Performance marketing — DTC, QSR, B2B & B2C service

Performance marketing across every paid channel.

Managing $2.5M+ in average monthly aggregate spend across Google and Meta, with active campaigns on TikTok, Microsoft Advertising, Reddit, and Google Local Services Ads — for DTC, QSR, B2B, and B2C service brands. Strategy that is anchored in real business outcomes, not vanity metrics.

See recent results
Managing: $2.5M+ average monthly spend Channels: Google · Meta · TikTok · Microsoft · Reddit · LSA Verticals: DTC · QSR · B2B · B2C service Based: Austin, TX · works remote

Selected results

Results, not just impressions.

A few representative engagements. Client names are withheld by design — the practice spans more verticals and channels than are detailed below.

DTC pet brand · creative diagnosis

A media problem that was actually a creative problem

Engagement rate-56% YoY → +40%+ post-fix
Cost per purchase+48% YoY → -32% post-fix
Root causetop format's spend share fell to 48%

CVR barely moved YoY — proof the algorithm was still finding the right people. What collapsed was engagement, traced back to a shrinking share of spend behind the video format that had always driven it. The following year, budget shifted back into that winning creative: engagement improved by over 40%, and cost per purchase dropped 32% YoY.

B2B SaaS · Search & LinkedIn

Taking over a stalled B2B pipeline across search and LinkedIn

LinkedIn lead volume+642% since takeover
SQO volume+55% at 53% lower cost
Branded CPCs-40% since takeover

Standard last-touch reporting made search look like it was declining. Switching to first-touch attribution told a different story — paid search was driving more, cheaper pipeline; it just wasn't getting credit for starting the journey. Meanwhile, a LinkedIn rebuild — new ad formats, mid- and bottom-funnel testing — drove lead volume up sharply on the same account.

QSR · YouTube & Demand Gen

Proving lift on a modest YouTube-only budget

ROAS2x within the month after flight
Search lift62% relative, ≥90% confidence
Ad recall liftup to 13pts above benchmark

A $60K YouTube-only flight — Demand Gen video plus YouTube Select — built to prove brand and search lift on a modest budget, then converted into a real ROAS gain the month after it ended. Lift held even in smaller, lower-density markets.

How I work

A repeatable process, whatever the channel.

Four stages, in order — each one exists because skipping it is where most accounts lose money.

01

Audit

Account structure, creative or copy fatigue, and tracking integrity — across Meta, Google, and your CRM or ESP — finding where budget leaks before optimization even starts.

02

Architecture

Consolidated campaign structures built to clear each platform's learning phase quickly — Advantage+ on Meta, tightly-themed Search or Performance Max on Google, and the equivalent on TikTok, Microsoft, or Reddit — instead of fragmenting signal across audiences or keywords.

03

Creative recommendations

Performance gets broken down by angle, format, and message — not just by campaign — to show which creative direction is actually working. CTR, CPM, and engagement are the leading indicators; they show what's working days before CVR or CPA does. Those findings turn into specific, prioritized recommendations for your team or creative partner. Production stays with you — the read on what's working, and what to make more of, is mine.

04

Scale

Budget decisions get tied to the metric that actually matters for that account — not a one-size-fits-all target, and not surface-level ROAS or CPL in isolation.

About

Daniel Hayes

I am a freelance performance marketing specialist managing $2.5M+ in average monthly aggregate spend across Google and Meta, with active campaigns on TikTok, Microsoft Advertising, Reddit, and Google Local Services Ads — for DTC, QSR, B2B, and B2C service brands.

Each account gets built around the structure it actually needs, on whatever platform it lives on — matched to the metric that business is actually trying to move.

No agency layers, no junior hand-offs. You work directly with the person running the account.

Core focusDTC, QSR, B2B & B2C service
Ad platformsGoogle · Meta · TikTok · Microsoft · Reddit · LSA
Aggregate spend$2.5M+ monthly average
Engagement styleDirect, no account hand-offs
Availability[Open / Limited] for new clients