We didn’t tweak — we transformed the way their paid social workers worked.
Our Challenge
Between January and September 2024, The HOTH had invested heavily into META ads — but the strategy was completely misaligned. Most of that budget was being pushed toward purchase-based campaigns, while only a small fraction supported lead generation — even though leads drove a far more profitable service for the business.
To make matters worse, that limited lead spend was underperforming. Across two campaigns, the cost per lead was significantly higher than their target benchmark — signaling that the existing approach wasn’t delivering efficient results.
By that stage, The HOTH wasn’t looking for another agency to take over an ad account — they needed a growth partner who could go deeper, uncover what was actually holding performance back, and rebuild their acquisition system around strategy, not guesswork.
Our Solution
We didn’t tweak — we transformed the way their paid social workers worked.
When we first accessed The HOTH’s META account, it was chaotic: 26 campaigns, 126 ad sets, and over 670 ads, many of them duplicates labeled “copy.”
To anyone who understands META, that’s a data nightmare. Instead of leveraging post IDs and allowing the algorithm to learn, this fragmented structure forced ads to compete against each other, diluted learning, and sent poor feedback signals that drove costs through the roof.
Before restructuring, we sat down with The HOTH team to identify where the real growth potential lay. We evaluated every service line through three key lenses:
- Likelihood of success on paid social
- Margin and profitability
- Downstream business impact
The insight was clear — lead generation was the most scalable and profitable growth lever, yet it had been massively underfunded. We refined everything.
- One campaign per core objective, removing internal competition and giving the algorithm clean learning signals.
- Centralized budget control, so spend automatically flowed to top-performing ad sets and ads.
- Broad targeting, allowing creative to do the heavy lifting and the algorithm to find high-intent users naturally.
- A disciplined creative testing framework, built around distinct concepts rather than hundreds of near-duplicates.
- Continuous iteration, replacing the weakest performers to raise the account average over time.
This simplified, feedback-driven system aligned META’s learning with The HOTH’s real business objectives — and performance shifted fast.
Creative Strategy at Scale
When we took over The HOTH’s account, the creative setup was a perfect example of what not to do on paid social.
They were only running one type of ad — static, offer-centric graphics polished to perfection but emotionally flat.
That might look good on a deck, but in the feed it dies instantly.
Today’s META environment rewards ads that connect, not ads that announce. Polished, corporate visuals can’t compete with raw, emotionally intelligent creative that speaks the audience’s language and solves a real problem.
So, we reshaped The HOTH’s creative system around one simple principle: clarity and emotion beat polish every time.
Our approach:
- Customer Language as Strategy: We mined real conversations, reviews, and sales calls to extract the exact words customers used to describe their SEO frustrations — “I’ve been burned before,” “I don’t even know if SEO still works,” “I just need something that actually moves the needle.” Those became the backbone of our messaging.
- Problem-Led Concepts: Every creative led with a single, visualizable pain point — slow growth, wasted budget, or “stuck on page 2.” The copy and visuals worked together to position The HOTH as the antidote to that frustration.
- Creative Diversity, Not Volume: Instead of hundreds of duplicates, we launched a focused portfolio of distinct creative pillars — testimonial-driven proof, frustration-based awareness, clear benefit hooks, and relatable analogies — each designed to reach a different mindset and allow META’s algorithm to match the right message to the right person.
- Multi-Format Testing: We diversified not just by message but by format — running static and short-form video variants — giving the algorithm multiple creative “doors” to find what resonated with each user segment.
- Biweekly Creative Refresh: To maintain relevance and feed META’s personalization engine fresh data, we adopted a two-week creative update rhythm, rotating in new concepts without losing historical learnings.
- Message–Visual Alignment: Every headline and visual worked as one — the image showed what the copy said. Nothing abstract, nothing generic.
The result was a creative system built for today’s AI-powered ecosystem — one that gave the algorithm real variety to work with, and gave prospects a reason to stop scrolling.
Social-First Landing Page
Once The HOTH’s paid social and creative systems were driving consistent, qualified traffic, the next opportunity for growth was clear — the landing experience.
To make every marketing dollar work harder, we conducted a full CRO audit backed by both qualitative and quantitative insights. We mapped the user journey, pinpointed friction points, and used behavioral data to guide every change — no guesswork, just evidence.
The goal was simple: turn attention into trust, and trust into booked calls.
We completely redefined the landing experience to do just that — elevating perceived value and addressing the key skepticism points holding visitors back. The page was redesigned to highlight social proof, case studies, and unique differentiators, reinforced by value-stacking incentives like a free technical SEO audit and custom SEO plan. These changes reframed the offer as a “no-brainer” for prospects ready to take action.
The result: a 35% lift in conversion rate and a consistent flow of high-quality leads — directly amplifying the efficiency of every paid social dollar.
The Solution
We didn’t tweak — we transformed the way their paid social workers worked.
When we first accessed The HOTH’s META account, it was chaotic: 26 campaigns, 126 ad sets, and over 670 ads, many of them duplicates labeled “copy.”
To anyone who understands META, that’s a data nightmare. Instead of leveraging post IDs and allowing the algorithm to learn, this fragmented structure forced ads to compete against each other, diluted learning, and sent poor feedback signals that drove costs through the roof.
Before restructuring, we sat down with The HOTH team to identify where the real growth potential lay. We evaluated every service line through three key lenses:
- Likelihood of success on paid social
- Margin and profitability
- Downstream business impact
The insight was clear — lead generation was the most scalable and profitable growth lever, yet it had been massively underfunded. We refined everything.
- One campaign per core objective, removing internal competition and giving the algorithm clean learning signals.
- Centralized budget control, so spend automatically flowed to top-performing ad sets and ads.
- Broad targeting, allowing creative to do the heavy lifting and the algorithm to find high-intent users naturally.
- A disciplined creative testing framework, built around distinct concepts rather than hundreds of near-duplicates.
- Continuous iteration, replacing the weakest performers to raise the account average over time.
This simplified, feedback-driven system aligned META’s learning with The HOTH’s real business objectives — and performance shifted fast.
Creative Strategy at Scale
When we took over The HOTH’s account, the creative setup was a perfect example of what not to do on paid social.
They were only running one type of ad — static, offer-centric graphics polished to perfection but emotionally flat.
That might look good on a deck, but in the feed it dies instantly.
Today’s META environment rewards ads that connect, not ads that announce. Polished, corporate visuals can’t compete with raw, emotionally intelligent creative that speaks the audience’s language and solves a real problem.
So, we reshaped The HOTH’s creative system around one simple principle: clarity and emotion beat polish every time.
Our approach:
- Customer Language as Strategy: We mined real conversations, reviews, and sales calls to extract the exact words customers used to describe their SEO frustrations — “I’ve been burned before,” “I don’t even know if SEO still works,” “I just need something that actually moves the needle.” Those became the backbone of our messaging.
- Problem-Led Concepts: Every creative led with a single, visualizable pain point — slow growth, wasted budget, or “stuck on page 2.” The copy and visuals worked together to position The HOTH as the antidote to that frustration.
- Creative Diversity, Not Volume: Instead of hundreds of duplicates, we launched a focused portfolio of distinct creative pillars — testimonial-driven proof, frustration-based awareness, clear benefit hooks, and relatable analogies — each designed to reach a different mindset and allow META’s algorithm to match the right message to the right person.
- Multi-Format Testing: We diversified not just by message but by format — running static and short-form video variants — giving the algorithm multiple creative “doors” to find what resonated with each user segment.
- Biweekly Creative Refresh: To maintain relevance and feed META’s personalization engine fresh data, we adopted a two-week creative update rhythm, rotating in new concepts without losing historical learnings.
- Message–Visual Alignment: Every headline and visual worked as one — the image showed what the copy said. Nothing abstract, nothing generic.
The result was a creative system built for today’s AI-powered ecosystem — one that gave the algorithm real variety to work with, and gave prospects a reason to stop scrolling.
Social-First Landing Page
Once The HOTH’s paid social and creative systems were driving consistent, qualified traffic, the next opportunity for growth was clear — the landing experience.
To make every marketing dollar work harder, we conducted a full CRO audit backed by both qualitative and quantitative insights. We mapped the user journey, pinpointed friction points, and used behavioral data to guide every change — no guesswork, just evidence.
The goal was simple: turn attention into trust, and trust into booked calls.
We completely redefined the landing experience to do just that — elevating perceived value and addressing the key skepticism points holding visitors back. The page was redesigned to highlight social proof, case studies, and unique differentiators, reinforced by value-stacking incentives like a free technical SEO audit and custom SEO plan. These changes reframed the offer as a “no-brainer” for prospects ready to take action.
The result: a 35% lift in conversion rate and a consistent flow of high-quality leads — directly amplifying the efficiency of every paid social dollar.
Client Review
Jake Serota
Director of SEO, The Hoth
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