Paid Media for Financial Advisers: Meta, Google and LinkedIn

How to choose between Meta, Google and LinkedIn

Every UK adviser firm I work with starts the same conversation: "Which channel should we use?" The honest answer is that none of these channels is universally better. They index to different funnel stages, different audiences, and different deal values. The wrong channel for your niche will burn money faster than a bad creative.

This guide is the playbook for picking, structuring and scaling paid media across the three channels that matter for UK regulated advice.

Channel selection framework

Before you spend a pound, decide which channel your audience is actually using when they have the problem you solve.

If your answer is "my audience does all of these", start with the one closest to the moment of decision (Google Search for intent-led niches; Meta for awareness-led consumer niches; LinkedIn for B2B/HNW).

Meta: the consumer funnel workhorse

Meta (Facebook + Instagram) is the highest-volume, lowest-CPL channel for UK adviser firms in consumer niches. Mortgage, remortgage, protection, equity release, IHT planning and care fees all work well here.

What Meta is good at

• Finding people who did not know they had a problem yet.
• Lead-form ads (in-platform form, no landing page needed).
• Retargeting website visitors at low CPM.
• Video-first creative at scale.
• Lookalike audiences from your client list.

What Meta is bad at

• High-intent search moments (wrong channel).
• B2B decision-maker targeting (LinkedIn is better).
• Very small geographic targeting (rural local advisers struggle).

Campaign structure that works

• Campaign level: one per objective (Leads or Conversions).
• Ad set level: one per audience. Usually: Cold Lookalike, Warm Retargeting, Broad Interest.
• Ad level: three to five ad variants rotating creative every two weeks.
• Use CBO (Campaign Budget Optimisation) for accounts over £3k/month spend.

Creative rules

1. First 3 seconds: a pattern interrupt (face, bold claim, unexpected object).
2. First 8 seconds: state the problem the viewer has.
3. Seconds 8-20: one proof point.
4. End: one CTA ("Get your free review").
5. Subtitles always (80%+ of views are sound-off).
6. Aspect ratio: 9:16 for Reels/Stories, 1:1 for feed.

Meta CPL benchmarks (UK financial advice)

• Mortgage (consumer): £4-£30.
• Remortgage: £4-£30.
• Equity release: £20-£60.
• IHT planning: £25-£60.
• Pension transfer: £30-£90.
• Wealth management: £180-£420 (often uneconomical; prefer LinkedIn).

Compliance gotchas

• Never use age or postcode as exclusion targeting in financial services (special category).
• Avoid "free pension check" as a literal claim; use "free pension review".
• Prominent FCA number in the ad body or creative.
• Risk disclosure required on all regulated-product ads.

Google Search: the intent engine

Google Search is where people go when they have named their problem. It is the single highest-intent channel and, consequently, the most expensive on CPC.

What Google is good at

• Capturing named-need searches (e.g. "best equity release 2025", "pension transfer adviser").
• Converting visitors who already trust the Google brand.
• Long-tail low-competition keywords (often cheaper than Meta per qualified lead).

What Google is bad at

• Building awareness (Display is not strong for regulated advice).
• Price-sensitive consumer niches (CPCs are prohibitive).
• Any claim that does not survive editorial review ("guaranteed", "best").

Campaign structure that works

• Search campaigns for core terms, one per adviser speciality.
• Brand campaigns separate (protect against competitor bidding).
• Performance Max only if you have strong conversion data and audience signals.
• Dynamic Search Ads as a discovery layer on long-tail.

Keyword strategy

1. Start with exact-match on the top 20 commercial terms.
2. Use phrase-match and broad-match-modified for discovery.
3. Run negative keyword audits weekly (every unqualified click is wasted).
4. Segment by intent: informational ("what is pension drawdown") goes to content; commercial ("pension drawdown adviser") goes to landing page.

Google CPL benchmarks (UK)

• Mortgage broker: £25-£90.
• Equity release: £55-£140.
• Pension transfer: £180-£480.
• IHT planning: £90-£260.
• Wealth management: £95-£280.
• Bridging finance: £65-£220.

Compliance gotchas

• Google has its own editorial review for financial products; some ads (pension release, crypto, binary options) need additional verification.
• Sitelinks must be compliant.
• Landing page experience is a ranking factor; slow or non-mobile-optimised pages raise CPC.

LinkedIn: professional audience depth

LinkedIn is expensive and precise. The right use-case is selling to professionals (corporate pensions, employee benefits, HR-sold protection), to HNW/UHNW individuals by role and employer, or to offshore/expat segments where demographic targeting beats interest-based targeting.

What LinkedIn is good at

• Targeting by job title, seniority, company size, industry.
• Reaching decision-makers (CFOs, HR directors, founders).
• HNW/UHNW by role (executives, partners, consultants).
• Lead-gen forms that pre-fill from profile (conversion is exceptional).
• Document ads for white papers and research.

What LinkedIn is bad at

• Consumer marketing at scale (CPM is 5-10x higher than Meta).
• Impulse or emotional creative (the tone is professional).
• Small budgets (sub £2k/month is usually uneconomical).

Campaign structure that works

• Audience: built from Job Title + Seniority + Industry + Company Size.
• Creative: document ad (PDF white paper) + Lead Gen Form.
• Retargeting: website visitors + video engagers.
• Matched audiences: upload client list for lookalike.

LinkedIn CPL benchmarks (UK)

• Pension transfer: £180-£420.
• Wealth management: £220-£650.
• Family office services: £380-£920.
• Commercial finance: £140-£380.
• Corporate protection: £120-£280.

Compliance gotchas

• Targeting by job title must still comply with fair targeting rules (no exclusion by protected characteristic).
• Sponsored content requires the same Section 21 compliance as any other ad.
• Document ads count as financial promotions if they contain any call-to-action.

Budget allocation: the 70/20/10 rule

Once you have picked your primary channel, allocate roughly:

• 70% to proven channel (the one hitting payback).
• 20% to a scaling channel (proven-in-niche but not yet at payback in your account).
• 10% to experimental (new creative, new audience, new channel).

Review monthly. Move 5% of experimental-to-scaling if it performs, or back to experimental if it does not.

Creative testing framework

The highest-leverage activity in paid media is creative testing. Not audience testing. Not bid testing. Creative.

The test cadence

• Every 2 weeks: launch 2-3 new creative concepts per ad set.
• Every 4 weeks: pause any creative below median CPM / CPL.
• Every 8 weeks: retire the winning creative (fatigue is real; even winners die).

What to test

1. Hook (first 3 seconds).
2. Problem statement.
3. Proof (testimonial vs data vs regulatory trust signal).
4. CTA language ("Get your free review" vs "Book a call" vs "Check your eligibility").
5. Format (video vs carousel vs static).
6. Offer (lead magnet type: calculator, review, guide, webinar).

The statistical bar

Meta needs roughly 50 conversions per ad set per week to optimise properly. Under that volume, pool ad sets or use CBO. Do not call a test before 1,000 impressions per creative at minimum; 50 conversions is the target if you are testing on conversion events.

The scaling playbook

Scaling paid media is the failure point for 80% of adviser firms. The pattern: "we doubled spend and our CPL doubled". Here is how to avoid that.

Stage 1: stabilise (weeks 1-8)

• Spend: £2k-£5k per channel per month.
• Goal: establish CPL, CVR, MQL rate baselines.
• Do not touch creative once it is working.

Stage 2: optimise (weeks 8-16)

• Spend: hold steady.
• Goal: reduce CPL by 20%, increase MQL rate by 10%.
• Tactics: creative testing, landing-page optimisation, speed-to-lead automation.

Stage 3: scale (weeks 16+)

• Spend: increase by 20% per week, not per day.
• Goal: hold CPL within 15% of baseline.
• Trigger a pause if CPL rises more than 30% in a week.

Stage 4: diversify (month 6+)

• Add a second channel only after the first is at payback.
• Start the new channel at £2k/month for 8 weeks.
• Repeat the stabilise-optimise-scale loop.

What next

Use the Lead Forecast Simulator on this site to plug in your niche, platform mix, and deal value. It will tell you the realistic CPL, CAC and payback for your specific setup.

Then read:

• Compliance-Aware Creative for Financial Services Ads.
• Landing Pages that Convert in UK Financial Services.
• Benchmarks: 135+ UK niches with CPL, CTR, CVR ranges.