Luc (MarTech Engineer)

Media buyer turned MarTech engineer.
I run ad accounts and build the software that monitors them.
$11M managed across 200+ accounts. Now shipping tools for the

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

My very high level overview of what you need to setup lead generation. #MarketingStrategy #LeadGeneration

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Ads put the right person in front of you. What happens next was always your job.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

I've had three different business owners in the last two weeks blame their ads for things ads don't control.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

When you run ads, you're paying for opportunities — people seeing your offer. That's the whole product. Your show rate, your close rate, your cash collected: those come from your offer, your sales process, your follow-up.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Knowing which battle matters, telling an owner the uncomfortable truth, deciding what NOT to do — that's closer to business consulting than ad management.

And it's the exact part most clients don't want to pay for, because it doesn't look like work.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

There's a reason ads management keeps getting cheaper: the platforms are automating the mechanical part. The button-clicking really is becoming a commodity, and pretending otherwise is how agencies die.

But the high-level work was never the commodity.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

$11M in spend managed, and here's the truth: ads management is a shallow skill.

High impact, yes. Deep, no.

It's a cherry on top. If the business under it is broken, the best media buyer alive can't save you.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Ads buy you one thing: opportunities. Eyeballs on your offer.

Not your show rate. Not your close rate. Not your cash.

When the leads don't close, don't blame the thing that got them in the door.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Ads are a commodity. The platforms are automating the button-clicking out of existence.

Good ads management isn't a commodity. It's someone telling you the truth about your business.

Those aren't the same job. Stop paying commodity prices and expecting the second one.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Not because the ads are bad — because the owner doesn't have the runway, the patience, or the offer to make them pay off.

There's no shame in it.

But running ads without those is just setting money on fire and calling it marketing.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

A client came to me three weeks in, ready to quit: "we're not getting leads, this isn't working."

The honest answer, which most won't give you: some businesses shouldn't be running ads yet.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Three weeks in: "we're not getting leads, this isn't working."

Some people need to hear it plainly: you're not built to run ads. No runway, no patience, no offer. Stop.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

The account rarely decides whether ads work. The business behind it does.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

People want to know if their ads will work before I've optimized anything. I can usually tell from two numbers: lifetime value and runway.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

If you charge real money, your LTV is high, and you can sustain spend for 6-9 months, it works almost regardless of what we do. If your margins are thin and you're panicking by week 3, no amount of optimization will rescue it.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Will your ads work? Two questions:

What's your LTV? How long can you fund spend?

High value + 6-9 months of runway = works almost no matter what. Thin margins + panic at week 3 = nothing saves you.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

The modern skill isn't controlling the account. It's handing control to the algorithm and learning to guide it. Most people can't tolerate that.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

The single most common way I watch people waste money on ads: they do too much.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Daily tweaks, constant "optimizing," logging in every morning to change something. Every one of those touches resets the algorithm's learning. You feel productive. You're actually starting over, again and again.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Want to waste ad spend?

Touch the account every day.

Every change resets the learning. You're not optimizing. You're sabotaging. Let the algorithm drive.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Responsibility without ownership. And it usually comes down to an owner who can't hand over the wheel.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

Here's something agency clients don't want to hear: you pay us for expertise, then frequently tell us not to use it.

[Luc (MarTech Engineer) @LucsLeads]

You read something, you want to change the ad copy, and because you're the one paying, we say "great, we'll handle it" — and spend your budget on a move we already knew was a waste. We carry the blame for results but rarely get the authority to actually drive them.