise and starts the conversation.
Do you see the pattern? These offers are about giving, not asking. They reduce friction, build trust, and pre-qualify your leads far better than a generic contact form ever could. Someone who takes you up on a "Home Safety Check" is a much warmer lead than someone who reluctantly filled out a form to get three different quotes. It changes the entire dynamic of the sales process. You're not a salesman; you're a trusted advisor they've already received value from. It's a subtle but incrediby powerful shift, and it will definately improve your conversion rates.
You'll need to understand the real numbers...
This is probably the most important part of this whole letter. The reason you feel like you're not getting an ROI is because you're likely measuring the wrong thing. You're probably obsessed with Cost Per Click (CPC) or maybe even Cost Per Lead (CPL). The real question you should be asking isn't "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a truly great customer?" The answer lies in its counterpart: Lifetime Value (LTV).
You need to know your numbers inside and out. Without this, you are flying blind, making decisions based on gut feel instead of hard data. Let's do some simple maths for a fictional Derby-based business, let's say a window cleaning service.
Average Revenue Per Customer (ARPC): What do you make from a single job? Let's say it's £100.
Jobs Per Year: How many times does a customer use you per year? Let's say 4 times (quarterly cleans).
Customer Lifetime (in years): How long does the average customer stick with you? Let's say 3 years.
Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue after costs (materials, travel, etc.)? Let's say it's 70%.
Now, the calculation for LTV:
LTV = (ARPC * Jobs Per Year * Customer Lifetime) * Gross Margin %
LTV = (£100 * 4 * 3) * 0.70
LTV = £1,200 * 0.70 = £840
In this example, each customer is worth £840 in pure profit to your business over their lifetime. Now you have the truth. With an £840 LTV, a healthy 3:1 LTV:CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) ratio means you can afford to spend up to £280 to acquire a single customer and still run a very profitable business. If your sales process converts 1 in 4 qualified leads from your website into a paying customer, you can now afford to pay up to £70 per qualified lead (£280 / 4).
Suddenly, that £40 lead from Google Ads doesn't seem so expensive, does it? It looks like an absolute bargain. This is the maths that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth. It frees you from the tyranny of cheap clicks and allows you to focus on acquiring high-value customers. When you know you can spend £70 to make £840, you stop being scared of ad spend and start seeing it as a predictable growth machine. You can outbid your competitors in Derby who are still desperately trying to get their leads for under a tenner because they haven't done this work.
Interactive Local Service ROI Calculator
Your ads need to speak their language...
Finally, let's tie it all together. You know who you're targeting (their pain point), you know what keywords they're using, and you have a high-value, low-friction offer waiting for them. The last piece of the puzzle is the ad itself. Your ad copy needs to act as the perfect bridge between their Google search and your landing page.
It needs to speak directly to their problem. No fluffy marketing speak. No vague promises. You need to enter the conversation that's already happening in their head. The best ad copy uses a simple but powerful framework: Problem-Agitate-Solve.
1. Problem: State the nightmare you identified in step one. Call it out directly.
2. Agitate: Twist the knife a little. Remind them of the consequences of not solving this problem.
3. Solve: Present your service as the quick, easy, and reliable solution.
Let's look at some before and after examples for our Derby electrician.
The "Before" Ad (Generic and Ineffective):
Headline 1: J. Smith Electricals - Derby
Headline 2: Your Local & Trusted Electrician
Description: We offer a wide range of electrical services for residential and commercial customers. Fully certified and insured. Contact us today for a free quote.
This ad is awful. It's all about them ("We offer..."). It's boring. It blends in with every other ad on the page. It doesn't speak to any specific need or pain. It will get a low click-through rate and the people who do click will be low-intent.
The "After" Ad (Problem-Agitate-Solve):
Headline 1: Derby Emergency Electrician
Headline 2: Power Out? We'll Be There In 1hr
Description: Don't get left in the dark. A faulty fusebox can be a fire risk. Our 24/7 emergency team fixes it fast. Call now for an instant response.
This ad is a world appart. It's triggered by someone searching an emergency keyword. The headline grabs them by confirming it's for their exact problem ("Emergency Electrician") and location ("Derby"). It agitates the problem ("fire risk"). It presents a clear solution and a timeframe ("Be There In 1hr", "fixes it fast"). The call to action is urgent and direct ("Call now"). This ad will get a much higher click-through rate from highly qualified, desperate customers who are ready to pay to solve their problem immediately. The quality of traffic from this ad will be far superior, and your ROI will reflect that.
You need to write a seperate, tailored ad for each of your high-intent ad groups. No more one-size-fits-all copy. Every ad should feel like a personal answer to the searcher's specific question. This level of relevance is how you win on Google Ads.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
| Action Item | Description | Why It's Important |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Redefine Your ICP by Pain | Stop targeting demographics. Identify the urgent, expensive 'nightmare' your ideal customer is facing. | This is the foundation of your entire strategy. It allows you to create hyper-relevant keywords, ads, and offers that resonate deeply and drive action. |
| 2. Focus on High-Intent Keywords | Ruthlessly prune your keyword list. Only bid on terms that signal an immediate need to buy or hire, not just to research. | This stops you from wasting budget on low-quality clicks and ensures your ad spend is concentrated on people who are ready to become customers now. |
| 3. Create a Low-Friction Offer | Replace "Request a Quote" with an offer that provides instant value for free (e.g., a calculator, a checklist, a free diagnostic call). | This builds trust, reduces friction, and pre-qualifies your leads far more effectively than a standard contact form, leading to higher conversion rates. |
| 4. Calculate Your LTV & Affordable CPL | Do the maths to figure out what a customer is truly worth to you over their lifetime. Use this to determine how much you can afford to spend to acquire them. | This shifts your mindset from cost-cutting to intelligent investment, allowing you to confidently outspend competitors for the best customers. |
| 5. Write Problem-Centric Ad Copy | Use the 'Problem-Agitate-Solve' framework to write ads that speak directly to the searcher's pain point and present your service as the immediate solution. | This dramatically increases your click-through rate from qualified prospects and ensures the people arriving on your landing page are primed to convert. |
I know this is a lot to take in, and it's a very different way of thinking about Google Ads than just 'bidding on keywords'. This is a strategic framework. Implementing it takes work, discipline, and a willingness to be ruthless about what you spend your money on. But this is the difference between an ad account that bleeds cash and one that becomes a predictable, scalable engine for growing your business in Derby.
Getting this right can be tricky, and it often helps to have an experienced pair of eyes to guide the process. We do this day in, day out for businesses, helping them move from frustration to predictable ROI.
If you'd like to go over your specific campaigns and see how these principles could be applied, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can review your strategy together. It might be the most valuable 20 minutes you spend on your marketing this year.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
