Stop buying leads, start buying attention
Thousands of UK tradespeople pay £20 to £80 a time for leads that four other firms also bought. They call it marketing. It is closer to a lottery with a worse payout. There is a better use for the same money, and it starts with a change in what you think you are purchasing.
What a bought lead actually is
A homeowner fills in a form on a marketplace site. Within minutes, the marketplace sells that form to three, four or five local tradespeople. Each pays. Each rings. The homeowner, who wanted one quote, is now fielding five calls and picks whoever was cheapest or quickest, or goes quiet because the whole thing felt like being mugged.
You win perhaps one in six. On a £40 lead that is £240 of lead cost per job before you have driven anywhere. For a £500 job it is absurd. For a £5,000 job it is tolerable, which is why the model survives.
And at the end of the year, what do you own? Nothing. No audience, no data, no recognition. Stop paying and the phone stops ringing the same day.
What attention is
Attention is the thing the marketplace bought before it sold you the lead. It ran the ads. It got the homeowner's eyes. It built a brand people type into Google. Then it rented you the final step at a markup.
When you run your own Facebook and Instagram campaigns in your own area, you are buying the step before the lead. A few thousand local homeowners see your face, your van, your finished jobs. Most do not need you today. Some will in six months, and when they do, they do not go to a marketplace. They remember the plasterer who posted the useful video.
That is the asset. It compounds. Marketplace leads do not.
The money, side by side
Illustrative figures, not anyone's results. Take a fencing contractor with £600 a month to spend.
| Bought leads | Own Meta campaign | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly spend | £600 | £600 |
| Leads | 15 at £40, shared with four others | Perhaps 12 to 20 at £30 to £50, exclusive |
| Jobs won | 2 or 3 (one in six) | 3 to 5 (one in four, nobody else was called) |
| Left over after 12 months | Nothing | A few thousand local people who recognise the name, a customer list, a video library |
'But the marketplace is easier'
It is. That is the honest counter-argument and it deserves an honest answer. Buying leads needs no creative, no setup, no learning. You pay, your phone rings.
Running your own campaign needs ads made, a form or a page built, and someone to look at the numbers monthly. That is why agencies exist, and why our best Facebook ads agencies for trades in the UK list is as long as it is. You can outsource the effort. You cannot outsource the ownership, and that is the point.
Easier is fine when you are starting out and need any work at all. It is a trap once you have a reputation worth building on.
The shared lead poisons the conversation
There is a second cost that never appears on the invoice. When you ring a bought lead, you are the fourth stranger to call. The homeowner is defensive before you say hello. You are negotiating from the bottom.
When someone enquires from your own ad, they chose you. They saw your work, they tapped your name, nobody else has their number. The call starts warm. You quote at your price, not the lowest of five. Our guide on following up Facebook leads fast assumes that warmth, and it changes what you can charge.
Attention is also cheaper the second year
A bought lead costs the same in year five as in year one. Arguably more, as marketplaces raise prices.
Your own campaign gets cheaper. Meta learns who converts for you. Your retargeting audiences grow. Your customer list grows and can be uploaded. Your video library grows, so new ads cost nothing to make. Cost per lead for a well-run local trades account tends to fall over time rather than rise, and the agencies that understand retargeting for tradespeople build that into the plan from month one.
What this does not mean
It does not mean every tradesperson should quit marketplaces tomorrow. If you have no reviews, no photos and a diary with nothing in it, buy the leads, do the jobs, collect the proof. Then switch.
It does not mean Facebook is the only way to buy attention. Google search, your Business Profile and local SEO all build an owned presence too, and for emergency trades they come first, as our guide on Facebook ads for emergency trades sets out.
And it does not mean agencies that run Meta ads are automatically better than marketplaces. Some of them are marketplaces with a nicer website: they run one campaign and share the results across clients. Ask whether the ad account is yours, whether the leads are exclusive, and whether you keep the audiences when you leave. The no-contract Meta ads agencies for trades we have reviewed differ sharply on those three points.
The question to ask yourself
If you stopped spending tomorrow, what would still be working for you a month later?
With bought leads, the answer is nothing. With owned attention, it is a few thousand people in your town who know your name, a list you can message, and an ad account that already knows your customers. Same money. Very different year.
Stop renting the end of someone else's funnel. Build the front of your own.
Frequently asked questions
Are shared lead marketplaces worth it for tradespeople?
They can be when you are starting out and have no reviews or portfolio. Once you have proof, the same money spent on your own local Meta campaigns builds an audience you keep.
Why are leads from my own Facebook ads worth more than bought leads?
They are exclusive, the homeowner chose you specifically, and nobody else has their number, so you quote at your price rather than competing against four other callers.
Does running my own ads really get cheaper over time?
Usually. Meta learns who converts for you, retargeting audiences and customer lists grow, and your library of ad footage means new ads cost little to produce.