2026-10-08
Google or Meta: where a service business should start
The two platforms do different jobs, and starting with the wrong one costs a month. The choice depends on whether people already know they need what you sell.
Search catches demand that already exists
Somebody with a leaking roof searches for a roofer. Somebody in pain searches for an emergency dentist. The decision has been made and the only question is who answers. Clicks cost more, the volume is capped by how many people are searching, and the enquiries book sooner.
If your service solves an urgent problem, start here. The campaign is simpler, the results arrive in days rather than weeks, and the numbers tell you quickly whether the economics work at all.
Social creates demand that was not there yet
Nobody wakes up searching for a treatment they have not heard of. Aesthetic work, elective procedures and anything bought on impression sells better where you can show a result to someone who was not looking for it.
Expect a longer path. The first enquiry often comes days after the first view, the cost per click is lower and the cost per booking is only comparable once reminders and follow up are working.
Most accounts end up running both
Search takes the people who are ready today, social keeps your name in front of the ones who will be ready in a month. Run one properly first, learn what a booking costs there, then add the second with a small budget and measure it separately.
What never works is splitting a small budget evenly on day one. Two underfunded campaigns teach you nothing and both get blamed.
How to tell which is actually paying
Use a different tracking number for each platform, and keep booked appointments and kept visits separate in the report. Platforms report conversions generously and each one will claim the same booking if you let it.
The arbiter is your calendar, not the ad account. When the two disagree, the calendar is right.
See where your bookings leak. The audit is free.
Leave an email or phone number. We will ask three quick questions about your business and send the report within 48 hours.
Prefer to talk first? Book a 20-min call