Media Buying

Paid media measured in revenue, not clicks

Full-funnel campaigns across Google, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn and X, run as one plan so your channels support each other instead of competing.

Six platforms, six definitions of success ONE STRATEGY Google Meta TikTok Snapchat LinkedIn X Budget moves to whichever channel produces revenue Revenue, not impressions
The real problem

If any of this sounds familiar, the problem isn't your budget

It’s that nothing arbitrates between your channels. Each platform optimizes toward its own definition of success, and no one decides where the next dollar goes.

Three channels, three different goals

Meta optimises into its own conversion window, Google bids on existing demand, and TikTok chases the cheapest action. Each does the job it was built for, and none decides which job matters most this month.

Costs climb, and nobody can say why

Cost per acquisition drifts up every quarter. Every platform update changes what works. The reporting gets prettier while the answers get thinner.

Traffic arrives. Pipeline doesn’t

Clicks, sessions and impressions trend up. Qualified conversations do not, and no spend can be traced to a closed deal.

One month. One budget.

Who decides where the next dollar goes?

An illustration of who makes the allocation decision, not a projection of results.

MetaSpends into its own conversion window, and asks for more the moment it sees movement.
GoogleBids on existing demand, because that is the demand it can see.
TikTokOptimises toward the cheapest available action, whatever it is.
MetaGiven one job: reach people who have never heard of you, and be judged on that.
GoogleGiven one job: catch the demand that already exists, and be judged on what each sale costs.
TikTokGiven one job: test the hooks the other two will reuse, on a kill-or-scale threshold agreed with you.

Every platform does what it was built to do. None can see the other two, so the budget ends up wherever the auction pulls hardest, a decision nobody made.

Same month, same budget, but something arbitrates: each channel has a job, and when one stops earning its share, the next dollar moves on purpose.

The plain definition

What is media buying?

Media buying is planning, buying and optimising paid placements across platforms: where the budget goes, what it says, who sees it, and what it is measured against. Done properly, it is capital allocation, not a posting schedule.

How AdvanSEM runs it

GoogleMetaTikTokOne standard

Every platform is judged against the same standard, so budget moves on evidence rather than on whichever channel reports best.

Why it matters: left to their own targets, platforms bid for the same person and nothing moves until a month-end report. One standard moves the next dollar the week the evidence appears.

TestliveKillliveScalelive

Tests, kills and scales appear in the same dashboard we use, as they happen.

Why it matters: you can question a decision while it is still reversible, instead of reading about it three weeks later in a PDF.

GoogleCatch existing demandMetaCreate demandTikTokTest hooks

Each platform gets a job it suits, and is measured on that job.

Why it matters: a channel stops being cut for missing a target it was never the right tool for — and starts being judged on the job it was actually given.

The plain definition

What is media buying?

Media buying is the practice of planning, purchasing and continuously optimising paid advertising placements across platforms. It decides where your budget goes, what it says, who sees it, and what it is measured against.

Done properly, it is a capital allocation discipline, not a posting schedule. The job is not to run ads. The job is to decide, with evidence, which dollar earns the most, and to move budget there before your competitors do.

How AdvanSEM does it differently

Most agencies manage channels. We architect an ecosystem. One strategy governs every platform, so budget moves to whichever channel is genuinely producing revenue — not whichever channel spends most easily.

Every decision — every test, every kill, every scale — is visible in the same dashboard we use, in real time.

That is what transparency means in practice. You are never waiting on a monthly PDF to find out what happened three weeks ago.

Google Meta TikTok Maximise conversions Maximise ROAS Maximise reach 1 buyer Three budgets bidding for the same person, three scorecards, no referee.
The platforms

Six platforms. One strategy deciding between them

Each platform does a different job. The goal is not running all six but knowing which deserve your budget, and in what order. Select one to see its role and what we run there.

Google

What we run
    Best fit when

    Which ones are included? Pathfinder covers one platform, plus $250 per month for each additional one. Every tier above Pathfinder includes all six.

    Deliverables

    What you get every month

    Concrete, countable and written into your agreement. Scope grows with your tier; the transparency does not.

    A month on your account

    What actually happens, week by week

    The process

    How the engagement runs

    Onboarding takes 5 to 10 business days from signature to first launch. Here is what happens at each stage.

    Pricing

    What media buying costs

    The management fee scales with your monthly ad spend, so our incentives move with your results. Ad spend is separate and never marked up. Most clients pay the platforms directly; we can handle the billing if you prefer, and you see the platform invoices either way.

    Work out your fee

    What would this cost me?

    Move the slider to your monthly ad budget. Ad spend is separate from the fee and never marked up.


    $10,000
    $1k$25k$75k$150k
    Management fee $1,200 to manage $10,000 of monthly ad spend
    Your tier Scale $7,500 – $25,000 of monthly spend
    Month one, all in $1,855 Setup $750 included, less the $95 session credit

    Pathfinder

    $1,000 to $7,500
    your monthly ad spend

    One platform, run properly

    See your fee in the calculator above
    All platforms from here

    Scale

    $7,500 – $25,000
    your monthly ad spend

    Every platform, one budget

    See your fee in the calculator above

    Performance

    $25,000 – $75,000
    your monthly ad spend

    Testing at a pace that compounds

    See your fee in the calculator above

    Enterprise

    $75,000+
    your monthly ad spend

    Daily watch on serious spend

    See your fee in the calculator above

    Account and tracking setup

    $750 one-time

    Required once, before launch. Account audit and restructure, pixel and Conversions API implementation, analytics goals and conversion configuration, first campaign architecture, and a written tracking verification report.

    All prices in USD. Monthly services are invoiced in advance with a 3-month minimum, then run month-to-month with 30 days’ notice. Custom scopes are available — tell us your goal and your budget.

    Move the next dollar on evidence, not on a month-end report

    Terms, in plain language

    What you keep, and what you're committing to

    The questions worth answering before you sign, not after.

    Questions

    What people ask about media buying

    How much does media buying cost?

    Setup is $750 one-time. Monthly management starts at $900, and the fee calculator on this page gives the exact figure for your budget. Ad spend is separate and never marked up.

    Early signal on creative and audiences usually appears within the first few weeks. A stable, scalable picture takes a full optimization cycle, which is why the minimum term is three months.

    A dedicated strategist is your single point of contact, and the person on your strategy call makes the decisions on your account, with no handoff to a junior buyer after you sign.

    Sometimes. In-house teams usually hit a ceiling on cross-channel arbitration and testing throughput, not day-to-day execution. If your setup is working, the strategy session will say so.

    We review your accounts, tracking and spend, tell you which tier fits and why, and hand you a written action plan you keep either way. The $95 is credited in full toward your first invoice. We charge for it so the calendar stays reserved for businesses serious about growth.

    We build campaigns in the language your market buys in, and in its local variant, because the same language reads differently from one market to the next. Each language is handled by a native speaker of that market on the account, and copy is written in the language, not translated into it.

    Next step

    Book a strategy session

    The session
    $95, credited in full toward your first invoice. You share your goals, we look at where you stand, and you leave with a written plan you keep.
    What we go through
    We review what your spend returns against your goals, and whether the tracking holds up.
    What you leave with
    Where to move budget first, what that should change, and whether your team can run it without us.

    AdvanSEM

    Media Buying strategy session

    40 minutes on your ad spend: what it returns against your goals, whether the tracking holds up, and ...See more

    40 minutes on your ad spend: what it returns against your goals, whether the tracking holds up, and where to move budget first.

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    • 40 minutes
    • Zoom
      Zoom
    • 95 USD

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      • No time slots are currently available.
      The ecosystem

      Media buying doesn't work alone

      Paid media is your fastest lever, but it compounds only when the rest supports it. Creative fatigue caps reach, a landing page that doesn’t convert wastes every click, and customers you never re-engage make every future acquisition cost more.

      A grid of twelve ad concepts with one winning variation highlighted in Advancing Emerald, illustrating AdvanSEM performance creative testing

      Performance Creative

      Creative is the largest lever in paid media. Statics, video and UGC-style ads, sized for every placement and refreshed before fatigue sets in.

      A paid traffic funnel splitting into a control and a winning variant landing page, illustrating AdvanSEM conversion rate optimisation

      CRO & Analytics

      More revenue from traffic you already pay for: structured experiments, funnel analytics, and server-side tracking that survives a cookieless browser.

      A circular customer retention loop connecting welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase and win-back journeys for AdvanSEM lifecycle marketing

      Lifecycle & Retention

      Email and WhatsApp journeys that compound the value of every customer paid media brings you, instead of paying to acquire the same person twice.

      Any of these can join media buying in one plan with one owner. The strategy session shows which fits, and whether you need one yet.

      Strategy session · $95, fully credited Book it