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Working notes from running real accounts.
Working notes from running real ad accounts. Honest takes on what AI in advertising actually changes. Articles by John Williams, founder of It All Started With An Idea + creator of Buddy.
Honest takes on PPC, AI in advertising, and performance marketing. Written by John Williams (founder) and the team. Cross-posted from Substack (19,000+ subscribers).
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Recent posts
- The dark side of AI overload in campaign management
- The Future of Automated Campaign Types in PPC and Social Media
- Truths in "AI Search Has A Citation Problem"
- Doing Ads on a Small Budget: A Strategic Guide
- Rethinking Ads + CPC Strategies in 2025
- Unlocking Accurate Google Ads Impression Share With a Simple Script
- Maximizing the Power of Customer Lists + First-Party Data in Google Ads
- PMax Audiences: To Test, or Not To Test
By category
- Google Ads — 68 articles on Performance Max, Search, Shopping, scripts
- PPC strategy — 75 articles on bidding, budget allocation, account structure
- AI in advertising — 45 articles on Buddy, Claude, open-source tooling, agent design
- Ad scripts — Google Ads + Microsoft Ads automation scripts
- Content marketing — titles, engagement, owned audience
- Digital marketing — channels, measurement, industry shifts
- Marketing strategy — positioning and budget thinking
- Social media — Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram
- Inbound marketing — owned channels and trust signals
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The full archive (86+ articles) is on this site. New posts are also published to Substack — 19K+ subscribers, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.