Paid search and social for D2C brands with something worth scaling.

The problem

Most paid media is optimised for ROAS, not contribution margin.

The common failure modes: bidding on brand terms that would have converted organically anyway. Scaling spend before the on-site conversion rate justifies it. Running paid and SEO as separate briefs that compete for the same searches. Reporting ROAS without accounting for returns, fulfilment costs, or repeat purchase rate.

Inside the engagement

Paid search, paid social, and shopping — run from one strategic brief.

Inside a Lumos engagement, paid covers Google search, Performance Max, and Meta — managed as one coordinated campaign, not three separate accounts. We set target contribution margins before we set bids. We coordinate with SEO to identify where paid is covering organic weakness, and with lifecycle to ensure paid acquisition feeds a retention programme.

Connected surfaces

SEO identifies which terms to defend with paid and which to let compound organically. Optimisation ensures the on-site experience justifies the cost per click.

What good looks like

Contribution margin per channel — not blended ROAS.

The commercial outcomes we work towards: contribution margin by channel and campaign, blended CAC versus lifetime value, and the ratio of new-to-returning customers driven by paid. ROAS is a starting point, not the destination.

Common questions