Paid media consultant
Paid Media
Built the growth engine that took cnvrg.io to its acquisition by Intel.
I run paid media across Google, Meta, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn as one revenue engine. One operator accountable for the revenue after the click, with channel decisions tied to CAC and payback.
From the problem to an executable decision
The account can show a good return while finance sees poor payback. I run the agreed Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube work as part of the full customer journey, with creative, landing pages and downstream outcomes in the same review.
- Offer and audience
- Creative test
- Conversion path
- Customer economics
What I lead and implement, and what you receive
| Decision | Work and deliverable |
|---|---|
| Budget decision | Separate platform reporting from reconciled customer outcomes. Choose a spend ceiling and review rule using the available margin, acquisition and payback evidence. |
| Campaign delivery | I configure the agreed campaigns, audiences, creative tests and tracking. The ad promise and landing-page offer must describe the same decision. |
| Scale or repair | Inspect lead quality, purchase quality and refunds before increasing spend. A cheap conversion that never becomes a suitable customer changes the optimization target. |
A measurement worksheet you can use with your team
Write each paid metric down with its definition, the ad platform or finance source, the eligible cohort or spend period, the baseline, the owner and a review date. Leave anything unobserved empty. A CAC target is a target; the result is what the data later shows.
- Customer acquisition cost
- Contribution after paid spend
- Qualified conversion by creative
Compare creative using qualified customer outcomes, not platform conversions alone. Keep refunds and contribution after spend with acquisition cost. If reported efficiency improves but customer quality falls, repair the optimization target before increasing the budget.
Relevant experience with clear attribution
I am Yaniv Goldenberg, a Fractional CMO & Head of Growth. I lead strategy and personally execute across the revenue funnel. Riverside — Head of Paid Acquisition My published Riverside case study describes my work as Head of Paid Acquisition across acquisition, conversion and the customer journey. It provides context for connecting channel execution with recurring-revenue measurement. Historical results belong to that engagement and are not a forecast for your business.
In paid media, we agree up front the deliverables, the account work I personally execute and what your team must provide. Access, budget, product truth and message approval come from whoever is responsible for each. At handover, the record covers what was implemented, the checks, who manages the accounts next and the open decisions.
A paid-media problem may involve measurement, offer, creative, targeting or the conversion path. I compare those constraints with the available customer records before choosing what to repair or test.
At Riverside I led paid-acquisition work during the period reported in my published case, including a $450K monthly paid budget. For a new engagement, I compare campaign definitions with eligible CRM or billing records, identify source gaps and agree the channel test and budget decision. I carry that experience into the testing, measurement and budget decisions I own for clients.
Paid media channels I run
"Paid media does not have a spend problem. It has a decision problem: most budgets die from the channels nobody was willing to cut."
Yaniv Goldenberg, fractional growth operator
Each channel serves a different buyer behavior. Sequence tests around demand, creative, budget, conversion evidence and the time needed to observe customer outcomes.
Choose the engagement around the constraint. Channel execution fits when your team owns the wider funnel; advisory fits when it can implement the decisions; embedded ownership fits when channels, conversion and measurement need one growth owner. Bring the campaign context, conversion definition and revenue source, and name your approval and sales follow-up owners. Implementation is separately agreed for advisory work.
Google Search can capture existing query demand. I compare relevant volume and economics with other channel tests before choosing the starting point. See Google Ads consultant.
Meta and Instagram can test demand and creative. I set a budget and review rule using the available customer evidence instead of assuming the channel will deliver scale. See Meta ads consultant.
LinkedIn buys precision. Surgical targeting against a known account list for B2B. See LinkedIn ads consultant.
TikTok and YouTube buy attention. Creative-led demand generation for DTC and app growth. See TikTok ads consultant and YouTube ads consultant.
The channels share an agreed customer outcome through performance marketing measured against eligible records. The attribution layer can inform allocation, with matching gaps and causal limits visible. Start there if missing evidence prevents the decision.
How I run it
How a paid media engagement actually works
Rebuild the measurement layer first
I compare platform conversion definitions with eligible CRM, order or billing records, using the same cohort and period. Differences may reflect attribution windows, duplicates, permission gaps, refunds or different commercial states. The output records CAC, costs and observed contribution where the inputs support them; attributed return does not establish incremental revenue.
Choose the first channel from the buyer evidence
The first channel follows the buyer motion, available demand, creative, budget and evidence. Search may suit active demand, LinkedIn a defined B2B audience, and video or social a test of a relevant message. We agree each test, spend ceiling and outcome window instead of applying one order to every business.
Scale what pays back, kill what does not
With verified numbers, budget moves toward the channels and campaigns that return inside the payback window and away from the ones that do not. This is a weekly cadence, not a quarterly review. The decisions are boring on purpose: more into what works, out of what does not, with a dollar figure attached to every call.
For each budget decision, record the channel, buyer signal, downstream measure, source, baseline, observation window, owner and next action. Choose a measure that fits the sales motion, such as accepted opportunities or paid customers. If CRM outcomes, revenue definitions or the observation window are missing, identify what is needed before using revenue or payback to justify scaling.
Report in revenue, hand off the system
Every report leads with revenue contribution, not impressions or click-through rate. And the measurement architecture, the naming conventions, and the channel playbook are documented so your team keeps running them after the engagement ends. A paid media program that only works while one person is in the seat is a liability, not an asset.
What wastes paid media budget
Measurement gaps can hide waste, but offer, creative, targeting and landing-page problems also matter. I investigate the evidence for each before recommending a budget change.
Check the platform conversion definition. I compare the permitted events with source records and personally implement the agreed measurement repair. Server-side feedback can improve available signal; it does not restore every observation or guarantee incremental customers. See server-side tracking.
Blended averages that hide unprofitable channels. A blended ROAS of 3 can contain one channel at 6 and another at 0.8 that is quietly subsidized by the average. Channel-level, contribution-margin reporting surfaces the leak.
Scaling before the payback window is known. Pouring budget into a channel before you know its payback period turns a cash-flow problem into a crisis. Establish the payback baseline first, then scale.
Give creative tests a decision rule. Agree the audience, control, outcome and review window before launch. For background, see Think with Google. A suitable holdout or geographic comparison can assess lift where feasible. Attribution remains a different measure; low volume or a long sales cycle may leave the causal question unresolved.
Paid media at real scale
$100M+ in total ad spend managed across 10+ platforms. Head of Paid Acquisition at Riverside.fm was my role during the period of 337% Net MRR growth. The attribution layer I built there survived iOS 14 signal loss while the spend kept scaling. That is the standard: spend that grows because the math holds, not because the budget grew.
The linked case studies provide the historical context for my work and reported company outcomes. A named role or funding announcement does not independently verify every performance figure. For an engagement, I document the underlying records, definitions and remaining limits before treating a result as measured.
For how this connects to senior growth leadership, see fractional CMO services and the case studies.
Searching for this practice under a different name? PPC, paid search and SEM are the same discipline: the PPC consultant page maps the vocabulary and the B2B SaaS specifics.
FAQ
Paid media consultant FAQ
What does a paid media consultant do?
I plan and personally build and manage the agreed paid campaigns, creative tests and measurement. We connect platform activity with eligible customer outcomes and review costs, attribution gaps and payback maturity. Campaign operation and business-result observation are separate responsibilities and evidence.
Which paid media channel should I start with?
Start with the channel that fits your buyer, offer, available demand, creative and budget. Search is one option for existing intent; targeted B2B or creative-led social and video may fit other jobs. Agree the test, qualified outcome, spend ceiling and review horizon before launch.
How do you measure paid media performance?
Use the agreed acquisition costs, eligible customer cohort, recorded revenue, refunds and margin inputs. Report CAC and contribution with their source definitions and maturity, alongside platform attribution and unknown matches. There is no fixed overstatement percentage for every vertical; incremental impact needs a suitable comparison.
Do you manage paid media or just advise?
I personally investigate, build and operate the paid-media work agreed for the client or project, or build a system for an agreed handover. We name campaign approvals, scope and continuing ownership. Advice without implementation is available only through separate Advisory.
Who is paid media consulting a fit for, and who is it not for?
It fits companies with product market fit and real traction that want to scale revenue, not just traffic. It is not a fit for cheaper media buying: if the brief is running Meta for a lower fee than your current agency, look elsewhere. I also do not take engagements from pre-revenue companies looking for equity-only strategic guidance, or free advisory boards.
Are you taking on new paid media clients?
I agree the scope, time commitment and availability for each client or project before work starts. I reply to every message within one day. When you contact me you reach me directly, not an agency inbox or a junior account manager.
What happens on the first call?
The first call is 15 minutes. You share your challenge and I tell you if I can help. It is an honest assessment with no pitch deck. One real number and one real problem is all the first call needs, so bring the paid media problem you most want solved.
How is a paid media consultant different from a media buyer?
A paid media specialist runs a channel, while a fractional growth leader owns the system the channel sits in. The specialist lives inside the ad account, squeezes CPA, tests creative and scales spend. The growth leader decides which channels to run and in what order, how spend ties back to revenue, and what the funnel does after the click. I have built and optimized channels by hand and owned the strategy that decides where spend goes.
Next step
Want paid media that pays back?
It starts with the measurement: find the gap between your platform numbers and your real revenue, then scale only the spend that returns. Book a call.
Work with Yaniv
Fractional Head of Growth for B2B SaaS, B2C, and e-commerce. Revenue that compounds, not spikes. Any channel, any motion, any stage.
Tools, implementation and language