paid media judged on customers, not clicks
Google, Meta and LinkedIn, in ad accounts the company owns, reported as pipeline, CAC and CAC payback.
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search
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Same-day AC repair, booked online
ad spend
booked jobs
the cost the board sees first, and the hardest to explain
Ad spend is the marketing line a board sees first and the hardest to defend. The platforms grade their own homework, nobody tracks what happens after the form fill, and budgets creep up to cover for weakening organic demand.
We manage ad spend the way a sponsor manages capital: every dollar has a target, a payback date and an owner. Spend that pays back gets more. Spend that doesn't gets cut, however good the dashboard looks.
signs ads are covering a leak
Rising spend with flat pipeline is rarely an ad problem. It usually sits between channels: a website that doesn't convert, leads nobody follows up, or customers who used to find the company in organic search and now don't.
So the diagnosis looks at every step from click to closed revenue, not just the ad account.
common signs
- Ad spend rising faster than pipeline
- ROAS reported, CAC payback unknown
- Most of the budget on branded search (people already searching for the company by name)
- Leads counted in the ad platforms, not in the company's CRM
- Each add-on running its own ad accounts
what the diagnosis may call for
Paid media built into the company's growth system, not bolted on the side.
- (01)
finding non-incremental spend
Which spend wins new customers, and which pays for customers you'd win anyway. Budget moves to the first.
- (02)
tracking into the CRM
Every paid lead matched to pipeline and revenue in the CRM, so the numbers hold up to the CFO and to the buyer's diligence team.
- (03)
google, meta and LinkedIn
Google and Microsoft search, Meta and LinkedIn, chosen by where the company's customers actually are.
- (04)
company-owned accounts, one structure
Every ad account, tag and audience sits in the company's name, built the same way across every brand and add-on. Spend is comparable side by side, your own brands don't bid against each other, and the history stays with the company if we part ways.
- (05)
creative and landing pages
Offers, ads and pages tested on the pipeline they produce, with content that gives the ads something worth promoting.
- (06)
reporting the board can use
Spend, pipeline, CAC and CAC payback against the value creation plan, monthly, on the same definitions in every portco.
find the spend that isn't working
The free Portfolio Marketing Audit shows where marketing appears to lose money from the outside, an estimated cost where the evidence allows, and what we'd validate first inside the business, ad spend included. No call needed.
how much is marketing adding to EBITDA?
The free audit starts the answer: where marketing is likely losing money, what each leak may cost, and what to validate first.
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proof, not promises
At U.S. Waterproofing, a Rotunda Capital Partners portfolio company, $451K of Google Local Services Ads across four markets produced $11.5M of pipeline (opportunity value, not closed revenue): 25.6x pipeline per $1 of ad spend, with 669 of 2,524 opportunities won. Google search ads held lead volume on 69% fewer paid visits.
u.s. waterproofing · google local services ads
25.6x
Pipeline per $1 of ad spend across four markets · 669 won of 2,524 opportunities
$451K of Local Services Ads, $11.5M of pipeline
read the case studyu.s. waterproofing · paid search ads
+226%
Share of Google search ad visits that became leads (4.26% → 13.90%)
Same leads from 69% fewer paid visits
read the case study
managing an ad account vs managing growth
Judged on
ad management on its own
Clicks and platform-reported conversions
private equity marketing agency
Pipeline, CAC, CAC payback
Budget
ad management on its own
Spend it, then ask for more
private equity marketing agency
Fund incremental spend, cut the rest
Tracking
ad management on its own
What the platforms report
private equity marketing agency
Matched to the CRM and revenue
Scope
ad management on its own
The ad account
private equity marketing agency
Every step from ad to closed revenue
Whose account
ad management on its own
Whoever set it up
private equity marketing agency
The company, from day one
At exit
ad management on its own
Traffic that stops when spend stops
private equity marketing agency
CAC and payback by channel, documented
questions, answered
Something we didn’t cover? Ask it on the audit form.
Our programs are built for PE-backed companies and their sponsors: reporting tied to the value creation plan, and budgets managed against CAC payback targets.
Google and Microsoft search, Meta, LinkedIn and other places where the company's customers are. The diagnosis sets the mix, not a standard package.
In pipeline, CAC and CAC payback, matched to the company's CRM rather than the conversions the ad platforms report.
Usually both. Some spend is non-incremental and should be cut; some channels pay back fast and deserve more capital. The audit flags where to look, and the diagnosis confirms it.
Paid media buys demand now; organic search builds demand the company owns. Paid is worth scaling where CAC and incrementality hold up. We plan them together so paid covers gaps while rankings build, and spend comes down where organic takes over.
The company's. Every ad account, tag and audience is created in the company's name or moved into it on day one, and we work inside them as users. The spend history and audiences stay with the company if we stop working together.
keep reading
- SEOSEO for PE-backed companies: organic search and AI answers that can lower blended CAC over the hold and compound as an asset. Free marketing audit.read more
- portfolio supportPE portfolio company marketing support: diagnose the growth system, rebuild what matters, report one set of numbers the company owns. Free audit.read more
- content marketingThe content marketing agency for private equity: thought leadership that supports deal flow, and portco content tied to pipeline. Free marketing audit.read more
see where marketing is losing you money.
the free audit
what you get
- (01)
Where demand leaks
Search, the website, speed to lead and paid media: the leaks visible from outside the business.
- (02)
What each one may cost
An annual cost estimate wherever the evidence supports one, with the assumptions shown.
- (03)
What to fix first
Fixes ranked by likely payback for the work involved.
- (04)
What we’d validate inside
The CRM, ad and revenue data we’d check first to turn the estimates into numbers for your value creation plan.
what lands in your inbox
how much is marketing adding to EBITDA?
The free audit starts the answer: where marketing is likely losing money, what each leak may cost, and what to validate first.
Free Delivered by email No call needed