Paid media and advertising

Google Ads or Meta ads: which one to run first

A single test that tells you which platform to start on. Plus what each one demands from you every month once it is running.

How GST on ad spend changes your real cost per lead

Why the cost per lead in your ad dashboard is not the figure your bank account sees. How tax on media and fees sits inside the real number.

How many ad creatives you actually need to test

Why the right number of creatives is set by your budget rather than by best practice. How to split concepts from variants before you commission anything.

How much ad spend before the data means anything

How to size a paid media test by working backwards from conversions rather than from a budget. Includes when the honest answer is not to test.

How to advertise on twenty thousand rupees a month

How to make a twenty thousand rupee monthly ad budget produce enquiries by narrowing everything. Includes the categories where it simply will not.

How to brief a designer for performance creatives

What a performance creative brief must contain before a designer opens a file. Includes why briefing by adjective produces work nobody can measure.

How to build a remarketing audience on low traffic

How to populate a remarketing list when your site gets few visitors. Includes why remarketing reports look better than the business results behind them.

How to judge a paid media agency before you sign

The questions that separate a competent paid media supplier from a confident one. Includes the contract terms that decide what you keep if it ends.

How to run ads for a service with a long sales cycle

How to optimise paid media when the sale closes months after the click. Covers proxy conversions cohort reporting and when not to run ads at all.

How to set a first Google Ads budget from nothing

Work out your first search advertising budget backwards from the value of one sale rather than from a round number that merely feels survivable.

How to set up conversion tracking you can trust

Build measurement that counts real enquiries rather than button taps so your bidding and your budget decisions rest on something you can reconcile.

How to split budget between prospecting and retargeting

Size your retargeting budget from the audience it can actually reach so a flattering return figure stops quietly starving your new customer supply.

How to stop wasting money on broad match keywords

Diagnose where broad match is spending your budget and tighten the account without losing the discovery that broad match is genuinely good at.

How to track the WhatsApp enquiries that come from ads

Connect click-to-WhatsApp conversations back to the campaign that paid for them using methods that range from a prefilled code to the full API.

How to use negative keywords to stop junk enquiries

Build negative keyword lists that keep the wrong buyer out of your inbox and recognise the junk that no keyword list can ever filter.

How to write a search ad that does not waste clicks

Write search copy that repels the wrong buyer as deliberately as it attracts the right one so every click you pay for has a chance of becoming business.

Is LinkedIn advertising worth it for Indian B2B

Work out whether your deal value and sales capacity can absorb the most expensive clicks in Indian digital media before you fund a LinkedIn test.

Is YouTube advertising practical for a small brand

Understand why YouTube media is cheap in India and video production is not so you can decide whether a small brand can afford the asset side.

Performance Max campaigns and when to trust them

Decide whether Performance Max deserves your budget by testing what it adds rather than what it reports since the two are often different numbers.

Plenty of clicks but no calls: what to check first

A check order for ads that pull clicks but no enquiries. Starts with measurement rather than the headline so you fix the real fault first.

Should you advertise on Amazon and Google at once

Compare marketplace and search advertising on net contribution after fees rather than on return figures that are measured in different units.

Should you bid on your own brand name in India

Test whether brand search advertising adds sales or merely reprices traffic you already own and learn what the search results page is telling you.

Should you keep paying for ads during a cash crunch

Work out whether to pause paid media when cash is tight, which campaigns to cut first, and which ones cost you more to stop than to keep.

Should you run ads before your website converts well

Decide whether to fix your website first or buy traffic first, and recognise the point at which more ad spend simply enlarges an existing leak.

Two agencies and very different fees: how to compare

Normalise two marketing proposals that differ by several times in fee, so you compare scope per rupee instead of guessing which number is fair.

What a performance marketing retainer should include

See exactly which work a monthly performance marketing fee buys, what sits outside it, and the spend level below which a retainer stops making sense.

What ads management costs on top of your ad spend

Build the full cost of running paid ads including the management fee, tax, creative and tools, so the approved budget covers everything it must.

When to switch a campaign off instead of tuning it

Tell the difference between a campaign that needs more work and one that should be stopped, and set the kill criteria before you have money at stake.

Your ad account was suspended: how to respond properly

Understand how ad account suspensions and appeals work, what reinstatement depends on, and which instinctive reaction turns a pause into a permanent ban.