Building a Two-Pronged Paid Media Engine 

Overview

Our client came to Verdure Media to launch a paid media strategy that would build awareness for a new, industry-first programme aimed at senior decision makers. The programme helps CFOs and senior operations leaders assess fulfilment processes, identify inefficiencies, and reduce cost.

During strategy development, we identified a commercial risk: by focusing only on a new audience and a new-to-market offer, they would be temporarily underweighting the part of the business that historically drove the majority of profit, their packaging product sales. In a competitive landscape, we saw an opportunity to do both: protect and grow immediate revenue through high-intent product demand, while funding the long game of programme awareness and lead generation.

Result: a two-platform, two-audience strategy that generated just shy of $500,000 in additional revenue in four months of media, while establishing their presence for the new programme in front of senior stakeholders.

The challenge

Our client had two very different needs, with two very different buyer behaviours:

1. Product Sales (Packaging): driven by operational buyers who need reliable supply, fast fulfilment, and easy reordering. These buyers are intent-led and search-driven.
   
2. Programmes (Fulfilment Efficiency): a new-to-market offer aimed at CFO, COO, VP Operations / Supply Chain and Procurement leadership. This audience requires education, proof, and repeated exposure before conversion, with LinkedIn playing a central role in discovery.
   

The risk was clear. If we went all-in on awareness for the new programme, we would sacrifice the near-term revenue engine. If we stayed purely performance-led, the programme would struggle to break into the market and build trust.

Audience insight (the gap we spotted)

The initial brief prioritised senior exec and CFO audiences for the new programme. That made sense strategically, but it left a gap commercially.

Our insight: We already had a buyer group with high intent, clear demand signals, and shorter conversion cycles. Operational managers were actively searching for the packaging products our client sells, and that demand could be captured efficiently through Google.

So we built a strategy that did two things at once:

• Bottom-funnel revenue capture to drive short-term growth and market share through product sales.
  
• Top-funnel programme awareness and education to build demand for a premium, high-consideration service.
  

Strategy: Two platforms, two audiences, one cohesive plan

1) Operational Buyers, Google-first (Product Sales)

For packaging product sales, we recommended a Google-only approach because this audience’s behaviour is dominated by high-intent searches such as “industrial packaging suppliers” and “bulk boxes near me”.

The plan included:

• Non-brand search to capture active demand.
  
• Brand search to protect against competitors with deeper pockets.
  
• Performance Max with the right account foundations.
  
• Shopping to improve product visibility during high-intent queries.
  
• An “AI-led” approach to campaign expansion and coverage where appropriate, without losing intent control.
  

2) Strategic Decision Makers, LinkedIn-led (Programmes)

For programmes, we recommended a LinkedIn-led split, with supporting Google activity. The reason was simple: LinkedIn provides the targeting sophistication needed to isolate CFO and senior operations decision makers by job title, seniority, industry, company size, and location.

The approach followed a phased journey:

• Foundation and awareness: video views and sponsored content to educate and build retargeting pools.
  
• Mid-phase consideration: website visits and lead gen activity to convert engaged audiences.
  
• Later-phase conversion: lead gen forms and retargeting, supported by Google Search and Display for reinforcement and long-tail capture.
  

Execution approach (how we made it work in-market)

We implemented a structured plan so both sides of the business benefited:

• Built clear persona-based messaging designed for “doers” (operational buyers) versus “strategic owners” (C-suite and directors).
  
• Launched with platform-channel fit, rather than forcing one platform to do both jobs. Google captured demand, LinkedIn built it.
  
• Protected revenue today while building pipeline for tomorrow, using budget weighting that reflected both the new programme priority and the immediate ROI opportunity in product sales.
  
• Focused geographically on their  priority states: 

Results

In four months of media, the two-pronged approach delivered just shy of $500,000 in additional revenue, driven by capturing high-intent product demand through Google while the programme campaigns built awareness and consideration with senior decision makers.

Why this worked (the key learnings)

1. New-to-market offers need education, but businesses still need revenue. We built both, rather than choosing.
   
2. Platform fit beats platform preference. Operational buyers convert on Google. Strategic decision makers are best reached on LinkedIn, supported by Google for reinforcement.
   
3. A top-and-bottom funnel strategy funds itself. Performance revenue supports brand investment, and brand investment improves performance over time.
   

Why Verdure

This is what happens when we get under the hood: we find the commercial gaps, build the foundations, and turn paid media into a system that grows both revenue and long-term demand.

If you want, paste the exact timeframe (months) and whether the “just shy of half a million” is attributed revenue from Google only or total paid media, and I’ll produce a tighter award-entry version with a clean metrics panel.