Solved: YouTube Ads in Bradford? (The Correct First Step)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your situation. You've asked about using YouTube ads to reach local customers in Bradford, and while it's good you're thinking about digital, I'm going to be brutally honest. For 99% of local businesses, starting with YouTube is like trying to build the roof of a house before you've even laid the foundations. It's an advanced tactic that's often expensive and inefficient for generating local leads.

The real goal here isn't to "do YouTube ads," it's to get a steady stream of profitable customers from Bradford, right? So, let's talk about the most direct and effective way to do that. It involves shifting your focus from "pushing" a message at people who aren't looking, to "pulling" in people who are actively searching for a solution to a problem you can solve right now.

We'll need to look at why YouTube is probably the wrong tool for the job...

Think about your own behaviour for a second. When you're on YouTube, you're there to be entertained or to learn something specific. You're watching a music video, a product review, or a tutorial. You're in a passive, lean-back mode. If an ad for a local plumber or accountant pops up, what's your first instinct? For most people, it's to find the 'Skip Ad' button as fast as humanly possible.

This is the fundamental problem with using YouTube for direct-response local marketing. It's a 'push' platform. You're interrupting people and trying to create demand where none existed a moment before. For a local service, that's incredibly difficult and inefficient. People don't suddenly realise they need their boiler fixed while watching a cat video. They realise it when their boiler breaks, and at that moment, they don't go to YouTube; they go to Google.

Here are the main issues:

1. Low Intent: The audience isn't in a buying mindset. They're not actively looking for your service. You're fighting for a sliver of their attention against content they actually chose to watch. Tbh, it's an uphill battle from the start.

2. High Cost of Entry: Good video ads aren't cheap or easy to make. A poorly shot video on a shaky phone can do more harm than good, making your business look unprofessional. To compete, you need decent equipment, editing, and a clear message, which all costs time and money. Compare that to writing a few lines of text for a Google Ad, which you can do in minutes.

3. Inefficient Targeting: While you *can* target by location on YouTube, it's not as precise or intent-driven as other platforms. You can show your ad to everyone in Bradford, but you have no idea who among them actually needs your service. You end up paying to show your ad to thousands of people who will never, ever be your customer. It's like handing out flyers to every single person in the city centre, hoping one of them happens to have a leaky tap.

The customer journey is just completely different. Let's visualise it.

As you can see, it's not even a fair fight. You want to be fishing where the fish are biting. And for local services, they're biting on Google.

I'd say you should focus on capturing existing demand first...

This is where the real money is made in local marketing. Forget creating demand for now. Your first and only priority should be to capture the demand that *already exists* in Bradford for your services. Every day, people are going to Google and typing in keywords that signal they are ready to buy. Your job is to simply show up at that exact moment.

The two best tools for this are:

1. Google Search Ads: This is your bread and butter. You bid on keywords related to your services. When someone in your target area (Bradford) searches for those keywords, your text ad appears at the top of the search results. It's the most direct line between a person with a problem and your business as the solution. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, meaning you're only paying for traffic from people interested enough to learn more.

2. Google Local Service Ads (LSAs): This is even better for many trades and home services. These ads appear *above* the regular search ads and feature a "Google Guaranteed" badge, which builds instant trust. You don't pay per click; you pay per lead (a phone call or message from a potential customer). It's a fantastic, low-risk way to get started, though it's not available for all industries.

Your entire strategy should revolve around this principle of intent. You need to do some keyword research to figure out exactly what your potential customers are searching for. Think like them. They won't search for your brand name (at first). They'll search for their problem.

Here are some examples of the types of keywords you should be targetting, split into different intent levels:

Now, what about costs? It varies massively by industry and competition in your area. But to give you a realistic idea, I remember one campaign we ran for an HVAC company in a competitive area, and they were seeing costs of around $60/lead. On the other hand, we’ve run ads for childcare services where the CPL was around $10 per signup. One of our best consumer services campaigns was for a home cleaning company which got a cost of £5/lead. So for Bradford, you might be looking at anything from £10-£50 per qualified lead. The key is knowing whether that's profitable for you, which brings me to my next point.

You probably should get your foundations right before spending a penny...

This is the single biggest mistake I see businesses make. They spend thousands on ads, drive loads of traffic, and then wonder why the phone isn't ringing. Tbh, it's usually because their website is letting them down.

Your website is not an online brochure; it's your 24/7 salesperson. If a potential customer lands on your site from an ad and it's slow, looks untrustworthy, or they can't figure out how to contact you in three seconds, they will leave. And they won't come back. You've just paid for that click and got nothing for it.

Before you even think about launching a Google Ad, your website needs to have these things sorted:

• -> A Clear, Obvious Call-to-Action (CTA): What is the ONE thing you want a visitor to do? Call you? Fill out a form? Make it painfully obvious. Your phone number should be at the top of every single page, and it should be clickable on mobile.
• -> Trust Signals: Why should a stranger trust you with their home and their money? You need to show them. This means customer reviews, testimonials, photos of your team and work, logos of any certifications (e.g., NICEIC for electricians), and a local Bradford address and phone number.
• -> Mobile First Design: Most people searching for local services are doing it on their phones. Your website MUST look and work perfectly on a mobile device. If people have to pinch and zoom, you've already lost them.
• -> Blazing Fast Speed: Every second your site takes to load, you lose potential customers. Use Google's PageSpeed Insights tool to check your site's speed. If it's slow, fixing it should be your number one priority.

The other part of getting your foundations right is knowing your numbers. You can't run profitable ads if you don't know how much a new customer is worth to you, and therefore, how much you can afford to pay to get one. This is where most people guess, but we can actually calculate it.

Once you know this number, everything becomes clearer. If your maximum affordable CPL is £50, and you're getting leads from Google for £30, you're making money. If they're costing £70, you're losing money and need to optimise. Without this number, you're flying blind.

You'll need a simple, effective Google Ads structure...

Don't overcomplicate it. You don't need dozens of campaigns. For a local service business, a simple, logical structure is all you need to get started and see results. The goal is to keep things organised so you can easily see what's working and what isn't.

I usually recomend something that looks like this:

The logic here is simple. You have one main campaign focused on your money-making services. Within that campaign, you seperate your services into themed Ad Groups. The keywords in the 'Emergency Repairs' ad group are all about urgent problems. The ads you write for that group should reflect that urgency ("Call Us Now For Immediate Help!"). This ensures your ads are always super-relevant to what the person searched for, which Google rewards with better ad positions and lower costs.

You would also want a second, smaller campaign for your own Brand Name. It seems silly to bid on your own name, but it prevents competitors from showing ads above your organic listing when someone searches for you directly. It's a cheap and effective defensive move.

And what about Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads for local reach?

So, we've established that Google is your priority for capturing high-intent leads. But does that mean you should ignore social media entirely? Not necessarily. Meta ads can play a supporting role, but you need to use them correctly.

Unlike Google, people on Facebook and Instagram are not actively looking for your services. It's a 'push' platform, much like YouTube. However, it has two key advantages over YouTube for a local business:

1. Lower Cost of Entry: You don't need a professionally produced video. A good quality photo of your team, a completed job, or even just a well-designed graphic with a compelling offer can work really well. It's much faster and cheaper to test different ad creatives.

2. The "Offer" is King: Because intent is low, you need to give people a reason to stop scrolling and pay attention. A generic "We're a local business, call us!" ad will fail. You need a specific, compelling offer. For example: "Bradford Homeowners: Get 15% Off Your First Boiler Service This Month Only!" This gives people a reason to act now, even if they weren't planning on it.

The best way to use Meta is with their Lead Generation objective. When a user clicks your ad, a form pops up pre-filled with their contact info from their profile. They just have to hit 'Submit'. It's very low friction. You'll get leads, but be aware they won't be as high quality or "hot" as the leads from Google Search. You'll need a solid process to follow up with them quickly before they go cold.

So how do these platforms stack up against each other for a typical local business in Bradford?

The chart makes the strategy pretty clear. Start with Google Search to capture the 'hot' leads. Once that's running profitably and you feel you're capturing most of the daily search demand, you can consider layering in Meta ads with a strong offer to generate some additional, 'cooler' leads.

So, when *should* you use YouTube ads?

After all this, you might think I'm completely against YouTube ads. I'm not. They have a place, but it's a specific one, and it's almost certainly not at the beginning of your journey. You should only consider using YouTube ads in Bradford when:

1. You have maxed out Google Search. You're showing up for all the relevant keywords, your budget is sufficient to capture all the daily searches, and your campaign is consistently profitable. You're looking for the next channel for growth.
2. You want to do Retargeting. This is probably the most effective use of YouTube for a small business. You can show a short video ad *only* to people who have recently visited your website. They already know who you are. The video serves as a powerful reminder, building trust and keeping you top-of-mind while they're making a decision. A simple, authentic video of you saying "Hi, thanks for visiting our site. Just wanted to put a face to the name..." can work wonders here.
3. Your service is highly visual. If you're a landscaper, a kitchen fitter, or an interior designer, a compelling video showing a before-and-after transformation can be incredibly persuasive. In this case, a video might communicate your value better than a text ad, but it's still a brand-building play, not a direct lead-generation tool.
4. You have a dedicated marketing budget for brand awareness. You understand that the goal isn't immediate leads, but long-term name recognition in Bradford. You're happy to spend money to become the go-to name in your industry, even if the ROI isn't directly measurable in the short term. This is a luxury most small businesses can't afford.

Essentially, treat YouTube as an accelerator, not the engine. Your engine is Google Search. It's reliable, efficient, and will power your business's growth. Once that engine is humming along nicely, then you can think about adding the YouTube turbo-charger.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

To put it all together, here is the step-by-step action plan I would recomend for generating local customers in Bradford. Forget YouTube for at least the next six months and focus entirely on this.

This is a lot to take in, I know. But getting this stuff right from the start can be the difference between a business that struggles month-to-month and one that has a predictable, scalable system for growth. It’s not just about flicking a switch on an ad platform; it’s about understanding the strategy behind it, building the right foundations, and meticulously tracking the numbers.

Running these campaigns effectively, doing the keyword research, writing compelling ad copy, optimising landing pages, and managing budgets takes time and expertise. It's very easy to burn through a lot of money very quickly on platforms like Google if you're not sure what you're doing. A small mistake in targeting or a poorly written ad can cost you hundreds or even thousands of pounds with nothing to show for it.

This is where expert help can make a huge difference. We do this day in, day out. We've seen what works and what doesn't across dozens of industries and can help you avoid those costly beginner mistakes, getting you to profitability much faster.

If you'd like to chat through your specific business and how this strategy could be applied, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can take a look at your website and give you some more tailored advice on the best way forward. Just let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh