Paid Media Strategy
A strategic paid media course for marketers, agencies and business leaders who want to make better decisions about channel selection, budget allocation, demand generation, first-party audience growth, measurement and profitable cross-channel scaling.
14 modules · 99 lessons · Module 1 completely free · Lifetime access
This is not another “how to use Ads Manager” course.
Paid Media Strategy is about deciding where budget should go, what role each channel should perform, how paid activity can build owned audiences and how to judge whether additional advertising is creating genuinely incremental value.
Knowing how to run ads is not the same as knowing where the next pound should go.
Google Ads can capture existing demand. Meta can create and distribute demand. LinkedIn can reach highly specific B2B audiences. TikTok can generate attention in very different ways again.
But simply adding more channels does not create a strategy.
Which channel deserves additional budget? When should a business deliberately accept a higher acquisition cost to create more profitable volume? When should paid media generate an immediate sale — and when should it build an email database, first-party audience or future demand?
How should attributed revenue be reconciled with actual incremental growth? When has a channel saturated? When is budget better moved elsewhere?
This course is built around those decisions.
The aim is to develop stronger judgement around economics, demand, channel role, audience ownership, allocation, experimentation, measurement and profitable scale.
Start with the business, not the platform.
Every channel decision should follow from what the business is trying to achieve, what customers are worth and how demand is actually created and captured.
Define the job paid media must perform
Revenue, profit, pipeline, customer acquisition, market entry, audience building or demand creation.
Know what growth is worth
Use margin, lifetime value, lead quality and sales economics to set meaningful acquisition boundaries.
Capture versus create
Understand the difference between harvesting existing intent and creating future customer demand.
Give each platform a role
Decide why Google, Meta, LinkedIn or another channel belongs in the portfolio before funding it.
Build assets beyond the click
Use paid media to grow email databases, CRM audiences and first-party customer relationships.
Move beyond reported attribution
Evaluate marginal returns, incrementality and actual commercial outcomes across channels.
Built for people responsible for where the money goes.
Paid media specialists and account directors
Move beyond platform optimisation into channel mix, commercial recommendations and portfolio allocation.
Performance and growth marketers
Make stronger decisions about channel selection, audience development, measurement and scaling.
Marketing managers and directors
Understand how to challenge media plans and decide where incremental budget should be invested.
Owners managing significant paid media
Understand the economics and strategic trade-offs behind your advertising rather than judging channels in isolation.
From individual campaigns to a complete paid media portfolio.
The programme moves from economics, demand and channel selection through audience strategy, creative, budget allocation, incrementality, experimentation and profitable scaling.
Thinking Strategically About Paid Media
Complete all seven lessons before deciding whether you want to purchase the full Paid Media Strategy course.
Module 1 establishes the commercial and strategic decision-making principles used throughout the programme.
Start Lesson 1Complete the whole first module.
Move up a level from campaign execution.
How do we improve this campaign?
Focuses on bids, targeting, audiences, creative, conversion rates and optimisation within a particular advertising platform.
Is this where the next pound should go?
Compares channels, opportunity costs, audience ownership, marginal returns, incrementality and alternative uses of the same budget.
The course treats email acquisition, CRM growth and first-party audience development as part of paid media strategy, not as separate disciplines disconnected from media investment.
How strategic is your paid media approach?
Tick every statement that accurately describes the way you currently plan and manage paid media.
Tick the statements that accurately describe your current paid media approach.
Continue through all 14 modules and 99 lessons.
Start with Module 1 completely free. When you're ready to continue, unlock the full programme covering economics, channel selection, audience strategy, creative, budget allocation, measurement and profitable scaling.