Paid Ads / Google + Meta
We will tell you how. Properly. No three-tip teaser with the useful bit trapped behind a sales call. The knowledge is not the moat. Doing the work every bloody week is.
Pick the right platform ↓Google or Meta?
Anyone prescribing a platform before understanding the niche, margin, offer, sales cycle, location and current demand is not doing strategy. They are selling the thing they already know how to click.
Some businesses need to capture people already looking. Some need to create demand before the buyer starts searching. Some can profitably do both. The channel follows the situation.
01 / Channel fit
Google and Meta are not interchangeable traffic taps. They meet buyers at different moments, and the offer has to match that moment.
Google Ads
Someone types “emergency plumber near me” or “commercial solar installer Sydney.” They know the problem and are actively comparing options. Google lets you stand in front of that intent.
Meta Ads
Nobody opens Instagram hoping to find a roofer. Meta works when the creative makes the right person recognise a problem, want an outcome and take the next small step.
Google captures the people raising their hand. Meta walks past the other 97% and gives the right ones a reason to raise it.
02 / Before you spend a dollar
Work out gross margin, repeat value, close rate and the maximum you can pay for a booked job. Without that number, the dashboard is astrology.
“Free quote” is table stakes. Give the offer a reason to exist, a clear value, believable proof and real scarcity. Fake countdowns can fuck off.
The ad sells the click. The page sells the form. The form sells the booking. The call sells the job. One small yes at a time.
If nobody calls a fresh enquiry within five minutes, do not buy more enquiries. Fix that leak first.
03 / The DIY Meta playbook
For an Australian local trade or service business, this is a sensible first test. It is a starting point, not a forecast or a promise. Your numbers decide what survives.
Do not split a small budget across three services and six suburbs. At roughly $30–$50 a day, fragmentation starves the learning. Give the test enough volume to teach you something.
“Homeowners aged 35–65” is not a person. Use the exact problems, objections and language from calls, reviews and lost quotes. Write twenty useful personas by hand.
Raw phone photos, owner videos, text screenshots, bill breakdowns, local references and proof. Not one ad with twelve headline stickers. Creative is the targeting now.
The landing-page headline should mirror the ad. Embed the form. Remove pointless clicks. Show real reviews. Qualify through the story instead of attracting every curious thumb.
Do not teach the platform that a junk form fill is success. Optimise toward the outcome you actually want, then judge the system by cash in the bank over a proper window.
One bad Tuesday is not a strategy signal. Read rolling data, fix the earliest broken link and keep feeding fresh creative into the account.
04 / DIY or outsource?
Run it yourself when...
Get help when...
The reason to outsource is not secret knowledge. It is buying back the time and consistency the machine eats.
05 / If you hire someone
Use this list on us too. Trust should not require switching your brain off.
What exact conversion will the platform optimise toward?
How many genuinely new ads will you produce every month?
Who owns the ad account, data and creative when we leave?
What happens between the click and the booked job?
Show me a failed test and what you changed because of it.
06 / Your acquisition problem
Send the niche, service area, average job value, current lead source and what happens after an enquiry. If DIY makes more sense, we will say that.
hello@goodproblems.com.au