Google Ads vs Social: London Business Ultimate Guide

So you're a business owner in London, trying to figure out where to put your ad money. Google Shopping or social media? It’s the question I hear all the time, and honestly, it’s the wrong one to be asking. The answer isn't a simple choice between two platforms. It's about understanding what your customer is actually doing, and what they're thinking, when they're in a position to buy from you. Get that bit wrong and it doesn't matter how much you spend, you're just throwing money down the drain on the Northern Line.

Most people think advertising is about finding people. It's not. It's about finding people at the right moment. Are they actively searching for a solution to a problem right now, or are they scrolling through their phone on the bus, open to discovering something new? That's the real difference between Google and social media, and deciding which one is right for you starts there. Forget the platform for a second, and let's talk about your customer.

Who is your customer and what nightmare are you solving?

Before you even think about keywords or audiences, you need to get brutally honest about who you're selling to. And I don't mean "women aged 25-45 in Greater London". That's a demographic, and it tells you absolutely nothing useful. It leads to boring, generic ads that get ignored.

You need to define your customer by their pain. Their specific, urgent, frustrating problem. Your ideal customer isn't a person; it's a problem state. For a local plumber in Clapham, the nightmare isn't 'needing a plumber'; it's a burst pipe flooding the kitchen at 10pm on a Sunday. For a shop selling high-end running shoes in Richmond, the pain might be a nagging injury that's stopping a runner from training for the London Marathon. You don't sell products; you sell the solution to a nightmare.

Once you understand that specific pain, your choice of platform becomes much, much clearer. Are they aware of their problem and actively looking for the solution? Or do they not even realise a better solution exists until they see it? This is the fundamental split that should dictate your entire advertising strategy.

When should you bet your budget on Google Ads?

Google is for the searchers. The people who know they have a problem and are actively typing it into a search bar. This is what we call 'high-intent' traffic. They want a solution, and they want it now. If your business solves an immediate, recognised need, this is where you start.

Think about service businesses. Nobody wakes up and thinks, "I fancy browsing for an emergency electrician today." They go to Google when the lights go out. I remember one campaign we worked on for a home cleaning company in the UK, and by focusing purely on people searching for local cleaners, we got their cost per lead down to just £5. That's because we weren't trying to convince anyone they needed a cleaner; we were just there when they'd already decided they did. Same goes for trades. You can target keywords like:

• -> "emergency electrician south london"
• -> "boiler repair Kensington"
• -> "local handyman services Islington"

For eCommerce, Google Shopping works on the same principle. People aren't searching for "a new jumper"; they're searching for a "black merino wool jumper size 12". It's specific. If you sell products that people search for by name, category, or feature, you need to be on Google Shopping. Your products appear with an image and a price, right there in the search results. It's the digital equivalent of having the perfect item in the shop window just as the right customer walks past.

But be warned, especially in a market like London, it's competitive. Clicks can be expensive. I remember one client, an HVAC company in a busy city, and their leads are costing around $60 a pop (about £48). You have to know your numbers. Which brings us to a really important point most business owners miss.

You have to understand what a customer is actually worth to you before you can decide what you're willing to pay for them. We'll get into that a bit later. For now, if your customers are looking for you, make sure you can be found on Google. If they're not, then you need a different approach.

Is social media just for pictures of cats and brand awareness?

Here’s one of the biggest myths in advertising. People hear "social media" and think "brand awareness". Then they set up a campaign with the objective set to 'Reach' or 'Awareness'. This is a catastophic mistake.

When you tell Facebook's algorithm to get you the most 'awareness', you are giving it a very specific command: "Find me the largest number of people for the lowest possible price." The algorithm does exactly what you asked. It finds users who are cheap to show ads to. Why are they cheap? Because they never click, never engage, and certainly never buy anything. You are activly paying the most powerful advertising machine in history to find you the worst possible audience for your business.

Forget awareness. Awareness is a byproduct of making sales and having a great product. For a small business, you must, must, must optimise your social media campaigns for a conversion. That means a sale, a lead, a booking – a tangible action that has value. Always.

So when does social media beat Google? When your customer isn't actively searching. Social media is a discovery engine. It's for products that are visually appealing, new, unique, or solve a problem people don't know they have. Think about a cool new gadget, a unique piece of clothing from an independent designer, or an innovative subscription box.

I remember one campaign we ran for a women's apparel brand, and we generated a 691% return on ad spend using Meta and Pinterest ads. Why? Because fashion is visual. You interrupt someone's scroll with a stunning image or video, and you create desire on the spot. Similarly, for a subscription box client, we achieved a 1000% return. No one was searching for that specific box on Google, but when people saw it, they wanted it. That's the power of social.

The trick is targeting. You can't just show your ads to everyone. You need to get clever. For new accounts, you'd start by testing interests. If you sell vegan dog food, you target people interested in 'Veganism' AND 'Dogs'. As you get data, you can build much more powerful audiences. You can retarget people who visited your website but didn't buy. Even better, you can create 'lookalike' audiences. This is where you tell Facebook, "Here's a list of my best 100 customers. Go and find me a million more people in the UK who look just like them." This is incredibly powerful and something you just can't do on Google.

You have to be systematic about it, testing different audiences and creatives. It's not a 'set and forget' thing. You have different campaigns for people who've never heard of you (cold traffic) and people who already know you (warm traffic). It's a proper funnel, and getting it right takes work and a bit of expertise.

The real reason your ads are failing (it's probably not the platform)

I've looked at hundreds of ad accounts. And most of the time, when a business owner says "Facebook ads don't work for me" or "Google is too expensive," the problem isn't the platform. It's their website.

You can have the most perfectly targeted ad in the world, but if it sends people to a slow, confusing, untrustworthy website, you've just paid to annoy a potential customer. Your website or online store is the final, and most important, part of the puzzle.

I remember looking at a store for handcrafted jewellery. The ads were getting clicks, but no one was buying. Why?

• -> The home page was cluttered and really slow to load. People dont have patience for that.
• -> The product photos were dark and didn't do the items justice. You need professional photography, or at least clean, bright shots.
• -> There were no product descriptions. How can I buy something if you don't tell me about it?
• -> The whole site just didn't look trustworthy. There were no customer reviews, no clear contact info, no 'About Us' story. It felt a bit dodgy, and I certainly wouldn't be putting my card details in.

You have to look at your own analytics. Where are people dropping off? Are they getting to your site but leaving straight away? That means you're getting the wrong traffic, or your site isn't making a good first impression. Are they viewing products but not adding to cart? Your product pages, pricing, or photos are the problem. Are they adding to cart but not checking out? Your shipping costs are too high or your checkout process is too complicated.

Your website's only job is to make it as easy and compelling as possible for someone to take the action you want them to take. Every extra click, every confusing bit of text, every second of loading time is a reason for them to give up and go somewhere else.

How much should a customer actually cost you?

This is the million-dollar—or maybe ten-thousand-pound—question. To answer it, you need to stop thinking about the cost of a single click (CPC) or even the cost of a single sale (CPA). You need to know your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

The question isn't "How low can my CPA go?" but "How high a CPA can I afford to acquire a great customer?" Let's do some simple maths. Let's imagine you run a coffee subscription service in London.

Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What do you make per customer, per month? Let's say it's £25.
Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that? Let's say it's 60%.
Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of customers do you lose each month? Let's say it's 5%.

Here's the calculation:

LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate
LTV = (£25 * 0.60) / 0.05
LTV = £15 / 0.05 = £300

In this example, every single customer you acquire is worth £300 in gross margin to your business over their lifetime. A healthy ratio of LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is about 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to £100 to acquire a new subscriber. Suddenly, paying £20 for a sale from a Facebook ad doesn't seem so bad, does it? It looks like a bargain.

This is the maths that unlocks growth. When you know your numbers, you can advertise with confidence. You stop worrying about small fluctuations and focus on profitably acquiring customers who will stick around. Without this number, you're just guessing.

As for what you should expect to pay, it varies wildly. For a simple lead or signup in a developed country like the UK, your cost might be anywhere from £1.60 to £15. For an actual eCommerce sale, you're looking at a much wider range, maybe £10 to £75. It all depends on your product price, your targeting, your ads, and your website conversion rate. There are so many variables, but getting a grip on your LTV is the only way to know if you're paying a fair price.

So, what's the plan? A starting strategy for your London business

So, back to the original question. Google or Social? The answer is almost always: it depends, but you should probably be thinking about both, just for different things and at different times.

Start by diagnosing your customer's state of mind. Are they problem-aware and searching, or are they living their lives, open to discovery? That's your first filter.

Then, fix your house before you invite people over. Get your website or online store in order. Make sure it's fast, clear, and trustworthy. Write compelling product descriptions. Get great photos. Make the checkout process seamless. This is non-negotiable.

Finally, start testing with a modest budget. Don't throw thousands of pounds at it from day one. Start small, see what works, and scale up. The key is to have a structured approach, measure everything, and be prepared to learn. Split test your ads, your audiences, and your landing pages. Advertising isn't a magic bullet; it's a process of continuous improvement.

Getting this right is a full-time job. It's a mix of art and science, and it takes experience to know which levers to pull and when. If you're running a business, you likely don't have the time to become an expert in the ever-changing world of digital advertising, and learning on your own dime can be a very expensive process.

If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by all this and want a professional eye on your strategy, it might be worth considering some expert help. Many consultancies, including ourselves, offer a free initial strategy session where we can look at what you're doing, find the holes, and give you a clear plan of action. Sometimes a 20-minute chat is all it takes to find the one thing that will unlock your growth.