Adam McLane's Linkedin Analytics

Your Paid Media Team Isn’t a Growth Team—Unless They Think Full Funnel If your paid media team focuses only on clickthrough rates, cost per lead, or ROAS, they’re not a growth team. They’re a channel team. Growth isn’t about traffic. It’s about revenue. And revenue comes from full-funnel thinking—not just front-end performance. Here’s what separates a media buyer from a true growth operator: ✅ They focus on the post-click experience: conversion rate optimization, lead quality, and sales handoff ✅ They partner with lifecycle and content teams to grow LTV—not just reduce CAC ✅ They measure more than leads. They track SQLs, opportunities, and payback period ✅ They shape targeting and creative using customer data—not just ad platform signals ✅ They ask how pipeline converts—not just how it fills Running media in a silo gives you a dashboard full of metrics—and a sales team asking why nothing’s closing. 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦. Is your paid team optimized for the platform—or for the business? #GrowthMarketing #PaidMedia #MarketingStrategy #DemandGen #CRO #LifecycleMarketing #MarketingOps #RevenueMarketing #FullFunnel #B2BMarketing

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 If your paid channels feel inefficient right now—high CAC, short LTV, poor payback—it might not be a media buying problem. It might be a retention and expansion problem. Because here's the truth: Every paid channel looks worse when you don't have expansion revenue. If you're only monetizing a customer once—through a single product, a short-term contract, or a basic subscription—your CAC tolerance shrinks. Fast. But when you have: -Expansion paths -Upsell/cross-sell workflows -Usage-based pricing - A lifecycle motion that increases value over time ...suddenly your CAC looks a lot more reasonable. Your payback period shortens. Your paid media works better. Performance isn't just about what you pay to acquire—it's about how much value you can grow after the first conversion. So before you cut your paid budget, ask: - Are we making enough from each customer to justify what we're spending? - Are we tracking CAC relative to LTV—or just in isolation? - Do we have a clear path from acquisition to expansion? In high-performing growth systems, lifecycle and paid aren't separate—they're symbiotic. Fix the back end, and the front end suddenly scales a whole lot easier.

𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦. 𝐈𝐟 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. Most teams confuse growth spikes with scalable growth. A campaign works. A channel pops. A tactic drives a bump in pipeline. It feels good—but it doesn't last. Because real growth isn't about what you can do once. It's about what continues to perform, even after you've moved on. Growth is a system. If it's not compounding, it's not scaling. That means: - Your paid media gets more efficient as your brand grows - Your SEO drives better traffic as your content depth increases - Your lifecycle marketing converts better as your segments mature - Your team learns faster because testing and feedback loops are built in When growth compounds, you don't have to keep spending more to get more. You get leverage. Momentum. Predictability. But if you're stuck chasing the next campaign, the next offer, the next "hack"—you're in treadmill mode, not growth mode. Ask yourself: - Is my funnel more efficient today than it was 3 months ago? - Are results improving without a proportional increase in effort? - Is my system learning and self-correcting? If the answer is no, you don't need a new tactic. You need a system. #GrowthMarketing #MarketingStrategy #DemandGen #CRO #LifecycleMarketing #PaidMedia #SEO #RevOps #B2BMarketing #ScalableGrowth

Your Retention Problem Is a Positioning Problem Churn isn’t always about onboarding. Or bad support. Or weak engagement. Sometimes, it begins before the contract is even signed. Your retention issue might be a positioning issue. If customers leave after 3–6 months, ask: - Did our marketing promise match what the product delivers? - Did we attract buyers chasing outcomes we’re not built to provide? - Did we focus too much on features and ignore real-world value? When the message that wins the lead doesn’t match the product experience, churn follows—no matter how strong your customer success team is. Retention begins with resonance. Resonance begins with positioning. The biggest LTV gains come from upstream: - Clear ICP targeting - Pain-driven messaging - Honest marketing that reflects the real user journey - Feedback from churned customers fed back into marketing Before launching another re-engagement campaign, ask: Are we attracting the right people? #RetentionMarketing #LifecycleMarketing #GrowthMarketing #Positioning #MessagingStrategy #DemandGen #RevenueMarketing #B2BMarketing #CustomerSuccess #ChurnPrevention

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭. They're failing because they're boring. I joined an ABM strategy call recently, and someone finally said it: “Our ads are boring.” And they were right. We talk about hyper-targeting, intent data, and personalized journeys—but when it comes to creative, we cut corners. 📉 Generic headlines 🖼️ Stock photos 💤 No stopping power If ABM should feel tailored, the creative has to pull its weight. When your dream account sees your ad and it looks like every other B2B banner, why would they click? Creative is the most overlooked lever in ABM— and likely the one with the highest ROI. We don't need bigger budgets.We need bolder ideas. #ABM #B2BMarketing #CreativeStrategy #GrowthMarketing #DigitalAdvertising #MarketingLeadership

Marketing doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. You have to prove your value—again and again. The demand for short-term wins is constant. Everyone wants the magic email. The viral post. The gift card campaign that "activates the funnel. But if you're focused on real work—strategic planning, system design, foundational improvements—you'll eventually hit a moment where something clicks. And people will ask: "Why can't we just do more of that?" That success only happened because of everything that came before: 🧠 Laying a strong foundation 🛠 Removing bottlenecks 🤝 Building cross-functional trust 📊 Creating systems that scale and compound Great marketing looks like luck—until you see the layers beneath it. #MarketingStrategy #B2BMarketing #DemandGen #MarketingLeadership #GrowthMindset #CrossFunctionalTeams

𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭. We’re often told ABM success depends on your tech stack, content, or targeting model. But after a recent deep dive into global ABM efforts, one truth stood out: The difference between success and failure isn’t the tactic—it’s the teamwork. In the UK, sales and marketing operate as one. Reps request personalized landing pages. Marketers build them within hours. Follow-up is seamless. In the US? Same assets. Same tech. But reps ignore them. Campaigns stall. ABM fails when it's treated as a marketing initiative. It succeeds when it becomes a shared system—driven by collaboration, feedback, and accountability. If you're struggling to scale ABM, don't invest in better ads. Focus on better alignment. #ABM #B2BMarketing #GoToMarket #MarketingStrategy #SalesAlignment #GrowthMarketing

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝. Most teams hit "publish" and move on. Top-performing strategies treat every post like a product—with a roadmap, check-ins, and regular updates. This month, I built a dashboard to track content by cohort: ➡️ Published in March or earlier ➡️ Live in April ➡️ New in May Then I added: 📈 Clicks 👀 Impressions 📉 Change compared to the previous 30 days Now we can see which content compounds—and which pages fade into irrelevance. Publishing is just the beginning. Real growth comes from continuous optimization and active upkeep. Treat content like a living asset, not a one-time task. #ContentStrategy #SEO #B2BMarketing #LifecycleMarketing #ContentOps #GrowthMarketing

Attribution Fails When Leads Look Strong but Revenue Doesn’t A PE-backed group I spoke with shared a pattern I’ve seen at dozens of brands: 👉 PPC leads looked strong on paper. 👉 Lead volume increased. 👉 But revenue stayed flat—or dropped. Why? The leads didn’t convert, and no one tracked the reason. This happens when marketing teams chase form fills instead of focusing on revenue. You don’t need more leads. You need accurate attribution from ad to close—across every brand and region. Focus on the fundamentals: Post-lead surveys Lead source mapping Consistent qualification criteria Sales and marketing feedback loops Your pipeline is only as strong as your attribution model is accurate. #MarketingAttribution #PPC #RevenueMarketing #DemandGen #B2BMarketing #MarketingOps

Google's New "AI Max" Ad Product Raises a Bigger Question: Are We Automating Performance—or Accountability? The new AI Max campaign type promises automated assets, broad targeting, and "keywordless technology." Sound familiar? It's Performance Max with a few extra steroids. But here's the thing: as Google gives advertisers less control and more black-box automation, the burden of proof shifts from practitioner to platform. What does "keywordless" really mean when search intent still drives results? How do we know spend isn't wasted without true A/B test visibility? If AI is picking assets and placements, who owns performance when it flops? I'm not anti-automation. But AI Max reminds us that smart automation needs transparent inputs, clear constraints, and verifiable results. Otherwise, we're just trading targeting precision for a prettier dashboard. Curious how other marketers are approaching this. Testing it? Avoiding it? Betting on it? #GoogleAds #PerformanceMax #MarketingAI #PPC #DigitalMarketing #AdTech

𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥—𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 One thing I've learned working with PE-backed platforms: Hiring a marketing agency is easy. Managing one is where the value is created—or lost. A prospect recently told me: "We asked our SEO partner why we weren't ranking. They said, 'Well, you didn't build the right pages.' But they never told us we needed to." That's not strategy. That's passive execution. If you're building a multi-brand system, you don't need vendors. You need partners who think holistically, work cross-channel, and own outcomes—not excuses. Sometimes the best role an external consultant can play isn't doing the work—it's making sure the work gets done right. #AgencyManagement #DigitalStrategy #GrowthMarketing #MarketingLeadership #RevenueAccountability

𝐋𝐓𝐕 𝐈𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜. Too many growth teams treat LTV like a prediction. But here's the shift: LTV isn't a forecast metric—it's a feedback metric. It's not just something to plug into your CAC:LTV model and hope it holds. It's a direct reflection of how well your product, positioning, and lifecycle strategy are working. If your LTV is low, the problem isn't your spreadsheet—it's your system. Low LTV means: - You're attracting the wrong customers - You're failing to activate and onboard effectively - You're not creating enough reasons to stay, grow, or expand High LTV, on the other hand, tells you: - You've nailed your ICP - You've aligned product value with buyer expectations - You've built a retention + expansion engine that compounds over time You can't wish your way to a better LTV. You can only build toward it—through smarter acquisition, better lifecycle, tighter feedback loops.So stop treating it as a static number in your model. LTV is a scoreboard. What's it telling you about the system you've built?

Your Funnel Doesn't Need More Traffic—It Needs Less Friction When pipeline stalls, most teams default to the same play: "We need more traffic." "We need to spend more on paid." "Let's crank up the top of funnel." But here's the reality: Your funnel doesn't need more traffic. It needs less friction. If visitors are bouncing... If leads are ghosting... If trial users aren't converting... You don't have a volume problem. You have a conversion problem. And that problem compounds with every new dollar you pump into acquisition. Here's where friction usually hides: - Confusing CTAs and offer clutter - Generic landing pages that don't match intent - Long forms that kill conversion - Slow follow-up from sales - Onboarding flows that bury the "aha moment" The fix isn't more traffic. It's 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Before you increase ad spend, ask yourself: - Is my path to conversion obvious, fast, and relevant? - Am I solving for the buyer's next step, not just pushing a CTA? - Have I earned the right to ask for that form fill, demo, or signup? Small changes in funnel friction often outperform big jumps in traffic. Don't scale inefficiency. Fix the system. #CRO #GrowthMarketing #DemandGen #ConversionOptimization #FunnelDesign #MarketingStrategy #B2BMarketing #LifecycleMarketing #PaidMedia #RevOps

Most SEO Failures Aren't Technical—They're Strategic I recently spoke with a multi-brand platform leader who was frustrated by their SEO provider. The problem? Not rankings. Not crawl errors. Not metadata. The problem was no one told them what to build in the first place. No local service pages. No structured roadmap. Just hand-waving and jargon. All while they were spending real budget across 8 brands. SEO isn't black magic. It's blocking and tackling—with local strategy, structured pages, and clear accountability. If your SEO partner can't tell you exactly what you need to rank in-market, they're not a strategist. They're a liability. #SEO #LocalSEO #GrowthMarketing #MultiBrand #DigitalStrategy

Why Most Growth Teams Stall at $20M ARR (and How to Break Through) Growth from $0 to $20M ARR usually runs on hustle, founder instinct, and a few strong channels. But then something breaks. CAC climbs. What worked last quarter fails this quarter. The team works harder—but results stall. Why? Because the systems that drive $20M won’t get you to $100M. Most growth teams stall because they scale outputs, not infrastructure. Here's what that looks like: ❌ Paid grows, but LTV stays flat ❌ SEO drives traffic, but not pipeline ❌ Lifecycle campaigns run, but don’t match sales velocity ❌ Attribution lacks clarity, so decisions rely on gut—not data To break through, build for compounding—not campaigns. ✅ Align your growth model with business economics, not just lead volume ✅ Rebuild attribution around CAC:LTV, not MQLs ✅ Connect paid, organic, CRO, and lifecycle through feedback loops ✅ Build a system where testing, iteration, and measurement are standard—not heroic Scaling to $20M takes execution. Scaling beyond it takes orchestration. You don’t need more activity. You need a system that learns and compounds. #GrowthMarketing #B2BSaaS #MarketingStrategy #DemandGen #CRO #SEO #LifecycleMarketing #MarketingOps #RevenueMarketing #ARR #ScalingStartups

𝐒𝐄𝐎 𝐈𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃: 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐄𝐎 SEO isn't dead. But it's no longer the last stop on the journey—it's just one layer of it. Business Insider recently highlighted Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), the emerging battleground for visibility in the AI era. This shift is fundamentally changing how people discover brands. Think about your own behavior: Are you clicking through multiple search results? Or are you asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overview to simply provide the answer? We're entering a world where "ranking" means being cited, synthesized, or surfaced—not just listed. Here's what this shift means for marketers: Traditional keyword data is losing power. Topic authority, source credibility, and entity-level context matter more. Your content isn't for Google anymore—it's for language models. Clear, structured, high-trust content that answers real questions will get pulled. Fluff will be skipped. Attribution is about to get murkier. If an LLM influences the buying decision, but you don't get the click—how do you measure that? 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. While AEO changes the "how" of discovery, the fundamentals still win: Answer real buyer questions Build brand authority Optimize your funnel beyond first click Align paid, organic, and lifecycle around buyer behavior—not just channel logic AEO isn't a trend—it's the logical evolution of search. Ignore it, and your traffic will quietly erode. Embrace it, and you'll compound visibility where others are still chasing keywords. Are you adapting your content strategy for the post-search era?

The Highest-ROI Campaign Is the One You Already Ran—with Better System Support Marketers often chase the next shiny tactic: A new funnel. A new offer. A new platform. A new headline. But here’s a truth I’ve seen across PE-backed companies, SaaS orgs, and multi-brand platforms: Your highest-ROI campaign is probably one you’ve already run—just without the right system behind it. That webinar that almost worked? That paid campaign that brought in cheap leads but didn’t convert? That blog post that pulled traffic but no pipeline? Those weren’t failures. They were signals—proof the campaign had potential. The system just didn’t support the outcome. Here’s how to unlock more ROI without launching something new: - Pair the campaign with stronger conversion optimization - Add post-lead nurture and lifecycle sequencing - Tighten attribution to track real pipeline, not just form fills - Improve targeting using post-mortem insights - Repackage the campaign for a new segment or region You don’t always need more ideas. You need better infrastructure. Before planning your next big move, ask: Have we truly maxed out the potential of what already works? #GrowthMarketing #CRO #LifecycleMarketing #DemandGen #MarketingOps #RevenueMarketing #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #Attribution #PaidMedia

SEO Wins That Shouldn’t Happen—But Did We published a new page. 📈 Indexed in under five days. 🚀 Ranked for high-intent keywords right away. This isn’t typical—but it’s why I love SEO. When the basics click—clean structure, strong linking, timely content—and the whole team moves in sync, results take off. We haven’t even rolled out the technical roadmap yet. Imagine what happens once we remove the bottlenecks. Stay tuned. #SEO #B2BMarketing #ContentStrategy #SearchMarketing