- 01
Fix the measurement before adding a channel
Every new channel makes attribution harder. Doing it in the other order means the second channel's results are unreadable, and the argument about which one deserves the budget becomes unwinnable for everybody.
- 02
Define a qualified lead with the sales team in the room
Not a form fill. A named set of conditions — budget, timing, decision-maker, fit — agreed with the people who have to ring them. Once that exists, lead quality is a number rather than an opinion.
- 03
Push the winning structure to its actual ceiling
Before adding anything, we find out what the channel that works can really produce: more searches, more geography, more of whatever is already converting. Most accounts stop expanding well before this point.
- 04
Add the second channel for a reason you can name
Reach, cost, timing or intent — one of the four, decided in advance. A channel added because it is popular is a budget line nobody can defend when the quarter tightens.
- 05
Test creative on a schedule, not a whim
New variations every month against the ads currently being served, testing one thing at a time — the promise, the proof, the format, the offer. The winners scale; the rest tell you what your market does not care about.
- 06
Separate the campaigns that create demand from the ones that catch it
Video and social create demand and are read over weeks. Search catches it and is read over days. Judged on the same report against the same window, one of them always looks like a failure and gets cut for the wrong reason.
- 07
Connect the CRM so a closed deal points back at a click
Offline conversion imports and consent-safe conversion APIs. Until a signed deal can be traced back to the campaign that produced it, bidding is optimising toward enquiries — and enquiries are not revenue.
- 08
Move budget during the quarter, not after it
Weekly reallocation between channels and campaigns based on what is producing customers now. Monthly reallocation means eleven months of the year are already committed before the data arrives.
- 09
Rebuild the site around the funnel, not the org chart
Growing companies usually have a site organised the way the business is organised. Paid traffic needs pages organised the way a buyer decides, which is rarely the same shape and is often the cheapest lift available.
- 10
Report contribution, not activity
Pipeline influence, cost per acquisition and channel contribution, in the format your leadership already reads. Impressions and engagement rate belong in the working file, not the board pack.