Ayo Afolabi's Linkedin Analytics

Fitness & wellness brand founders: You hit $500K+/ARR without spending a dollar on ads? Impressive. But there’s a problem. If you’re relying only on organic growth… You’re not scaling, you’re coasting. Because eventually: → The algorithm changes. → Referrals slow down. → Engagement dips. And you’re left wondering, “Why did growth suddenly stop?” Here’s the shift you’re missing: Organic is momentum. Paid is scale. One gets you off the ground. The other gets you to $1M+/ARR without burning out. But throwing money at paid ads without a proven strategy will get you nowhere. Most founders don’t come from a marketing background. They lack experience. Some try to figure it out on their own… … and end up wasting money, only to develop a bad reputation for paid ads in their mind. Others hire agencies that promise the sun, moon, and stars, but deliver nothing. That’s why most founders stay stuck under $1M/ARR. In reality, paid ads work. It’s your strategy that’s not working. → You haven’t tested enough creatives. → You haven’t identified the outliers. → You have done the guesswork. Instead, what you should do is: → Launch ads based on real market research. → Pause under-performers after 72 hours. → Scale the winners. → Iterate creatives. I have tested this strategy time and time again. One thing I can say is that it works. Why? Because it’s data-driven. You’re not making decisions based on feelings. Learn to read data and you’ll be good to go.

“We tried Meta ads for a month and spent $7K for almost nothing.” Sounds familiar? This is the reality of most DTC brand owners. Most DTC founders follow this 3-step approach when running paid ads: → Ideate and create the ads (mostly just guesses) → Launch the campaign → Pray something will stick The harsh reality is that 90% of ads fail. If you want a high ROAS, you need a proven system, not luck. First, stop treating ads like a vending machine. You can’t just put money in and expect a 4X return overnight. That’s not how it works. Here’s how to actually make paid ads work: 1️⃣ Do the homework As I mentioned earlier, most DTC brands are just guessing. They think they know what their audience wants, but they don’t. So they skip the most crucial step: market research. You need to: a. Understand your product in-depth. b. Research your competitors. c. Research your audience. These are non-negotiables. Skipping them is like playing darts in the dark. Doing market research will give you the best chance of success. But the success is still not guaranteed. You’re still testing the waters. So, start small. 2️⃣ Obess over metrics Ads show you what’s working, and what’s not. Your job is to kill what’s not working within 72 hours. Identify which angle, hook, and creative is resonating. ROAS rarely jumps overnight. You improve it slowly by making the right calls at the right time. 3️⃣ Optimize ruthlessly Double down on what’s working. Create more variations of the angle, hook, and creative that are resonating. Test different audiences and offers. You win by iterating, not by guessing or hoping. Remember: The willingness to invest a small chunk of your marketing budget on testing is the price of entry. Let that sink in. 📌 Follow me for more marketing strategies.

Running ads without a solid retention strategy is like pouring water into a leaky bucket. Here’s the pattern I see with most early-stage DTC brands: They spend $50 to acquire a customer. That customer buys once. Then disappears. So what do they do next? They spend another $50 to acquire the next one. And the cycle repeats. Revenue comes in. But profits are nowhere to be seen. Eventually, the math stops working. You’re spending aggressively, but you’re barely breaking even. Why? Because you’ve built your growth strategy around *first-time buyers*, instead of building a system that brings them back. Most DTC brands obsess over CAC. But CAC only tells you the cost of a single transaction. What you need to focus on is the second purchase. Because once a customer buys twice, their chances of buying again go way up. That’s when LTV starts compounding. So here’s the move: → Build a plan to get that second order. → Accept that you might lose money on the first purchase. → Make your money on the second, third, and fourth. Retention isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s your only path to profitability. So, you must have a strategy to keep them coming back for more.

The majority of fitness & wellness brands never hit $1M+/year! Because they rely on referrals and word-of-mouth. That’s just like relying on good weather to grow your crops, instead of installing an irrigation system. Look, top brands like Nike, Peloton, and Gymshark don’t rely on referrals. They engineer demand. They build marketing systems that attract, inspire, and convert — day in, and day out. So they never have to wonder where the next sale is coming from. The moment you stop thinking: Growth = Referrals/word-of-mouth And focus on building repeatable marketing systems, the growth becomes inevitable.

If you’ve been blindly following their advice, it’s time to stop. Some of Google's recommendations are designed to trick you into spending more on Google ads. Here’s what I mean: 🔴 "Bid more efficiently" → Translation: Switch to auto bidding regardless of the context of your campaign so we have greater control over what you pay for a click. 🔴 "Add dynamic image assets" → Translation: Add images to your search campaign so we can run your ads on low-quality placements across our trashy display network, just to make sure your budget gets spent, even when it shouldn’t. Now, don’t get me wrong. Some suggestions by Google are actually useful. But you have to take what Google says with a heap of salt. Think about it like this: would you trust a stranger’s advice for how to run your business? Most of Google’s recommendations apply to a broader audience. But every business has unique goals and obstacles. Before acting on any of Google’s recommendations, ask yourself, “Why would I do that?” Followed by “why wouldn’t I do that?” Actively take notes of what does and what doesn’t work. So, you can refer back to it and make better decisions on your own. Are you struggling to run profitable Google ads for your DTC brand?

Recently I heard a DTC founder saying: “I have hired “experts” to run paid ads but none of these agencies were able to make my ads perform better than I was already doing myself.” Finding the right agency for your brand is harder than ever. Especially when you have very little hiring experience. Most agencies offer generalized services aimed at a broader audience. They don’t care about your: → Niche → Stage of business → Specific bottlenecks Instead, they hand you the same recycled strategy they use for every client. (Even though their About Page boldly claims: *“We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions.”*) Their main objective is to lock you into a 6-month long contract. You’ve probably heard this: *“It will take time for things to pick up.”* That’s a major red flag when evaluating agencies for your DTC brand. But we also can’t neglect the fact that one right agency can change your entire business. Here’s how I help DTC founders hire the right one: 1️⃣ Avoid big-name agencies They often have multiple teams handling different tiers of clients. You’ll likely get passed to their B or C team because the A team is busy working with whale clients like Coca-Cola and Microsoft. Smaller agencies often give your brand the attention it deserves, since they aren’t working with dozens of clients simultaneously. 2️⃣ Ask them about their process If they can’t clearly explain how they’ll get you from point A to point B, that’s a red flag. Great agencies know their process like the back of their hand. They know what obstacles they need to tackle and how at each stage of the process. They aren’t guessing around. 3️⃣ Look for industry and niche-specific experience Running ads for a SaaS product ≠ running ads for a DTC wellness brand. You need someone who knows the nuances of DTC. Agencies with industry-specific experience can also work great. But agencies with niche-specific experience are the real deal. Have you ever worked with an agency or a fractional CMO before? Let me know in the comments. ♻ Repost to help someone in your network. 👋 Hi, I’m Ayo. I help fitness & wellness brands scale past $1M/ARR through paid ads and SEO.

Most DTC founders secretly wait for the “perfect” time. → Perfect funnel. → Perfect website. → Perfect ad creative. → Perfect content strategy. But let me break it to you: The perfection that you’re chasing is a unicorn. The brand that grows the fastest rarely has the best strategy on paper. It’s the one that tests things fast in the real world. They know: → Execution creates feedback. → Feedback creates clarity. → Clarity creates results. You can’t improve something that never goes live. Trying to come up with the perfect headline? Launch 5 variations and see which one performs best. Tweaking your landing page for the 13th time? Test the one you’ve got, then optimize. Overthinking your first or next campaign? Run it messy, and let the data tell you what’s next. Every “perfect” idea that never ships is just wasted potential. You don’t need perfection. You need progress. Because the market only rewards momentum. ------------------------------- ♻ Repost to help someone in your network. 👋 Hi, I’m Ayo. I help fitness & wellness brands scale past $1M/ARR through paid ads and SEO.

As a fitness & wellness brand owner, you’re doing everything right, but still stuck under $1M/ARR! → There’s a product-market fit. → You’ve loyal customers. → You get referrals. But this isn’t enough. → Your ARR is stuck in the 6-figure range. → You’re constantly busy but not scaling. → Your competitors are growing fast. You’re not alone. Most early-stage founders in the fitness & wellness space feel stuck at this stage. Not because they lack resources but because they lack marketing knowledge. You might already know investing in marketing is the only way to scale past $1M/ARR… …but the idea of investing $$ on paid ads makes your palms sweat. You’ve no idea where to start and how to allocate your marketing budget. So, you have two choices: → Learn it yourself (nearly impossible when you’re already wearing multiple hats.) → Hire someone who can handle it for you. For most founders, the second option is the obvious choice. What’s your move?

Hiring the right Fractional CMO can make all the difference in your brand’s growth. But, most founders get confused between a full-time and a fractional CMO. In this carousel post, I have tried to break it down, so you can make the right decision. Let’s get into it. 👇

→ Bad marketing: “Packed with 25g of clean, plant-based protein.” → Good marketing: “Feel strong and energized, without spending hours at the gym.” → Bad marketing: “This app gives you 100+ home workout videos.” → Good marketing: “Get fitter, stronger, and more consistent, right from your living room.” → Bad marketing: “Our collagen powder is gluten-free, non-GMO, and sugar-free.” → Good marketing: “Fuel your mornings with clean energy, no more sugar crashes.” Bad marketing is focused on what’s inside, not what it does. It is trying to sell the product. Completely wrong approach. Good marketing is selling the transformation. → They don’t want 25g of clean, plant-based protein. → They want to get strong and energized. → They don’t care about 100+ home workout videos. → They don’t have time to go to the gym. → Being able to workout from home is what they want. We rarely talk about it. But this is what differentiates bad and good marketing. Great marketing doesn't sell the product. Instead, it shows the transformation and sells the solution. ♻ Repost to help someone in your network. 👋 Hi, I’m Ayo. I help fitness & wellness brands scale past $1M/ARR through paid ads and SEO.

After 8+ years of executing Meta Ad campaigns, here’re 3 ways to fail with Meta Ads as a DTC brand: If you’re making even one of these mistakes, it could be detrimental to your business. Scroll through the carousel to find out what these 3 mistakes are and how to avoid them. ♻ Repost to help someone in your network. 👋 Hi, I’m Ayo. I help fitness & wellness brands scale past $1M/ARR through paid ads and SEO.

Ever thought, “Growing my wellness brand feels impossible because there’s so much competition”? You’re not the only one to feel this way. Most fitness and wellness founders feel this pressure, especially when trying to scale beyond six figures. Not because your product isn’t good enough or because your competitors have everything figured out. It’s because you’re still using outdated strategies. Back in the day, you could post on your Facebook business page and instantly get 1,000+ eyeballs on your content. It was practically free traffic to your site. But Facebook (and all other platforms) quickly realized… *“Why give away attention for free when we can monetize it?”* Now, your posts barely get any reach for free. And unless you know how to make paid ads work, you’re just throwing money into the void. So most early-stage founders either avoid paid ads altogether… Or they’ve been burned before and don’t want to risk it again. Instead, they cling to referrals and word of mouth. Because it feels familiar and safe. But just because it feels safe, doesn’t mean it’s the right option. It’s not scalable, and your competitors who know how to scale will always stay ahead. Growth isn’t about having the perfect product or a cult following. It’s about having the right, repeatable systems to market your product at scale without wasting your budget. Over the years, I’ve helped multiple wellness brands generate millions in sales through paid advertising and SEO. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: You can make it work with the right mindset and strategy.

The irony is this: Most founders pay for people to be turned off by their brand. I’m talking about paying for marketing that feels like marketing. Marketing that is: → Too obvious → Predictable → Pushy The idea that people don’t like ads, they just endure them, is wrong. People don’t hate ads. They hate being sold to. The moment they feel a disconnect between the product and what’s going on in their head… … or when there’s no real story or meaning behind it, they leave. The top 1% of ads make people feel emotionally invested in the brand. Most of the time, they don’t even care about the financial investment. It’s the emotional investment that matters. This goes way beyond selling a product. Because they don’t even feel like they’re buying something. In their mind, they’re like: → “This is exactly what I need to achieve my goals.” → “I’m part of something bigger than me.” → “This speaks to who I really am.” Two great examples are Nike and Airbnb. Nike rarely talks about their shoes. It’s all emotion, identity, and aspiration. Airbnb focuses on the stories of travelers and hosts. Because their audience cares about experiences. That’s great marketing. Marketing that doesn’t even feel like marketing. So… what makes great marketing great? → You understand your audience like the back of your hand. It takes time, patience, and a whole lot of experimentation. So, make peace with that and don’t make decisions based on your feelings. When was the last time you experienced great marketing yourself?

Most brands get this wrong: They think marketing is talking about themselves. → “We’ve the #1 rated product.” → “We use high-quality ingredients.” Cool. But… no one really cares. 🧵 Because marketing isn’t about you. It’s about them. Your customer. Their story. Their identity. People don’t buy your product. They buy the version of themselves they become through your product. That’s why great marketing feels like this: → “This brand just gets me.” → “I can see myself in this story.” → “That’s exactly what I’ve been struggling with.” It feels personal, not pushy. It builds connection, not resistance. Bad marketing: “Let me tell you about us.” Great marketing: “Let me show you who you can become.” Your job isn't to spotlight your brand. It’s to spotlight your customer’s transformation. That’s the story people care about. That’s the story that converts. That’s when explosive growth happens.

$100k Per Month Ad Spend for the second largest contact lens retailer in Canada Taught Me This About Google Search Ads. Listen up. Stop selling solutions like it's the 90s. The searcher isn't clueless; they know what they need. What they're craving is proof. People want expertise; first. Solutions are commoditised. Trust beats promises. Think about it: When someone searches "pest control near me" They've already identified their solution. They're not looking for promises - they're looking for proof! What Actually Works: Combine authority WITH solutions, back claims with specific tests, and both approaches. Example: ❌ Stop Pests for Good in 7 Days ✅ Licensed Pest Experts | Same-Day Service | 10-Year Guarantee The contrarian truth? 31% of ad impressions are never even seen. So while you're crafting the perfect solution-based headline; You might be missing the bigger opportunity - standing out through credibility. The big takeaway? Be the brand that instils confidence at first glance.

🎥 Sat down with one of my Futurpreneur mentees for a powerful interview. We talked about: ➡️ How he’s grown his business from the ground up ➡️ The hard lessons he's learned along the way ➡️ And the real challenges he’s faced (the kind no one talks about) What stood out most? His hunger. His humility. His vision. There’s something special about entrepreneurs who bet on themselves every single day. No safety net. Just grit and guts. This conversation reminded me why I started mentoring in the first place: To give back. To listen. To help others scale their dreams with intention. Can’t wait to share this story with you all soon. It’s one you’ll want to hear.

Growing a startup isn’t what it used to be 10 years ago. Back then: → Facebook and Google ads were cheap, making paid acquisition an easy way to scale fast. → Startups could run broad ad campaigns with little effort on copy and still get high returns. Now: → Ad costs have skyrocketed, and competition is intense. → Customers are more skeptical than ever. Back then: → SEO was heavily keyword-focused, stuffing exact-match keywords into articles worked. → Even low-quality blog posts could rank as long as they had enough backlinks. Now: → Google prioritizes search intent and natural language over exact-match keywords. → EEAT plays a huge role in rankings, especially for YMYL niches like health. What doesn’t work anymore? → Testing a couple of different ad angles and calling it a day. (Your early ideas are most likely to fall flat. That’s where AI comes in handy.) → Keyword stuffing, using exact-match keywords unnaturally and trying to rank with thin, low-quality content. → Only relying on word of mouth or organic growth strategies. Surviving and growing a business is all about adaptability. You should always be open to learning and trying new things to stay relevant. Every advancement comes with a lot of new opportunities. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of changing your perspective. Thoughts?

“We had a great March, but April is down 40%. Again.” Unstable revenue is one of the biggest concerns for early-stage brand owners. Despite: → Putting in the effort. → Wearing multiple hats. → Investing in press, influencers, and hiring agencies. You're barely breaking even, or worse, running unprofitably. It makes you wonder: → “Am I just wasting my time?” → “I’m not even paying myself enough.” → “Should I keep going or shut this down?” It makes you lose your sanity. You begin to question your ability as a founder. Even after doing everything yourself, you still ask yourself: “Is there more I should be doing?” I get it. It’s brutal. After 8+ years of helping brands grow past 6-figures in revenue, I’ve noticed a few patterns: → Most founders have limited marketing experience. → They over-rely on referrals and word of mouth. → They don’t test enough ad creatives. → They can’t spot the underperformers. → They don’t know how to scale the winners. As a founder, you shouldn’t be wearing all the hats. Because when you do, you become the bottleneck. What you need is someone who can: → Understand your vision. → Align marketing with your long-term goals. → Allocate your budget and build repeatable growth systems. Sometimes, the right expert can make all the difference. As a fractional CMO, I have helped brands grow their revenue by turning marketing strategies into growth machines without the overhead. Can you relate?

In Life.. Do you really get what you aim for? Or is it more about adapting along the way? I used to believe success was a straight line. Set a goal, follow your plan, and the rest would fall into place. But reality taught me otherwise. The journey is rarely linear. Unexpected challenges appear, and original plans often need a rethink. It's in these moments that resilience and flexibility become your best allies. Instead of fixating solely on the end goal, I’ve learned to appreciate the process. Every detour and every setback brings its own valuable lessons. So, next time you find yourself facing an unexpected hurdle, ask yourself: How can this experience shape my path for the better?

🧵 Google Marketing Live 2025: The Ultimate Recap 1/ AI Overviews are expanding! Now live on desktop in the US and rolling out to select English-speaking countries on mobile. Ads in AI overviews are here to stay. 2/ Google’s experimenting with Ads in AI Mode—think AI-powered shopping, try-ons, and agentic checkout that can auto-buy at your target price. 3/ Try-on shopping and agentic checkout (announced at I/O) are coming, making it easier for users to visualize products and complete purchases directly in Search. 4/ Agentic capabilities are coming to both Ads & GA4, automating more of your campaign optimization and reporting tasks. 5/ A/B tests for shopping and product titles are rolling out, giving brands more control and insights to boost performance. 6/ Introducing Power Pack: PMax, AI Search, and Demand Gen in one. 90+ improvements to PMax mean 10% more conversions on average. 7/ Channel performance reporting is now in open beta, so you can see how each channel contributes to your goals. 8/ Meet AI Max for Search campaigns: keyword-less targeting, dynamic headlines, and landing page optimization. Early results show up to 27% better performance than exact match. 9/ AI Max brings deeper insights—see which headlines, keywords, and landing pages drive results. Plus, more transparency and control than ever before. 10/ Smart bidding gets smarter: flexible ROAS targets and enhanced controls for iOS, including event-level data and Target ROAS bidding. 11/ Demand Gen saw 60 improvements last year, driving a 26% increase in conversions per dollar. New customer acquisition goals are coming soon. 12/ 75% of queries are now broad match—AI is helping you reach more relevant customers than ever. 13/ Video Ads are coming to Search and Shopping, plus shoppable ads on Connected TV and YouTube Masthead. New prospecting tools and attribution reporting in Analytics. 14/ Retailers can now sell first-party data to advertisers, and brands get access to this data for better targeting. Commerce media suite and brand profile tools are live. 15/ Asset Studio is launching, with generated assets and SyntId watermarking for images. Video assets manager in Merchant Center is here. 16/ Incrementality tests for budgets as low as $5,000, enhanced attribution, and cross-channel measurement in Google Analytics. 17/ Google Tag Getaway and Google Ads Data Manager now offer more recommendations and streamlined tracking. 18/ In summary: AI is at the center of every new feature, from campaign automation to creative production and measurement. The future of Google Ads is smarter, faster, and more connected than ever. #GML2025 #GoogleMarketingLive #GoogleAds #AI #PPC #DigitalMarketing