Behind The Screens: Navigating Paid Media
I’ve worked in music education, e-commerce, and home services and one thing has been true across every gig: paid media can seriously change the game. When done right, it’s not just about getting clicks or views. It’s about finding your people, building systems that scale, and telling a story that sticks. Here’s a quick tour through how I’ve done exactly that with Taylor Robinson Music, the 5miles app, and Stellar Home Maintenance.
Success at Taylor Robinson Music
At Taylor Robinson Music, the goal was simple: connect more students with music instructors across all 50 states. But making that happen meant digging deep into Google Ads and SEO to create an engine that didn’t just drive leads, it drove the right ones.
I built out local campaigns using hyper-targeted Google Ads and optimized our landing pages around city and instrument-specific keywords (think: “Guitar lessons in Austin” or “Drum teachers near me”) to boost our organic visibility. I also leaned into Google Business listings and Indeed ads to fill out our instructor network. These combined strategies helped us match thousands of students with instructors and grow faster than we thought possible.
5miles App: From 400K Users to 15 Million
Jumping into the world of 5miles was like diving into the deep end. We were trying to scale fast, and paid media was our paddle. I helped grow the user base from 400,000 to 15 million by running a mix of Google Display campaigns, Facebook install ads, and retargeting strategies that brought people back to the app.
SEO wasn’t just an afterthought—we created blog content that tapped into long-tail searches like “best places to sell used furniture near me” and “how to buy a car online safely.” I tied all this into Salesforce with automations that tracked which campaigns drove real conversions (not just app installs), which helped us tell a more compelling story to investors. Six rounds of funding later, we were proof that growth marketing and storytelling go hand-in-hand.
Stellar Home Maintenance:
Building a Marketing Machine from Scratch
Stellar was a blank canvas and I got to paint the whole marketing picture. I built their department from the ground up, layering in Google Ads, Facebook campaigns, Craigslist hiring funnels, ZipRecruiter listings, and Google Business optimization. Everything funneled back into Salesforce, where I set up automations that made tracking and follow-ups seamless.
For SEO, I wrote service pages targeting neighborhood-level searches like “Dallas home repairs” or “Plano handyman services,” and we started ranking on page one for over a dozen local queries in less than a year. These efforts drove more than just traffic, they brought in high-quality contractor leads that helped Stellar cross $20 million in revenue in just three years.
My Paid Media Journey Continues
Every role I’ve taken has taught me something new about how to blend storytelling, problem-solving, and data into one big, cohesive marketing approach. Whether I’m setting up retargeting campaigns, writing blog content, or building funnels that actually work, the goal is always the same: connect with real people, solve real problems, and build something that lasts.
Marketing might live in spreadsheets and dashboards, but it starts with a simple question: what story are we telling, and who are we telling it to?
I’m excited for whatever comes next. If you’re building something cool and want help turning it into a story people can’t ignore, let’s talk.
