Online advertising: working with an agency on paid search and social ads

Search ads reach people who are already looking for what you offer, which makes them the usual starting point for enquiries and sales. Social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are better at creating demand among people who were not searching, and they rely heavily on creative: images and short video. LinkedIn is expensive per click but can target by job title, company size and industry, which suits B2B offers and recruitment. YouTube sits between the two.

Your ad spend goes to the platform; the agency fee is separate. Tell the agency both figures you have in mind, as well as your main goal: enquiries, online sales, awareness or job applications. An agency that proposes every channel at once for a modest budget is spreading it too thin.

Open the ad accounts under your business, with billing on your company card or invoice, and give the agency manager access. If the agency runs your ads from its own account, the campaign history, audiences and conversion data may leave with it when you part ways, and you start from nothing.

The same goes for the analytics property, the tag manager container and any tracking pixels. Ask for this in the contract, along with a clause that the agency hands back full admin rights at the end.

Common models are a fixed monthly management fee, a fee calculated as a share of ad spend, or a combination with a one-off set-up fee. A share of spend is simple but gives the agency no reason to spend less. A fixed fee is predictable but should be tied to a defined scope: number of campaigns, platforms, new ad creative per month and reporting.

Check the minimum term and notice period, whether creative production such as video is included, and whether the agency receives commissions or incentives from platforms or tools it recommends.

• platforms and campaign types included
• who writes and designs the ads, and how many new variants each month
• landing page changes, if any
• conversion tracking set-up and consent management
• reporting frequency and what it measures
• minimum term, notice period and account handover

Advertising pixels and tags store or read information on the visitor's device, so under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations they need the visitor's consent. The recently added exception for first-party statistics used to improve your own website does not extend to advertising or retargeting. Google's EU user consent policy also applies to users in the UK, so Google's ad products expect you to collect consent properly.

In practice, consent rates mean that platforms will never see every conversion. A competent agency sets up a consent banner that really blocks tags until a visitor agrees, uses the platforms' consent signals, and explains how reported conversions relate to your real enquiries. Be wary of any tracking set-up presented as a way to avoid asking for consent.

Uploading customer email lists for targeting, or building lookalike audiences from them, is processing personal data under UK GDPR. You need a lawful basis, and your privacy notice should say that you do it.

Online ads in the UK are covered by the CAP Code, which the Advertising Standards Authority enforces. Claims must be backed by evidence you hold before the ad runs, prices must not mislead, and ads must be recognisable as ads, which includes posts by influencers you pay. The ASA publishes its rulings, naming the advertiser. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, fake or concealed incentivised reviews are banned too, including in ad copy.

Some sectors carry extra rules: financial promotions are controlled by the FCA regime, and gambling, alcohol, health products and ads aimed at children have their own sections in the CAP Code. For job ads, be careful with targeting settings: excluding people by age or sex can raise issues under the Equality Act 2010. Platforms add their own policies on top, and an account suspended for a policy breach can take weeks to restore.

Source: legislation.gov.uk · legislation.gov.uk

Your request lists the channels, your goal, whether you have advertised before, the start date and a rough monthly ad spend. After you confirm your phone number and email, it is offered without your contact details to advertising agencies in your region. Exactly one agency can buy it, and then it leaves our marketplace. We email you that agency's name, address and phone number before it sees your details.

You pay nothing for this and are free to decline any proposal. There is no guarantee that an agency buys the request; after 21 days without a buyer, it is withdrawn. Offrano confirms only that buyers are registered businesses, so ask the agency to show you reports from real campaigns, with the client's permission.