What to do if competitors are also actively advertising

When every competitor is advertising actively, 90% of businesses do one thing — raise their bids in the auction. That’s the fastest way to burn a budget. At LeadPrice, over 38 months of working with FZone, we watched CPC in Kyiv dentistry rise from 18 to 34 UAH while the cost per booking stayed healthy. The secret isn’t fighting head-on — it’s changing the playing field: different audiences, different messages, different entry points into the funnel. This article breaks down a specific failure case in the real estate niche (a $4,200 budget over 3 months, 11 leads, CPL $381) and shows step by step what should have been done instead of panicking in the auction.

The failure case: when the ad budget goes nowhere

June 2023, Kyiv. A real estate agency with 4 managers and ~$40K/mo in revenue comes with a problem: Google Ads isn’t working. A $1,400/mo budget, the cost per click has risen from 28 to 52 UAH in 2 months, the number of requests has dropped from 35 to 11. Their previous contractor (a $300/mo freelancer) said: “The market is overheated, all the competitors have raised their bids, you need more budget.”

The client raises the budget to $1,800/mo. A month later — the same picture: CPC 58 UAH, 9 leads. Another +$1,000 to the budget. August: CPC 61 UAH, 8 leads, a cost per lead of $381. At an average deal of $2,500 and a 12% lead-to-deal conversion (their CRM data) the economics fell apart completely. CAC came to $3,175 against an LTV of $2,500.

In total over 3 months: $4,200 spent, 28 leads received, 3 deals worth $7,500. ROMI −44%. The client stopped the advertising and came to us with the question: “Is it even possible to advertise when everyone around is advertising too?”

Spoiler: it is. But not the way their previous contractor was going.

5 root causes of failure in a saturated niche

An audit of the campaign and the CRM showed the classic set of mistakes we’ve seen in 7 out of 10 clients who come after a failed experience. When competitors advertise actively, these mistakes cost 3-5x more.

Cause #1: Fighting for the same keywords as everyone else

The campaign structure consisted of 4 ad groups, all on broad queries: “buy apartment kyiv,” “new builds kyiv,” “apartments from developer,” “buy apartment in new build.” These are exactly the queries 90% of competitors bid on. The auction on them isn’t marketing, it’s a casino with a CPC of 50-80 UAH.

Worse: the client was selling apartments in 2 specific residential complexes in Teremky. But the queries were generic — meaning they were paying for clicks from people looking in Podil, Pozniaky, Borshchahivka. Relevance 30-40%, the rest of the budget — into thin air.

Cause #2: One message for everyone

The ad text: “Apartments from the developer. 0% installments. From $45K. Call us!” The same message as 80% of competitors. When everyone shouts the same thing, the user chooses either by price (and the client’s wasn’t the lowest) or by brand (and the client didn’t have one). Zero differentiation.

Meanwhile, in a conversation with the sales team it emerged that 60% of their deals were families with children looking specifically for “a kindergarten within 200 meters + a school + a park.” That’s a strong argument, but it appeared nowhere in the advertising.

Cause #3: One funnel step — only the form on the site

All the traffic went to the site’s homepage with a “Leave a request” form. For a cold audience (and Google Search is 70-80% cold) that’s too high a bar. Site conversion 1.8%. A person searches “buy apartment kyiv teremky” → lands on a site with 12 residential complexes → doesn’t see their query → goes to a competitor.

There were no intermediate steps: a selection, a calculator, a chatbot, PDF floor plans, nothing. Just “buy now or leave.” When competitors advertise actively, such a funnel loses to those who offer softer entry points.

Cause #4: End-to-end analytics = an Excel sheet of leads

Google Ads showed 182 conversions (form submissions). Google Analytics — 94. The CRM — 28 unique leads. A 6.5x discrepancy. The ad manager was optimizing the campaign to the GA data (because in Ads “something’s off with the tracking”), while there were three times fewer real leads.

There were no UTM tags on 40% of the ads. No call tracking. No CRM-to-GA4 integration. In effect, they were running the campaign blind and didn’t know which keywords had produced those 3 deals.

Cause #5: The reaction to rising CPC — raise the bids

When CPC started rising, the previous contractor did one thing: raised the bids in the auction and increased the budget. That’s a classic trap. You can’t outbid every competitor — someone always has a bigger budget. Especially when they’re large developers with an ad budget of $50-100K/mo.

The right reaction is to change the playing field. But for that you need to understand what exactly to change. And for that you need a strategy, not just “running campaigns.”

What should have been done: the LeadPrice methodology

When competitors advertise actively, there are 5 levers that work better than “a bigger bid.” We use them in our funnel-building methodology for every client. Let’s go through them using the same real estate case — what we would have done differently.

Step 1: Audience segmentation — find “your” group

Instead of fighting for generic queries like “buy apartment kyiv,” we look for segments with less competition and higher conversion. For this client that was:

• Queries detailing infrastructure: “apartment near kindergarten teremky,” “new build near metro teremky,” “apartment with parking teremky.” CPC here is 18-25 UAH instead of 52, and intent is higher — the person already knows the district and is looking for specifics.
• Competitor queries: “[competitor complex] reviews,” “alternative to [competitor complex].” If someone is searching for reviews of a competitor, they’re in the comparison phase — a warm audience.
• Pain-point queries: “buy apartment without overpaying,” “honest developer kyiv,” “apartment without risk of fraud.” These are queries from people who’ve already had a bad experience or are afraid — a strong emotion, high conversion with the right message.

The result: CPC drops 2-2.5x, relevance rises to 60-70%, the auction is less aggressive. This isn’t avoiding competition — it’s choosing the field where you’re stronger.

Step 2: Message differentiation — why you and not a competitor

A separate message for each segment. An example of a rewritten ad for the query “apartment near kindergarten teremky”:

Before: “Apartments from the developer. 0% installments. From $45K. Call us!”

After: “[Complex name] in Teremky — kindergarten 200 m, school 400 m, park 100 m. 2-bedroom from $52K, move-in Q2 2024. Floor plan + calculation in 5 min”

The difference: in the new ad the person sees the answer to their query in the first sentence. They understand it’s exactly what they were looking for. In tests the CTR of such an ad was 8.2% versus 3.1% for the generic one — 2.6x more clicks at the same bid.

At LeadPrice, working with clients in real estate, we’ve seen that message differentiation adds +40-60% to CTR with no change in budget. That directly affects Quality Score and lowers CPC by 20-30%.

Step 3: A multi-level funnel — not just “buy now”

Instead of a single step “homepage → form,” we build a funnel with 3-4 entry points for different audience temperatures:

1. Cold audience (Google Search broad queries): a PDF selection “7 residential complexes in Teremky: comparing price, infrastructure, timelines.” A lead magnet, 12-18% conversion, a cost per lead of $8-15. Then an email sequence + remarketing.
2. Warm audience (specific complexes, competitors): a landing page for the specific complex with a 3D tour, floor plans, an installment calculator. 4-6% conversion, a cost per lead of $35-50. These are already qualified leads.
3. Hot audience (remarketing to those who downloaded the PDF): a form to book an apartment viewing + a manager’s call. 8-12% conversion, a cost per lead of $20-30, but these are people who are already warmed up.

A comparison table of the old and new funnel:

The figures are projections (based on niche benchmarks), but the logic is simple: if you give people a way to engage on their terms, they engage more often and with better quality.

Step 4: End-to-end analytics — know what works

When competitors advertise actively, you can’t afford to guess which channels/keywords/ads produce deals. You have to know. For that we implement:

• Correct UTM tagging on all ads (source, medium, campaign, content, term)
• Google Ads → GA4 → CRM integration via Zapier/Make or API
• Call tracking via dynamic numbers (Ringostat, Binotel, Phonet)
• A single dashboard with metrics: CPL by channel, lead-to-deal conversion, CAC, LTV, ROMI

The result: after 2 weeks of work you know that the keyword “apartment near kindergarten teremky” produced 4 leads, 1 deal worth $2,800, CAC $220. And the keyword “buy apartment kyiv” produced 12 leads, 0 deals, an infinite CAC. The decision is obvious — switch off the second, scale the first.

At LeadPrice we run every project with mandatory end-to-end analytics precisely because without it optimization is reading tea leaves.

Step 5: Testing non-standard channels — going beyond Google Ads

If the auction in Google Ads is overheated, look at channels where there are fewer competitors or none:

• Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram): Targeting families aged 28-40 who follow kindergartens/schools in the district. CPC $0.15-0.30, CPL $12-25. Conversion is lower, but the price is far more attractive.
• YouTube Ads: A video tour of the complex, targeting competitors’ audience + real estate interests. CPV $0.02-0.05, CPL $18-35.
• Telegram Ads: Targeting channels about Kyiv real estate, parenting, relocation. CPM $1-3, CPL $8-15.
• SEO + Google Business Profile: A long game, but organic traffic doesn’t take part in the auction — CPC = 0. Time to results 4-6 months.

The strategy: don’t abandon Google Ads, diversify. 60% of the budget to Google (but with the new structure), 40% to tests on Meta + YouTube + Telegram. After 2 months we look at ROMI by channel and reallocate.

When the strategy won’t work: the limits of the method

Let’s be honest: there are situations where even the right strategy won’t save you. Red flags that mean the business model itself needs revisiting, not just the advertising:

• LTV < CAC structurally: If the average deal is $2,500, lead-to-deal conversion is 10%, and the minimum CAC in the niche is $400, the math doesn’t add up. You need to either raise the ticket or improve the sales team’s conversion to 25-30%.
• An undifferentiated product: If you sell the same thing as 50 competitors, at the same price, with no unique advantages, advertising will only help you burn the budget faster. You need to work on the product/offer.
• Revenue < $20K/mo: At that revenue a healthy ad budget is $500-1,000/mo. In a saturated niche that’s often not enough for statistically significant tests. Better to first grow through organic, referrals, partnerships.
• The sales team converts <10%: If 100 leads produce 5 deals, the problem isn’t the advertising. First fix the scripts, CRM, lead handling. Otherwise you’re just handing leads to competitors at your own expense.

At LeadPrice we deliberately turn down ~8 out of 10 inbound requests when we see these red flags. It isn’t business for the sake of business — it’s partnership for the sake of results. More about our approach on the contacts page.

A practical checklist: what to do right now

If you’re currently in the situation “competitors are advertising actively, CPC is rising, there are fewer leads,” here’s what to do in the next 2 weeks:

1. Days 1-2: Audit the current campaign. Look at the Search Terms Report for the last 30 days. Pick out the top-20 queries by spend. For each, calculate: CPL, lead-to-deal conversion (from the CRM), CAC. Switch off everything where CAC > LTV × 0.4.
2. Days 3-5: Segment the audience. Compile a list of 10-15 niche queries where you have a competitive advantage (infrastructure, price, timing, location, something unique). Create separate ad groups for each segment.
3. Days 6-8: Rewrite the messages. For each segment — a separate ad that hits the query precisely. The formula: [the client’s query] → [your advantage] → [specific numbers] → [a soft CTA].
4. Days 9-11: Add intermediate funnel steps. At minimum, make 1 lead magnet (a PDF, a checklist, a calculator, a selection). Set up a separate campaign for it with a low cost per conversion.
5. Days 12-14: Implement basic analytics. UTMs on all ads, form integration with Google Sheets/CRM, call tracking at least via static numbers on different pages. This gives an understanding of what works.

After 2 weeks you’ll have the first data: which segments produce cheaper leads, which messages get a better CTR, which funnel steps convert higher. That’s the basis for further optimization.

FAQ: answers to common questions

Can you win in the auction at all if competitors have a 10x bigger budget?

Yes, but not in head-on competition. The Google Ads auction doesn’t work on bid alone — there’s Ad Rank, which depends on bid × Quality Score × the expected impact of extensions. Quality Score is CTR, relevance, landing page experience. If your ad has an 8% CTR against a competitor’s 3%, you can rank higher with a bid 30-40% lower. Plus, if you find niche queries where the big players aren’t present, the auction there is completely different. Example: in the dentistry niche we saw a CPC of 85 UAH for the query “dental implants kyiv” and 22 UAH for “dental implants pozniaky reviews.” The second query brings less traffic, but conversion is higher and the cost per lead is 4x lower.

How long until the new strategy shows results?

The first changes in metrics (CPC, CTR, conversion) — 7-14 days after launching the new campaigns. Those are technical metrics. Changes in business metrics (CPL, CAC, ROMI) — after 4-6 weeks, because you need to accumulate statistics across the whole cycle (leads → qualification → deals). If the sales cycle is long (B2B, real estate, expensive services) — up to 2-3 months. At LeadPrice we work in 2-week sprints: every 2 weeks — a hypothesis, a test, an analysis, an adjustment. After 3 sprints (6 weeks) there’s a clear picture of what works and what doesn’t.

What if the niche is so saturated that even niche queries are expensive?

Look beyond Google Search. If Search CPC is unaffordable — Meta Ads, YouTube, Telegram, SEO, partnerships, content marketing. Example: in the Kyiv fitness club niche Google CPC is 40-60 UAH, CPL $25-40. On Meta Ads with the right targeting (location + sports interests + demographics) CPL is $8-15. Lead-to-sale conversion is lower (because the audience is colder), but the economics are still better. The second option is to increase LTV: if your average client brings not $500 but $2,000 (upsells, repeat purchases, a subscription), you can afford a CAC of $400 where competitors can manage $150 at most. That’s work on the product, not just the advertising.

Should you lower bids if CPC is rising?

It depends on the metric you’re looking at. If you optimize by CPC, then yes, lowering bids will lower CPC, but you’ll lose impressions and traffic will fall. If you optimize by CAC, you need to look deeper. Sometimes it’s better to pay a 50 UAH CPC and get a lead for $30 (6% conversion) than a 25 UAH CPC and a lead for $50 (2% conversion). The right strategy: don’t touch the bids, but work on Quality Score (CTR, relevance, landing page UX) + site conversion. If Quality Score rises from 5 to 8, CPC falls 20-30% at the same bids. That’s far more effective than mechanically tweaking the bid.

How do you tell the problem isn’t the advertising but the product/sales team?

A simple test: look at lead-to-deal conversion by source. If Google Ads converts at 8%, organic at 10%, and referrals at 35%, the problem isn’t the quality of leads from advertising but how the sales team handles them (or the product doesn’t suit a cold audience). A second signal: if CPL is adequate ($20-50 in most niches) but CAC is unaffordable, it means there are leads but they don’t convert into deals. A third: do a mystery shopper — submit a request on your own site and watch how the managers handle it. In 60% of cases the problem is there: they answer after 4 hours, don’t qualify, don’t close for a meeting, don’t handle objections. That’s not advertising, that’s sales.

Can competition in advertising be avoided entirely?

Entirely — no. If a niche exists, there will be competitors. But you can choose WHERE to compete. Blue ocean strategy: find segments where demand exists but supply is scarce or weak. Example: instead of “buy iPhone kyiv” (a gazillion competitors) → “iPhone trade-in kyiv fast” (5-10 competitors). Or go into channels where there are no competitors: if everyone’s on Google, you go to Telegram; if everyone’s on Meta, you go to YouTube; if everyone’s online, you go offline (partnerships, events). The main idea: competition isn’t “either us or them.” It’s “where can we be stronger for our money.” And often that’s not the main arena but a side one.

Conclusion: competition isn’t a reason to give up, it’s a reason to think

When competitors advertise actively, 90% of businesses do one of two things: either raise bids in the auction (and burn the budget) or give up (and lose the channel). Both options are losing ones.

The right strategy isn’t “fight head-on” but “find the field where you’re stronger.” Audience segmentation, message differentiation, a multi-level funnel, end-to-end analytics, non-standard channels. This isn’t a “secret 10X method,” it’s the basic work of a strategist who understands that marketing isn’t about technology but about people and their decisions.

The real estate case we broke down at the start isn’t an exception. We’ve seen it in 7 out of 10 clients who come after a failed experience. The reason is the same: the previous contractor was running campaigns, not building a strategy. The difference between them is the difference between $4,200 spent / 3 deals / ROMI −44% and a projection of $4,200 spent / 19 deals / ROMI +340%.

If you’re currently in the situation “competitors are advertising, I don’t know what to do,” start with an audit. Not of the campaign, but of the whole cycle: who your audience is → what your offer is → why they should choose you → how you bring them to a deal → what it costs → what it brings. The answers to these questions will give you a strategy. And strategy always beats tactics, even if the tactics have a bigger budget.

Want to break down your situation in detail — write to us on the contacts page. We don’t promise a “guaranteed result in 30 days,” but we promise an honest diagnosis and a clear plan for what to do next. Sometimes it’s “yes, we can help, here’s how” — sometimes it’s “no, in your situation better to do X first, then advertising.” Both answers are honest.