The challenge

A Canadian natural health retailer selling vitamins, supplements, and organic foods needed paid media to do three things at once: grow online conversions, drive real foot traffic to physical stores in two Alberta metros, and launch a brand-new mobile app from scratch with no install base and no benchmark to optimize against.

The supplements category made it harder. National players and large online retailers were bidding on the same high-intent terms, keeping click costs elevated and making efficiency hard to hold.

What I did

Channels:Meta + Google (Search, Performance Max, Display, App campaigns)

• Built the app launch from zero across Google App campaigns and Meta in two markets simultaneously, starting on awareness to seed algorithmic signal before shifting to conversion optimization
• Ran a true omnichannel structure where Google Search and Performance Max carried both online conversions and store visits on the same budget
• Tested seasonal creative against evergreen across both platforms. Holiday and local-moment themes won decisively (1.59% vs 1.10% CTR on Meta); “support local” messaging drove a +260% CTR lift on Performance Max
• Optimized each metro independently rather than averaging them together, reallocating budget toward the market with materially lower CPI ($1.61 vs $4.93) while building an awareness plan for the laggard
• Concentrated spend on supplement and organic-food terms that actually converted, and ran competitor-conquesting tests to contest share in a crowded auction

Results
+103% online conversions MoM at 32% lower cost per conversion
+104% in-store visits
830 app installs at $3.76 blended CPI, dropping to $1.61 in the stronger market
1.51% Meta app launch CTR vs 1.15% comparable local benchmark
+87% supplement conversions, +96% organic food conversions
Meta CPC down 34% while conversions rose 192%

Monthly spend in the low five figures across both platforms. Results reported on platform + app analytics, cross-checked against GA4.

What this demonstrates

Running paid media as a connected system across five campaign types and two platforms, launching an app from nothing in two markets, and improving efficiency while scaling volume in a competitive vertical.

Client Context:
A Canadian investment management firm serving high-net-worth clients ($1M+ minimum investment) needed to scale qualified consultation requests through Google Search. Six-figure monthly budget. Non-brand acquisition was the primary growth lever in a crowded auction where several global competitors each held double-digit impression share.

The Challenge
A portion of budget was being spent on stock-related search terms that drew clicks but consistently failed to convert into genuine advisory prospects. The non-brand campaign was the hardest to make efficient, and rising CPCs from market competition made every dollar count.

The Approach

• Removed stock-related keywords pulling irrelevant traffic, redirecting budget toward terms signalling real advisory intent
• Concentrated spend on high-net-worth wealth management and financial advisor terms, the highest-converting clusters despite elevated competition
• Ran a controlled match-type test, building a separate broad match campaign to benchmark directly against exact and phrase match
• Tested a small-budget competitor conquesting campaign to measure the real cost of bidding on rival brand terms before committing meaningful spend
• Isolated Google Search from search partner placements to get a true performance read, since partners were inflating cost
• Added click-fraud protection blocking 187 fraudulent IPs, protecting budget in a high-CPC category

Results
-+269% non-brand consultation requests YoY on Google Search, while cost per acquisition dropped 23%

• +167% non-brand conversions YoY with cost per conversion down 38% across the full period
• Top converting terms (financial investment services, investment funds, financial investment) drove the bulk of qualified volume
• Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, and Edmonton accounted for roughly a third of total conversions
• Brand conversions grew steadily despite rising competitor activity on brand terms

CPC rose year over year from genuine market competition. The strategy absorbed that pressure and still delivered cheaper conversions overall.

What This Demonstrates
Scaling acquisition aggressively in a high-cost, heavily contested category while improving cost efficiency, by cutting waste, concentrating on intent-rich terms, and measuring every decision before scaling it.

Managed Google Search for a B2B SaaS platform in automated software testing over a year-plus engagement. The account was optimizing toward low-value actions while cost per conversion had climbed to $33.17 and the brand campaign was producing signups at $181 each, all against rising competitive pressure from major incumbents in the testing space.
Refocused optimization on account signups and demo bookings. Moved to Target CPA bidding, rebuilt the account into separated brand, non-brand, and competitor campaigns, narrowed geo targeting from six countries to the US and Canada with a dedicated US campaign, switched the landing page from the homepage to a dedicated browser-testing page matching search intent, and reactivated a competitor campaign to capture high-intent rival queries.
Results over 12 months:

Cost per signup: $33.17 to $7.76 (77% reduction)
Monthly signups and demo bookings: 240 to 964
Brand campaign: $181 to $20.14 per conversion, 1,200% volume lift
Location restructure: 40% MoM performance lift
Client renewed and scaled budget

A high-ticket local remodeler was losing the auction to identical competitors. The fix wasn’t better bidding; it was a better funnel and a sharper message.

Client context
A custom kitchen and cabinet remodeling company working across several US and Canadian metros. High-ticket, considered purchase, with typical jobs worth $15k to $40k and a long research window before anyone commits. The local market was crowded, with several established competitors bidding on the same searches and running nearly identical “free quote” offers.

The challenge
Leads were inconsistent and the cost to get one kept rising in an auction where every advertiser looked the same. Two problems sat underneath the cost. Paid traffic landed on a generic page with only a phone number and no form, so anyone not ready to call right away simply left. And the ads led with “custom kitchens,” the same promise every competitor was making, so nothing stood out.

The approach

• Fixed where the traffic landed first.Rebuilt the landing page and added a lead form, so people researching but not ready to phone had a way to raise their hand. This was the single biggest driver of the lower cost per lead.
• Instrumented tracking at the same time. Set up form tracking through Google Tag Manager into Google Ads with data-driven attribution, reconciled against GA4, so cost per lead was measurable by channel.
• Rewrote the message around the promotional offer, financing availability, and ready-to-install options instead of the generic “custom kitchen” line.
• Split Search by buyer intent. Core category terms, high-intent build queries, defended brand, and a controlled competitor layer to catch comparison shoppers.
• Ran two distinct Meta angles. A discount offer for active but undecided buyers, and a financing angle to ease the sticker shock on a big purchase.
• Matched budget to the season. Pushed spend into busy remodeling months and eased off in slow periods rather than spending flat year-round.

Results

• Cost per lead down 41% over roughly six months, from $94 to $55
• Lead volume up 38% month over month after the landing page and form went live
• 22% of Search leads booked a consultation, with competitor terms driving 18% of qualified leads
• Meta financing angle delivered CPL 27% lower than the discount angle, at similar quality

At a job worth $15k to $40k, one signed kitchen returns the lead cost many times over, so the goal was steady volume at a sensible cost, not the cheapest possible lead.

What this demonstrates
Spotting that a “paid ads” problem was really a landing page and positioning problem, and fixing the funnel and the message before adjusting bids, in a market where the ads alone could not win.

Client identity and budget kept confidential per agreement. Metrics reflect Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager data.

Skeptical client, boosted posts that flopped, zero tracking. One month to prove paid media works.

I rebuilt a wedding videographer’s account from scratch: GA4 and GTM, Meta Pixel, a mid-campaign landing page redesign driven by real GA4 data, plus a full-funnel Google Search and Meta strategy built around a long sales cycle.

Outcome: 5 qualified leads at $50 to $125 per lead against $5,000 bookings, 7.1% Search CTR, and a tracked pipeline starting in month one. Work spanned conversion tracking, CRO, audience structure, creative, bidding, and clear reporting across Google Ads and Meta Ads.