Profitable Paid Advertising Strategies for Business Growth – With John Horn

When running a business, you might think it’s all about having the best product. Today that might not be the case. It’s all about visibility. Even if you have a great product, if people don’t see it, they can’t buy it. With competition tighter than ever and audience attention split across platforms, entrepreneurs face a big question. How do you get in front of the right people, at the right time, and turn that attention into sales? Paid ads promise quick growth, but they can be costly if done wrong. Many business owners have spent thousands on platforms like Google or Facebook, only to walk away frustrated and broke. So why is profitable paid advertising so hard to achieve?

In this episode of The Best Business Podcast, Daryl Urbanski talks with John Horn. He is the CEO of StubGroup, a top 1% Premier Google Partner agency. John has over a decade of experience leading campaigns for clients ranging from small local businesses to publicly traded companies. He’s taught more than 100,000 students, contributed to Forbes, and is a regular guest on industry podcasts. Together, they discuss what makes some ad campaigns lose money while others scale to six and seven figures a month. 

Paid advertising can transform a business. In this conversation, you’ll learn practical strategies to make it work for you. You’ll understand how to approach Google Ads with clarity, measure what matters, and protect your account from sudden suspensions. This episode is packed with tools you can apply whether you’re scaling an existing campaign or just starting out.

Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode: 

1. Learn the secrets to creating profitable paid advertising campaigns and avoid classic budget-burning mistakes.
2. Understand how to leverage Google Ads for scalable customer acquisition by focusing on lifetime value and ROI metrics.
3. Reflect on how AI and shifting online search behaviors are transforming the future of digital marketing and what to do about it now.

Resources 

• John Horn: LinkedIn
• StubGroup: Website | Facebook | X | LinkedIn | YouTube
• “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant” By W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
• Best Business Podcast with Daryl Urbanski - Where you can find more insightful interviews like this one.

Episode Highlights 

Cracking the Paid Ads Strategy Code with John Horn

• Many business owners dive into paid advertising hoping for quick wins, but soon discover it’s far more complex than they imagined.
• Success isn’t just about creating ads. It’s about combining creative messaging with data, testing, and the right strategy to consistently get results.
• In this episode, Daryl Urbanski welcomes John Horn, CEO of StubGroup, a top-performing Google Ads agency recognized among the best in the industry.
• With over a decade of experience running high-impact campaigns, John has helped businesses turn ad spend into scalable, predictable growth.

Getting Started in Paid Advertising: The Trial by Fire

• John shares how he launched StubGroup with his brother during the shift from traditional to digital advertising.
• They ran trial campaigns for their own agency to attract clients and quickly learned how high-stakes paid media can be.
• Iterative testing and real-time learning became the foundation for their success in online advertising.

Businesses Burn Budgets Because They Skip the Fundamentals

• Many enter paid advertising thinking it's a magic bullet without preparing the essential business infrastructure (e.g., clear offers, solid reputation, follow-up systems).
• John compares advertising to fuel: “It can accelerate growth, but only if your business engine is ready to burn it.”
• Critical foundations for success include understanding the customer journey, tracking conversion data effectively, and ensuring customer experiences are compelling enough to generate good reviews.
• A shocking number of advertisers fail because they haven’t even defined what their customer is worth. Without customer lifetime value (LTV), ads are just expensive guesses.

Lifetime Value, Trust, and The Power of Reviews

• John dives into LTV, explaining that knowing what a customer is worth allows you to confidently scale ad spend and outbid competitors.
• Online reputation is a deciding factor for today’s buyers, who research thoroughly before committing.
• Embedding reviews on landing pages builds trust and boosts conversions.
• Creative review-gathering strategies, such as technician-based service reviews, can improve team morale and customer trust.

Big Advertisers Still Need Big Help

• Even experienced businesses come to StubGroup for two key reasons: time and advanced strategy.
• Agency insight allows advertisers to benefit from thousands of daily tests across accounts. Thus, eliminating the guesswork.
• In-house teams tend to operate inside their own “data echo chambers,” missing out on scalable innovations.
• Advanced features like offline conversion tracking and smart bidding modeling become more accessible through expert management rather than DIY experimentation.

Scaling Ads Isn't Just "Spend More Money"

• John explains the false belief that doubling ad spend will double results, but it rarely works that way.
• John uses a dartboard analogy. The first wins are the bullseye, but scaling reaches less responsive audiences.
• Creative solutions like customized funnels and segmented targeting become essential as campaign budgets grow.

The Critical Role of Landing Pages

• Most businesses overly obsess about the ad, but ignore what happens after the click. “The sale happens on the landing page.”
• Great landing pages require clear calls-to-action, credible trust signals (like video testimonials), speed, and relevance to the ad.
• John shares practical tips. Stay close to the “moment of solved pain” and ask for reviews.
• Lead information right when emotions peak.
• Gives specific examples, such as plumbers asking for reviews right after fixing issues, or martial arts schools tailoring offers to parents’ worries.

When to Use Paid Ads as a Startup

• Paid ads can be used during early-stage ventures to test offers. That’s if you treat the money as a research budget, not guaranteed ROI.
• Startups with minimal budget should avoid ads as a Hail Mary. Rely on strength in positioning, not desperation.
• John suggests at least $2,000/month spent for meaningful experimentation. Anything less might create noise without clarity.
• Context matters. Startups in invisible markets (“things people aren’t searching for”) may benefit more from visual-powered ads like YouTube than from Google Search.

Search Intent, Keyword Behavior, and Evolving Ad Intelligence

• Search terms and keywords are not the same thing. Analyzing actual user queries reveals funnel stages and intent.
• Google’s algorithms are now more contextual. User behavior, device, time of day, and previous history all play a role in serving an ad.
• The traditional obsession with keyword exact match has faded. Today, feeding better data into Google’s smart bidding systems yields better results.
• Negative keywords still matter. Refining out irrelevant queries can protect budgets from inefficient traffic.

AI, The Future of Search, and What's Next in Paid Advertising

• John explores how AI isn’t just creating efficiency, It’s reshaping how people interact with the internet.
• Longer, more naturalistic questions are becoming the norm as users consult tools like ChatGPT.
• Advertisers will increasingly see platforms like GPT include native ads. Google won’t stay the sole gatekeeper forever.
• SEO is shifting dramatically. The goal isn’t just “rank a page” anymore, it’s to seed meaningful, original content that LLMs can reference.

Avoiding the Pit of Account Suspensions

• One of the most devastating experiences for businesses is waking up to discover their Google Ads account suspended.
• Google operates at scale, using AI detection and strict policy enforcement. It doesn’t afford personal explanations.
• Many advertisers operate under the false assumption that “if something’s wrong, Google will tell me how to fix it.”
• StubGroup helps clients dissect suspensions and appeal or reinstate campaigns—the agency has helped thousands recover.