Looks better in the ad account
- Leads
- 100
- Cost per lead
- $80
- Spend
- $8,000
- Customers
- 5
- Customer acquisition cost
- $1,600
PPC and paid advertising management
Paid advertising management for customers and revenue, not cheaper leads.
I manage Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta and TikTok with the full customer journey in view: campaigns, budgets, creative and landing-page strategy, lead quality and the sales outcomes that tell us what the advertising is actually producing.
$350m+ managed advertising spend · 20+ years' experience · Founder-led
- 01Advertising
- 02Lead
- 03Qualified
- 04Customer
- 05Revenue
01Hands-on senior ownership
02Optimised beyond the lead
03Channel mix follows the economics
The commercial test
A cheaper lead isn’t necessarily a better lead.
If you optimise only for cost per lead, the ad platform can reward activity that looks efficient while producing fewer customers at a much higher cost.
Looks better to the P&L
- Leads
- 75
- Cost per lead
- $100
- Spend
- $7,500
- Customers
- 10
- Customer acquisition cost
- $750
If you optimise only for CPL, Campaign A looks better. Your P&L would disagree.
More than the ad account
Advertising needs a feedback loop to the business result.
Platform metrics remain useful diagnostics. They are not the final definition of success.
- 01Demand
- 02Advertising
- 03Landing page
- 04Lead
- 05Sales
- 06Customer
- 07Revenue
What management covers
The work follows the whole acquisition system.
Different businesses need different emphasis. The point is to address what materially affects paid acquisition—not to inflate the scope.
Campaigns
- Structure, search terms and targeting
- Bidding, budgets and exclusions
Creative strategy
- Messages, offers and testing direction
- Briefs and guidance for production teams
Landing-page strategy
- Message match and segmentation
- Conversion advice, briefs and wireframes
Measurement
- Conversion definitions and CRM stages
- Offline and enhanced conversion signals
Lead quality
- Qualification and customer propensity
- Sales outcomes by campaign
Economics
- CAC and customer value
- Marginal return and scaling thresholds
Platforms across the funnel
Each platform earns a different job in the customer journey.
Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta and TikTok do not all solve the same problem. A useful channel plan starts with the role each platform can play—from creating demand to capturing intent—then tests that role against customer quality, revenue and acquisition economics.
Capture and convert active demand
Search and Shopping can reach people already looking. Display and video can support consideration and re-engagement when the journey calls for it.
Extend high-intent search reach
Reach additional search demand—often with a different audience mix—without assuming it will behave exactly like Google Ads.
Create demand and build consideration
Use audience, offer and creative to introduce the problem or proposition, then re-engage people as they move towards a decision.
Earn attention through discovery
Use a creative-led environment to create awareness and consideration where the audience, offer and measurement make the channel commercially credible.
A practical funnel view
Match the media to the decision the customer is making.
These roles overlap. The point is not to force a rigid funnel model—it is to stop treating every platform as interchangeable.
- 01DiscoverTikTok · Meta
Put a relevant problem, idea or offer in front of people before they are actively searching.
- 02ConsiderMeta · Google video and display
Build understanding, answer objections and give prospects a useful reason to keep moving.
- 03Capture intentGoogle Ads · Microsoft Ads
Meet existing demand when people are researching options or ready to act.
- 04Re-engageMeta · Google Ads
Reconnect with people who showed useful intent but were not ready to convert the first time.
Other media when it earns a role. CTV, direct ad buys and programmatic can also be managed where they offer access, reach or context the core platforms cannot—and where the measurement and economics justify the added complexity.
How management works
From acquisition economics to controlled scale.
- 01
Understand the economics
Define customer value, valuable lead signals and where profitability breaks.
- 02
Fix the signals
Help platforms optimise towards the best available evidence instead of shallow proxy conversions.
- 03
Build or restructure
Shape accounts and landing journeys around intent, the business and measurement.
- 04
Operate
Manage budgets, bidding, search terms, targeting, exclusions and testing, while directing the creative work needed from the right production owner.
- 05
Connect outcomes
Use qualification, sales and revenue to judge where acquisition is working.
- 06
Scale with scrutiny
Increase investment where the marginal return still makes commercial sense.
Metric hierarchy
What I care about.
The closer the signal is to a valuable customer, the more useful it becomes for judging performance.
What is happening in the media
CTR · CPC · impression share · conversion rate
What is happening to the lead
CPL · qualified lead rate · cost per qualified lead
What is happening to the business
CAC · revenue · contribution margin · payback · customer value where relevant
Platform metrics explain what’s happening. They don’t define success.
What this can look like
Paid search ownership in a competitive lending market.
- Situation
- A fintech business in Rhode Island needed an experienced owner for paid search in a fiercely competitive lending market.
- What changed
- I took charge of paid search and worked with the team on landing pages, ad testing, measurement, sales-data connection and lead-quality evaluation.
- Value
- Advertising decisions based on the customers and revenue generated—not clicks or lead volume alone.
Healthy boundaries
Advertising often exposes problems outside advertising.
Weak landing pages, lead handling, conversion signals, pricing or sales economics should be surfaced rather than ignored. Your team can address them, or a separate project can be scoped where useful.
What you won’t get
- Lead volume that does not become revenue
- Another channel just to increase managed spend
- Attribution used as cover for poor commercial results
- A junior account manager explaining work they didn't do
- A claim that advertising can fix a broken offer or unit economics
Who this works best for
- An established lead generation business
- Meaningful existing or planned ad spend
- Clear commercial value per customer
- Willingness to improve downstream measurement
- The ability to handle the resulting leads
- A business prepared to evaluate quality, not just quantity
Straight answers
PPC and paid advertising management questions.
Advertising platforms, management scope, lead-quality measurement and how the engagement is agreed.
Which advertising platforms do you manage?
I work across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta and TikTok. Other media—including CTV, direct ad buys and programmatic—can be managed when the audience, journey and commercial case make them useful. I do not add platforms simply to make the media plan look broader.
Do you work with existing Google Ads accounts?
Yes. Existing accounts can be reviewed and restructured where needed, or retained where the setup is sound.
Do you create landing pages?
I usually advise on landing-page strategy, messaging, wireframes and conversion improvement rather than owning design and development. If there is a strong reason for me to execute directly, we can agree that explicitly—but it is not the default.
Do you manage creative?
I advise on creative strategy, messages, offers and testing direction, then work with your team or production partner on execution. If direct execution is genuinely needed, we can scope it, but I try not to make that the default model.
How do you measure lead quality?
I use the best downstream evidence available: qualification, CRM stages, customer outcomes and revenue, then compare those outcomes by source, campaign and segment.
Do you set up offline conversion tracking?
Yes, where technically appropriate. More complex implementation may be scoped as a separate project depending on the systems involved.
Can you work alongside an internal team?
Yes. Responsibilities can be split clearly across your marketers, sales team, developers, creative partners and We Know Growth.
Do you have a minimum ad spend?
The model is best suited to established businesses spending enough that senior involvement can materially change the commercial outcome. Fit is assessed in the discovery call rather than through a published threshold.
How are management fees structured?
The fee structure is agreed against the accounts, channels, expected involvement and wider journey work required before management begins.
Do you require long contracts?
Contract expectations are discussed and agreed before starting. I do not publish a standard term here that may not reflect the scope being considered.
Start with a conversation
Make your advertising answer to the business result.
Tell me what you're spending, what you're generating and what happens to those leads after they arrive.