Notes on Paid Media

New markets with PPC: testing a country on a limited budget

Testing a new country with ads does not require a full operation. A well-designed test, with a limited budget, success criteria defined beforehand and…

Pausing ads is a strategy too: when stopping spend protects the business

Pausing ads is often seen as failure, but it is a legitimate strategic decision. When demand is weak, stock runs out, capacity is full or return is…

Long buying cycles: how to measure and optimise before the sale closes

In long-cycle purchases (B2B, property, training, equipment), the decision takes weeks or months. Waiting for the sale to evaluate campaigns is too late…

Learning from trial and error: an experiment log the team can reuse

Without a record, every experiment is forgotten, and the same mistakes repeat with new people. A simple experiment log, with hypothesis, result and…

Raising prices and PPC: protecting volume when the offer changes

When a company raises prices, ads feel it straight away: conversion may fall, cost per sale may rise and campaigns seem to lose effectiveness. Planning the…

Channel mix for service businesses: search, maps and social

Service businesses (clinics, lawyers, plumbers, consultants, schools) live on local or specific demand. The right mix combines search (active demand), maps…

Capacity and bookings: advertising when operations cannot take more orders

Advertising more than operations can handle generates delays, bad reviews and lost customers. In businesses with limited capacity (clinics, restaurants…

Lead quality over cost per lead: how to redefine success

A low cost per lead looks good but can hide useless leads. What matters is cost per qualified lead and, better still, per customer. Redefining success in…

Demand forecasting with your own data: anticipating peaks and troughs

Anticipating peaks and troughs in demand lets you adjust budgets, stock and teams before they arrive, rather than reacting afterwards. With your own data…

Lead scoring linked to ads: from form to close

Lead scoring assigns a value to each contact based on how likely it is to close. Linked to ads, it shows which campaigns, terms and creatives bring…