Performance Marketing Isn't a Channel. It's a Discipline
If your current reporting can't tell you what's actually working, you don't have a performance marketing problem. You have a measurement problem. I build the frameworks that make every dollar accountable across every channel.
Book a Free ConsultationYou're spending $50K+ a month across Google, Meta, and maybe a programmatic platform. Each one reports different numbers. Your agency says ROAS is great, but revenue hasn't actually moved. Nobody can tell you which channel is truly driving incremental growth and which is just taking credit for conversions that would have happened anyway. That's not a performance problem. That's an attribution architecture problem.
Three Platforms. Three Stories
But it's counting view-through conversions from people who never clicked.
But it's claiming credit for branded searches that would have converted anyway.
The incremental return after you remove the overlap and the inflated attribution.
The Framework That Makes Spend Accountable
Measurement Framework Design
I'll build a measurement system that tells you what's actually working. Not platform-reported ROAS. Not last-click attribution. A real framework with incrementality testing, holdout groups, and cross-channel analysis that gives you numbers you can trust.
Channel Strategy and Allocation
Where should each dollar go? I'll analyze your channel mix, identify where spend is overlapping, and build an allocation model based on incremental returns, not platform-reported returns.
Attribution Setup and Fix
GA4 says one thing. Meta says another. Google claims credit for everything. I'll audit your attribution setup, fix the tracking gaps, and build a source-of-truth dashboard that reconciles the data across platforms.
Ongoing Optimization and Reporting
Weekly reporting on the metrics that matter. Revenue, CPA, incremental ROAS by channel. Not impressions, not reach, not engagement rate. I'll tell you what to scale, what to cut, and why.
For Teams That Need Clarity, Not More Data
Growth-stage companies spending $50K+/mo across paid channels who can't answer the question "what's actually driving revenue?" You've got dashboards full of data and no clarity on what to do with it.
Brands where the CEO keeps asking "what are we getting for all this ad spend?" and nobody has a straight answer. You need a measurement framework before you need more media spend.
Companies that have outgrown their agency but aren't ready for a full-time CMO. You need senior-level performance marketing thinking on a fractional basis.
Three Steps to Accountability
The Audit
I review your current channel mix, tracking setup, and reporting. You get a written assessment of where attribution is breaking, where spend is overlapping, and where the biggest opportunities are.
The Framework
I build your measurement infrastructure. Clean tracking, proper attribution windows, incrementality testing where budget allows. Then a channel allocation recommendation based on real data.
The Execution
Campaigns optimized against the new framework. Weekly reporting on incremental performance, not vanity metrics. Direct access to me for strategic decisions.
What a Performance Marketing Consultant Actually Does
"Performance marketing" gets used to mean everything, so here's the literal work. My job isn't to run one more channel. It's to build the measurement layer that tells you which channels drive incremental revenue, then move budget against it every week.
Measurement first, media second
Before I touch a bid, I make sure the numbers are trustworthy. That means GA4 configured properly, server-side tagging so conversions survive browser tracking loss, and CRM attribution wired in so a lead that closes 90 days later still traces back to the click that started it. If the data is wrong, every optimization after it is a guess.
Cross-channel budget allocation
Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and programmatic each report success in their own dashboard, and all of them overclaim. I pull them into one framework so the numbers finally agree, then shift spend toward the channels that actually move pipeline instead of the ones that take credit for it.
Incrementality testing
The most expensive mistake in paid media is paying for conversions you'd have gotten for free. I run geo holdouts and brand-versus-nonbrand splits to separate the spend that creates demand from the spend that just harvests it.
Reporting your CFO can trust
Every report leads with revenue, blended CAC, and incremental ROAS, not impressions. If you run long B2B cycles, the same framework tracks pipeline by stage. There's a fuller version of that on the B2B performance marketing page.
Consultant, Agency, or In-House Hire
There are three ways to get performance marketing run well across channels, and I'll be straight about when each one fits. I've sat on every side of this table.
Consultant
A senior operator who owns the measurement and the budget strategy without the agency wrapper. Fits companies spending roughly $30K to $200K a month across channels that want one accountable person, not a pod.
You keep every account and platform, and you're not paying for anyone's office. The tradeoff is bandwidth. I set the strategy and run the numbers, but I'm not also editing your video.
Agency
Makes sense when you need production volume across five channels and a bench that scales up and down without you hiring.
The failure mode is familiar. You're sold by the senior team and serviced by whoever's free. If you go this route, ask who owns your measurement and how they're paid.
In-House
The right call once paid spend is large and steady enough that a full-time performance lead pays for themselves and lives in your data all day.
The risk is the single point of failure. The strongest in-house teams still bring in a consultant for audits and a second read on incrementality.
What It Costs and What the First 90 Days Look Like
Market rates first. Senior performance marketing consultants run $150 to $350 an hour, or $3,000 to $12,000 a month on retainer. Agencies usually take 10 to 20 percent of your media budget. I've published a full breakdown of how performance marketing pricing actually works if you want the long version.
I price everything as a flat monthly fee, scoped after the audit. No percentage of spend, because that model pays the vendor more every time your budget goes up, whether performance improved or not.
Days 1 to 30
Fix the measurement. Audit tracking, rebuild conversion actions, wire in server-side tagging and CRM attribution, and establish a baseline for spend, revenue, and incremental ROAS. You can't optimize what you can't trust.
Days 31 to 60
Reallocate. With clean data, budget moves off the channels that were overclaiming and toward the ones driving real pipeline. Expect some turbulence as bid strategies relearn against corrected conversion signals.
Days 61 to 90
Scale what proved out. New tests launch on the winning channels, incrementality holdouts confirm the gains are real, and reporting settles into a weekly rhythm that ties back to revenue.
Red Flags When Hiring a Performance Marketing Consultant
After 12+ years and 400+ brands, I can usually tell within one call whether a "performance" consultant actually owns outcomes. Here's what should make you walk.
They never mention attribution
If the pitch is all channels and creative with nothing about how you'll know what worked, they're optimizing on platform-reported numbers that every platform inflates.
They charge a percentage of spend
Their pay rises when your budget rises. Guess what every recommendation quietly becomes.
Every channel is always winning
Add up the ROAS each platform claims and it's often more revenue than the company made. A real operator reconciles the dashboards against actual sales, and some channels lose.
No incrementality, ever
If nobody has proposed a holdout test, you're paying full price for conversions you might already own. Branded search and retargeting are the usual culprits.
They guarantee a blended CAC
Nobody controls your close rate, your competitors, or the auction. Guarantees are a sales tactic aimed at buyers who can't yet tell the difference.
Performance Marketing Consultant Questions, Answered
What does a performance marketing consultant actually do?
How is this different from hiring a fractional CMO?
Which channels do you cover?
How much does a performance marketing consultant cost?
Does this work for B2B and long sales cycles?
How do you prove your own impact?
Built on 12+ years managing performance campaigns for 400+ brands.
Ready to Make Your Ad Spend Accountable?
Book a free audit. I'll show you exactly where your attribution is breaking and what to do about it. No pitch. No obligation.
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