UK Course Creator's Guide To Finding a Facebook Ads Expert

I see this all the time. You've built a brilliant online course, poured you're heart and soul into it, but now you're stuck. You're trying to find someone to run your Facebook ads, but the UK market is flooded with 'gurus' and agencies promising the world and delivering nothing but a big invoice. They talk a good game about 'reach' and 'engagement' but your bank account tells a different story. It’s a frustrating place to be, and honstly, most of the advice out there is rubbish.

The truth is, finding a genuine expert who understands the nuances of selling courses to a UK audience is tough. But it's not impossible. You just need to know what to look for, what questions to ask, and which red flags to run from. This is not another fluffy guide; this is a straightforward breakdown of how to find someone who can actually help you grow, based on my experience running campaigns for course creators that have generated hundreds of thousands in sales.

So, why are most 'experts' just burning through my cash?

Let's be blunt. The barrier to entry for calling yourself a 'Facebook Ads Expert' is practically zero. Anyone can watch a few YouTube videos, set up a Business Manager, and start charging people for their services. They often fall back on the same tired, ineffective strategies that sound good in a sales pitch but do nothing for your bottom line.

The biggest culprit is the obsession with 'Brand Awareness' or 'Reach' campaigns. An agency will tell you, "We need to build your brand first, get your name out there!" What they're actually telling you is, "We're going to command Facebook's algorithm to find the cheapest, least-engaged people in your audience who are guaranteed never to buy anything." The algorithm does exactly what you tell it. If you ask for cheap impressions, it will find people who are cheap to show ads to because no other advertiser wants them. They don't click, they don't engage, and they certainly don't buy £500 courses.

For a course creator, awareness is a byproduct of sales, not a prerequisite. The best awareness you can get is a student's testimonial after your course changed their life. That's why, from day one, your campaigns should be optimised for conversions—purchases, webinar sign-ups, lead magnet downloads. Anything else is just lighting money on fire. The core of most campaign failures often comes down to a weak combination of a mismatched audience, message, and offer.

What does real proof of expertise look like?

Forget slick presentations and confident promises. The only thing that matters is a track record of results. Specifically, results for businesses like yours. When you're vetting an expert or an agency, you need to demand to see their case studies.

But don't just glance at them. Dig in. A good case study isn't just a logo on a website. It tells a story with numbers. I remember one campaign we ran for a course creator that brought in over $115k in revenue in just six weeks. That's the kind of detail you're looking for. Vague claims like "increased reach by 300%" are meaningless. That could mean they reached 300 more of the wrong people.

You want to see these metrics:

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): For every £1 they spent, how many pounds did they generate in sales? This is the single most important metric.
• Cost Per Purchase (CPP): How much did it cost to get one student to buy the course?
• Total Revenue Generated: The top-line number.
• Niche Relevance: Have they sold courses before? Even better, have they sold courses in a similar niche to yours (e.g., business coaching, creative skills, wellness)?

If an expert can't show you this level of detail for a client similar to you, they don't have the experience you need. It's that simple. Finding someone with the right background is half the battle, which is why we've put together a complete guide on how to hire a paid ads expert that goes even deeper on this.

How do I know if they're legit on an intro call?

The initial consultation is where you separate the real experts from the salespeople. A salesperson will spend the entire call talking about themselves, their agency, and how amazing they are. An expert will spend the entire call asking you questions.

A true expert knows that successful ad campaigns are built on a solid business foundation. They need to understand your business before they can even think about running ads for it. Here's what they should be asking you:

• What is the price of your course? Do you have any upsells, downsells, or continuity programmes?
• What is your average customer lifetime value (LTV)?
• Who is your ideal student? What are their biggest pains and frustrations that your course solves?
• What's your current sales process? Do you use webinars, VSLs, or direct-to-sales-page funnels?
• What have you tried so far? What were the results? Can I see your ad account?

If they aren't asking these questions, they're not trying to build a strategy; they're trying to close a sale. The biggest red flag is anyone who promises you a specific result, like "we guarantee a 5x ROAS." It's impossible. No one can predict the market or how an audience will react. Real professionals talk in terms of benchmarks, strategy, and testing, not guarantees.

And a quick note on asking for client references. Tbh, if you've seen detailed case studies and had a deep strategy call with them, asking to speak to one of their clients is a red flag for the agency. It signals a deep level of distrust from the start. A good partnership is built on trust in their proven expertise, not on bothering their existing clients.

What numbers do I need to know before I even start?

You cannot possibly judge the success of a campaign or the performance of an expert if you don't know your own numbers. The most critical metric you need to understand is your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). This tells you how much a customer is worth to your business over their entire relationship with you. Knowing this number changes everything. It stops you from chasing cheap, low-quality leads and empowers you to invest what's necessary to acquire high-quality students.

Here's a simplified way to calculate it for a course business:

LTV = (Average Order Value * Purchase Frequency * Gross Margin) / Churn Rate

But that's a bit complex. For a course creator, a simpler view is often more practical. Let's think about the Average Student Value.

• Core Course Price: The main price of your flagship course (e.g., £997).
• Average Upsell Value: The average amount a student spends on additional products (e.g., a £197 order bump, a £49/month community). Let's say 30% of students take a £197 upsell, so the average is £59.10.
• Total Average Value: £997 + £59.10 = £1,056.10

This means you can afford to spend a certain amount to acquire that student and still be profitable. A healthy ratio of LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is 3:1. So, in this case, you could afford to spend up to £352 to acquire a single student. Suddenly, a £150 cost per purchase on Facebook doesn't look so bad, does it? It looks like a profitable investment. This is the maths that underpins all successful paid social campaigns in the UK.

Use this calculator to get a rough idea of your own LTV. Adjust the sliders to match your own business model.

Is my offer the real reason my ads aren't working?

Here's a hard truth: the best ads manager in the world cannot sell a bad offer. If your course doesn't solve a burning, urgent problem for a specific group of people, you're going to struggle no matter who runs your ads. An amazing ad can get someone to your sales page, but it can't force them to buy a course they don't see immense value in.

Before you blame the ads, scrutinise your offer. This is the number one reason campaigns fail.

• Problem: Are you solving a 'nice to have' problem or a 'hair on fire' problem? People buy painkillers, not vitamins. Don't sell "Learn to be a better writer." Sell "Stop staring at a blank page and finally write the book that will build your authority."
• Audience: Are you trying to sell to everyone? A course for "small business owners" is too broad. A course on "Financial Forecasting for UK-based eCommerce Brands" is specific and speaks directly to a defined pain point.
• Promise: What is the clear transformation you are promising? Don't list features (e.g., "10 video modules"). List benefits (e.g., "Land your first 3 high-paying clients in 90 days").

If you're finding that you're getting clicks but no sales, the issue is rarely the ad targeting. It's almost always the message on your landing page. It's not resonating. It's not compelling. The promise isn't strong enough to justify the price. Fixing failing ads often means looking far beyond the ad platform itself. For those struggling with this, there are many reasons why your Facebook ads might be failing to deliver real profits.

What does a winning course campaign actually look like in the UK?

A properly structured campaign for an online course isn't just one ad thrown out into the void. It's a system designed to move a potential student from being completely unaware of you to becoming a paying customer. It's a funnel.

This often involves multiple campaigns running at once, each targeting people at a different stage of their buying journey.

This structured approach is how you systematically turn strangers into students. We've used this exact funnel structure to help course creators achieve massive growth. For one course creator, we used this approach to drive a 447% return on ad spend in the first week of the campaign. This entire journey from A-Z is something we cover in our complete guide to paid ads for course creators.

For UK creators specifically, it's also worth noting that London and the South East can be more expensive to advertise in, but often contain a higher concentration of potential buyers for professional development courses. A good expert will know how to use location targeting to your advantage, perhaps even running separate ad sets for London vs the rest of the UK with different bids and creative. If you are based in London, finding a local Meta Ads expert for your course can sometimes give you a competitive edge.

What's the right next step for me?

Finding the right person to trust with your ad spend is a massive decision, and it's clear you're taking it seriously. You're not looking for a quick fix; you're looking for a genuine partner who can help you scale. The process I've laid out isn't easy, but it's effective. It forces you to have the right conversations and look for the right signals.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below as a final checklist. Go through this before you sign any contracts.

Ultimately, this all takes a lot of work. Becoming an expert in your own numbers, refining your offer, and then going through the rigorous process of finding and managing a top-tier ads expert is practically a full-time job in itself. Many course creators find they are simply too overwhelmed with paid advertising to do it justice while also running their business.

If you've read this and feel that you'd rather have an experienced partner handle this for you, that's what we're here for. We offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can dive into your business, look at your ad account, and give you some honest, actionable advice on what your next steps should be. There's no hard sell, just a genuine conversation to see if we can help. If you're interested, feel free to get in touch and schedule a call.

Hope that helps!