TheBestCampaignWeEverRanWasTurningOneOff
Client came to us spending £85,000/month on Google Ads.
Their previous agency had built an impressive structure. Multiple campaigns. Hundreds of ad groups. Thousands of keywords. A Performance Max campaign running alongside everything.
ROAS was 4.2x. The reports looked healthy. Everyone was happy.
Except the P&L wasn't healthy. Profit margins were evaporating. Cash flow was tight despite record revenue.
We mapped every SKU to its true margin.
Found that 40% of spend was going to products where the contribution margin was negative. Beautiful ROAS. No profit.
Another 25% was going to brand terms they would have captured organically.
The remaining 35% was doing actual work.
Our first recommendation: turn off £55,000/month of spend.
This was not a popular suggestion.
"But the revenue will drop."
Yes. Revenue dropped 35%.
"But the ROAS is good."
Yes. ROAS was lying.
"But we've always spent this much."
Yes. That's the problem.
What happened next:
- Revenue dropped by £180,000/month
- Profit increased by £45,000/month
- Cash flow became positive
- The founder took a salary for the first time in six months
We didn't optimise anything. We didn't write clever ad copy. We didn't find magic keywords.
We just stopped spending money that wasn't making money.
Agencies don't get case studies for turning things off. But sometimes that's the work.