Adam McLane's Linkedin Analytics

The Over-Reliance on PPC in B2B—and the Attribution Trap Behind It Too many B2B companies are pouring budget into PPC because it’s the only channel that looks like it’s working. But here’s the catch: It’s not necessarily driving net-new acquisition—it’s just showing up in your attribution window. In reality, PPC often captures intent, not creates it. That demo request? It came after a LinkedIn post, a referral, two podcast listens, and a Google search. But PPC gets the credit because it was the last click. This creates a false sense of performance—and leads to: • Over-investment in late-stage paid search • Under-investment in lifecycle, organic, content, and outbound • Bloated CAC that looks “efficient” in-platform, but breaks at the P&L level The solution isn’t to ditch PPC—it’s to reframe how we measure it. ✅ View paid search as a capture channel, not a demand driver ✅ Pair it with first-touch and qualitative attribution to get the full picture ✅ Track CAC, LTV, and payback period—not just conversions in Google Ads ✅ Invest in brand, lifecycle, and education channels that influence decisions earlier in the funnel At scale, growth doesn’t come from clicks—it comes from systems that create demand, nurture it, and convert it across channels. If you’re spending more on PPC than you are on brand, CRO, and lifecycle combined, ask yourself: Are you scaling acquisition—or just recycling existing demand? #GrowthMarketing #DemandGen #PPC #Attribution #MarketingStrategy #B2BMarketing #LifecycleMarketing #MarketingOps #RevenueMarketing #CAC #MarketingAttribution

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

Why Cutting Brand Spend Is a Delayed Revenue Killer When budgets tighten, brand spend is often the first thing on the chopping block. It’s hard to measure. It doesn’t deliver short-term attribution. And it’s rarely in the dashboard that makes it to the boardroom. But here’s the truth: Cutting brand is like turning off a compounding investment because you can’t see the interest yet. It doesn’t hurt tomorrow—it hurts in 3, 6, 12 months when: • Your CAC goes up because fewer people are searching for you directly • Your sales team struggles to open conversations because trust has eroded • Your paid media efficiency tanks because people don’t recognize your name • Your growth plateaus, not because your funnel broke—but because your demand dried up Brand isn’t the opposite of performance. Brand is what makes performance sustainable. It lowers your dependency on paid. It protects your margins. It attracts talent, partnerships, and customers before they’re “in market.” If you’re only investing in what can be attributed today, you’re building a pipeline that can’t scale tomorrow. Don’t cut the thing that makes your growth cheaper, easier, and more durable—just because it doesn’t show up in GA4. What’s one way your brand quietly creates revenue today? #BrandMarketing #GrowthMarketing #DemandGen #B2BMarketing #RevenueMarketing #MarketingStrategy #CAC #MarketingOps #PerformanceMarketing #LifecycleMarketing

Why the Creative Strategist Is the Most Crucial Role in Paid Media Right Now In today’s paid media landscape, the creative strategist is no longer a nice-to-have—they’re the linchpin of performance. Platforms are more automated. Targeting is more restricted. Algorithms handle bidding and delivery. So what actually drives results? Creative. Message. Relevance. Context. And that’s exactly where the creative strategist shines: • They translate customer insights into scroll-stopping angles • They connect product value to platform-native storytelling • They ensure campaigns speak to pain points, not just personas • They test fast, learn fast, and feed insights back into the funnel Performance isn’t being won by media buyers tweaking budgets anymore—it’s being won upstream, by creative strategists who know how to hit the right nerve in the first three seconds. When you have the right person in this role, CAC goes down. CTR goes up. Ad fatigue slows. Messaging starts converting across the funnel. Creative isn’t just execution. It’s strategy. And it’s one of the highest-leverage hires you can make in paid media. If you’re still underinvesting in creative strategy, you’re probably overspending on acquisition. #PaidMedia #CreativeStrategy #GrowthMarketing #PerformanceMarketing #CRO #MarketingStrategy #DemandGen #CustomerAcquisition #MetaAds #B2BMarketing #MediaBuying

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

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

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?

Why the Post-Purchase Survey Matters More Than Ever in 2025 Marketers have never had more data—and yet, we’re still flying blind when it comes to what actually influences a buyer to convert. Attribution platforms will tell you it was “paid search.” Your CRM will log the last touch. But the buyer? They’ll say: “I heard about you on a podcast. Then I Googled you. Then I talked to a peer.” This is why post-purchase surveys (PPs) matter now more than ever. In a world where dark social, LLM search, and zero-click behaviors dominate, the only way to truly understand the full buyer journey is to ask. Post-purchase surveys help you: ✅ Reveal high-impact channels attribution models miss (referrals, Slack groups, LinkedIn posts, podcasts) ✅ Understand perceived influence, not just trackable activity ✅ Quantify the role of brand, education, and word-of-mouth in pipeline creation ✅ Refine media mix and budget based on what’s really moving buyers If you’re optimizing based on what Google Ads and Salesforce say alone, you’re likely overvaluing bottom-funnel activity—and undervaluing the things that actually created demand. You don’t need to guess anymore. You just need to ask. What’s the most surprising thing your buyers told you lately? #GrowthMarketing #DemandGen #Attribution #PostPurchaseSurvey #B2BMarketing #MarketingOps #DarkSocial #MarketingStrategy #PipelineMarketing

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

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?

How to Measure the Impact of LLMs on Keyword Data—and What to Optimize Instead Traditional keyword data is no longer the full picture. With the rise of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini, users are skipping the SERP and getting direct answers. That means fewer impressions, fewer clicks—and a lot more uncertainty for SEO teams. So how do you measure impact in a world where visibility is inferred, not always trackable? Here’s what the most forward-thinking teams are doing: 1. Stop treating keywords as search terms—start treating them as topics LLMs don’t just return pages—they synthesize themes. Optimize for topical authority, not just exact-match phrases. 2. Track visibility in AI-generated answers Use tools like AlsoAsked, Surfer AI, and LLM visibility trackers to see which sites get cited or influence AI outputs. 3. Monitor zero-click behaviors Look for declining CTR with stable rankings—a signal that your audience is getting answers elsewhere (i.e., directly in AI chat or the SERP). 4. Build content that feeds the models LLMs train on high-authority, structured, and frequently updated content. Double down on: • Thought leadership • Original research • Strong internal linking • Structured markup (schema) 5. Shift success metrics Move away from vanity metrics like “ranked for X keywords.” Start measuring: • Influence on AI answers • Branded search lift • Contribution to assisted conversions SEO isn’t dead—it’s evolving. LLMs aren’t killing keyword strategy. They’re demanding that we optimize for context, authority, and intent—not just queries. Are you adapting your SEO playbook for the LLM era? #SEO #LLMSEO #AIContent #KeywordStrategy #SearchMarketing #ContentStrategy #GrowthMarketing #DigitalStrategy #B2BMarketing

How to Measure Brand Impact Beyond Impressions Most teams measure brand with impressions, reach, or “awareness.” But impressions aren’t impact. And reach isn’t revenue. The real value of brand shows up downstream—often quietly, but powerfully. If you want to prove brand is working, stop looking at the top of the funnel. Start measuring what it enables across your growth system: Here’s how brand shows up in real terms: ✅ Branded search volume trending up—even when paid budget stays flat ✅ Higher conversion rates on direct or organic traffic ✅ Sales cycles getting shorter because prospects show up “pre-sold” ✅ Referral and word-of-mouth volume increasing without promo ✅ Lower cost per click and better ad performance as trust compounds ✅ More job applicants, faster recruiting cycles, higher retention And if you’re running post-purchase surveys: ✅ “How did you hear about us?” starts showing podcasts, social, peers—not ads Brand shows up in places attribution can’t always track—but revenue teams can feel it. It’s the lift behind lifecycle performance. It’s the reason your top paid campaigns don’t fatigue as fast. It’s why your CAC goes down while your pipeline goes up. Brand isn’t a line item. It’s infrastructure. Start measuring it that way. What’s the most underrated signal you track to prove brand is working? #BrandMarketing #GrowthMarketing #Attribution #DemandGen #MarketingOps #RevenueMarketing #CRO #LifecycleMarketing #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy