Paid advertising
Ad campaigns built to turn a profit.
Paid advertising is how you put your offer in front of buyers who don't know you yet — on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google — and do it at a profit. I'm Luke. I build and run ad systems with creative that actually converts, measured against real revenue instead of vanity metrics, one founder on the hook for the result.
What profitable advertising actually takes
Profitable ads aren't one clever hack. They're four things working together: a clear offer, creative that stops the scroll, the right targeting, and honest measurement. Get one wrong and you're lighting money on fire.
Most "ad management" you can buy is a boosted post and a monthly screenshot of whatever number looks good. I build and run the whole system — the creative, the campaigns, the tracking, the optimization — and I tie the reporting back to revenue you can actually see in your books.
- Campaign strategyThe offer, the funnel, and the structure — mapped to your business before a dollar goes out.
- Ad creative — static + videoHooks, visuals, and copy built for your business, not pulled off a template shelf.
- Audience & targetingThe right people on the right platform, with retargeting for the ones who didn't convert yet.
- Conversion tracking set up properlyPixels, events, and conversions wired correctly so the numbers mean something.
- Ongoing optimizationTesting creative and audiences, cutting what's losing, scaling what's winning.
- Reporting tied to revenueWhat actually landed in your books — not just the platform's dashboard.
Where I run ads
I put your budget where your buyers actually are, then connect the platforms so they reinforce each other instead of double-counting wins:
Meta — Facebook & Instagram
Paid social across feed, Stories, and Reels, with creative built to stop the scroll and lead-generation ads for businesses that sell on a conversation.
Google — Search & performance
PPC management that catches the demand already searching for what you sell, plus performance campaigns that put you in front of ready buyers.
Retargeting
Stay in front of the people who clicked, browsed, or added to cart but didn't buy — usually the cheapest revenue in the whole account.
Creative production
The static and video ads themselves, made in-house, so the thing that decides whether a campaign works isn't an afterthought.
Honest measurement
Here's the uncomfortable truth most agencies won't tell you: the ROAS on your ad dashboard is usually inflated. View-through attribution lets the platform take credit for sales it didn't actually cause.
So I don't report the dashboard number and call it a day. I triangulate the platform's figures against your real revenue — what actually showed up in your books — so we're making decisions on profit, not a vanity number designed to make the platform look good. If the ads aren't earning, I'd rather you hear it from me than find out at tax time.
Who it's for
Operators who've already been burned — by an agency that disappeared after onboarding, or by boosted posts that went exactly nowhere — and are tired of paying for activity instead of results.
If you've got a real offer and a market that wants it, paid advertising is the fastest way to put it in front of more buyers — though the cheapest wins usually come from fixing the marketing funnel the ads point at first. The rule I work by: if it can't turn a profit, I won't tell you it will.
How I work
Audit offer & funnel
We pressure-test the offer and where clicks land — because the best ad in the world can't fix a leaky funnel.
Build creative & campaigns
I build the static and video creative and structure the campaigns — Meta, Google, retargeting — around how your business actually sells.
Launch & measure
We go live with tracking set up properly, then measure against real revenue instead of trusting the dashboard at face value.
Optimize & scale
Cut what's losing, double down on what's winning, and scale spend only as far as the profit holds up.
Why work with me
Every client gets a founder, not a ticket queue. The same person who builds the creative runs the campaigns, reads the numbers, and answers the phone when something needs a change. That's the whole point of a one-person studio.
The honest answers
Quick answers to the questions I get most — for the full list, see the paid advertising FAQ.
What platforms do you run ads on?
Mostly Meta — Facebook and Instagram — and Google. Meta is where paid social lives: feed, Stories, and Reels placements with creative built to stop the scroll. On Google I run Search and performance campaigns to catch demand that already exists. I also build the retargeting that keeps you in front of people who didn't convert the first time.
How much ad budget do I need to start?
It depends — there's no fixed number I can promise honestly. The right starting budget is a function of your market, your margins, and what a customer is worth to you, so we figure it out together rather than my quoting a figure that sounds good and means nothing. What I won't do is take your money to run ads that can't realistically clear a profit at the budget you've got.
How do you know if the ads are actually profitable?
I measure against your real revenue, not just the ad platform's dashboard. Dashboard ROAS is routinely inflated by view-through attribution — the platform takes credit for sales it didn't cause — so I triangulate the platform numbers against what actually shows up in your books. The number I care about is your profit, not the dashboard's vanity figure.
Do you make the ad creative too?
Yes — static and video both. The creative is usually what makes or breaks a campaign, so I don't hand you a media plan and leave the ads to you. I build the hooks, the visuals, and the copy for your business specifically, then test variations and lean into whatever is actually converting.
How fast will I see results?
Campaigns launch fast, but honest results take a little patience. I'll have ads live quickly, but the first stretch is the platform learning and me reading the data — so I won't pretend day-three numbers mean anything. I optimize against real revenue as the data comes in, and I answer in hours, not days, the whole way through. Anyone promising instant, guaranteed results is selling you something.
What does ad management cost?
Management is project-priced and scoped together up front, separate from whatever you spend on the ads themselves, so there are no surprise invoices. And the promise is simple: if I don't deliver, you don't pay.
Let's run ads that pay for themselves.
One conversation. We'll pressure-test your offer, figure out where your buyers actually are, and build campaigns measured against real revenue — not the dashboard's vanity number.
or email luke@crewsive.com
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