Case study 03

Performance Marketing

PMAX

Optimizing budgets for sustainable Lead growth: running over VND 500 million in Paid Media budget a year for B2B audiences - allocated by funnel stage, optimized weekly and measured by Lead quality rather than impressions.

Challenge

Ad budget was spread across many platforms without clear allocation rules. Cost per Lead kept rising while quality did not improve.

Objective

Standardize a shared operating process: budget tied closely to each funnel stage, with every campaign group accountable for exactly one core metric.

Execution

Tiering target audiences by readiness; aligning Content - Creative - Media for each funnel tier; keeping a weekly optimization rhythm.

Results after 09 months

Key results

Rather than just counting how many campaigns were run, I focus on the metrics that show how the Performance system is creating value.

500M+

VND in Paid Media budget managed per year

4,000+

Leads recorded

400+

Qualified B2B Leads handed to Sales

62%

Leads from decision-makers

Performance overview

From 01/2026 - 06/2026

Campaign performance overview

Every strategy is validated with data. Below are the full 06-month Paid Media figures extracted from the original reports.

5,486,720

Impression

2,741,386

Click

12,260

Link Clicks

6.15%

Conversion Rate (CR)

108,040 VND

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

Source data

(Facebook Ads Manager)

Per-campaign performance for 01/2026 - 06/2026 (click the image to enlarge)

Optimization focus

Budget allocation

Concentrating on the groups with the best performance and cost.

Audience strategy

Segmenting by interest level and actual behavior.

Campaign structure

Setting up campaigns aligned with each funnel stage.

Creative optimization

Testing many different messages and angles.

Lead quality

Managing performance by qualified Lead rate rather than CPL.

Budget allocation

Budget split by principle, not evenly

I keep the final say on budget. Spend is allocated precisely by funnel-tier role and actual cost efficiency, rather than following the platform's default recommendations.

Budget under direct management

500M+ VND/Year

4 campaign groups

3 collaborating teams

Reviewed every 2 weeks

Lead Generation 38% Event Registration 30% Brand Awareness 20% Retargeting 12%

Sample allocation 01/2026 - 06/2026

Source: Facebook Ads Manager

Budget follows the funnel stage

The conversion tier gets the largest share to secure business KPIs; the upper tiers get enough budget to keep a continuous data feed.

Reallocation every two weeks

Campaigns that hold the best cost per Lead (CPL) and qualified Lead rate are immediately prioritized for more budget.

Caps for scale-limited groups

Retargeting and CRM Lists are cheap but limited in size. Spending caps prevent Ad Fatigue, and the surplus goes into expanding new audiences.

Audience

Tiering audiences by readiness

The closer someone gets to a purchase decision, the more specific the message must be and the more each user is worth investing in. The four audience tiers below run in parallel, each with its own goal.

01 · Lookalike Audience

Expanding from the best-converting customer lists to find users with similar profiles and behavior.

02 · Interest & Behavior

Precise targeting by industry behavior, in-depth interests and identifying traits of B2B decision-makers.

03 · Remarketing Audience

Re-engaging users who interacted with the website, Fanpage or watched videos but haven't signed up yet.

04 · Customer List

Nurturing and leveraging existing customer data, prioritizing those with potential for contract expansion (Up-sell /Cross-sell).

Width shows audience size; color depth shows conversion readiness. The deeper into the funnel, the smaller the audience but the higher the budget per person.

Creative

Three top-performing ads

The most effective ads don't just attract clicks, they hit the real pain points of decision-makers. The three below stand out on both CTR and cost /Lead, so they are kept for further duplication and scaling.

Healthcare and Beauty Industry Marketing Event

Going straight at in-depth solutions for each industry, hitting the operational pain points of businesses.

CTR

1.79%

Cost /Lead

37,243 VND

Ebook Brand Transformation 2026

Emphasizing results and practical value, pre-qualifying the audience from the very first message.

CTR

1.08%

Cost /Lead

64,442 VND

Vietnam Marketing Forum Event

Positioning an exclusive ticketed event, attracting a network of C-Level leaders and industry experts.

CTR

1.44%

Cost /Lead

420,847 VND

The system behind it

Three models behind every decision above

The budget split, audience tiering and Creative selection above are not gut-feel decisions. They all run on a standardized system made up of the 3 core models below.

Full Funnel Media Strategy

Budget is allocated across 4 clear funnel tiers, each accountable for exactly one target metric:

Expanding reach

Measured by Reach and CPM.

Driving first engagement

Measured by CTR and CPC.

Nurturing those not yet ready

Time-sequenced remarketing, measured by return rate.

Generating qualified Leads

Measured by CPL and qualified B2B Lead rate.

Allocation rule

Each funnel tier is accountable for exactly one metric. Campaigns that miss KPI lose budget, with no cross-subsidizing.

Creative Testing Model

Creative performance is validated with data, not gut feel. Each ad is scored against 5 standardized criteria with specific recommendations for adjustment.

Ad being scored

Expanding Auto market share in 2026 with LeadMax & LeadScan

An example of how the scoring framework is used

7.0/10

Total score

Tone & Mood

★★★★★★★★☆☆8/10

Feedback Bold colors match the spirit of the Auto industry and convey a sense of growth.

Suggestion Tone down the motion effects so the visual feels cleaner and more focused.

Text on Banner

★★★★★★★☆☆☆7/10

Feedback The headline stands out, but several layers of information compete for attention.

Suggestion Shorten the message and add more white space.

Content

★★★★★★★★☆☆8/10

Feedback Clearly states the solution and the action, fitting the Lead Generation goal.

Suggestion Spell out the problem LeadMax & LeadScan solve for Auto businesses.

Design Elements

★★★★★★★★☆☆8/10

Feedback The car imagery, colors and typography create strong recognition in the feed.

Suggestion Reduce the moving details in the background for more breathing room.

Call to Action

★★★★★★★★☆☆8/10

Feedback Short, direct, easy to understand.

Suggestion Test a CTA tied to a benefit or offer.

Where these criteria come from

Data collection

Gathering ad data from many different sources.

Analysis

Breaking down performance by dimension (Headline, CTA, Content, Visual).

Modeling

Using correlation models to identify the factors with the biggest impact.

Generating insight

Compiling Insights to guide the next round of content production.

Output

A data-quantified Creative library: knowing exactly when to duplicate, edit or stop an ad, with gut-feel opinions eliminated entirely.

Media Optimization Loop

A weekly 4-step optimization loop: read the numbers by funnel tier, form hypotheses, run controlled tests and immediately shift budget to where performance is highest.

Measurement and optimization

Accurate measurement to optimize every budget dollar

Integrating and syncing data from multiple systems (Ads, Web/ Landing Page, CRM), ensuring transparent reporting across the entire customer conversion journey.

Destination

Comprehensive data optimization for the Lead conversion journey

Full-funnel measurement

Integrating multi-channel data to build Full-funnel reports, tracking the entire customer journey transparently.

Marketing Mix Modeling

Measuring the interplay between channels and accurately assessing real value instead of only looking at the last touchpoint.

Strengthening data signals

Improving the quality of data sent back to ad platforms, helping AI algorithms identify the right prospects.

Creative performance

Raising ad content quality based on real feedback data, eliminating subjective factors entirely.

In-house Martech system

Leveraging PMAX's proprietary data and algorithms (PAXY) to automate real-time tracking and optimization.

From budget to Lead growth

I can help your business make every budget dollar count

Let's build a standardized, funnel-tiered Performance Marketing system: keeping cost per Lead under control and delivering the right quality prospects to your Sales team.