TLDR;
- Stop looking for a 'social media manager'. You need a paid advertising specialist with proven, repeatable results specifically in the UK e-learning or course creator space. Generalists will burn your cash.
- The single most important vetting tool is their case studies. Don't just look at the headline ROAS; demand to know the exact strategy, audiences, and creative that got them there. If they can't explain it, they didn't do it.
- Guarantees are the biggest red flag. Anyone promising a specific ROAS or number of students is either lying or inexperienced. The market is unpredictable; a true expert promises a process, not a result.
- Before you speak to anyone, you must understand your own numbers. Use our interactive calculator inside to figure out your course's Lifetime Value (LTV). Knowing this figure is the only way to know what you can afford to pay for a student.
- This guide includes a step-by-step flowchart for vetting UK agencies and a final checklist to take into any discovery call, ensuring you hire a partner, not just a supplier.
I see this all the time. An e-learning founder in the UK, probably brilliant at what they do, is getting absolutely nowhere trying to find someone decent to run their ads. You're swimming in a sea of "gurus" and generalist agencies who think marketing a course is the same as flogging drop-shipped watches. It isn't. And that's why you're struggling.
The problem isn't a lack of 'social media managers' in the UK. The problem is you're looking for the wrong thing. You don't need a manager; you need a specialist who understands the unique psychology of selling education online. Someone who knows that you're not just selling information, you're selling a transformation. And that requires a completely different approach to paid advertising.
So, why is selling a course so bloody different?
First off, the consideration period is longer. Nobody impulse-buys a £2,000 course on data science like they do a pair of trainers. They think about it. They compare. They look for social proof. They need to trust the instructor. A standard eCommerce campaign structure focused on quick conversions will fail spectacularly. It misses the entire nurturing phase where the real decision is made.
Secondly, the 'product' is intangible. You can't show it off with a flashy video of someone unboxing it. You have to sell the outcome, the 'after' state. This means your ad creative and copy have to work ten times harder. It's about tapping into career aspirations, personal growth goals, or solving a deep, frustrating problem. A generic "50% off!" ad just won't cut it. One of the most successful campaigns we ran for a course creator generated over $115k in revenue in just a month and a half, and it was almost entirely driven by copy that focused on the transformation, not the course features.
And finally, the UK market has its own quirks. The competition is fierce, especially in London and the South East. Ad costs can be high, and audiences are savvy. What works in the US market doesn't always translate one-to-one. You need someone who has experience navigating this specific landscape, who understands the cultural nuances in ad copy and knows the benchmarks for the UK education sector. Tbh, if an agency can't show you results in pounds (£), they probably don't have enough UK-specific experience.
Forget their location, focus on their track record
This is probably the most important shift in mindset you need to make. Whether an agency is in Manchester, London, or working from a shed in Cornwall is completely irrelevant. What matters is their expertise. Do they live and breathe paid ads for course creators? Is that their specialism?
The only way to know this is to dissect their case studies. And I don't mean glancing at the flashy headline. Any agency can get one lucky result. You're looking for a repeatable process. When you're looking at a case study, here's what you need to demand:
-> The Full Funnel Strategy: How did they move a complete stranger from seeing a cold ad to becoming a student? What did the retargeting strategy look like? Did they use lead magnets, webinars, or go straight for the sale? If they can't articulate this clearly, they're probably just boosting posts and hoping for the best.
-> Audience Breakdown: Who exactly did they target? Don't accept vague answers like "interest targeting". Which interests? Which lookalike audiences? Did they build custom audiences from website traffic or email lists? I remember one client, a course creator in the tech space, came to us after an agency burned through their budget targeting a broad "software development" interest. We narrowed it down to interests in specific coding languages and followers of niche tech publications, and their cost per lead dropped by over 80%. That's the level of detail you're looking for.
-> Creative Examples: Ask to see the actual ads that worked. The images, the videos, the copy. Does the messaging align with the deep-seated problems their course solves? Is it benefit-driven? You'll quickly see if they understand how to communicate value or if they just write generic, feature-led copy.
Ultimately, a good case study should leave you with a clear understanding of *how* they got the result, not just *what* the result was. If you want to know more about how to properly evaluate an agency's claims, our guide on how to actually vet ad experts in the UK goes into much more detail on this.
Before you spend a penny on ads, you need this number
Here's a hard truth: you can't possibly know if your ads are successful if you don't know what a student is actually worth to you. Most course creators focus obsessively on the Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost Per Lead (CPL). They want it as low as possible. But that's the wrong way to think about it. The real question is: "How much can I *afford* to spend to acquire a student and still be wildly profitable?"
The answer is your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). For a course, this might include the initial purchase, any upsells to advanced modules, coaching, or community membership. Once you know this number, you can set an intelligent target for your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
A healthy business model usually aims for an LTV to CAC ratio of at least 3:1. So, if your LTV is £1,500, you can confidently spend up to £500 to acquire a new student. Suddenly that £50 lead from Meta doesn't seem so expensive, does it?
Calculating this can seem a bit daunting, so I've built a simple calculator to help you get a handle on it.
E-Learning LTV & Target CAC Calculator
Your Max Target Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) should be: £353
Armed with this number, you can walk into any conversation with a potential ads manager and have an intelligent discussion about goals. You're no longer just asking "Can you get me cheap students?". You're asking "Can you build a system that acquires students profitably within a target CAC of £X?". It's a completely different conversation and one that a true professional will appreciate.
Which ad platform is right for your course?
This is another area where a generalist will give you a vague answer, but the choice of platform is critical and depends entirely on who you're selling to.
Meta (Facebook & Instagram): This is the go-to for most B2C courses (think photography, fitness, coding bootcamps for beginners) and even some lower-ticket B2B courses. The interest and lookalike targeting capabilities are powerful for finding people who don't even know your course exists yet. It's great for building an audience from scratch. If you're targeting a broad audience of consumers in the UK, finding a UK Facebook ads expert who understands the course creator space is a good starting point.
LinkedIn Ads: If you sell high-ticket courses or corporate training to specific job titles, industries, or company sizes, LinkedIn is your playground. It's more expensive, for sure, but the targeting is surgical. You can get your offer in front of the exact Head of L&D at a FTSE 100 company that you want to reach. The mindset of users is professional, so your messaging needs to be about career progression, team efficiency, and ROI. For many UK EdTech companies, this platform is a goldmine if used correctly. We've written a complete playbook on LinkedIn ads for UK EdTech that breaks down the strategy.
Google Ads: This is for capturing intent. People go to Google to solve an immediate problem. If someone is searching for "best project management certification online", you want your ad to be the first thing they see. It's less about discovery and more about being the best answer for someone who is already looking. For many course creators, a common question is how to weigh the pros and cons of search versus social, and our guide comparing Google and LinkedIn Ads for UK courses can help clarify that decision.
An expert won't just recommend one platform. They'll recommend a strategy that might involve using Meta to build awareness and generate leads, and then Google Search to capture high-intent prospects, all while retargeting everyone across both platforms. They should be able to justify their recommendation based on your specific ideal student profile.
The Vetting Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
Finding the right partner feels complex, but if you follow a structured process, you can systematically weed out the cowboys and find the real experts. It’s not about finding someone local; it's about finding someone competent. This is how you should approach it.
Step 1: Research
Identify specialists, not generalists. Look for agencies/freelancers who explicitly state they work with e-learning or course creators. Ignore everyone else.
Step 2: Case Study Deep Dive
Go beyond headlines. Are there detailed case studies for businesses like yours? Do they explain the 'how' and 'why', not just the 'what'?
Step 3: The Discovery Call
This is YOUR interview. Come prepared with specific questions about strategy for *your* course. Don't let them just give you a sales pitch.
Step 4: The Proposal Review
Is it a custom strategy or a copy-paste template? It should reflect the conversation you had and outline a clear, logical plan for the first 90 days.
Step 5: Trust Your Gut
Did they sound like a partner invested in your growth, or a supplier just trying to close a deal? Expertise should feel reassuring, not pushy.
Killer questions to ask on the discovery call
The discovery call is where you separate the experts from the pretenders. They will be trying to qualify you, but more importantly, you need to be qualifying them. Turn the tables. Here are some questions that will reveal a lot about their actual expertise:
1. "Based on what you know about my course and my ideal student, what would be your proposed campaign structure and audience testing strategy for the first month?"
A good answer will be specific. They might say, "We'd start with one campaign optimising for purchases. Inside, we’d have three ad sets. Ad set 1 would target a lookalike of your past students. Ad set 2 would test interests related to competing course creators and relevant software. Ad set 3 would be a broader retargeting audience of all website visitors from the last 90 days. We’d allocate budget based on performance after the first week." A bad answer is vague: "Oh, we'll test a bunch of audiences and see what works."
2. "What's your process for creative testing?"
Running the same ad forever is a recipe for failure. An expert will have a clear system. "We recommend starting with 3-5 different creative concepts. One video testimonial, one static image with a strong headline, and one carousel ad showing course modules. We'd test these against 2-3 different hooks in the primary text. After we find a winning combination, we'll iterate on that theme." This shows they have a process for optimisation, not just a 'set and forget' mentality.
3. "How do you define and measure success beyond just ROAS?"
While Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) is important, a true partner understands the bigger picture. They should ask about your LTV, acceptable CAC, and the sales cycle. They might talk about tracking metrics like cost per qualified lead or cost per webinar registration, understanding that these are leading indicators for eventual sales. Someone obsessed only with a front-end metric might not be thinking about your overall business health.
4. "Can you share an example of a campaign for a course that *didn't* work initially, and what you did to turn it around?"
This is my personal favourite. It tests for honesty and problem-solving skills. Everyone has campaigns that fail. An expert will see it as a learning opportunity and be able to articulate what data they looked at (e.g., low CTR, high drop-off on the landing page) and what changes they made (e.g., changed the offer, rewrote the ad copy, targeted a different audience) to fix it. Someone who claims every campaign is a home run from day one is not being truthful.
This is the main advice I have for you:
Finding the right person to manage your ads in the UK is less about searching and more about vetting. You need to arm yourself with the right knowledge and a solid process to cut through the noise. Here's your final checklist to guide your decision.
| Vetting Area | Green Flag (What you want to see) | Red Flag (What to avoid) |
|---|---|---|
| Niche Specialism | They have multiple, detailed e-learning/course creator case studies with clear explanations of strategy. They speak your language. | They're a "full-service digital agency" that works with everyone from plumbers to dentists. Their examples are irrelevant to you. |
| Strategy Discussion | They ask deep questions about your student avatar, LTV, and business goals before ever talking about tactics. They provide a logical, custom plan. | They jump straight to a generic sales pitch or talk about "secret hacks". The proposal feels like a template. |
| Promises & Guarantees | They are cautiously optimistic and talk about a process of testing and optimisation to *find* what works. They manage expectations. | They guarantee a specific ROAS or number of sales. "We guarantee a 5x return!" is a huge warning sign. |
| Focus on Metrics | They focus on business metrics that matter: profit, student LTV, and profitable Customer Acqusition Cost (CAC). | They get overly excited about vanity metrics like reach, impressions, or clicks. |
| Transparency | They are open about their process, what they need from you, and are happy to talk about past challenges and how they solved them. | Their methods are a "secret sauce" they can't explain. They are defensive when asked for details or to explain failures. |
The truth is, hiring someone to run your paid advertising is a significant investment, and it's not a decision to be taken lightly. It's about finding a partner who is as invested in your business growth as you are. They need to be a specialist who can bring a proven process to the table, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating amazing educational content.
If you've been struggling to find that partner and feel like you're just not being understood by the generalist agencies out there, it might be time for a different kind of conversation. Getting expert help from a specialist consultancy can make all the difference, providing the clarity and strategic direction your e-learning platform needs to scale profitably. If you’d like a second opinion on your current strategy or want to discuss a potential plan, consider scheduling a free, no-obligation consultation with our team.
