Fractional Google Ads
strategy & advisory
for UK D2C brands.
Directed from the P&L, not the dashboard.
D2C · £10k+/month
This is for brands that already have someone in the account: an in-house team, or an agency you're keeping. I sit above the execution - setting the strategy, diagnosing what's working and what isn't, and keeping the marketing pointed at the line of your P&L you choose. Your team or agency does the work.
The doing is covered. The direction usually isn't.
Most brands spending £10k+ a month on Google Ads already have someone in the account. An agency, an in-house paid search lead, sometimes both. What's usually missing is someone senior setting the direction and checking it holds.
An agency writes the plan it will then be paid to deliver. An in-house lead often has no one above them who knows the platform well enough to challenge a target or a structure. And whoever holds the P&L gets a monthly report built from the platform's numbers, with no easy way to tell whether the account is moving the business or just the dashboard.
That's where most of the expensive mistakes happen. Not in the execution, but in the direction nobody independent is setting or questioning.
Strategy and execution, separated on purpose
Fractional Google Ads strategy & advisory splits the two. I set the strategy and keep diagnosing what's working and what isn't, so the marketing keeps moving the P&L the way we agreed. Your team or agency does the work in the account. I don't build campaigns, change bids or edit your feed, so I have nothing to gain from more spend or more work - only from the strategy working.
It's built to sit alongside whoever runs the account, not to replace them. The aim is to make sure what gets done is the right thing for the business, and that you can see it.
If nobody independent is setting the direction above your team or agency today, that's what this covers.
Month one is the audit. Then it shapes the work.
Every advisory engagement starts with the same account and feed audit I sell as a standalone service - margins, SKU roles, feed health, account structure, conversion tracking integrity - read against your back-end numbers rather than the platform's. It's priced the same, from £2,500, and it sets the first three months of priorities.
From month two, I sit above the execution. The audit's findings feed into how your team or agency plans its tactical work, and they decide how to deliver it. I keep diagnosing as the account moves - troubleshooting what isn't working, reading results against your back-end numbers, and keeping the marketing moving the line of your P&L we agreed. If you've had the audit in the last 90 days, there's nothing to repeat and month one starts on the priorities.
The audit answers what's wrong and what to do about it. Advisory keeps that diagnosis running, so the work keeps moving the P&L the way we agreed.
What you get, and when
Fixed outputs on a fixed rhythm, so you can see the work even though I'm not the one in the account.
A 60-minute session with whoever runs the account: what was done, what's blocked and what happens next. For agency-run accounts, one a month is the agency's own monthly review, with me in the room.
Every decision written down: what, why, who owns it, when it's due and how we'll know it worked. It lives in your systems, not mine.
Your team or agency's monthly report, marked up before it reaches you or the board: what's missing, what's flattering, and the questions to ask next.
Quarter one draws on the audit roadmap. After that, priorities are reset each quarter with your team or agency: what to push, the P&L line and target, and what to stop.
What's included, and what isn't
Two parts: strategy and diagnosis. I sit above the execution; everything that happens inside the account stays with your team or agency.
- Quarterly priorities, informed by the audit
- Targets agreed against the P&L line you choose
- Fortnightly 60-minute check-ins with whoever executes
- Your agency's monthly review attended in place of one check-in
- Written decision log after every check-in
- Ongoing diagnosis as performance moves
- Troubleshooting when something stops working
- Results read against your back-end numbers, not the platform's
- Monthly red-pen of your team or agency's report
- Questions for the next check-in from every red-pen
- Slack in business hours
- Reporting scripts set up under admin access, for reporting only
- Rolling monthly after the audit month, 30 days' notice
- You own the account and all the data throughout
- Builds, bids, budgets or ad copy in the account
- Negatives, feed edits and day-to-day optimisation
- CRO, tagging and creative
That's the scope. Whether it fits how your account is run today is a 30-minute conversation.
Team training, scoped separately
Training isn't part of the monthly fee, because no two teams need the same thing. It's always for your side of the table, never for the agency you're keeping.
How to do it. Measuring like finance, the feed as your targeting, structure and bidding - taught on your own account and your own numbers, not a generic course.
How to judge it. What to ask, what good looks like and what a monthly report is leaving out, so whoever oversees the agency can hold it to the plan.
Each session is scoped to what your team needs to know and priced per engagement. Raise it on the advisory call.
How the first months actually run
No minimum term after the audit month. Here's what the start looks like if you stay.
Margins, SKU roles and channel mix worked through first, then the account and feed audited together. Two weeks from access and data to the readout, which ends with the first three months of priorities and the reporting scripts in place.
Your team or agency takes the audit's findings into account as it plans its tactical work, and decides how to execute. The first fortnightly check-ins agree the priorities together, and the first monthly report gets red-penned.
Results read against the baseline set in the audit, not against last month's dashboard. What held, what didn't, and where to diagnose next.
Priorities are reset with your team or agency from what the decision log and the reports show. Context builds up, so the check-ins get shorter and the decisions get faster.
The audit first. Then one flat monthly fee.
No percentage of ad spend. No markup on budget. No revenue share. The fee is fixed when we agree scope, and it doesn't move when your budget does month to month.
- Month one is the account and feed audit, from £2,500
- Had the audit in the last 90 days? Month one starts on the plan
- Rolling monthly after the audit month, 30 days' notice either side
- Fee set by markets, accounts, team size, agency involvement and catalogue complexity
- You own the account and all the data throughout
Brands spending £10k+ per month on Google Ads, with someone already running the account: an in-house team, or an agency you're keeping.
If nobody is running it, you need execution rather than oversight. That's account management at £25k+ a month, or the standalone audit between £10k and £25k. Below £10k, the paid one-to-one consultation is the better fit.
Not part of the monthly fee. Scoped to what your team needs and priced per engagement - for your in-house team, or for whoever oversees your agency. Raise it on the advisory call.
Questions you should be asking
How is this different from the audit?
The audit is a one-off: a diagnosis and a three-month plan you can hand to anyone. Advisory starts with that same audit, then keeps going. I keep diagnosing as the account moves, troubleshoot what isn't working and red-pen the monthly report, while your team or agency does the work.
How is it different from account management?
Whose hands are on the account. Under management I do the work myself. Under advisory your team or agency does it, and I sit above it, setting the strategy and diagnosing what's working. Same P&L lens, same flat-fee principle.
Will our agency see this as a threat?
It isn't designed to replace them. The audit's findings feed into their tactical planning rather than overriding it, and they still decide how to execute. What I add is a senior read on whether the work is moving the P&L, and a second pair of eyes when performance moves.
If the plan keeps stalling at execution, the decision log will show it. What you do about that is your call.
What's the minimum spend?
£10k per month on Google Ads, the same as the audit, because advisory starts with it. Below that, SKU-level data gets too thin to model properly, and the paid one-to-one consultation is the better use of your money.
What does it cost after month one?
From £1,500 a month for one market, one account and a small team. More markets or accounts, a larger team, agency involvement and catalogue complexity move it up. The fee is fixed in the proposal once we agree scope.
Is there a minimum term?
No. After the audit month it rolls monthly, with 30 days' notice either side. I want clients who stay because it's working, not because leaving is awkward.
We've already had your audit. Do we pay for it again?
Not if it's less than 90 days old. There's nothing to repeat, so month one starts on the plan at the monthly fee.
Do you train our team?
Yes, as a separate engagement scoped to what your team needs. For in-house teams that means how to do the work; for agency-run accounts it means how to judge it. It's priced per engagement - raise it on the advisory call.
What if we want you to run the account later?
You can move to account management whenever I have capacity. There's no fresh audit: management starts on your current plan, the management fee replaces the advisory fee, and the standard 3-month initial term applies from the switch.
Find out if your account is being run to your P&L.
A 30-minute call is usually enough to tell whether your team or agency needs senior strategy and diagnosis above it, or whether something else would serve you better.
- No obligation, no pitch deck. A direct conversation.
- An honest read on how your account is being run today.
- If advisory isn't the right answer, I'll say so and tell you what is.