Paid ads have always been an arbitrage
At its core, paid advertising is buying attention at one price and converting it to revenue at a higher price.Google Ads: still the highest-intent traffic
- Search ads — high-intent users actively looking
- Performance Max — automated multi-channel format
- YouTube — for awareness, brand-build; some direct-response
- Display — broad reach, low intent
Meta (Facebook + Instagram): the attribution puzzle
- Conversion campaigns — algorithm optimises for the conversion event
- Reels-first creative — Reels has dominated organic; ad placement follows
- Aspect-ratio variation — vertical for Stories / Reels; square for feed
- iOS attribution still degraded post-ATT
TikTok Ads: the platform that ate the room
- Spark Ads — boost organic content into ads
- Creative cadence required — rotation every 1-2 weeks
- Younger demographics dominant but expanding
- Lower CPMs than Meta in many markets
LinkedIn for B2B
- Sponsored Content for content distribution
- Conversation ads / message ads for direct outreach
- Lead gen forms for capturing in-platform
- Higher CPMs but qualified audience
The privacy / attribution reality
- iOS App Tracking Transparency reduced cross-app attribution
- Cookie-based web attribution increasingly unreliable
- Server-side tracking (CAPI, Conversions API) regains some signal
- First-party data integration (CRM-platform sync) the durable answer
- Last-click attribution is misleading — incrementality testing is the truth
Measurement that's true
- MMM (Marketing Mix Modeling) — top-down, channel-level allocation
- Incrementality testing — geo-holdout or audience-holdout
- Conversion lift studies — Meta / Google native
- Self-reported attribution — "where did you hear about us" survey
Creative is the lever
- Creative testing as a discipline — multiple concepts, multiple variations
- Hooks (first 1-3 seconds of video) tested aggressively
- Format diversity — talking head, screen share, ugc, animated
- Refresh cadence
Audiences and targeting
- Lookalikes / similar audiences — narrow seed quality matters
- Interest / behaviour targeting — increasingly less effective
- Retargeting — for medium-consideration purchases, the most efficient spend
- Custom audiences from CRM — often the best converting
The "narrow targeting beats broad" assumption is reversed on most platforms in 2026.
Bidding strategy
- Conversion-volume bidding for sufficient signal
- Cost cap / target ROAS for cost discipline
- Manual bidding rarely outperforms automated in 2026
Funnel structure
- Top-of-funnel — broad audiences, awareness creative
- Mid-funnel — engaged audiences, considered messaging
- Bottom-of-funnel — site visitors / cart abandoners
- Retention — existing customers, post-purchase nurture
Budget discipline
- Diversified across channels
- Reserved test budget — 10-20 % of spend
- CAC and LTV tracked together
- Seasonal flex
One pattern we'd warn about
"We'll fix attribution later". The team operating without good attribution is making spend decisions on noise.One pattern that always pays off
Weekly creative review meeting — what's working, what's tiring, what's queued.What's your channel mix?
