Paid Marketing.

Paid Marketing That Gets Your Business in Front of the Right People, Right Now.

Paid advertising, often called PPC (Pay Per Click), is the fastest way to get your business visible online. While SEO builds your long-term presence in organic search results, paid ads put you in front of people who are actively searching for what you offer, or who are exactly the kind of customer you want, right now.

At Sokada, we manage Google Ads and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) campaigns that are built to generate real enquiries and sales, not just clicks.

Want Customers to Find You Faster?

You could wait months for SEO to build your organic search presence, or you could be on page one of Google tomorrow morning. That’s the appeal of paid advertising: immediate visibility, with your business appearing exactly where people are looking, at the moment they’re ready to act.

But paid advertising done badly is one of the fastest ways to burn through a budget with nothing to show for it. Ads pointed at the wrong audiences. Campaigns set up without proper conversion tracking, so you have no idea what’s actually working. Clicks landing on a page that doesn’t convert. Or simply paying too much per click because the account isn’t being properly managed and optimised.

Are your ads generating clicks but not enquiries? Or are you not running paid ads yet because you’re not sure where to start?

Both are problems we solve. We set up and manage paid campaigns that are structured properly from day one, targeted at the right people, connected to landing pages that convert, and optimised continuously so your cost per lead comes down over time and your return on ad spend goes up.

Google Ads: Be Found the Moment Someone Is Ready to Buy.

Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) is the most powerful paid advertising tool available for businesses that want to capture high-intent traffic. When someone types ’emergency plumber in East Sussex’ or ‘web designer near me’ into Google, they’re not browsing. They’re ready to act. Google Ads puts your business at the top of those search results, ahead of the organic listings, exactly when that intent is highest.

How Google Ads works

Google Ads operates on a PPC (Pay Per Click) model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks your ad. You set a budget, choose the keywords you want to appear for, write your ad copy, and Google enters your ad into an auction whenever a relevant search is made. Your position in that auction is determined by your bid (the maximum cost per click, or CPC, you’re willing to pay) combined with your Quality Score, which is Google’s measure of how relevant and useful your ad and landing page are to the person searching.

Getting Quality Score right matters enormously. A high Quality Score means you can pay less per click than a competitor while still appearing above them. It’s one of the reasons that properly managed campaigns consistently outperform those that are just left running.

Google Ads campaign types

We run a range of campaign types depending on what your business needs. Search campaigns target specific keywords and put text ads in front of people actively searching for them. Display campaigns place visual banner ads across Google’s network of partner websites, which is useful for brand awareness and retargeting. Shopping campaigns show your products directly in Google search results with images and prices, which is powerful for e-commerce. Performance Max campaigns use Google’s machine learning across all of its channels, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Gmail, to maximise conversion volume within your budget.

Local Services Ads: the Google Guaranteed option for local businesses

Local Services Ads (LSAs) are a separate Google product from standard Google Ads, and for local service businesses they’re worth understanding separately. They appear at the very top of Google search results, above regular Google Ads, and carry a Google Guaranteed or Google Screened badge. That badge means Google has verified the business: checked licences, insurance, and in some cases run background checks. For a potential customer choosing between several options, that level of endorsement makes a genuine difference.

The other key distinction is how you pay. Unlike standard Google Ads, which charge per click, Local Services Ads charge per lead. You pay when someone contacts you directly through the ad, by phone or message, not simply for landing on your website. For the right type of business, this can make LSAs significantly more cost-effective than traditional PPC. They’re currently available for a defined set of service categories including trades, legal, financial, and health services. If your business qualifies, we’ll tell you.

Local Search Ads: appearing in Google Maps and local results

Local Search Ads are standard Google Ads campaigns configured to show within Google Maps and in local search results, appearing as sponsored pins on the map alongside organic map listings. They work on the same pay-per-click model as regular search campaigns and are part of a Google Ads account with location targeting and location extensions enabled. For any business with a geographic focus, Local Search Ads make sure you appear prominently when someone searches with clear local intent and is looking at the map to find who’s nearest or most convenient.

Keyword match types and targeting

Keyword targeting in Google Ads isn’t just about choosing which terms to bid on. Match types control how closely a search needs to match your keyword before your ad is shown. Broad match gives Google the most flexibility and can capture a wide range of searches. Phrase match keeps your ad within the context of your keyword. Exact match shows your ad only for very specific searches. We use a careful combination of match types and negative keywords (terms you specifically don’t want to appear for) to make sure your budget is going on the searches that actually convert.

What we manage for you

We handle the full Google Ads setup and ongoing management: campaign structure, keyword research and match type strategy, ad copy writing and testing, bid management, Quality Score optimisation, conversion tracking setup (so we know which clicks are turning into enquiries or sales), and continuous optimisation based on real performance data. You get transparent monthly reporting on the metrics that matter: impressions, click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), conversion rate, cost per lead, and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Meta Ads: Reach the Right People Before They Even Know They Need You.

Facebook and Instagram ads, managed through Meta Ads Manager, work differently from Google Ads. Rather than capturing people in the moment they search, Meta lets you reach people based on who they are: their demographics, interests, behaviours, and life events. This makes it exceptionally powerful for building brand awareness, generating demand for products or services people have not thought to search for yet, and retargeting people who have already shown interest in your business.

Meta recently rolled out its Andromeda update, a significant overhaul of the ad delivery system that uses more advanced machine learning to match ads to the people most likely to take action. In plain terms, it means the platform has got smarter at finding the right audience for your budget, improving relevance and reducing wasted spend. For businesses running Meta ads properly, it is a meaningful step forward.

Audience targeting

The targeting options in Meta have changed significantly since the Andromeda update. The old approach of building carefully defined audiences based on age, interests, job title and behaviours still exists, but it is no longer the primary performance lever. Meta now recommends advertisers use broad targeting and Advantage+ placements, allowing the algorithm to make its own delivery decisions. Lookalike audiences still have a role, but they now serve as signal inputs rather than hard boundaries.

Andromeda flipped the old dynamic. Now Meta controls the targeting, using your ad creative to determine who should see your content. In practical terms, this means the quality and variety of your creative work has become the thing that finds your audience, not the other way around.

For businesses this is actually good news. It means less time spent building and testing audience segments, and more focus on making sure your ads say the right things in the right way.

Retargeting and remarketing

One of the most effective uses of Meta Ads is retargeting: showing ads to people who have already visited your website, watched your videos, or engaged with your social media, but haven’t yet enquired or bought. These people already know who you are, which makes them far more likely to convert than a cold audience. Retargeting campaigns consistently deliver a lower cost per acquisition than prospecting campaigns, and they’re a standard part of how we structure paid social campaigns.

Ad formats and creative

Meta supports a wide range of ad formats: single image ads, carousel ads (which show multiple images or products), video ads, stories, reels, and lead generation ads that let people submit their details without leaving the platform. We advise on which format suits your goal, write the ad copy, and brief the creative direction so your ads stand out in a busy feed and communicate clearly to the audience you’re targeting.

What we manage for you

We handle the full Meta campaign setup and ongoing management: campaign structure, audience build, ad copy, creative briefing, pixel setup and conversion tracking, budget management, and ongoing optimisation. As with Google Ads, you get transparent reporting on the numbers that matter: reach, impressions, CTR, cost per click, cost per lead, and overall return on ad spend (ROAS).

Which Type of Paid Advertising Is Right for Your Business?

The honest answer is that it depends on your goals, your audience, and where your customers are in their buying journey.

Google Ads is the right choice if you want to capture people who are actively searching for what you offer right now. High-intent searches, people ready to buy or enquire, are Google Ads territory. It’s faster to see results and typically delivers a lower cost per lead for service businesses where people search before they buy.

Meta Ads is the right choice if you want to build brand awareness, reach an audience that doesn’t yet know they need you, promote a product or event visually, or retarget people who’ve already shown interest. It’s also particularly effective for businesses with a strong visual product or a compelling story to tell.

What would your business look like if you were consistently visible to your ideal customers, whether they were searching for you or simply scrolling past your ad?

Actually, if you ask us, the two can work really well together. We quite often recommend starting with Google Ads to get leads coming in quickly, because when you are spending money on marketing you want to see results. Then, once that is working, we bring Meta in alongside it to build brand awareness, retarget people who have visited your website, and start building the kind of familiarity and trust that turns browsers into buyers over time.

One drives immediate enquiries, the other builds the bigger picture. Done together properly, they reinforce each other rather than compete.

Paid Ads Only Work If Your Website Does Too.

This is something most paid advertising agencies don’t talk about, but it matters enormously. Clicks are only worth paying for if the page people land on converts them into enquiries or sales. A poorly structured landing page, a slow-loading website, or one that doesn’t clearly answer what the visitor was looking for will waste a significant portion of any paid ads budget, regardless of how well the campaign itself is set up.

Because Sokada builds and manages websites as well as running paid campaigns, we approach this differently. When we’re managing your ads, we look at the full journey: what happens before the click, what happens on the landing page, and what makes someone pick up the phone or fill in a form. We can advise on landing page structure, call-to-action placement, and page load speed, and if something needs fixing, we can fix it, rather than pointing at the website as someone else’s problem.

Paid ads and a well-built website, planned and managed together, consistently outperform either one done in isolation.

Transparent Paid Marketing: No Jargon, No Wasted Budget.

We don’t just set up your campaigns and leave them running. Paid advertising requires ongoing management, testing, and optimisation to perform well. Audiences change. Ad copy gets stale. Bidding strategies need adjusting as data comes in. Without active management, campaigns that started well will gradually become less effective and more expensive.

At Sokada, you’ll always know what we’re doing with your budget and why. We report on the metrics that actually reflect business performance: cost per lead, conversion rate, and return on ad spend, not just vanity metrics like impressions and clicks. We run A/B testing on ad copy and landing pages to find what converts best, and we adjust campaigns based on real data rather than guesswork.

We also tell you honestly if something isn’t working, and we adjust. Paid advertising isn’t a “set-and-forget ” exercise, and we treat it that way.