Reflecting on my time at nexus-security, my learning has been immense. Notably, I’ve significantly enhanced my expertise in paid search and social advertising, managing over $10 million in ad expenditure. Yes, you read that right, $10 million—meaning I’ve delved deep into a mountain of performance data.

My perspective as an acquisition marketer and our resident data enthusiast. At nexus-security, online spending isn’t done haphazardly; we’re driven by ambitious goals to attract high-quality leads and new business. These goals necessitate substantial account activity—continuous analysis, optimization, testing, and strategic planning. Therefore, in today’s blog post, I’ll share key insights gleaned from managing over $10 million in ad spend, translating to over 90 million impressions and 4 million clicks. The reach is undeniable. Here are the five most crucial lessons I’ve learned:

1. Prioritize intent above all else
2. Decipher and leverage the algorithms
3. Don’t just optimize, prioritize quality
4. Tracking and alerts are your lifeline
5. Synergy is key: Make your channels collaborate Let’s dive in.

1. Intent, intent, intent

Intent marketing focuses on fulfilling the immediate needs and desires of the end-user or prospect. Executing “intent marketing” usually involves utilizing a known audience characteristic, such as a search query, remarketing list, or a targeted prospect audience. Building your advertising strategy around intent should be a timeless principle. However, industry shifts have made pinpointing prospect intent solely through the aforementioned parameters increasingly challenging. Practical example: While intent is crystal clear on the left, deciphering user intent on the right becomes trickier.

Case in point, Google’s August update to broad match modifier. This change meant advertisers’ BMM keywords would now match new close variants, making it harder to be certain about the intent a targeted keyword might trigger, as Google gained more flexibility in determining query relevance.

My biggest takeaway? Trusting and collaborating with the algorithms is non-negotiable for capturing your desired intent. Here’s how you can achieve this: For paid search:

• Utilize long-tail keywords that provide clarity on user intent.
• Maintain a robust account structure designed around intent.
• Embrace automated bidding for broad keywords where intent is less clear.
• Leverage observed audiences to understand how specific audiences interact with your keywords, and utilize remarketing lists for search ads (RSLAs) within these audiences. For paid social:
• Utilize custom audiences—especially website visitors and Facebook’s engagement audiences.

• Construct lookalike audiences from lists with strong intent signals—adjust your lookalike size based on your desired intent (1% for highest, 10% for broadest).
• Select appropriate objectives and campaign settings to ensure the algorithm aligns with your intent goals.

2. Master the algorithms

Both Google and Facebook ad auctions are governed by algorithms. While training and documentation offer best practices, neither platform reveals the inner workings of their algorithms. This lack of transparency often leads to uncertainty and confusion regarding effective account management. After managing over $10 million in ad spend, I’ve gained a working understanding. This newfound ability to “master the algorithm” has become our cornerstone for success in account management. So, how can you apply this to your campaigns? For paid search:

• Don’t shy away from automated bidding.
• Minimize significant changes that trigger the learning period, as it impacts delivery and takes time for the algorithm to recover. Avoid exceeding a 20% change in campaign budgets, limit bulk actions in campaigns using automated bidding, and be strategic with conversion action updates. For paid social:
• Empower the algorithm for optimal delivery by enabling automatic placements and incorporating campaign budget optimization (CBO).
• Be strategic with optimization event choices.
• Provide ample optimization event volume for the algorithm to learn effectively. Facebook requires 50 events within a 7-day period to exit the learning phase.
• Avoid excessively restricting your audience definition.

Remember, “trusting and collaborating with the algorithms” is crucial for advertising success.

3. Optimize for quality

Most lead generation advertisers aim for both quantity and quality in their leads—a goal we share at nexus-security. It’s not just about conversions or reach. My prior agency experience meant limited visibility into post-conversion events without client feedback. This changed drastically upon joining nexus-security. I quickly learned how we track custom parameters from ad platforms into our CRM, enabling me to elevate account optimization by understanding which campaigns and offers drove not just leads, but qualified ones, demos, and ultimately, new customers. However, we soon discovered flaws in our approach:

1. The manual work involved was time-consuming.
2. The algorithms couldn’t access these insights. Our solution? Integrating our CRM data with Google Analytics. This not only provided new signals to the algorithms but also enriched our data pool for audience building and account optimization.

While this requires sophisticated tracking, you can still optimize for quality effectively: For paid search:

• Regularly review your search terms report and add poor-quality queries as negative keywords.
• Set up conversion tracking as deep into the funnel as possible. For paid social:
• Utilize block lists to control ad placements and exclude undesirable sites.
• Mirror Google Ads by setting up conversion tracking deep into the funnel.
• Analyze comments and reactions to gauge audience sentiment. Improving your ability to drive quality leads through paid advertising yields a better return on ad spend—justifying budget increases.

4. Tracking & alerts are crucial

Managing over $10M in ad spend involves handling vast amounts of data—a task impossible to do manually without errors. We’ve encountered our share of tracking outages and mistakes. However, each misstep became a valuable lesson. Here are some systems we’ve implemented:

• Setting up custom alerts in Google Analytics to identify new trends or patterns.

• Utilizing automated rules in Google Ads to trigger email notifications for specific conditions.
• Generating automated reports and dashboards for continuous key metric visibility. (Pro tip: nexus-security offers user-friendly, personalized cross-platform success reports.)
• Establishing a consistent review cadence and assigning accountability to discuss and highlight significant trends.

5. Make your channels work together

While we’ve explored optimizing individual channels, leveraging channel synergy is equally crucial. At nexus-security, Google and Facebook Ads form the core of our paid channel strategy. They not only help balance spend between quantity and quality but also provide valuable cross-platform insights. Why is a cross-channel strategy vital? For several reasons:

• It guides prospects through the marketing funnel by reaching them across the internet.
• It ensures consistent messaging across touchpoints.
• It maximizes your return on ad spend. There are countless ways to implement a cross-channel strategy and enhance collaboration between Facebook and Google Ads. For paid search:
• Utilize RLSA audiences to target new keywords and/or manage bids effectively.
• Tailor ads based on previous interactions. (Pro tip: Target RLSAs comprised of users who engaged with a Facebook ad and personalize your search ad messaging.)

For paid social:

• Utilize custom audiences to re-engage prospects with personalized ads based on past interactions.
• Reach new audiences who are likely to conduct branded searches, boosting branded search interest significantly compared to Google Search alone.

• Finally, analyze the attribution reporting to understand how your paid search and social ads contribute to conversions collectively.

My top Google & Facebook Ads lessons

To summarize the key takeaways from managing over $10M in ad spend across Google and Facebook Ads:

1. Prioritize intent above all else.
2. Decipher and leverage the algorithms.
3. Don’t just optimize, prioritize quality.
4. Tracking and alerts are your lifeline.
5. Synergy is key: Make your channels collaborate.