Paid media
Spend with a thesis.Kill what does not pay.
Search, paid social, and the odd retail channel, run as one budget. The review is contribution, not a platform screenshot.
3.1x
Median ROAS, Google Search accounts held 6+ months
$4.1M
Tracked B2B pipeline last year, all clients
The short answer
What paid media means here.
We build and run accounts where the offer, the audience, and the kill rule are written down before the budget goes up. Google Search accounts we held for six months or more showed a median ROAS of 3.1x. That figure is search only. It is not blended with social, and it is not a target we put in a contract. Last year, B2B clients we worked with produced $4.1M in tracked pipeline from programs we ran. Pipeline is not closed revenue.
Figures are medians or ranges from Quorum engagements. They describe what we have seen on work we ran. They are not a promise of the same result.
Who it is for
Who it is for.
Companies that already know their margin and can name a lead, a purchase, or a sales-accepted opportunity. Ecommerce with a real contribution margin. B2B with a CRM stage we can see. Local and professional services that can answer the phone.
A poor fit is a brand that wants awareness with no definition of a useful action, or a team that will not give read access to analytics and the CRM. We cannot manage what we cannot see.
We will not staff a platform to make the proposal look complete. If LinkedIn cannot clear the cost per opportunity, it stays off.
A useful first month is often subtraction: brand queries leaking into non-brand campaigns, a conversion action that fires on a thank-you page reload, a prospecting ad set aimed at people who already bought. The thesis is easier to see after that noise is gone.
What's included
What is in the retainer.
Account structure
Campaigns separated so waste is visible in a week. Brand, non-brand, competitors, and prospecting do not share one ROAS number.
Tracking
Conversion actions that match the business event. Server-side or enhanced conversions where the stack needs it. Consent mode respected.
Creative system
A small set of offers and angles, each with a stop rule. We do not produce infinite variations and call it a strategy.
Budget moves
Weekly reallocation against contribution. Search and social sit in the same meeting so one channel cannot hide inside a blended chart.
Landing pages
We flag the page when it is the leak and either fix the offer with CRO or hand a spec to the web team. Ads cannot outrun a confused page.
How it runs
Thesis, build, then the kill rule.
01
Economics
Margin, close rate, and the cost you can pay for a lead or an order. If those numbers are missing, the first weeks are measurement.
02
Structure
Accounts rebuilt or cleaned so queries, audiences, and geos match the offer. Negatives and brand separation happen immediately.
03
Tests
One hypothesis at a time on the unit that spends. Creative, audience, or landing page. Not all three in the same week.
04
Reallocate
Money moves toward what clears the target and away from what does not. We write down what we turned off.
Deliverables
What you get.
- A one-page media thesis: audience, offer, channels, and the number that ends a test.
- Account builds or restructures on the platforms in scope.
- Tracking spec for GA4, ads platforms, and the CRM.
- Weekly spend and result notes. Monthly written review.
- Creative briefs with the offer, the proof, and the stop rule.
- A query or placement exclusion log.
Timing
Timing.
Weeks 1 to 2
Access, tracking audit, and the thesis. We do not scale spend while conversions are misfiring.
Weeks 3 to 6
Structure and the first tests. Search often shows waste to cut immediately. Social needs more creative cycles.
Day 90
A clear keep or kill on each channel. Budgets that cannot clear the target get reduced in the meeting, not next quarter.
Engagement
How paid media is priced.
Ranges are typical for a senior team on a defined scope. Media spend is always separate from management. A written scope sets the fee before work starts.
Management · $4,000 to $12,000 a month
Depends on channel count and spend. Below about $15,000 a month in media, a full multi-channel retainer is usually the wrong shape.
Percent of spend · Discussed above $80,000 a month
Some larger accounts move to a percentage with a floor. The floor exists so a quiet month does not remove the person running the account.
Audit · $3,500 to $7,000
A fixed read of structure, queries, tracking, and the landing page. Useful before you switch agencies or bring it in house.
Industries
Paid Media by industry.
These are the verticals where the search demand and the buying cycle are specific enough to deserve their own page.
Ecommerce
Ecommerce
Brand search will make a blended ROAS look calm. The work is whether prospecting still clears margin after returns.
SaaS
SaaS
A demo request is not a customer. The account is judged on leads a salesperson accepts, over a cycle that does not close in a week.
Dental
Dental
A toothache and a veneer consult are different ads. Insurance, hours, and a phone that is answered matter more than a clever line.
Law firms
Law firms
The click is the start of a conflict check, not a verdict. Paid consults cost more than organic ones. That is not a reason to drop either.
Home services
Home services
HVAC, plumbing, and roofing do not share a calendar or a ticket size. The paid program buys calls you can book inside the area you actually drive.
B2B
B2B
A part, a pallet, or a contract. The buyer has a spec and a salesperson. Platform ROAS does not describe that sale.
Fitness
Fitness
A cheap intro offer fills a form. The business is a member who stays. Local radius, a real trial, and a front desk that can close.
Automotive
Automotive
A new car, a used car, and an oil change are not one intent. The account has to say which one it is buying.
Platforms
Platforms we run Paid Media on.
Platform
Google Ads
Query control, conversion actions that match the sale, and brand kept out of the non-brand story.
Platform
Microsoft Ads
The Google structure is a draft. Queries, bids, and the syndicated network get a decision before the budget is trusted.
Platform
Meta ads
Creative, a prospecting set you can turn off, and retargeting that is not allowed to rescue the report.
Platform
LinkedIn ads
A defined buyer, a lead sales will accept, and a budget that assumes the click is expensive.
Platform
YouTube ads
A first few seconds that state the offer, a frequency cap, and no credit stolen from brand search.
Platform
Performance Max
Asset groups, a feed that matches the site, and brand queries that are not allowed to disguise the products.
Questions
Paid media questions.
Which platforms do you run?
Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Performance Max when the catalog and the margin support it. Amazon and TikTok are on the roadmap when a client has the creative and the economics. We do not open an account for the logo.
Do you require a long contract?
Month to month after a 90-day start is the usual ask. Paid media can be judged that fast. SEO cannot. We do not use a 12-month clause to hide a weak quarter.
Will you work off last-click ROAS?
We will report it. We will not steer the budget by it alone when view-through and brand search are inflating the number. Contribution and incrementality tests decide scale.
Who owns the ad account?
You do. We work inside your accounts. If an old agency owns the pixels, moving them is part of onboarding, not an afterthought.
How much creative do you need?
Enough to test two or three offers, not a content studio. If the offer is unclear, more ads will not fix it. That is a positioning problem and we will say so.
What does the B2B pipeline figure include?
$4.1M is tracked pipeline across B2B clients last year, sourced from programs we ran. It is not closed-won revenue and it is not a single company.
Get a media diagnostic.
One conversation. A diagnostic. A plan you can kill if it is not the work.