How to Create and Manage Paid Media Campaigns with Massive Budgets (+€100K per Month)

In this content, a massive paid media budget is defined as any budget exceeding €100,000 per month. The strategies and tips provided apply to all budgets above this threshold, with a particular emphasis on significantly larger budgets that may far exceed this amount. As the budget increases, the importance of these strategies becomes even more critical.

Running paid media campaigns with large budgets opens up a whole new dimension of opportunities and challenges. These types of budgets demand carefully calculated strategies to maximise results and minimise risks. In this post, we’ll explore some key strategies to optimise these campaigns and drive greater success.

Broaden Targeting for Scalability

Large budgets require broader audiences. Excessive or hyper-specific segmentation leads to audience fatigue and limits scalability. Instead, use more open or broader interest-based targeting and allow algorithmic tools, such as Meta’s Advantage+ audiences, to dynamically optimise reach. This ensures access to a wider pool of potential customers and reduces stagnation in ad performance.

Combat Creative and Offer Fatigue

High exposure frequency accelerates creative fatigue. Frequently refreshing creatives—sometimes multiple times a week—is essential. Diversify formats and styles to maintain stable engagement metrics. Simultaneously, periodically adjust offers or create new ones to maintain relevance. Vary discounts, include guarantees, or introduce novel incentives to keep audiences engaged.

Leverage Speed in Testing

Large budgets provide the unique advantage of fast learning cycles. With accelerated data accumulation, hypotheses regarding creatives, audiences, or offers can be tested rapidly. Having a detailed and pre-planned testing strategy ensures efficient experimentation and minimises time wasted on decision-making.

Adjust ROAS Expectations

Scalability inevitably impacts efficiency. As algorithms exhaust the most qualified prospects, campaigns will reach less responsive segments. A decline in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is natural, so focusing on the business’s absolute returns rather than percentage efficiency reframes this challenge as a growth opportunity.

Simplify Campaign Structures

While it can be tempting to overcomplicate campaigns, simplicity ensures better budget allocation and clearer analysis. Focus on top-performing creatives, products, and audiences. Regular audits of campaign structures help prevent inefficiencies and maintain optimal resource allocation.

High Standards for Tracking

At this scale, advanced tracking solutions become indispensable. Multichannel campaigns require clear attribution. Tools like Hyros, or equivalent solutions, provide additional insights, helping decision-makers assess the real performance of campaigns across complex funnels.

Proactive Management

High budgets demand high vigilance. Even minor inefficiencies can turn into significant losses. Frequent monitoring, combined with an agile response system, ensures issues such as ad disapprovals or delivery inconsistencies are quickly resolved.

Strategic Collaborations with Influencers

For very large budgets, especially those exceeding €1M per month, collaborations with influencers can enhance results. Celebrities or recognisable figures bring credibility and expand the reach and engagement of campaigns. For mid-range budgets (€25/day or less), micro-influencers are often a more cost-effective and targeted alternative.

Personalised Ads for Market Segments

Breaking down your target market into smaller strategic sub-segments and creating ads with creatives, copy, and offers tailored to their specific needs improves relevance and engagement. This is particularly effective in service industries or diverse product lines where personalisation boosts conversions.

Final Thoughts

Scaling paid media campaigns to very high levels requires precision, vision, and adaptability. It’s a balancing act of leveraging the advantages of scale while mitigating the associated risks. For industry professionals, staying agile and data-driven is key to unlocking the full potential of these campaigns.

How to Design Strategic Budgets for Major Clients in Paid Media

When creating budgets for major clients with significant investments, the approach must be meticulous, strategic, and aligned with the client's objectives. This process is not just an administrative task; it lays the foundation for building a solid professional relationship and establishing clear expectations.

The first step is to identify the Paid Media channels to be used. Each channel has unique characteristics and plays a distinct role within an integrated strategy. For instance, Google Ads may be ideal for capturing existing demand, while Meta Ads might work better for demand generation and audience building. This initial analysis not only defines the scope of the budget but also demonstrates a deep understanding of the tools available.

Calculating the budget is more than just crunching numbers. It requires basing decisions on historical data, industry benchmarks, and clear objectives. A significant investment demands well-founded justifications, including return expectations and risk analysis. For example, if the client plans to spend over €100,000 per month, a detailed breakdown of costs by channel and campaign type, along with an optimization plan, is essential.

Defining the overall strategy is a crucial aspect. This step involves structuring a clear approach that the client can understand and visualize. High-investment clients seek transparency and clarity, so it is vital to show how each component of the budget contributes to the campaign's success. This could include the distribution between upper and lower funnel activities and the expected frequency of creative updates.

The campaign structure should be detailed yet flexible, including the investment allocated to each channel and the selected ad formats. Additionally, it is important to explain concepts that the client may not be familiar with, such as the importance of the first 3 seconds of a video or how lookalike audiences work.

Another critical element for large budgets is calculating the time required for management. Managing high-investment projects demands more constant oversight, so including estimated hours and the need for additional team members, such as designers, reflects professionalism. If the budget’s scale requires it, having a second manager dedicated to the project ensures that all aspects are monitored appropriately.

Finally, everything must be presented in a high-quality document. This document serves as a reference and enhances the perception of professionalism. Presenting the budget in a clear, organized, and visually appealing format makes a significant difference in conveying confidence.

Creating budgets for large clients is an exercise in strategy, communication, and foresight. It is an opportunity to establish the groundwork for successful projects and long-lasting relationships.

How to Optimise Your Paid Media Budget

Spending on paid media can determine the success or failure of your digital marketing strategies. Deciding how much to invest isn’t about picking a random number but rather balancing your goals and having a clear understanding of Cost Per Action (CPA) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). A well-structured approach will allow you to establish a sustainable foundation for growth.

The starting point is to define what you want to achieve. Your goals will dictate how much you need to invest. For instance, a startup aiming for rapid growth might afford a higher initial spend, whereas an established business will prioritise sustained profitability.

CPA is a key metric. Spending between 5 and 15 times your CPA is common practice, although certain scenarios may justify deviations. For example, in the luxury market, where customers have a very high CLTV, it may be acceptable to invest 20 to 25 times the initial CPA to acquire exclusive customers. In contrast, a startup in a testing phase might limit spending below the common range to collect data without straining cash flow. A business with a high CLTV can justify greater spending as the long-term return outweighs the cost. Conversely, for an e-commerce business with tight margins, exceeding this proportion could jeopardise viability.

Highly competitive markets also require greater investment. For example, sectors like enterprise SaaS might justify spending up to 100 times the CPA if client relationships are long-lasting, CLTV is substantial, and the target CPA is relatively low. However, these cases are the exception rather than the rule.

Your business stage is another important consideration. New companies in growth markets might spend 10 to 20 times their CPA to establish themselves in the industry. This is justifiable because they often need to build brand recognition, gather initial data, and create a customer base from scratch, which requires greater upfront risk. In contrast, businesses in mature markets tend to maintain more moderate and targeted spending.

Budget allocation is equally crucial. Not all platforms offer the same ROI, and your strategy must be adjusted based on historical results. For instance, a business consistently seeing strong performance on Google Ads might allocate 60% of its budget there while exploring platforms like Meta Ads with the remaining 40%.

Finally, continuous testing is essential. An initial budget should be designed to collect sufficient data. As you gather insights on what works best for your audience, you can redirect resources to the most effective tactics and channels.

Once your campaign is running, increasing the budget will force the system to explore new audiences, which can destabilise the initial learning phase of your campaigns. This happens because the algorithm must test segments that may not be as effective as the original ones, leading to fluctuations in conversion rates and CPA while the campaign identifies new high-potential audiences.

This adjustment period may result in temporarily inconsistent performance as you expand into audiences with lower purchase intent. To avoid a significant negative impact on performance, gradually increasing the budget—ideally no more than 20% at a time—allows the system to adapt without resetting the learning phase. Accounts with larger budgets tend to manage this risk better, as campaigns have a greater capacity to run rapid tests and validate new channels with more flexibility.

Investing in paid media is about balancing investment and return with a strategic, data-driven approach. Prioritise analysing metrics such as CPA and CLTV, adjust according to your business stage, and never underestimate the importance of constant testing and learning.