Cut $9K/month in waste.
Pipeline grew 56%.
Meridian's CFO demanded a 20% budget cut. Growth 8020 found the waste, eliminated it, and turned the savings into a pipeline machine — in 90 days.
The problem
Meridian's marketing team was spending $47K/month across Google Ads and LinkedIn with no centralized reporting. Their CFO flagged marketing as the largest discretionary line item and demanded a 20% budget cut — while the board still expected pipeline growth. The VP of Marketing was caught between two impossible mandates: spend less and generate more.
What we did
- 1
Audited all paid media accounts and found 31% of ad spend going to non-converting keywords and audiences
- 2
Consolidated campaign structure from 14 fragmented campaigns to 5 tightly themed campaigns with proper negative keyword coverage
- 3
Implemented weekly automated performance reports with attribution tied to CRM pipeline stages
- 4
Shifted 15% of budget from awareness to high-intent bottom-funnel campaigns
Results — first 90 days
Every number is real. No rounding.
Monthly ad spend
Before
$47,000
After
$38,200
-19%
Marketing qualified leads
Before
84/mo
After
127/mo
+51%
Cost per MQL
Before
$560
After
$301
-46%
Pipeline generated
Before
$312K/mo
After
$488K/mo
+56%
CFO outcome
Budget flagged → Budget approved for Q3 increase
“We cut almost $9K/month in waste and our pipeline actually grew. When I showed the CFO the numbers, he approved a budget increase for Q3. That never happens.”