Why your ad budget isn’t broken, but your decisions are

You don’t have a marketing problem. You have a math problem.

A while back, we worked with a law firm that wanted more car accident cases.

Simple ask, right?

Wrong.

They were running ads across Google, Facebook, and Instagram. They had three call-to-actions, four different headlines, and six images. That’s 72 combinations on just one platform. Multiply that across three platforms, and now you have a math problem.

Image via ChatGPT

They thought the ads weren’t working. But the real issue was that no one had a clear system to test what was working and what wasn’t.

They were reacting to noise, not the signal.

The same thing happened with one of our HVAC clients.

They asked us to double their leads before summer. We looked at their ad account and saw they manually adjusted budgets every couple of days based on feel. They didn’t trust the data, didn’t track conversions correctly, and blamed Google for high CPLs.

Here’s what we did in both cases:

  • Cut the number of active variations by 70%

  • Built a simplified matrix to test one thing at a time

  • Tracked what happened

  • Used AI to predict winning combinations before the spending got out of control

Guess what? Leads shot up. Cost per lead dropped. Confidence grew. And both clients learned something. It's not about having massive complexity. It's about manageable and meaningful variations.

That’s the same problem agency owners face every day. We all want more leads, more efficiency, and more wins. But you're not scaling your strategy when dealing with hundreds of variables. You’re multiplying your chaos.

These are NP problems. An NP problem in computer science means we can easily verify a good solution. But finding the best one? Practically impossible when there are too many moving parts. Think 10,000 ad combos. Or 25 clients on five platforms. You’ll never brute-force your way to a win. You need structure.

That’s why we build systems and why we document those systems.

We use AI and common sense to reduce noise. We shrink the problem set. We don’t test blindly. We guide it.

That’s how we’re helping law firms generate more signed cases without wasting money. That’s how we’re helping HVAC companies crush their busy season with the same ad spend as last year. That's how we're assisting medical practices in increasing the number of customers they serve.

It’s not about working harder or running multivariable experiments. It’s about solving the right problem.

Let's talk if you’re tired of guesswork, scattered results, or hearing your team say “we’re testing it” with no plan to stop.

I’m here to help you fix the math problem your agency faces. Reply to this email for information about private agency owner coaching.

~ Erik

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