Digital marketing: it’s not just about pushing the launch button

When it comes to paid advertising, there’s a misconception that success is as simple as setting up a campaign, hitting “launch,” and watching the results pour in. But anyone who’s spent a lot of time in the trenches of the digital marketing world knows that running effective paid ads requires much more than that. It’s about strategy, precision, constant refinement, and sometimes even a few failures.

Rethink the role of ads

Paid ads are powerful, but they’re not magic. I’ve learned to treat them as tools that amplify a larger strategy rather than standalone solutions.

Ads are most effective when they’re built with a clear purpose. Whether it’s driving conversions, nurturing leads, or retargeting past visitors. For me, this means asking tough questions upfront:

What’s the goal?
Who am I speaking to?
What action do I want them to take?

But take your time to answer these questions and I can assure you that your campaigns will be hyper-focused and aligned with much broader business objectives.

Ads aren’t the whole story, they’re just one chapter in a much bigger book. Was that too corporate?

Understand your audience deeply

Every successful campaign starts with understanding who you’re targeting. But this goes beyond basic demographics like age, gender and location. I like to think about what motivates my audience:

What problems are they trying to solve?
What resonates with them?
Where are they in their decision-making process?
What are their current interests?

This level of insight allows me to craft messages that feel personal and relevant. Have you ever heard of Emotional Marketing Value? (Click here for your friendly AI generated definition by Google). In layman terms, It’s not just about finding the right audience—it’s about connecting with them on their terms.

When you get this part right, everything else falls into place.

Leverage data for continuous improvement

Listen, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every campaign we launched was successful from the moment we hit “launch”. I mean, we’ve done it but we’re not here to talk about that and we can leave that for my next article. What I can tell you is that launching a paid ads campaign is just the beginning and it’s what happens afterward that really counts.

I often ask myself, where can we make the most impact with the least amount of resources? And I take that question straight to analytics. The goal isn’t just to track performance but to uncover opportunities for improvement. Maybe it’s reallocating budget to higher-performing segments or testing new creative approaches. The key is to treat every campaign as a learning opportunity and use those insights to make the next one even better.

That’s exactly what we’re doing with Equip Exposition.

Adopt a multi-channel strategy

One of my go-to strategies is combining high-intent channels like Google Ads with retargeting on social platforms. Here’s why: Google Ads are fantastic for capturing people actively searching for solutions. They’re already in the mindset to take action. But not everyone converts on their first visit, which is where retargeting comes in. Serving tailored retargeting ads on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, our clients constantly stay top-of-mind for those who’ve shown interest but haven’t taken the plunge yet. This approach creates a seamless journey across channels and ensures no opportunity is left on the table.

When was the last time you visited a website after searching for a product or service on Google and then (automagically) saw an ad for that same or similar service on Instagram? That’s no coincidence, there’s a marketer behind that (maybe us?).

Let’s wrap it up

Paid advertising isn’t about setting it and forgetting it—we’ve made that pretty clear and the chances are, you probably already know that. It's about constant evolution. From understanding your audience to leveraging data and integrating strategies across channels, success comes from thinking beyond the launch button.

When you approach paid ads as part of a larger ecosystem rather than just clicks, impressions and CTRs, you’ll unlock results that go far beyond impressions or clicks. Don’t take our word for it, though. Check out our work Playful Pack. A successful start-up that went from a single location to ten in just 6 years.