Ad Strategy & The Funnel Course
An ad strategy course that turns random campaigns into one system: who to reach at each funnel stage, what to offer them, how to split the budget and how to judge every campaign fairly.
- 5 Modules
- 26 Lessons
- 5 hrs
- Certificate of completion
- 100% online
Industry recognised certifications with
Google
Microsoft
HubSpot
Semrush- Google
- Microsoft
- HubSpot
- Semrush
- Google
- Microsoft
- HubSpot
- Semrush
- Google
- Microsoft
- HubSpot
- Semrush
- Google
- Microsoft
- HubSpot
- Semrush
Plan Your Paid Ads Like A Strategist
Learn TOFU, MOFU & BOFU Online, At Your Pace
Ad Strategy & The Funnel is the second course in our paid advertising courses, and it's where ads stop being a string of guesses and start working as a system. You'll map your funnel from cold strangers to hot buyers, build audiences and exclusions that keep it clean, design offers for each stage, choose objectives and bid strategies, and forecast backwards from your goals. Like all our online digital marketing courses, it's self-paced, with lasting access to every lesson.
Why it matters: the campaign with the best ROAS in your account is often fed by a prospecting 'flop' nobody understands. Cut the flop and, a fortnight later, both numbers sink. This PPC training teaches you to judge each campaign by its own job, plan around seasonal peaks, set budgets from your real economics and keep urgency honest. New to ads? Start with Paid Advertising Foundations, then put the plan to work in the Meta Ads Course.
Who This Paid Advertising Course Is For
- Business owners whose ads feel like random acts rather than a plan
- Marketers who need to split one budget between prospecting and retargeting
- Advertisers whose best-looking campaign keeps running out of steam for no obvious reason
- Anyone who has finished Paid Advertising Foundations and wants the strategic layer
The problem it solves
Most accounts judge every campaign by the same number, then switch off the prospecting that was quietly feeding the sales.
What you'll be able to do
Build a full-funnel plan that fits on one page, with offers, audiences, budgets and bid strategies matched to each stage.
Best for
Business owners and marketers ready to plan ads as one joined-up system.
What You'll Learn On This Paid Advertising Course
- 1Thinking in FunnelsSeeing your ads as one system: who you're talking to, how ready they are to buy, and what they need to hear
- 2Audience & Targeting StrategyWho to reach at every temperature, who to leave well alone, and how to stop the funnel leaking
- 3Offers & Campaign ObjectivesWhat you sell, how you ask for it, and the setting that tells the algorithm exactly who to go and find
- 4Budgeting & Bidding StrategyTurning your business's economics into a budget, a bid strategy and a forecast you can hold up against reality
- 5The Cross-Platform StrategyMaking several platforms work as one system, measured fairly and pulled together into a plan that fits on a page
Inside The Ad Strategy & The Funnel Course — Every Module
All 5 modules and 26 lessons, with a taste of what each one hides. Click any module to open it up.
1Module 1 — Thinking in Funnels
Seeing your ads as one system: who you're talking to, how ready they are to buy, and what they need to hear.
Lesson 1.1 — Why strategy beats tactics in paid advertising
- Why two candle shops with identical budgets and identical AI end up telling opposite stories.
- The four random acts of advertising you'll recognise — and probably one you've committed.
- How the eight-link chain exposes a “targeting problem” that's really an offer problem in disguise.
Lesson 1.2 — The marketing funnel: TOFU, MOFU and BOFU explained
- Why switching off the “worst” campaign made the “best” one start failing a fortnight later.
- Where the funnel stops in most diagrams, and where most of the profit actually lives.
- When the neat three-stage funnel bends, and why a dead boiler skips straight to the bottom.
Lesson 1.3 — Cold, warm and hot: audience temperature
- Why the audience that converts best can still be the smallest source of sales.
- What a good independent shopkeeper knows about the browser, the regular and the person at the till.
- How a stranger can be stone cold and ready to buy at the same time.
Lesson 1.4 — Matching the message to the funnel stage
- How the same software flopped twice, for two completely opposite reasons.
- The 1966 idea from Eugene Schwartz that still decides what your ad should say first.
- Why “20% off, buy today” means nothing to a stranger, and what to ask for instead.
Lesson 1.5 — How buyers really move: messy journeys and the 95:5 rule
- What Google's “messy middle” research found happening between the trigger and the purchase.
- The 95:5 rule, and why chasing only today's buyers makes you a stranger to tomorrow's.
- How to tell when a performance-only account has quietly hit its ceiling.
2Module 2 — Audience & Targeting Strategy
Who to reach at every temperature, who to leave well alone, and how to stop the funnel leaking.
Lesson 2.1 — Defining who you're actually trying to reach
- Why “women, 25 to 55, who like nice things” tells the algorithm almost nothing it needs.
- The commuter's milkshake, and what it reveals about what your customers are really hiring you for.
- How a bookkeeping app found one kind of free trial worth more than twice as much as another.
Lesson 2.2 — Cold audiences and prospecting (TOFU)
- How a “prospecting” campaign can post a lovely ROAS while finding almost nobody new.
- The Google setting that keeps Performance Max hunting strangers instead of re-winning regulars.
- What a 3.2 ROAS looked like once the candle shop counted who was actually new.
Lesson 2.3 — Warm audiences and nurturing (MOFU)
- Why “Book your quote today!” is the wrong thing to say to someone who just watched your video.
- The Meta setting that can show your “still thinking about it?” ad to people who've never met you.
- How to move people off rented audiences and onto a list you'll still own next year.
Lesson 2.4 — Retargeting and hot audiences (BOFU)
- Why a “sold 10 in the last 5 minutes” pop-up can mislead even when the number is true.
- How much a hot audience can really absorb before people see the same candle dozens of times.
- When a deadline that was true on Monday becomes a false claim by Thursday.
Lesson 2.5 — Lookalikes, custom audiences and customer lists
- Why uploading every customer you've ever had can point the platforms at the wrong people.
- The Google rule that usually stops a small shop aiming a campaign at its own customer list.
- What happened to lookalikes on Meta, Google and LinkedIn — and why your seed matters more now.
Lesson 2.6 — Exclusions, overlap and frequency: keeping the funnel clean
- Why last week's customers might still be seeing your first-order discount, and the fix that holds.
- How two of your own ad sets can quietly starve each other without ever bidding against you.
- The cheaper fix to try before you slash the budget on a tiring audience.
3Module 3 — Offers & Campaign Objectives
What you sell, how you ask for it, and the setting that tells the algorithm exactly who to go and find.
Lesson 3.1 — The offer is the engine: getting it right
- How one boiler installer wins the enquiries without touching a single targeting setting.
- The competitor most offers forget to beat — and for some businesses, it's the biggest one.
- What to shrink before you even think about cutting the price.
Lesson 3.2 — Matching campaign objectives to funnel stages
- What happened when the candle shop copied its Sales campaign and changed one setting.
- Why a 15p landing page view can be the most expensive result in your account.
- The number that decides whether optimising for baskets helps you or quietly hurts.
Lesson 3.3 — Lead generation vs direct sales
- Why nobody wants a sales call from a candle shop, and how that decides your whole model.
- How the cheapest leads in a boiler installer's test looked like winners until someone kept counting.
- The qualifying question that sends “just researching” homeowners to email, not an engineer's diary.
Lesson 3.4 — Designing offers for each stage of the funnel
- How much a 20% discount really costs a candle shop, and how many extra sales it takes to stand still.
- The value ladder that takes a stranger from a free quiz to a repeat customer, one rung at a time.
- What your numbers are telling you when cold traffic clicks happily but hardly ever converts.
Lesson 3.5 — Seasonality, promotions and planning around peaks
- Why the real work for a Christmas peak starts weeks before the rush.
- The Google tool built for short, sharp sales, and why it's the wrong choice for a long one.
- How a boiler installer can waste money at the busiest time of year by buying too many leads.
4Module 4 — Budgeting & Bidding Strategy
Turning your business's economics into a budget, a bid strategy and a forecast you can hold up against reality.
Lesson 4.1 — Setting a budget that makes sense
- The four ways businesses set an ad budget, and the only one that starts from what you want.
- How a campaign can be profitable on paper and still drain the bank account.
- Which three phases every budget should move through, and why skipping one causes so much grief.
Lesson 4.2 — Allocating budget across the funnel
- The one-line sum that tells you how much a retargeting audience can usefully take.
- Why the famous 60:40 split isn't really about TOFU versus BOFU at all.
- When to run the whole funnel in one campaign, and when it's worth keeping the stages apart.
Lesson 4.3 — Bidding strategies and what they optimise for
- Why one bid strategy filled the basket with tealights while another brought home gift sets.
- The August 2026 Google change that stopped some campaigns quietly beating their targets.
- What happens when you ask for a “safe” ROAS target the campaign can't realistically reach.
Lesson 4.4 — The economics: when an ad is actually profitable
- The three numbers that all get called CAC, and how one month can tell two opposite stories.
- When losing money on a customer's first order is smart strategy rather than a mistake.
- Why a boiler installer can't lean on lifetime value the way a subscription business can.
Lesson 4.5 — Forecasting: working backwards from your goals
- How to turn “let's spend £2,000 and see” into a plan you can actually check.
- When no budget in the world can buy the clicks your forecast needs.
- Why your stop and scale rules belong on paper before the first pound goes out.
5Module 5 — The Cross-Platform Strategy
Making several platforms work as one system, measured fairly and pulled together into a plan that fits on a page.
Lesson 5.1 — Choosing the right platforms for your goal
- The six questions that tell you which platforms to hire, and which to leave on the bench.
- Why £1,500 spread across four platforms can teach you less than the same money in one.
- How a Bristol pottery studio knew Search had hit its ceiling, and what it added next.
Lesson 5.2 — How platforms work together across the funnel
- Why pausing one “unprofitable” campaign can make a different one wobble three weeks later.
- The free report that shows how many people search for you by name, and what it can and can't prove.
- How your own customer lists become the bridge between platforms that refuse to share data.
Lesson 5.3 — Measuring a full-funnel strategy
- Why a video campaign showing a 0.6 ROAS isn't automatically the one to switch off.
- The two video metrics marketers talk about that you won't find under those names in any dashboard.
- How a simple geo test can settle what your ads actually cause, using your own sales data.
Lesson 5.4 — Building your overall paid advertising plan
- The eight sections that fit a whole paid advertising strategy onto a single page.
- Why a free-trial business should never judge this week's trials against this week's new customers.
- How to turn a real tax deadline into honest urgency without overstating who it applies to.
Lesson 5.5 — Common strategic mistakes (and how to avoid them)
- Ten expensive strategic mistakes, and the pattern hiding behind almost all of them.
- Why copying a competitor's strategy is the mistake the ad libraries make so tempting.
- The five-minute health check to run on any account, where every “no” becomes your next job.
Which Package Is The Ad Strategy & The Funnel Course In?
One Of 9 Online Paid Advertising Courses
You'll find the Ad Strategy & The Funnel course inside these packages — or take it on its own as a single online paid advertising course.
Flexible Online Learning & Friendly Dedicated Tutors
Choose between self-paced syllabus study, live weekly group coaching sessions, or intensive coaching with built-in career opportunities.
Online Self-Paced
Learn on your own schedule
Develop industry-leading skills entirely on your own schedule. Enjoy permanent access to pristine video guides and professional tutor review workflows.
- Your chosen course package(s)
- Professional, fun and easy-to-use learning platform
- Student support 7 days a week
- Tutor-marked assessments
- Official certification pathways
Blended Learning
Self-paced + live group coaching
Get the best of both worlds. Learn at your own pace while joining live sessions and workshops to stay on track.
- Lifetime access to help with real work after you qualify
- A free monthly live workshop on broad marketing strategy
- Private community access for peer support
- Voice channel for networking & work sessions
Coaching Intensive
Maximum support, tailored to you
The ultimate accelerated path. Partner directly with dedicated marketing experts to map bespoke campaigns and secure direct agency placements.
- 2× live weekly intensive coaching sessions with our founder & expert coaches
- Exclusive access to a premium space for Coaching Intensive members
- Priority access to support, our founder and coaches
- Real-life job opportunities
- Real-life networking opportunities
Choose Your Paid Advertising Course Package
Bundle up and save versus buying courses individually. Pick the learning style that suits you — switch below to see each price.
Essentials
The core skills to plan, launch and run profitable campaigns on Meta.
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
5 courses included
- 01. Foundations
- 02. Strategy & Funnel
- 03. Ad Creative
- 04. Google Ads
- 05. Meta Ads
- 06. LinkedIn Ads
- 07. Landing Pages
- 08. AOV & ROAS
- 09. Testing & Scaling
Elite
Everything in Essentials, plus Google Ads and the testing that scales what works.
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
7 courses included
- 01. Foundations
- 02. Strategy & Funnel
- 03. Ad Creative
- 04. Google Ads
- 05. Meta Ads
- 06. LinkedIn Ads
- 07. Landing Pages
- 08. AOV & ROAS
- 09. Testing & Scaling
Ultimate
Every paid advertising course we make — the complete, no-gaps arsenal.
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
All 9 courses
- 01. Foundations
- 02. Strategy & Funnel
- 03. Ad Creative
- 04. Google Ads
- 05. Meta Ads
- 06. LinkedIn Ads
- 07. Landing Pages
- 08. AOV & ROAS
- 09. Testing & Scaling
Struck-through prices show the equivalent value bought separately — courses at £149 each, plus the live coaching on Blended and Intensive — so every package saves you the same amount on all three tiers. Prices are one-off, per package.
Official Certificate Pathways
Get official certifications and bonus resources from the likes of Google, HubSpot, Anthropic and more to boost your CV and accelerate your career.
How We Build Our Paid Advertising Courses
Each academy program is structured to pack pure actionable utility, combining theoretical curriculum, verified demos, and certified tutor feedback.
Spec Content
Professionally written lessons that are easy to understand, fun to learn, and jam-packed with valuable information.
Knowledge Checks
Test your skills after every lesson with exciting & challenging multiple-choice questionnaires.
Official Certifications
Expand your knowledge further with structured pathways to official certifications from industry-recognised leaders like Google, HubSpot, and more.
On-Demand Support
Messaging, community, group Q&As or Coaching Intensive — we look after everyone.
Marked Assessments
Do what we teach, get marked with feedback, and earn a real certificate at the end of it all.
We're Making Education Fun Again
Our Ad Strategy & The Funnel Course is built like a game. One quick lesson turns into an hour as you protect your streak, chase hidden achievements and level up through funnel stages, offer design and budget maths. Along the way you'll work out what a 20% discount really costs, how much a retargeting audience can usefully take and how to forecast backwards from a goal. We made it hard to put down on purpose: the more you come back, the faster you finish and the sooner your next campaign has a proper plan behind it.
Ad Strategy & The Funnel Course — Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about the Ad Strategy & The Funnel Course, answered briefly.
More About Our Online Paid Advertising Courses
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Download The Full Paid Advertising Curriculum
Get the complete 250-lesson breakdown across all 9 paid advertising courses — every module, every lesson — sent straight to your inbox. Or enquire and we'll help you choose the right paid advertising course or package.
