Solved: Ad Account Structure in Leicester (A Step-by-Step Fix)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! It sounds like you're in a frustrating spot with your ads, which is really common for local businesses trying to get this stuff right. It's easy to burn through a lot of cash without seeing much in return if the foundations aren't solid.

I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience. The good news is that a lot of what's considered "best practice" is often overcomplicated. The solution isn't about finding some secret setting for Leicester; it's about shifting your entire approach to how you think about structure and your customer. Let's get into it.

The #1 Mistake: Your Account Structure is Backwards

Right, let's be blunt. Most local businesses in Leicester, Manchester, or London make the same mistake. They build their ad account around their own services. They'll have one campaign called "Plumbing Services," and they'll chuck every keyword they can think of in there: "emergency plumber," "leaky tap repair," "boiler installation cost," "bathroom fitting quotes."

The platform sees this jumbled mess and doesn't know what you're really trying to achieve. Is the person searching for "boiler installation cost" ready to buy right now? Probably not. They're researching. Is the person searching for "emergency plumber leicester" ready to buy? You bet they are, and they needed you ten minutes ago. Mixing these two people in the same ad group with the same ads and landing page is a recipe for disaster. You end up showing an ad about cheap quotes to someone with a flooded kitchen, and an ad about emergency callouts to someone planning a project for next year. It's inefficient and burns your budget on the wrong people at the wrong time.

The solution isn't a better structure; it's a better way of thinking. You need to structure your account around your customer's mindset, their intent, and how desperate they are. Essentailly, you need to seperate the "I need it now" crowd from the "I'm just looking" crowd.

We'll need to look at your Ideal Customer's Problem, Not Their Postcode...

Forget demographics for a second. "Homeowners in Leicester aged 35-65" is useless. It tells you nothing about their immediate needs. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a problem state. It's a crisis.

Your best customer isn't defined by their address in LE3. They're defined by the fact that their boiler has just packed in on the coldest day of the year, the kids are freezing, and their partner is giving them grief. That's a nightmare. They aren't looking for a blog post on "5 ways to improve boiler efficiency." They're frantically typing "emergency gas engineer leicester" into their phone. That specific, urgent, expensive problem is your entire marketing strategy.

For every service you offer, you need to identify the "nightmare scenario" that creates urgent demand.

• For an electrician: The nightmare is a power outage in the middle of the night, or a flickering light that they're convinced is a fire hazard.
• For a roofer: The nightmare is a leak staining their ceiling after a heavy storm.
• For a cleaner: The nightmare is their in-laws announcing a surprise visit in 24 hours to a messy house.

Once you understand their panic, you can write ads that speak directly to it. You don't sell "electrical services"; you sell "a fast fix for your power cut so you can get the lights back on tonight." You don't sell "roof repairs"; you sell "an end to that worrying leak before it causes real damage." This is what gets the click over your competitors who are just listing their services.

I'd say you need a simple two-campaign structure...

Okay, let's get practical. For a local service business, you don't need a ten-campaign monstrosity. You need to start with two, maybe three, highly focused campaigns built around the intent we just talked about. This is how you stop wasting money and start getting calls.

Campaign 1: The "Emergency / I Need You NOW" Campaign (Bottom-of-Funnel)

This is your most important campaign. It's where you'll make your money. The goal here is to capture people who are in active distress and need to hire someone immediately.

• Keywords: These must be high-intent and include buying terms. Think "emergency," "24 hour," "call out," "near me," "fix," "repair." Combine them with your service and location. E.g., "emergency electrician leicester," "24/7 plumber LE2," "leaking pipe repair near me." Be ruthless. If a keyword doesn't scream "I need to hire someone right now," it doesn't belong here.
• Ad Copy: Your ads need to reflect the urgency. Use headlines like "24/7 Emergency Call Outs," "Get a Fast Fix Tonight," "Leicester Electrician On Call." Mention speed, reliability, and your phone number directly in the ad description. No fluff.
• Landing Page: This is critical. Do NOT send them to your homepage. Send them to a simple page with one purpose: getting them to call you. Your phone number should be huge, at the top of the page, and clickable. Have a simple contact form for those who prefer it. Add some trust signals like customer reviews or trade association badges. Nothing else. Don't make them think.
• Targeting: Target a tight radius around Leicester where you can actually offer a fast response. If you're based in the city centre, maybe a 10-15 mile radius is realistic. Don't target the whole of Leicestershire if you can't get to a village 45 minutes away in a hurry.
• Bidding: You want to be aggressive here. Bid for the top of the page. You're paying a premium for these clicks because they are far more likely to turn into a paying job. This is where optimising for conversions is key.

Campaign 2: The "Shopping Around / Planning a Project" Campaign (Middle-of-Funnel)

This campaign targets people who have a problem, but it's not on fire. They're doing their homework, comparing quotes, and planning for the near future.

• Keywords: These are broader and more research-oriented. Think "cost," "quote," "price," "installer," "company." E.g., "new boiler cost leicester," "kitchen fitter quotes," "best local builder reviews." These people are looking for information and options.
• Ad Copy: Your ads should speak to their needs. Offer something of value. Use headlines like "Free No-Obligation Quotes," "Get a Fixed Price Estimate," "Download Our Bathroom Guide." You're trying to start a conversation, not force a sale.
• Landing Page: Again, a dedicated page is best. This page can be more detailed. Show off your work with a gallery, provide detailed service descriptions, and feature testimonials. The main Call to Action should be to "Request a Free Quote" or "Schedule a Consultation" via a clear form.
• Targeting: You can go a bit broader here with your location targeting, as people planning a project are less concerned with immediate response times.
• Bidding: You can be a bit more conservative with your bids. These leads are valuable, but they have a longer sales cycle and a lower close rate than the emergency ones. Your cost per lead here should be significantly lower than in your emergency campaign.

By splitting your account this way, you can allocate your budget more intelligently. You put more money into the "Emergency" campaign because it drives immediate revenue, and you use the "Shopping Around" campaign to fill your pipeline with future work at a lower cost. It stops the two audiences from competing with each other and ensures the right message reaches the right person.

You probably should calculate how much a customer is worth...

This is the part that most small business owners skip, and it's why they can never spend on ads with confidence. The question isn't "How cheap can I get a lead?" It's "How much can I afford to pay for a lead and still make a healthy profit?" The answer is your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

I remember one client who ran an HVAC company; once we established what a customer was worth, paying around £60 for a qualified lead from an "Emergency" campaign didn't seem so expensive. It looked like a brilliant investment. Without knowing this number, you're just guessing. You're flying blind, turning ads off too early because you think they're "too expensive," when they might actually be fuelling profitable growth.

For a local service business, the calculation is pretty straightforward. You need three numbers:

1. Average Job Value (AJV): What's the average revenue you make from a single job?
2. Gross Margin %: After materials and direct costs, what percentage of that revenue is profit?
3. Repeat Business Rate: How many more times will an average customer hire you in, say, the next 5 years?

Let's do the maths: LTV = (AJV * Gross Margin %) * (1 + Repeat Business Rate)

This tells you the total profit you can expect from a new customer. A good rule of thumb is that your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) should be no more than one-third of your LTV. Use the calculator below to find your numbers. It'll give you a real, tangible budget to work with.

You'll need a website that actually sells...

I can't see your website, but I can guess what might be wrong with it. You can have the best ad account structure in the world, dreamed up by the best consultant in the UK, but if it sends traffic to a slow, confusing, untrustworthy website, you are setting your money on fire. The website's job is to convert that expensive click into a profitable lead. It's the final, and most important, step.

Most local business websites fail in a few predictable ways:

• No Clear Call to Action (CTA): The user lands on the page and has no idea what to do next. Your phone number should be the most prominent thing on the page. A "Request a Quote" button should be impossible to miss. Don't hide this information.
• Too Much Clutter: Your homepage is not the place for your life story or a long list of every minor service you've ever offered. For an ad landing page, less is more. Focus only on the information needed to convince someone to contact you.
• Lack of Trust: Why should I, a panicked homeowner in Leicester, trust you over the five other companies I just saw on Google? You need social proof. This means real customer testimonials (with names and locations if possible), photos of your team and vans, logos of any trade bodies you're a member of (e.g., Gas Safe, NICEIC). This stuff isn't optional; it's what separates a professional operation from a cowboy.
• Slow Loading Speed: If your page takes more than three seconds to load on a mobile phone, you've lost the click. People in a hurry won't wait. You need to optimise your images and ensure your site is built for speed.

Before you spend another pound on ads, you need to be brutally honest about your website. Get a friend who doesn't know your business to look at it for 10 seconds and ask them: "What am I supposed to do here?" and "Would you trust me with your money?". Their answers will be very revealing.

This is the main advice I have for you:

As you can see, getting this right involves a lot more than just picking a few keywords and setting a budget. It's a combination of psychology, maths, and web design, all working together. It requires constant testing, analysis, and optimisation. I know it can feel like a lot to handle when you're also busy running the actual business, which is why many business owners choose to bring in an expert.

Working with an agency or consultant means you get someone who lives and breathes this stuff every day. We can implement these kinds of strategic structures quickly, write compelling ads, advise on your website, and manage the campaigns to ensure you're not just getting clicks, but profitable customers. This frees you up to do what you do best: serving your customers in Leicester.

I really hope this detailed breakdown has been helpful and gives you a clear path forward. If you'd like to have a more direct chat about your specific situation, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can look at your current setup and give you some more tailored advice.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh