Paid Advertising
Paid advertising that's actually managed, not just switched on
Paid social media and search campaigns that are run and optimised on an ongoing basis, not set up once and left to coast. We manage budgets and ad accounts as well as assisting with the creative side across everything from a single brand profile to dozens of accounts running in parallel, to ensure that project spend goes towards what's converting.
What's included
- Paid social campaign setup and management (Meta, Instagram, TikTok)
- Google Ads and search campaign management
- Ad account structure built to scale, from a single profile to dozens of accounts running in parallel
- Ongoing budget management and optimisation based on what's converting and tied back to your analytics setup
Who it's for
Businesses who are spending on ads without a clear sense of what's working best, or businesses scaling from a single ad account to managing campaigns across multiple locations, brands or team members. We work with businesses across Sheffield and Yorkshire, with specialist experience running paid campaigns for tattoo studios and beauty and aesthetics businesses.
What does it mean to manage paid advertising?
Switching on an ad campaign is fairly straightforward, and most platforms are designed to make it that way. Ensuring that it continues to work effectively is much harder. When a marketing campaign is left alone, the spend continues at a steady pace (regardless of if it is working or not) and the creative output gets shown to the same audience until they stop noticing it resulting in a steady downward trend which no-one in the business is notified of.
Managing a marketing campaign means having someone actively watching what's converting and pivoting your budget towards it. It means refreshing your creative output before your audience grows tired of it, and testing new approaches alongside the ones that are already working. It also means building your ad accounts to accommodate growth, because a structure that works for one brand profile can quickly become unmanageable once several locations, brands or team members are each running ads of their own. We help with the creative side too, so that what goes out looks and sounds like your business and speaks to the customers you want to reach.
How do we set up and run your campaigns?
Audit
Reviewing what you're spending today and what it's bringing in, so that we know what's worth keeping and what's not before anything changes.
Account and tracking structure
Setting up your ad accounts and conversion tracking so that results can be traced back to real enquiries and bookings, and so the structure still works if you add locations, brands or accounts later on.
Creative and campaign build
Building your campaigns and helping with the creative, making sure your adverts reflect your business and reach the customers you want.
Launch
Going live with budgets set and tracking checked, so that we can see what's performing from the first day.
Ongoing optimisation
Adjusting budgets, audiences and creative based on what your analytics shows, and reporting back to you on what your spend is achieving.
What affects the cost of ongoing ad management?
We scope the cost of your ad management around your accounts and your goals, as this will determine what's needed. We'll talk through everything with you first, so that you know exactly what you're paying for and why. Here are the key factors that determine the project:
Number of platforms
Running ads on Facebook and Instagram alone is a smaller job than managing campaigns across Meta, TikTok and Google Ads at once.
Number of ad accounts
One brand profile takes less managing than several locations, brands or individual team members each with an ad account of their own.
Your current spend
Higher budgets usually mean more campaigns, more testing and more creative to keep fresh.
New or existing accounts
Starting with a clean account is different to taking over one with years of history, where the existing setup needs untangling before it can be improved.
Which platforms do we run your campaigns on?
We run paid social campaigns on Meta, covering Facebook and Instagram, and on TikTok, alongside search campaigns through Google Ads. Social platforms are usually best for reaching people who don't know your business yet, while Google Ads puts you in front of people who are already searching for what you offer. The right mix for you depends on where your customers spend their time and how they tend to find a business like yours, so we'll recommend a starting point based on that instead of spreading your budget thinly across every platform at once.
Spending on ads without knowing what's working?
Tell us what you're spending now and what it's bringing in, and we'll give you an honest view of what's realistic, with no cost and no commitment.
Why don't we just switch campaigns on and leave them to run?
Advertising platforms change constantly. Costs rise and fall depending on season as well as how many other businesses are competing for the same audience. The platforms also regularly change how they decide who sees what, meaning that creatives that performed well last month can stop working almost overnight once people have seen it a few times.
Ongoing management is what keeps your spend working for you. It means regularly checking results against your analytics, moving budget away from what isn't converting and towards what is, and making those changes while there's still time left in the month to benefit from them. Every decision is tied back to the enquiries and bookings your ads are generating, not just the clicks and impressions the platforms report on - and you'll always know what's been changed and why.
More from us at Millside Creative
The difference between ad spend that works and ad spend that doesn't usually comes down to tracking, which is why paid advertising pairs so closely with our SEO & Analytics service. For a closer look at how spend was tracked and optimised across a 12-location studio group, the No Regrets case study goes into detail, including the reporting and dashboards that made it possible. If you're thinking about increasing your budget, why more leads is not the answer looks at why extra enquiries don't help if they aren't being converted. If you run a clinic, our guide to before-and-after advertising rules covers what you can and can't say in your adverts, and you can read more about our work with tattoo studios and beauty and aesthetics businesses.
Proof point
Millside managed a seven-figure ad spend for No Regrets, at times running paid campaigns across the brand's own profiles and at other times managing more than 20 individual artist ad accounts in parallel, all within the same board-level engagement.
FAQs
Common questions
Which platforms do you run ads on?
Paid social on Meta, Instagram and TikTok, plus Google Ads and search campaigns. Which combination and how many will depend on where your customers spend most of their time.
Can you manage multiple ad accounts, not just one?
Yes. We've built account structures that scale from a single brand profile to more than 20 individual accounts running in parallel, for businesses with multiple locations, brands or team members.
Do you just set campaigns up, or manage them ongoing?
Ongoing management is the central offer of this service. Campaigns are optimised on a continuing basis based on your analytics setup, not set up once and abandoned.
Do I need a big budget to start?
Not at all. We work with businesses operating on a range of budgets, from a single ad account upwards. Just let us know what you're currently spending and what it's achieving, and we'll be honest about what's realistic.