Crescentek

Advertising Platform Setup

Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok — match channel to buyer.

Honest ad platform strategy for Irish SMBs. Google Ads for intent. Meta for discovery. LinkedIn for B2B. TikTok for young consumers. We'll tell you where your budget actually belongs — and where it's currently being wasted.

Based in Ireland
GDPR compliant
Reply within 1 working day
ad-allocator.crescentek.ie · Budget mix by business type
Your business type
Local service business
e.g. Dentists, solicitors, trades
Ideal split
/mo
€10k
Per channel
G
Google Ads
High-intent search
70%
€7,000
M
Meta Ads
Discovery & retargeting
25%
€2,500
L
LinkedIn Ads
B2B & professional
0%
€0
T
TikTok Ads
Young & creative
5%
€500
Where ad budgets burn

Four ways Irish SMBs waste ad spend.

Every one of these is fixable. The tricky part is noticing it — because ad platforms happily take your money whether you're targeting right or not.

Chasing the wrong platform for your buyer

B2B on TikTok. Impulse-buy consumer goods on LinkedIn. Wrong channel = expensive lesson. The platform your customers use matters more than the platform that's trending.

Creative that dies in 3 days

Running the same ad for 6 months on Meta. Audiences are saturated by week 2. Ad fatigue is real — without creative rotation, CPM rises, CTR falls, and results die quietly.

Conversion tracking is broken

Post-iOS 14.5 pixel issues. GA4 attribution lies. If you don't know which ads convert, you can't scale the ones that do. Most Irish SMB accounts we audit have broken tracking.

Giving up before the learning phase

Killing a campaign after 2 weeks because 'it's not working'. Most platforms need 50-100 conversions in the learning phase before they optimise properly. Patience + budget = results.

Three dimensions to get right

Match, budget, measure.

Every ad decision lives at the intersection of these three. Get them right together — any one missing undercuts the others.

Buyer-platform match

Who's your buyer, where do they live?

Where your audience already spends time
High-intent vs discovery stage
Irish-specific platform nuances
Age & demographic skew per platform
B2B vs B2C tailoring
Budget & CPM reality

What each platform actually costs

LinkedIn CPCs vs Meta CPCs (10x gap)
Google CPCs by vertical (huge range)
Minimum viable daily spend per platform
When to test vs when to scale
Cost-per-acquisition honest benchmarks
Measurement & attribution

Knowing what worked

GA4 + Conversions API properly configured
Multi-touch attribution where possible
Creative A/B testing discipline
Weekly reporting cadence
Holdout tests for true incrementality
Platform-by-platform

When each platform genuinely earns.

Each platform's sweet spot — where it consistently outperforms the others. Match your campaign to the platform's strength, not its marketing.

G

Google Ads

High-intent search
"Capture demand that already exists"
Service businesses
High-intent keywords
B2B lead gen
Local & mobile
CPC€0.50–€12
M

Meta Ads

Discovery & retargeting
"Audience discovery + remarketing"
Consumer brands
D2C products
Visual categories
Retargeting
CPC€0.30–€4
L

LinkedIn Ads

B2B & professional
"Precise B2B targeting by role"
B2B SaaS
Senior hires
Professional services
High ACV products
CPC€5–€25
T

TikTok Ads

Young & creative
"Under-35 consumer reach"
Consumer D2C
Beauty, food, fashion
Entertainment brands
Impulse buys
CPC€0.50–€3
Is it a fit?

The right platform mix depends on your buyer, not on trends.

LinkedIn is hot until your customers aren't on it. TikTok is growing until your demographic isn't scrolling it. Platform match matters more than platform hype.

Right fit
We should talk if…
You're spending €3k+/mo on ads and want to spend it better
You're weighing adding (or dropping) a platform
Your creative or targeting has stagnated
Your tracking is broken and you don't fully trust the numbers
You want vendor-neutral advice across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok
Not a fit
We'll point you elsewhere if…
You have €200/mo in budget — consulting is bigger than your ad spend
You want us to 'just run ads' without strategy — different service
You expect guaranteed ROAS numbers — ads aren't a vending machine
You won't invest in creative alongside spend — ads without creative fail
How we help

Common ad platform scenarios.

Where independent advice saves Irish SMBs from pouring money into the wrong channel.

Platform allocation consulting
Google Ads audit + optimisation
Meta Ads audit + optimisation
LinkedIn campaign strategy
Multi-channel campaign planning
Creative testing frameworks
Tracking & attribution fixes
Scaling winning campaigns
Common questions

Ad platform questions, honestly answered.

The questions Irish SMBs ask us most often.

Completely depends on your business. If you're a service business (dentist, solicitor, plumber) — Google Ads, because you're capturing existing demand. If you're a consumer brand selling something people don't search for but love when they see it — Meta. The honest question is 'how do my buyers currently find things?' — that points to the platform.
For B2B with average contract values above ~€5k. LinkedIn CPCs run €5-25 per click — much higher than Meta or Google. Only makes sense when the resulting customer is worth hundreds or thousands of euros. For small-ticket B2B, Google search intent is usually better economics.
Niche but real. TikTok works for consumer brands with strong visual/video content, under-35 audiences, and willingness to post native-style (not polished ads). For B2B, local services, or traditional categories — probably not where your buyers are. But for the right consumer D2C brand, CPMs can be incredible.
Honest minimums we'd recommend: Google Ads €1-2k/mo for meaningful test, Meta €1.5-3k/mo, LinkedIn €3-5k/mo (CPCs are higher), TikTok €1-2k/mo. Below that, you don't get enough data to conclude anything — which means you'll kill campaigns for the wrong reasons.
Real problem that hit Meta hardest. Solutions that actually work: Meta Conversions API (server-side), Enhanced Conversions for Google Ads, first-party data strategies, and accepting that attribution is modelled now, not precise. Good ads still work — but measurement is fuzzier than pre-2021. Anyone claiming perfect tracking is lying.
Both. Google Ads and Social Media Ads are standalone services we run month-to-month. The consulting side is for teams running ads in-house who want independent review, or businesses choosing between us and another agency. Your call which fits.
Works well with

Services that pair with this one.

Spreading ad budget across the wrong platforms?

Free 30-minute consultation. Share your current mix and goals — we'll tell you honestly what's working, what isn't, and where to shift.

Reply within 1 working day GDPR compliant Based in Ireland