Case study · Travel & Hospitality · North East · Paid Social + PPC + Design · January – June 2026
Homeowner leads up 600% and cost per lead down 70% year on year
North East Escapes manages holiday-let properties for homeowners and grows by winning more owners to list with it rather than a faceless national agent. After switching to Mira, the account was rebuilt around message-led, high-intent local campaigns, with a sharper commission offer roughly quadrupling combined leads from March to April on the same budget. By June, compared with the same month a year earlier under the previous agency, homeowner leads were up 600% and cost per lead was down 70.4%.
Where it hurt.
North East Escapes manages holiday-let properties on behalf of homeowners, handling bookings, guests and property standards. Its commercial growth depends on attracting more property owners, with every new property creating recurring managed revenue.
The company competes against large national letting and management brands, while its advantage is being local, personal and present. The previous agency was buying reach without generating enough homeowner enquiries. Lead volume was low, cost per lead was high, and the brand had very little presence in local search.
What we saw.
The previous setup was not short of spend; it was short of a reason to act. A homeowner deciding whether to hand over their property does not respond to generic reach. They respond to a specific, honest offer and messaging that addresses what they are already worried about: becoming just another listing to a distant agent. The real levers were message and intent, not budget.
What we did, and why.
- 01 · Diagnose the real problem
Trace low lead volume and high costs to broad, message-light targeting rather than insufficient spend.
- 02 · Rebuild around homeowner intent
Focus campaigns on genuine local homeowner searches and lead with a clear, honest commission offer.
- 03 · Test, retain and prune
Use tightly built PMAX campaigns around Newcastle and the wider region, test the offer and messaging regularly, retain what converts and remove activity that only generates clicks.
The numbers, in plain language.
In June 2026, compared with the same month a year earlier under the previous agency, homeowner leads increased by 600%, from 3 to 21, while cost per lead fell by 70.4%. This was achieved on roughly similar reach and a higher but still modest budget. It was also the first month the account had finished below its cost-per-lead target.
The decisive change came in April, when the campaigns began leading with a clearer commission-based offer. Combined leads rose approximately fourfold from March to April on the same budget, making April the strongest month of the campaign cycle.
PPC impressions also increased by thousands of percent year on year during the early months, albeit from a near-invisible starting point under the previous agency. The account’s leads had declined during the first quarter while it was being rebuilt, before the April message pivot reversed the trend. May was not reported, and the June comparison covers PPC only.
| Comparison | Outcome | Context |
|---|---|---|
| June year on year | June year on year | March to April |
| Homeowner leads: +600% | Cost per lead: −70.4% | Combined leads: approximately 4× |
| 3 to 21 leads | First month below target | Same budget |
For brands like yours.
The temptation is to assume that bigger competitors simply have bigger budgets. In reality, most local businesses do not lose because they spend less; they lose because they do not give customers a compelling reason to choose them. Once North East Escapes began addressing the concerns homeowners already had, performance changed dramatically. Better messaging, aimed at the right audience, beat broader campaigns every time.
What we ran.
- Paid Social
- PPC
- Design
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