Ran into something super weird the other day — and I’m almost positive you’ve had a similar experience if you’ve ever run ads.

I’m managing a few digital advertising campaigns, and one of my clients is absolutely crushing it. The ads are performing beautifully. Roughly speaking, for every $1 we invest in paid ads, they’re making around $4 back.
That’s a 4x return on ad spend — and in marketing terms, that’s chef’s kiss levels of efficiency.

So, we’re sitting there reviewing the campaigns together, combing through all the data. I’m looking at performance metrics, testing audiences, checking conversion paths — all the usual optimization stuff. You know, that part of marketing where your brain goes into overdrive, running through a dozen ideas per second.

And then the client pauses and asks me:

“So, if we wanted to double the amount of leads coming in… how would you do it?”

And instantly, my brain starts rifling through possibilities. New campaign structures? Fresh creatives? Audience expansion? Retargeting tweaks? Maybe some landing page optimizations? My mental marketing dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree.

Then it clicked.
And it was almost too obvious.

“We Should Just Double the Budget.”

If something is already working — if it’s consistently delivering a 4x ROI — sometimes the smartest move isn’t to reinvent the wheel. It’s to scale what’s working.

Let’s put it this way: imagine you dive into the lost ruins of Atlantis and stumble upon a mysterious machine. The thing is magical. For every $1 you put in, it spits out $4. It’s literally a money-multiplying machine.

Now, if you found that machine, your first priority wouldn’t be:

• “What color should I paint it?”

• “Should I move it to a different room?”

• “Does it match the aesthetic of my rug?”

No.
Your first instinct — the smart instinct — would be to shovel as much cash as possible into that thing.

Scaling Smart: Why Simple Beats Complicated in Digital Advertising

In marketing, we often overcomplicate what doesn’t need to be complicated. We chase shiny objects — new tools, new funnels, new hacks — when the most effective strategy might just be increasing what’s already performing.

If your campaigns are bringing in leads at a solid cost per acquisition, doubling your ad budget can literally double your results (at least up to a certain threshold). The key is understanding your numbers:

• What’s your cost per lead?

• What’s your return on ad spend (ROAS)?

• How scalable is your audience size?

If those numbers check out, scaling becomes a matter of math, not magic.

A Quick Reminder for Every Marketer and Business Owner

Sometimes, the answer is staring you right in the face. We just get so caught up in optimization mode that we forget the simplest lever we can pull — scale.

So the next time you review your ad campaigns and think, “How do we get more?” — check whether you already have your own version of that Atlantis money machine.

If you do…
Stop overthinking.
Start scaling.

Good to remind yourself of these things regularly.

Talk soon,
Finn