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GTM PlaybookB2B SaaS Performance Marketing

SaaS Paid Media Agency GTM Playbook: 2026

Prospect Intel Report for Hey Digital. Competitive positioning against Directive, KlientBoost, and Powered by Search. ICP profiles for post-funding growth leaders, scaling operators, and founder-CEOs. Market analysis, LinkedIn intelligence, quick-start campaign playbooks, and sample outbound emails.

Published April 9, 2026

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Built by LeadGrow

We build pipeline systems for B2B companies that need qualified meetings, not just activity.

$250K revenue for a community travel offer. Custom scraping of Skool, Whop, and Instagram to find every potential buyer.

Record revenue 8 months straight for a Reddit marketing agency. Failed with 2 agencies before us. We built a custom tool-based lead magnet that broke the pattern.

$512K revenue for an SEO agency. From gift cards and zero meetings to Asana and LastPass as clients.

45 calls booked in 2 months for an ecommerce lender. Targeted outbound into a market nobody else was reaching.

$4M+ pipeline for an AgTech manufacturer entering the US. 1.2M companies filtered down to 18,000 relevant accounts across 16+ sub-segments.

$750K revenue and an acquisition for a B2B enterprise SaaS offer. 200+ meetings booked through custom data sourcing and hyper-targeted outbound.

1,626 campaigns run in 2025. And many more success stories.

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1. Company Snapshot

Hey Digital is a performance marketing agency built exclusively for B2B SaaS. Founded in 2018 by Dylan Hey (CEO) and Celia Hey (CCO), the team has grown to 30+ people managing $2.3M+ in monthly ad spend across 200+ SaaS clients. Channels include Google, LinkedIn, Meta, YouTube, Reddit, and Bing Ads.

The positioning is clear: senior B2B SaaS strategists running your paid media, not junior account managers following a playbook. The in house creative team (landing pages, video ads, ad creative) is the structural advantage most competitors can't match.

Notable clients include PostHog (18.5% cloud conversion increase, 17% CPA decrease), Toggl (52% ad spend reduction, 159% deal value increase), Hotjar (94% CPA decrease on YouTube), and Writesonic. Elizabeth Thorn, Head of Marketing at Toggl, told Clutch: "Even from the pitch stage, our CRO said it was the best agency deck he'd ever seen." That's a proof point that separates Hey Digital from agencies that win on price alone.

One detail that stood out: Dylan appeared on the SaaS Marketing Show podcast (32 episodes, guests from Freshworks and Bonjoro) and spoke at Social Media Week Kyiv (300+ attendees, rated 8.8/10). The thought leadership engine exists. It's just not running at full speed.

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2. The Number They Can't Ignore

20% of PPC clients plan to replace their agency with AI tools. Not switch agencies. Eliminate them.

A 2026 State of PPC survey (1,306 professionals) found that 1 in 5 clients is actively evaluating whether AI platforms can do what their agency does. Separately, Typeface research found 60% of US senior marketing leaders already cut agency spend in 2025 specifically because of AI capabilities.

This matters for Hey Digital because the competitive set just expanded. You're not just competing against Directive and KlientBoost anymore. You're competing against the question: "Do we need a PPC agency at all?" Your website currently shows zero mention of AI capabilities, AI augmented campaign management, or how you use AI to deliver results humans can't replicate alone. In a market where 60% of buyers already cut agency spend due to AI, silence on AI reads as "we haven't figured it out yet."

The agencies that lead with "we use AI to do X that you can't do in house" turn this threat into a moat. Hey Digital's SaaS specialization plus AI augmented management is a positioning angle most generalist agencies can't credibly claim.

Sources: State of PPC 2026, Typeface Signal Report

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3. Their Market in 60 Seconds

Market size: The B2B SaaS specific PPC agency niche is roughly $1.5 to $3B globally. No standalone market report exists, but with B2B SaaS representing 8 to 12% of digital ad spend and agencies capturing 15 to 20% in fees, the math holds. Narrow enough for a 30 person agency to build real brand recognition. Wide enough for dozens of credible competitors.

Key competitors:

AgencySizePositioningKey Differentiator
Directive150 to 200 people"Customer Generation" for B2B techFinancial modeling + TAM analysis baked into strategy. $25M revenue. Published $6,500/mo startup package.
KlientBoost100 to 130 peopleAggressive experimentation + CROVolume of A/B testing. Massive blog (DA 52). Serves SaaS, ecommerce, lead gen. Not SaaS exclusive.
Powered by Search~30 peopleSEO first demand gen for mid market SaaSDev Basu's personal brand. Organic first, paid as amplification. $2M revenue.
SimpleTiger15 to 25 peopleSaaS only SEO + PPC since 200618+ years SaaS only. Speed to results. But SEO is the primary strength, PPC secondary.
Bay Leaf Digital5 to 15 peopleFull service SaaS marketing + AI native pivotTransparent pricing ($1,999 to $5,000/mo). Too small to compete at Hey Digital's tier.

Where Hey Digital sits: You're the strongest pure play SaaS PPC + creative agency in this set. Directive is bigger and broader. KlientBoost is a generalist wearing a SaaS hat. Powered by Search leads with SEO. SimpleTiger is smaller. Nobody else combines SaaS exclusive paid media expertise with in house creative production (landing pages, video, ad design) at your scale. That's the moat.

One trend reshaping the market: AI Overviews have compressed ad inventory. Paid CTR on queries with AI Overviews dropped 68% (from 19.7% to 6.34%) between June 2024 and September 2025. AI Overviews now appear on 48% of all searches. When bidding algorithms are commoditized and inventory is shrinking, the only remaining lever is creative differentiation. That's structurally favorable for Hey Digital.

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4. Where You Win and Where You Don't

Hey Digital vs Directive

DimensionHey DigitalDirectiveEdge
PositioningSaaS only PPC + creativeB2B tech full funnelHey Digital (purity of focus)
Social proof4 Clutch reviews, strong case studies56 Clutch reviews, enterprise logosDirective (volume)
Content/SEOThin blog, dormant podcastResource hub, newsletters, toolsDirective (significantly)
Pricing~$5K/mo estimated$6,500/mo publishedComparable
Key strengthCreative + performance integratedFinancial modeling + brand authority
Key vulnerabilityBrand awareness, review volumeClutch reviews cite lack of proactivity, clients get B team

You beat Directive on SaaS focus and creative integration. They beat you on brand authority, content volume, and social proof. The play is to lean into the specialist angle ("we only do SaaS, they do B2B everything") and shore up the review volume gap before it costs you more deals.

Hey Digital vs KlientBoost

DimensionHey DigitalKlientBoostEdge
PositioningSaaS exclusivePerformance marketing generalistHey Digital (specialization)
Social proof4 Clutch reviews398 Clutch reviewsKlientBoost (overwhelmingly)
Content/SEOThin blogMassive blog, top 45 PPC blogKlientBoost (significantly)
Pricing~$5K/moFrom ~$1K/moDifferent tiers
Key strengthSaaS native expertiseExperimentation velocity, brand
Key vulnerabilityContent and review gapsNot SaaS specialized, quality varies at scale

You beat KlientBoost on SaaS depth. A VP Marketing at a Series B SaaS company doesn't want the same agency running ads for an ecommerce brand. But KlientBoost's review volume (398 vs 4) and content engine are real competitive disadvantages for you in the discovery phase.

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5. 3 Opportunities Your Competitors Aren't Exploiting

1. The SaaS PPC Benchmark Report Nobody Owns

With 200+ SaaS clients and $2.3M+/month in managed spend, Hey Digital is sitting on one of the richest SaaS ad performance datasets in the market. Nobody publishes proprietary SaaS specific CPA benchmarks by vertical, stage, ACV, and channel. Directive publishes some data, but it's B2B wide, not SaaS specific. An annual "State of SaaS Paid Acquisition" report generates backlinks, listicle citations, AI training data inclusion, and press coverage. It positions you as the definitive source of truth for SaaS paid acquisition economics. This position is free for the taking.

2. AI Augmented Campaign Management as a Category

The 2026 PPC landscape is undergoing a structural shift. Agencies competing on execution speed and platform certification are most at risk of AI commoditization. There's a wide open lane to become the first SaaS specific agency that explicitly sells AI augmented campaign management. Not "we use AI tools" but "we built proprietary AI systems that reduce your CPA 30% faster than manual optimization." No SaaS PPC agency has credibly claimed this position. Directive is closest but they're generalist B2B, not SaaS pure.

3. Own the "Post PMF Growth Partner" Position

The SaaS PPC agency market is splitting into two tiers: agencies for early stage companies finding initial channels, and agencies for growth stage companies optimizing existing spend. Most agencies market to both and differentiate on neither. Hey Digital's case studies (Hotjar, Toggl, Writesonic, Pitch) scream post product market fit SaaS with $5M to $50M ARR. Owning "the PPC agency for SaaS companies that already have PMF" sharpens messaging, filters tire kickers, commands premium pricing, and creates a defensible brand position.

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6. What Your Buyers Are Saying

Real quotes from buyers in your category:

"We kept spending money, hoping that additional investment would turn the project around. However, the problems were caused by a lack of diligence and strategy."
Clutch review of Directive, CMO at B2B Software Startup
"Before working with KlientBoost, we struggled with our PPC campaigns, rising CPAs, and inconsistent lead quality."
G2 review, Head of Marketing at Business Services Startup
"Unlike agencies that offer cookie cutter solutions, KlientBoost acts like an extension of our marketing team."
Clutch review, Head of Growth at B2B SaaS Company
"I don't care about signups, I care about signups with a card on file."
Jordan Gal, CEO at Rosie (Hey Digital client)
"I'm looking to scale our lead generation but need a partner that specifically understands B2B SaaS metrics."
Techzeel Community forum

Common pain language: "Rising CPAs and inconsistent lead quality." "Cookie cutter solutions." "Reports full of vanity metrics." "Campaign shut down without notice." "Lack of diligence and strategy." "Budget wasted on zero intent keywords."

What buyers compare agencies to: Extension of my team (highest praise) vs vendor (worst label). Past agency (bad experience is the benchmark). In house capability (can we eventually bring this in house?). Dollar in, dollar out ROI ("We give you a dollar, you make us three").

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7. Who You Should Be Targeting

ICP 1: The Post Funding Growth Leader

VP Marketing or Head of Growth at a Series A/B SaaS company, $1M to $10M ARR, 30 to 150 employees. Recently raised funding. Has product market fit but hasn't cracked paid acquisition at scale. Spending $15K to $80K/month on ads. Pain: board expects pipeline growth NOW, no in house paid media expertise. Trigger: funding announcement (strongest signal, 30 to 90 day window). Researches via peer Slack communities (Demand Curve, Pavilion, Exit Five), Clutch/G2, LinkedIn.

ICP 2: The Scaling Operator

Director of Demand Gen or CMO at a Series B/C SaaS, $5M to $30M ARR, 100 to 500 employees. Has a 1 to 3 person in house paid team that's maxed out. Spending $50K to $250K/month. Pain: hit a scaling wall, creative is stale, attribution is broken. Trigger: new CMO hire (reviews all vendors in first 90 days) or missed quarterly pipeline target. Decision timeline: 4 to 10 weeks from trigger to signed contract.

ICP 3: The Efficiency Obsessed Founder

CEO at Seed to Series A, $500K to $3M ARR, 10 to 40 employees. Technical founder where marketing is a black box. Spending $3K to $15K/month with poor ROI. Pain: "I've spent $30K on Google Ads and have no idea if it generated a single customer." Trigger: failed DIY campaign or investor pressure. Often starts with a $5K to $10K pilot before committing.

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8. Quick Start Playbooks

Campaign 1: Competitor Engagement Monitor

What to watch for: SaaS marketers engaging with Directive, KlientBoost, or Powered by Search content on LinkedIn. People who comment on competitor posts with pain signals ("we're struggling with CAC," "looking for an agency") are actively shopping.

Where to watch: LinkedIn profiles of Garrett Mehrguth (Directive), Johnathan Dane (KlientBoost), Dev Basu (Powered by Search).

What to do when you see it: Send a connection request + personalized message referencing their comment. Offer your SaaS PPC Benchmark Report (Opportunity #1) as a value exchange.

Expected volume: 15 to 30 qualified signals per month across 3 competitor profiles.

Setup (10 to 15 minutes):

  • Open LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($99/mo) or free LinkedIn search
  • Follow the 3 competitor founder profiles listed above
  • Turn on post notifications for each profile (bell icon on their profile)
  • Create a Google Sheet with columns: Date, Prospect Name, Company, Signal Type, Comment Text, Action Taken
  • Check notifications daily. When a SaaS company employee comments with pain language, add to sheet
  • Send connection request with note: "Saw your comment on [founder]'s post about [topic]. We work exclusively with B2B SaaS companies on paid acquisition. Happy to share our latest benchmark data if useful."

Campaign 2: Funding Signal Tracker

What to watch for: B2B SaaS companies announcing Series A or B funding. These companies hire agencies within 30 to 90 days of closing.

Where to watch: Crunchbase alerts, TechCrunch SaaS funding roundups, LinkedIn funding announcements.

What to do when you see it: Identify the VP Marketing or Head of Growth. Send a personalized outreach within 7 days of the announcement referencing their raise and offering a quick paid acquisition assessment.

Expected volume: 40 to 80 qualified SaaS funding events per month.

Setup (10 to 15 minutes):

  • Create a free Crunchbase account at crunchbase.com
  • Set up a saved search: Category = SaaS, Funding Round = Series A or Series B, Date = Last 30 days
  • Set up Google Alerts for: "Series A SaaS," "Series B SaaS," "SaaS funding round"
  • Create an F5Bot alert (free, f5bot.com) for Reddit keywords: "just raised Series A SaaS," "SaaS funding"
  • When a signal fires, find the Head of Growth on LinkedIn. Check if they're hiring for marketing roles (confirms budget allocation). Add to your outreach sheet.

Campaign 3: LinkedIn Thought Leader Engagement Mining

What to watch for: SaaS marketing leaders engaging with paid acquisition and demand gen content from thought leaders like Chris Walker, Silvio Perez, and Sam Kuehnle. Comments containing "how do we scale LinkedIn Ads," "our CAC is climbing," or "looking for execution help" signal buying intent.

Where to watch: LinkedIn profiles listed in Section 9.

What to do when you see it: Engage with their comment first (add value, don't pitch). Then connect with a personalized note. Share a relevant case study from your portfolio.

Expected volume: 20 to 40 qualified engagement signals per month across 5 thought leader profiles.

Setup (10 to 15 minutes):

  • Follow all 13 profiles listed in Section 9 on LinkedIn
  • Turn on post notifications for the top 5 (Walker, Perez, Kuehnle, Mehrguth, Dane)
  • Set aside 15 minutes each morning to scan new posts and comments
  • Create a tracking sheet: Date, Profile, Commenter, Company, Pain Signal, Your Response, Follow Up Status
  • Engagement script: First comment adds value ("We've seen the same pattern across 200+ SaaS accounts..."). Second touchpoint is a connection request with context.

Campaign 4: Active Ad Spend Retargeting + Gap Assessment Lead Magnet

The insight: Companies already running LinkedIn Ads or B2B Meta Ads are pre qualified for Hey Digital. They have budget. They believe in paid. They're either doing it in house (and hitting a ceiling) or using an agency (and possibly underperforming). The signal isn't intent. The signal is activity.

List Sourcing

Build a prospect list of SaaS companies actively running LinkedIn and Meta ads:

  • LinkedIn Ad Library (linkedin.com/ad-library): Search by company, industry, or keyword. Filter for B2B SaaS companies running sponsored content. The ad library shows active ads, which confirms current spend.
  • Meta Ad Library (facebook.com/ads/library): Filter by "All Ads" and search for B2B SaaS brands. Active ads = active budget.
  • SpyFu / Semrush: Search for companies bidding on SaaS related PPC keywords. Export competitor ad data.
  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Filter for companies with "LinkedIn Advertising" or "Demand Generation" in their marketing team's job descriptions. Companies hiring for these roles are investing in paid.

Expected list size: 500 to 2,000 SaaS companies actively running B2B paid ads across LinkedIn and Meta.

The Lead Magnet: SaaS Ad Account Gap Assessment

A self service tool the prospect runs against their own ad data. Built on Claude Code with full setup instructions (clone repo, plug in credentials, get a report). The assessment surfaces gaps tied to business outcomes, not vanity metrics.

What it checks (based on their current activity):

What They're DoingBusiness Outcome GapWhat the Assessment Surfaces
Running LinkedIn AdsPipeline from LinkedIn vs total spend"You spent $X on LinkedIn last quarter. How many SQLs can you attribute to it?"
Running Google AdsRevenue per click trend"Your CPC is $X. At your conversion rate, each customer costs $Y. Is that sustainable at your ACV?"
Running Meta Ads for B2BLead quality signal"X% of your Meta leads match your ICP criteria. The rest is spend that looks like activity but produces nothing."
Landing pages liveConversion rate vs benchmark"Your landing page converts at X%. SaaS top performers convert at 8 to 12%. That gap costs you $Y/month in wasted clicks."
Multiple channels activeChannel attribution clarity"You're running ads on 3 channels. Can you tell us which one generated revenue last quarter? If not, you're optimizing blind."
Creative running for 60+ daysCreative fatigue detection"Your top ad has been running since [date]. Creative fatigue typically sets in at 45 to 60 days. Expected performance decline: 15 to 30%."

Why this works as a lead magnet: Every gap surfaces a business outcome problem, not a tactical critique. The prospect sees their own numbers and thinks "we're leaving money on the table." The natural next step is "who can fix this?" and Hey Digital is the one who built the assessment.

Setup Instructions (Included with the Lead Magnet)

The assessment ships as a Claude Code project the prospect can run in 15 minutes:

  • Clone the repo
  • Export ad data from LinkedIn Campaign Manager / Meta Ads Manager / Google Ads (CSV exports, step by step instructions included)
  • Run the assessment script
  • Get a branded PDF gap report with their specific numbers, benchmarks, and 3 priority recommendations

The setup is intentionally easy. The harder part (fixing the gaps at scale) is what Hey Digital sells.

Retargeting Strategy

AudienceChannelAd Copy Angle
heydigital.co site visitorsLinkedIn + Meta retargeting"You looked at our work. Here's what your ad account looks like vs the 200+ SaaS companies we manage."
LinkedIn post engagers (Dylan Hey's audience)LinkedIn retargeting"Running LinkedIn Ads for your SaaS? Most B2B companies waste 25 to 40% of spend on non buyer clicks. Find your leaks in 15 minutes."
Companies from active ad spend listLinkedIn Sponsored Content"We analyzed 200+ SaaS ad accounts. The average company wastes $4,500/month on ads that generate activity but not pipeline. What's your number?"
Lookalike audience (based on current clients)Meta"Your SaaS is running paid ads. The question isn't whether you're spending. It's whether the spend is turning into revenue."

Expected volume: 200 to 500 gap assessment downloads per quarter. 15 to 25% request a follow up conversation (the gaps create urgency). 5 to 10 qualified meetings per month from this channel alone.

Why this is the highest leverage play: Every other campaign in this report requires Hey Digital to find prospects. This one makes prospects find Hey Digital. The ad spend list gives you a warm audience. The gap assessment gives them a reason to engage. The results give them a reason to call. The retargeting keeps Hey Digital top of mind until they do.

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9. Profiles Worth Watching

Thought Leaders

NameTitleFollowersWhy They MatterSignal
Chris WalkerFounder, Refine Labs (exited); CEO, ENCODED~164,000Built the largest B2B demand gen agency. His audience IS your buyer persona."We need this" or "how do we implement" comments
Silvio PerezFounder, AdConversion~9,000+Managed $100M+ in B2B ad spend. 50+ hours of B2B ad courses on YouTube.SaaS marketers asking tactical PPC questions
Sam KuehnleVP Marketing, Loxo~30,000 to 40,000Turned off Google Ads at Loxo and rebuilt demand from scratch. His audience is rethinking paid acquisition.Frustration with current paid performance
Peep LajaCEO, Wynter; Founder, CXL~70,000B2B message testing and conversion expert. Audience overlaps with Hey Digital's buyers on landing page and creative needs.Poor landing page or creative fatigue mentions

Competitor Execs

NameTitleFollowersWhy They MatterSignal
Garrett MehrguthCEO, Directive~13,500Direct competitor. Engagers are current clients or agency shoppers.Pricing questions, service inquiries, dissatisfaction
Johnathan DaneCEO, KlientBoost~15,000 to 20,000Direct competitor. Transparent about agency operations.SaaS companies engaging with case study posts
Dev BasuCEO, Powered by Search~5,000 to 8,000B2B SaaS exclusive competitor. "Predictable Growth" methodology.Demand gen content engagement from SaaS companies

Complementary Providers

NameTitleFollowersWhy They MatterSignal
Lars GronnegaardCOO, Dreamdata~5,000 to 8,000Revenue attribution for B2B. Companies adopting attribution tools are investing in paid media.Attribution challenges, can't track pipeline from paid
Gil AlloucheCEO, Metadata.io~8,000 to 10,000Demand gen automation. Their customers need agency execution alongside the platform.Scaling challenges, multi channel allocation
Rand FishkinCo-Founder, SparkToro~135,000+Audience research tool. His audience is deciding where to spend ad budget.Channel selection and paid vs organic questions

Industry Media

NameTitleFollowersWhy They MatterSignal
Sam DunningFounder, Breaking B2B~15,000 to 20,000Top 10 B2B marketing podcast, 400+ episodes. Direct access to SaaS marketing buyer community.Engagement on paid media and agency episodes
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10. Poke the Bear Matrix + Sample Outbound Emails

Question Matrix

These are illumination questions Hey Digital can use in outbound to B2B SaaS companies. Each question surfaces a pain the prospect hasn't consciously quantified. Built from the buyer voice research, market data, and ICP profiles in this report.

Pain CategoryQuestionWhy It HurtsData
CAC inflationHow do you know your paid acquisition costs aren't climbing faster than your LTV can sustain?The median SaaS company now spends $2.00 to acquire $1.00 of new ARR. Up 14% from 2023. Most marketing teams don't recalculate the ratio quarterly.TripleDart B2B SaaS Benchmarks
Wasted spendWhat are you doing to ensure your Google Ads budget isn't bleeding on keywords that bring in zero intent traffic?25 to 40% of B2B SaaS ad spend goes to non buyer clicks without proper negative keyword discipline. That's $3,750 to $6,000/month on a $15K budget going nowhere.PipeRocket Digital, GrowthSpree
AI disruptionHow do you know your paid search strategy still works now that AI Overviews appear on 48% of all Google queries?Paid CTR on queries with AI Overviews dropped 68% in the last year. Same budget, dramatically fewer clicks. The companies that haven't adapted are paying 2024 prices for 2026 inventory.Seer Interactive, Digital Applied
Attribution blind spotHow do you know which of your paid channels actually generated pipeline last quarter?94% of B2B buyers rank their preferred vendor before ever contacting sales. If you can't trace pipeline back to the ad that started the journey, you're optimizing the wrong thing.Corporate Visions
Creative fatigueWhat are you doing to ensure your ad creative isn't the reason your CPA keeps climbing?When bidding algorithms are commoditized (everyone uses smart bidding), the only lever left is creative. Same targeting, same budget, different ad, completely different result. Most SaaS companies haven't refreshed creative in 6+ months.GrowthSpree SaaS Benchmarks 2026
Channel concentrationHow do you know your pipeline isn't one Google algorithm change away from disappearing?Zero click searches now exceed 60%. Companies running 80%+ of spend on a single channel are one policy change from starting over.Click Vision Zero Click Statistics 2026
Landing page leakWhat are you doing to ensure your landing pages aren't killing conversions your ads already won?Average SaaS landing page converts at 3 to 5%. Top performers hit 8 to 12%. A 2x improvement in conversion rate is the mathematical equivalent of doubling your ad budget for free.Unbounce Conversion Benchmark Report
Vanity metrics trapHow do you know your marketing dashboard is showing you pipeline metrics and not just expensive activity?Reports full of impressions, clicks, and form fills that never convert to revenue. The gap between "marketing qualified" and "sales qualified" is where most SaaS ad budgets go to die.Buyer voice research across Clutch, G2, Reddit

Sample Outbound Emails (Written As Hey Digital)

Email A: Post Funding Growth Leader ICP

Subject: quick math on your paid acquisition

{{FIRST_NAME}}, noticed {{COMPANY}} closed your Series B last month. Congrats.

Here's the number that probably hasn't come up in your board deck yet: the median SaaS company now spends $2.00 to acquire $1.00 of new ARR. That's up 14% from last year.

Most post funding SaaS teams hire a generalist marketer and throw budget at Google Ads. Six months later, the CAC math doesn't work and the board starts asking questions.

We've built the paid acquisition engine for 200+ SaaS companies at your stage. PostHog cut CPA 17% while scaling cloud conversions 18.5%.

Worth seeing what that looks like for {{COMPANY}}?

Dylan Hey

Email B: Scaling Operator ICP

Subject: your creative is probably the bottleneck

{{FIRST_NAME}}, Google AI Overviews now appear on 48% of all searches. Paid CTR on those queries dropped 68% in the last year.

That means the same budget buys dramatically fewer clicks. The only lever left is creative. Better ads, better landing pages, better conversion rates per click.

Most agencies manage bids and call it optimization. We produce the creative, build the landing pages, and run the campaigns. Toggl cut ad spend 52% while increasing deal value 159% because we rebuilt the creative layer, not just the bid strategy.

How do you know your current creative isn't the thing holding back every campaign you run?

Dylan Hey

Email C: Efficiency Obsessed Founder (Developer Tools Niche)

Subject: $30K in ads with nothing to show

{{FIRST_NAME}}, ran across {{COMPANY}} while researching developer tool companies scaling paid acquisition.

Curious. How do you know your Google Ads spend is actually generating customers and not just signups that never convert?

We built the paid engine for PostHog, the open source product analytics platform. They were in a similar spot. We increased cloud conversions 18.5% and dropped CPA 17% by focusing on card on file signups, not vanity metrics.

Most dev tool founders spend $30K over 6 months with zero visibility into what actually converted. Worth a quick email exchange to see if you're in the same boat?

Dylan Hey

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11. What Happens Next

This report covers the landscape. Building the pipeline is a different conversation.

Here's what the research surfaced about Hey Digital specifically: Directive has 14x your review volume. KlientBoost has 100x. Your blog output is a fraction of theirs. You don't appear in most "best SaaS PPC agency" listicles. And 20% of your clients may be evaluating whether they need an agency at all. The creative plus performance model is the right moat. But the discovery layer (content, reviews, AI visibility) isn't built yet, which means you're winning almost entirely on referrals and direct outreach. That's a ceiling.

The outbound emails above show what we'd actually build for you. Separate sequences for each ICP. The Post Funding Growth Leader gets a different angle than the Scaling Operator. The Founder CEO gets copy that speaks to their specific fear ($30K with nothing to show). We'd test 4 to 6 positioning angles in the first 30 days to find which message gets your buyers to reply.

What LeadGrow does: we build and run the outbound engine. Infrastructure, copy, testing, optimization, lead handoff. Across 1,626 campaigns, our reply rates run 2 to 4x industry averages because we write from research (this report is the proof), not templates.

Here's what the call covers: which ICP to prioritize first, what the outbound infrastructure looks like for an agency selling $5K+/month retainers, and what realistic pipeline numbers look like for your specific market. No pitch deck. Book the call here.

Key Takeaways

  • 120% of PPC clients plan to replace agencies with AI tools, not switch to a competitor. Hey Digital's website shows zero AI capabilities. That gap gets wider every quarter.
  • 24 Clutch reviews vs Directive's 56 and KlientBoost's 398. The social proof gap is costing deals before Hey Digital gets the pitch meeting.
  • 3With 200+ SaaS clients and $2.3M+/month in managed ad spend, Hey Digital is sitting on the richest SaaS PPC benchmark dataset in the market. Nobody is publishing it.
  • 4The creative + performance model (landing pages, video, ad design + PPC management) is the structural moat. AI Overviews crushed paid CTR by 68%, making creative the only remaining lever.
  • 53 ICP profiles with specific trigger events: post-funding growth leaders (30 to 90 day window after raise), scaling operators (new CMO hire), and efficiency-obsessed founders (failed DIY campaign).

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