Author: Dereka Smith

CTV Isn’t Just a Brand Play —Here’s How to Make It Perform

You’re hearing a lot about CTV. It’s one of the fastest-growing channels in digital marketing. And not only are more advertisers starting to invest, more viewers are watching CTV content for more time every day. So why are marketers still hesitant? Part of the reason is that CTV’s optimization levers are slightly different from the […]

How to Connect Upper-Funnel Activities to Conversion Metrics

Your upper-funnel campaigns are running, but conversions aren’t following. This blog breaks down why most brand building efforts fail to translate into revenue – and how to fix the issue.  Essentially, we’ll use this post to show you how to use Performance Branding to bridge the gap between awareness and measurable bottom-funnel results. The Siloed […]

Are You Ready for CTV? Here’s How to Know

Most brands are curious about CTV. But wanting to try it and being ready to leverage it effectively are two different things. Here’s the truth: CTV isn’t magic. It won’t fix a broken funnel. It won’t save bad marketing. And it sure won’t work as well, if you’re missing the basics. So what are some […]

How Meta’s AI Engine Actually Finds Your Next Customer (and What That Means for Your Ad Strategy)

If you’re running ads on Facebook or Instagram, here’s the uncomfortable truth: you’re no longer really “running” them. The machine is. Meta’s advertising platform has evolved into something fundamentally different from what most marketers think they’re using. It’s not a targeting tool you control—it’s a prediction engine you train. Understanding this shift isn’t just academically […]

3 Overlooked Channels to Shift Your Q4 Marketing Budgets Into for Better ROI in 2025

This quarter isn’t just about holiday spikes—it’s where smart budget shifts can deliver outsized returns amid rising costs and fragmented audiences. In 2025, marketing budgets are projected to rise to about 9.4% of company revenue, with digital spending up 7.3% year-over-year, but inflation is eating into those gains.  At our agency, we’re reallocating client budgets […]

Unlocking Q4 Growth with Media Mix Modeling

You can’t optimize what you can’t measure. And if you’re relying on platform attribution alone, you’re not measuring what actually drives revenue. Here’s what happens when attribution fails: One of our clients was consistently underinvesting in YouTube because they couldn’t attribute revenue back to the channel. Standard analytics showed minimal impact. They nearly killed the […]

Why Marketers Need a Testing Mindset to Scale

For early-stage marketers, developing a testing mindset is crucial for unlocking growth. I’ve witnessed this play out repeatedly with the high growth businesses I have worked with at Playbook Media and Meta before that. This often involves addressing understandable—yet ultimately limiting—fears within your finance team. The Finance Team Hurdle: Fear of the Unknown I often […]

Why CTV isn’t the only Performance Branding Channel

CTV has become a go-to for performance branding, blending the broad reach of traditional TV with the precision of digital targeting. But as powerful as CTV is, it’s not the only player in the game. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Meta, along with Google’s Demand Gen, offer unique opportunities to build brand awareness while driving […]

Are You Ready for CTV? Here’s How to Know

Most brands are curious about CTV. But wanting to try it and being ready to leverage it effectively are two different things. Here’s the truth: CTV isn’t magic. It won’t fix a broken funnel. It won’t save bad marketing. And it sure won’t work as well, if you’re missing the basics. So what are some […]

Is CTV Advertising Worth the Investment? Here’s a Low-Risk Way to Decide

I’ve been having some great conversations with current and prospective clients recently; and everyone is curious about the performance branding aspect of CTV. It’s no secret that CTV can help expose new audiences to our clients’ products and services. Yet two factors have held our clients back in the past: 1) How to measure the […]