The paid media lab

"AI will take our marketing jobs". How many times have you heard that in recent years?

Miles McNair (Founder of The PPC Hub & Co-Founder of PPC Mastery) joined us for the finale of Season 3 to explain why the future of marketing doesn't belong to AI - but marketers who can adapt and expand their skillset to offer more value than AI ever could.

Miles spoke about his framework - becoming a "T-shaped Google Ads Specialist" in detail, explaining what you need to do to futureproof yourself and your marketing career going forward.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Coming up

1:33 - Intro

5:20 - Additional resources

6:46 - What is a T-Shaped Google Ads Specialist?

13:47 - How Miles became a T-Shaped specialist

18:42 - Optimizers vs. Maximizers

21:26 - Broadening your value proposition

29:09 - The AI risk for marketing jobs

32:12 - Key books & resources for marketers

37:00 - Should you be worries about the 'AI apocalypse'

44:56 - Zuckerberg's fully-automated marketing future

48:28 - One piece of advice for marketers right now

50:28 - Final thoughts

Don't have time to watch? Get the written highlights from the session here: https://www.lunio.ai/blog/futureproofing-yourself-as-a-t-shaped-marketer

Follow Miles on LinkedIn: https://nl.linkedin.com/in/milesmcnair

The PPC Edge Newsletter: https://www.ppcmastery.com/blog

The PPC Hub Community: https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at: https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

Google has dominated the digital advertising landscape for a long time now, and despite increasing legal scrutiny, it remains the ad platform of choice amongst marketers, with studies showing that advertisers spend more on Google Ads than both Meta and Amazon Ads combined.

...But do they still deserve the majority of your ad spend in 2026 and beyond?

To find out, we spoke to Matt Shenton (Biddable Director at Croud and host of the Paid Search NYC podcast) to find out whether you should divert more of your paid media spend towards other platforms - and how to do it in a way that's both effective and low-risk.

Timestamps: 

0:00 - Coming up

0:15 - Intro

2:09 - Matt’s insights from Paid Search NYC

3:31 - US vs. UK: Marketing mindsets

4:22 - Key advice for platform diversification

10:52 - Budget reallocation mistakes

13:44 - Ad platforms with the most potential

19:17 - Matt’s thoughts on Perplexity / AI ads

21:17 - Testing channels/platforms fairly & cheaply

25:15 - Marketing efficiency ratio & MMMs

26:10 - Maintaining marketing spend efficiency 

29:06 - Testing brand campaign value effectively

31:12 - Matt’s attribution strategy

36:35 - Will Google still dominate PPC in 2 years? 

39:29 - Final thoughts

• 
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtyJASw15BD_E_aq6hX-FJA
• Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at: https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

Sales and marketing alignment is essential for slick lead generation at B2B and SaaS businesses. According to Hubspot’s 2025 State of Sales report, 41% of salespeople say sales and marketing alignment improves lead quality, while 29% say it can increase revenue and improve customer experience. To help leaders and teams bridge the gap between marketing and sales, we spoke to B2B marketer, speaker, and author Pam Didner.In this episode, Pam spoke about how marketing metrics determine lead quality, how to make marketing content more sales-friendly, and how to adapt your paid media strategy to capitalize on top-of-funnel opportunities as well as bottom-of-funnel conversions.

Plus, get some bonus marketing insights from Pam - including some brilliant ways to optimize your content for AI.Timestamps:0:00 - Coming up0:10 - Intro2:15 - How does Pam rank so highly in LLMs? (Icebreaker question)11:34 - Why is there a disconnect between marketing and sales?13:50 - Key Sales/Marketing alignment mistakes17:13 - How Marketing can help Sales use content19:52 - Structuring paid media to speak to top/mid funnel24:24 - What should count as an MQL?26:24 - Should you automate lead vetting?31:19 - Marketing’s role after the initial sale36:23 - The key ABM mistakes40:22 - How many companies should you target with ABM?43:56 - Final thoughtsDon't have time to listen? Get the written highlights from the session here: https://www.lunio.ai/blog/align-marketing-and-sales-teamsFollow Pam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamdidner/Get deeper insights from Pam by checking out her series of books: https://pamdidner.com/books/Subscribe to the Lunio YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss an episode of the paid media lab podcast - or find us wherever you get your podcasts:Watch on YouTube: ‪@lunio_ai‬ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5K858fJ...Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Listen on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/7...Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

TikTok is currently the fifth largest social platform in the world, and certainly one of the fastest growing - especially amongst younger audiences. 

With TikTok’s exponential growth comes massive advertising opportunities. Statistics show that TikTok has more than 3.5 times the ad reach of X, with potential ad reach of almost 2 million users every month. 

To help marketers capitalize on this, we caught up with Fiona Bradley (Founder of FB Comms) on the Paid Media Lab podcast to get her insights on what makes TikTok advertising tick(tok), mastering UCG, and more. 

Timestamps:

0:00 - Coming up

0:13 - Intro

3:58 - Meta’s ‘No Ads’ subscription

6:38 - ‘AI enhanced’ Facebook ads

8:13 - Fiona’s approach to Black Friday

9:13 - What are TikTok Search Ads?

10:36 - What are GMV Max campaigns?

11:44 - The big opportunities for marketers

12:59 - Keyword targeting on TikTok

14:29 - How people search on TikTok

16:03 - Will TikTok Search overtake Google?

17:27 - Measurement & attribution in TikTok Search

18:43 - Common TikTok marketing mistakes

20:27 - Working with creators on TikTok

23:34 - Brand guideline advice for TikTok

26:34 - Does B2B / Lead Gen work on TikTok?

27:38 - Do YouTube Shorts work for B2B / Lead Gen?

28:53 - Key advice for marketers using TikTok

30:55 - Final thoughts & advice

Don't have time to watch? Get the written highlights from the session here: https://www.lunio.ai/blog/master-tiktok-ads

Follow Fiona on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-content-marketing/  

Subscribe to the Lunio YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss an episode of the paid media lab podcast - or find us wherever you get your podcasts:

Watch on YouTube: ‪https://youtu.be/jQcJERO-_DE

Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:

https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

AI hype is everywhere. But what does an AI future look like for marketers? Is AI genuinely the future, or just an over-hyped bubble that'll eventually burst, causing chaos in the process?In this episode of The Paid Media Lab, Rand Fishkin (Co-Founder/CEO of SparkToro and many, many other companies) joins us to cut through the noise.

Rand shares fresh data on how people really use AI tools like ChatGPT, what’s driving the “AI bubble,” and whether claims of Google’s supposedly inevitable death at the hands of AI hold any truth. We also cover:• What SparkToro’s data says about Google vs ChatGPT usage• The real reason your organic traffic is falling• How to adapt to the rise of zero-click marketing• Whether the AI economy is the dot-com bubble repeating itself, or whether it's something else entirely• Why attribution is broken (and what to measure instead)• How to make your brand visible inside AI models and search resultsIt’s an honest, data-driven look at what works in marketing today, minus the hype.Timestamps:0:00 - Coming up01:25 - Intro 04:45 - Is Rand an AI optimist or pessimist?06:26 - Are we in an AI bubble (in marketing?)08:48 - Is it the same as the Dot-Com crash?10:13 - ChatGPT 5 & AI overhype12:22 - Is Google dead? (+ Research)17:48 - The attention economy21:07 - Why web traffic has declined26:04 - The marketing mindset shift31:29 - Is attribution broken?36:22 - Should you advertise on AI platforms?39:47 - ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout42:37 - AI platforms will screw you43:45 - How to cheat LLMs48:15 - What marketing leaders need to focus on now52:19 - Final thoughtsFollow Rand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/Get Rand's book, Lost and Founder: https://sparktoro.com/bookSubscribe to the Lunio YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss an episode of the paid media lab podcast - or find us wherever you get your podcasts:Watch on YouTube: ‪@lunio_ai‬ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5K858fJ...Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Listen on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/7...Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

Most marketers worship their brand guidelines. Lewis Kemp thinks you should burn them.

In the first episode of Season 3 of the Paid Media Lab, Lewis Kemp (founder of Lightbulb Media and The University of Creative Idiots) joins us to explain why strict brand rules kill creativity, and reveals how to rebuild a system that drives actual, meaningful results.

We cover:

• Why almost every small businesses doesn't actually have a “brand” yet

• How ego kills performance (and what to do about it)

• The banned ads that made Lewis’s clients millions

• How to work with the brand police — and win

• Why creative variety is the secret to scaling paid campaigns

Timestamps

0:00 - Coming up

01:04 - Who is Lewis Kemp?

03:02 - What is a ‘gimpfluencer’?

06:43 - Why most brand guidelines are pointless

09:22 - Defining what a real brand actually is

10:30 - What businesses lose sign of

12:35 - Examples of ads ruined by brand guidelines

14:50 - Lewis’s banned ads and controversial campaigns

17:12 - How to work with the ‘brand police’

20:30 - The importance of the hook

23:54 - Channel-specific tips for Meta, YouTube, and Google Ads

26:11 - The psychology behind ads

27:05 - When brand guidelines actually matter

28:30 - Final thoughts & The University of Creative Idiots

Follow Lewis Kemp on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-kemp-manchester/

Brohemian Rhapsody: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lewis-kemp-manchester_freddiemercurypoisoning-activity[…]m=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACFEGBsBRwvmUu5KZhW-4iarWDuWYKRbRxE

The University of Creative Idiots: https://joinuci.com/

Prefer reading? Read the episode recap here: https://www.lunio.ai/blog/ignore-the-brand-guidelines

Subscribe to the Lunio YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss an episode of the paid media lab podcast - or find us wherever you get your podcasts:

Watch on YouTube: ‪@lunio_ai‬

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5K858fJ...

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Listen on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/7...

Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:

https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

Get Ed's forecasting spreadsheet here: https://edleake.com/google-ads-forecasting-tool/And watch his video going into the spreadsheet in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta5fIi0qbHw

In the final episode of Season 2 of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we speak to Ed Leake - founder of God Tier Ads, seasoned agency owner, and PPC expert with over half a billion in managed ad spend - to uncover the biggest mistakes marketers make when forecasting Google Ads performance, and how to do it right.

With nearly two decades of experience in paid media, ad tech, and conversion strategy, Ed shares his hard-earned insights on why most forecasts fail, how to build projections that align with real business outcomes, and what every advertiser should know about scaling spend without killing ROAS.

Whether you’re pitching new clients, planning Q4 budgets, or trying to get a grip on Google’s automation and Performance Max chaos, this episode is packed with straight-talking advice that cuts through the noise.

🎯 Key topics:

• Why Google’s built-in forecasting tools often miss the mark

• How to forecast with business outcomes — not just ad metrics

• Accounting for seasonality & demand curves the smart way

• The hidden impact of impression share on CPC and performance

• Why Standard Shopping still matters (yes, really)

• Forecasting in an AI-driven, keywordless PPC future

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

02:12 - Ed’s approach to copywriting

04:02 - The problems with Google’s forecasting tools

08:39 - Accounting for seasonality in forecasting

14:32 - Why impression share is important

17:55 - Accounting for Remarketing

21:00 - Should you exclude brand from PMax?

22:45 - PMax or Standard Shopping?

24:41 - Will AI invalidate forecasting?

27:34 - Putting the work in

29:32 - Final thoughts

Prefer watching over listening? Subscribe to Lunio's YouTube channel to get full-length video episodes:

https://www.youtube.com/@lunio.ai

Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:

https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we speak to Sofia Akritidou - founder of ThinkWise Digital and seasoned B2B PPC strategist - to explore what’s really broken in B2B lead generation and how to fix it using smarter paid media strategies.

With over seven years of hands-on experience across Google Ads, LinkedIn, and paid social, Sofia shares actionable insights on improving lead quality, avoiding junk conversions, aligning keyword intent, and building campaigns that drive actual revenue, and not just vanity metrics.

Whether you’re running PPC campaigns for a SaaS startup, scaling paid media for a fintech platform, or trying to align marketing and sales on what a “qualified lead” really looks like, this episode is packed with tips to help you turn ad spend into closed-won deals.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

2:07 - How Sofia became a B2B specialist

3:16 - What makes B2B Lead Gen different to B2C?

6:15 - Generating qualified leads from PPC

9:19 - Examples of key lead gen mistakes

10:43 - How to filter out unqualified leads

12:40 - Predicting when campaigns will bring poor leads

15:03 - Keyword intent classification tips

17:24 - Gated vs. Ungated content in B2B

20:00 - Moving prospects through the funnel

21:36 - Optimizing campaigns for qualified leads

24:01 - Which KPIs should you pay attention to?

25:17 - Lead Scoring advice

28:08 - LinkedIn Lead Gen campaign tips

32:05 - Final thoughts / outro

Prefer watching over listening? Subscribe to Lunio's YouTube channel to get full-length video episodes:

https://www.youtube.com/@lunio.ai

Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:

https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

Performance Max campaigns are everywhere - but most advertisers are still flying blind when it comes to controlling spend and cutting waste.

To help marketers take back control, we spoke to Guillaume Devinat, CEO of PPC optimization platform Optmyzr, and uncovered the ultimate PMax negative keyword strategy.

In the session, Guillaume reveals the findings of a huge study into how advertisers use (or don’t use) negative keywords in PMax - and shares a practical, step-by-step framework to cut waste, reduce junk traffic, and improve efficiency.

Expect to learn:

• Why 68% of PMax campaigns are running with zero negative keywords

• The most common search terms and placements that waste budget

• How to proactively identify and exclude bad traffic with n-gram analysis

• Early indicators of low-quality traffic (before conversions suffer)

• How to use ChatGPT to uncover wasteful keyword themes at scale

• Key settings in PMax that quietly drain spend if left unchecked

• How to estimate the ROI impact of negative keyword and placement exclusions

• Tips on geo targeting, content suitability, and URL expansion

• The case for lead gen advertisers to rethink their use of PMax

Timestamps: 

0:00 - Intro

1:36 - Guillaume’s key focuses at Opteo

2:07 - How marketers are using negative keywords

4:02 - Why are negative keywords so underutilized?

7:16 - Which search terms waste the most ad spend?

10:18 - Finding the best negative keywords

14:55 - Competitor keywords as negative keywords

16:06 - Biggest sources of waste in PMax campaigns

21:48 - Managing ad placements

23:58 - Key metrics to track after making changes

28:14 - Final thoughts / outro

Prefer watching over listening? Subscribe to Lunio's YouTube channel to get full-length video episodes:

https://www.youtube.com/@lunio.ai

Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:

https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library

AI Max is here - but getting the right information about it, and what it means for your campaigns, can be hard to find. 

To help marketers get a clear view on how to prepare for AI Max, we spoke to Google Ads Expert Jyll Saskin Gales. 

Jyll is a former Google employee, top PPC consultant, and author of Inside Google Ads - a fitting book title, given that very few people know what goes on inside Google's Ads than her. 

In this extended episode of the Paid  Media Lab, we spoke to Jyll about all-things AI Max, as well as how Broad Match ties in (and how to use Broad Match effectively). Expect to learn:

• What AI Max is and how it evolved from Search Max

• Key AI Max features: text customization, keyword list targeting, final URL expansion

• New transparency and control options in AI Max

• Shift from keyword matching to intent prediction in Google Ads

• Opportunities and risks of keywordless PPC

• Best practices for using broad match effectively

• Jyll’s three C’s: conversion tracking, customer lists, creative

• The truth about audience signals in AI/Performance Max

• How to test AI Max responsibly

Don't have time to listen to the whole thing? Find our written recap of the session here: www.lunio.ai/blog/google-ads-ai-max-explained

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

2:36 - ‘Inside Google Ads’ book discussion

4:08 - Why ‘the house always wins’ in Google Ads

6:45 - AI Max vs. Search Max

8:45 - What is AI Max?

9:57 - How transparent is AI Max?

11:34 - Is AI Max just broad match + DSA?

12:59 - Is this the ‘keywordless future’?

15:29 - Final URL Expansion + audience signals

22:20 - Should you test AI Max?

25:07 - Using Broad Match effectively

29:00 - Where Jyll uses Broad Match

Prefer watching over listening? Subscribe to Lunio's YouTube channel to get full-length video episodes:

https://www.youtube.com/@lunio.ai

Get more free PPC tools, webinars, and resources at:

https://www.lunio.ai/resource-library