Stan Heropolitanski, Marketing Strategist
Snapshot
I have run budgets of about $18M a year, more than $2M a month at the peak. Campaigns? Hundreds, probably, across every channel I have worked on, though the count has never told anyone anything. My channels: Google, Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, AppLovin, Apple Ads, LinkedIn, ChatGPT Ads, paid listings such as Capterra, plus SEO, email and visibility in AI answers. What I really work on sits above all of them: whether the marketing makes money.
What I do
I know marketing efficiency and marketing finance best. Which actions the data says move the whole business, how to run marketing profitably, and how to fit the strategy to the business, the market and the competition as they are, not as the deck says.
Business metrics, not channel metrics
I look at blended CAC, payback and margin, not at what each platform says about itself.
What it means for you: You know whether your marketing actually earns.
Connecting the dots
I see links between channels, seasonality and your own actions that are hard to spot from the inside.
What it means for you: The cause of a drop, not just the drop.
The whole funnel
Automations, creative, platform management, media buying, copywriting, conversion optimisation, email. I do not stare at one slice.
What it means for you: Fixes where the problem is, not where the budget happens to sit.
A wide background
From early programming and databases to the many industries I have worked in.
What it means for you: A wider view when diagnosing, and more options when solving.
Fast with new tools
New platforms and features do not scare me.
What it means for you: You use new possibilities sooner.
When I use which channel
There is no universal answer. It depends on where your customers are, where they are open to marketing, where your product can look natural, and how well you know your unit economics to judge if a channel pays. As a rule of thumb:
Google
Demand already exists: people search for what you sell and know what to call the category.
Meta
Scaling, with somewhat bigger budgets.
TikTok
Scaling too, often with a younger audience in mind. Often, not always.
Apple Ads
For apps, very often the first channel. Again, it depends on the business.
Who calls me
Industries
Subscriptions and consumer apps mostly. A large part of my working life went to B2B and SaaS.
Hot takes
Hot take 1
There are no universal solutions
Every strategy has to fit the business, its unit economics and the market it lives in. Never jump on a tactic because a lot of people are talking about it. Check it, then translate it to your reality.
Hot take 2
More channels rarely fix anything
What usually does not work is the channels you already have, not the fact that there are too few of them.
Hot take 3
Marketing will not save a weak product
When results fall, marketing gets the blame. Nobody wants to admit that the product and the rest of the business need more work too.
How I work
- 1
First look
How each channel has historically affected business results. Attribution, blended metrics, correlations and regressions, to avoid the traps of channel attribution. Then marketing spend, market demand, the brand's creative mix and which products or services the budget goes to. And overall efficiency: blended CAC, new customer CAC, blended ROAS, LTV, payback period.
- 2
After the first week
A quick overview of business efficiency, a diagnosis of why it may have changed, and first hypotheses on what to do about it.
- 3
After the first month
Structured processes and planned actions to improve marketing efficiency, built for this business. Not generic advice along the lines of "let's try channel X or Y".
Tools
Google Sheets, BigQuery, Snowflake
Data analysis.
Mixpanel, Amplitude, Firebase
Product analytics.
AppsFlyer, Adjust
Attribution for mobile apps.
App Store Connect, Google Play Console
Data from the app stores.
Appfigures, Google Trends, Exploding Topics, Reddit
Insight into the market and the competition.
Klaviyo, HubSpot
Email marketing and automations.
Higgsfield
AI-generated creative.
Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Apple Ads, AppLovin
The ad platforms themselves.
Funnelfox
Web funnels.
Claude
And tools I build on it.
I build tools for analysing marketing efficiency and AI-based processes: bulk ad analysis, comment analysis for sentiment, and a "creative brain" that holds everything about a client and is used to iterate, read results and draft briefs automatically. Usually cut for one very specific need.
Lessons
The costliest mistake
Early in my career I spent about PLN 100,000 on a campaign that delivered very little. It taught me to have a clear plan for the metrics from day one, and to iterate and read results fast enough to see if they follow the plan.
Favourite metrics
Blended CAC, blended ROAS, LTV, payback period and contribution margin. Everything that describes the efficiency of the whole business.
Most overrated
Cost per conversion in the channel.
Quick tip
Watch your marketing efficiency by cohort, so you can see its effect on new customer acquisition. Then join that with data such as LTV, to judge whether your marketing pays over time.
FAQ
Which metrics do you judge marketing by?
Business ones: blended CAC, new customer CAC, blended ROAS, LTV, payback period and contribution margin. Not cost per conversion in a single channel.
Will you suggest adding more channels?
Only if the business case is there. Usually the channels you already have are what needs fixing.
What do I get after the first week?
An overview of business efficiency, a diagnosis of why it may have changed and first hypotheses on what to do next.
Which industries have you worked in?
Subscription businesses such as consumer apps, e-commerce, B2B and SaaS.
Next step.
Bring your blended CAC, or the reason nobody knows it. Book a call with Stan.