Marketing Check-In — 2025-10-03

Bi-weekly check-in with the ^[1] team covering Bing Ads launch, Spotify advertising exploration, DoorHallway Meta and LinkedIn campaign setup, Seattle seminar geo-expansion, and regional budget reallocation.

Meeting recording: https://fathom.video/calls/429319964
Next meeting: 2025-10-17

Attendees

Overview

Short check-in following the previous week's meeting. Agenda covered five areas: Bing Ads setup status, Spotify as a new channel, DoorHallway display campaign readiness on Meta and LinkedIn, upcoming trade show PPC, and seminar geo-targeting adjustments. A late addition from Robyn surfaced a regional budget imbalance flagged by Trachte's Director of Sales.

Key Decisions

• Bing Ads budget: Start all copied campaigns at $5/day per campaign (~$1,000/month total for Trachte at 7 active campaigns). Adjust after observing spend patterns — Bing typically runs cheaper than Google.
• DoorHallway Meta budget: Set at $10/day, split between static graphics and video. Monitor both ad types before optimizing allocation. Option to split into separate ad sets at $5/day each if more granular control is needed.
• Seattle seminar targeting: Expand beyond WA/OR/Vancouver to include Idaho and Alberta (Canada). Sign-ups remain open through event day, so campaign runs to the end.
• Regional budget reallocation: Shift budget toward Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions per input from Scott (Director of Sales). Southwest and West are performing well; Southeast and Mid-Atlantic reps are underserved with leads.
• Spotify: Exploratory interest confirmed. No budget committed yet — needs further research on targeting options and audience demographics before a plan is finalized.

Action Items

• [ ] Robyn Ogden — Update payment method on Trachte Bing Ads account (F1498584) to resolve payment hold
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Revoke portfolio-level Bing Ads access inadvertently granted; re-invite Robyn, Jessica, and Miranda to Trachte account (F1498584) only
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Send Spotify advertising PDF to Robyn, Jessica, and Miranda via email
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Send LinkedIn campaign targeting brief for DoorHallway to Robyn
• [ ] Robyn Ogden — Complete LinkedIn campaign targeting brief for DoorHallway
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Obtain downloadable video file for DoorHallway Meta ads (YouTube link is insufficient for upload)
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Expand Seattle seminar PPC geo-targeting to add Idaho, Alberta, and additional Canadian coverage
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Split existing campaigns by region; allocate more budget to Southeast and Mid-Atlantic using Trachte's regional manager map as reference (Tom Blockwitz, Aaron Sandmeyer, and Tanner's territory)
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Research Spotify audience demographics (premium vs. free user split) and available targeting options (podcast-level, topic/interest targeting)
• [ ] Trachte team — Provide landing pages for MetalCon and Big Ideas trade show PPC when ready

Topic Notes

Bing Ads

Campaigns were imported from Google Ads into the correct Trachte Bing account (F1498584). All budgets set to $5/day as a conservative starting point. A payment hold is blocking the account from going live — Robyn to update the credit card on file.

An access issue was discovered during the call: Sebastian had accidentally invited the Trachte team to the full agency portfolio rather than the specific Trachte account. This will be corrected post-call by revoking and re-inviting to the correct account only.

"Bing tends to be cheaper, so a lot of times it won't even fully spend your budget. We'll have to see which ones it's spending." — Sebastian

Spotify Advertising

Sebastian shared a document outlining Spotify ad formats (audio, video, podcast-specific) and a sample pilot plan. The team expressed genuine interest, particularly in podcast targeting for self-storage and entrepreneurship content. Robyn noted that direct podcast sponsorship outreach has been blocked (shows at capacity), making the platform route appealing.

Key open questions before committing budget:
- What percentage of Spotify users are on free (ad-supported) vs. premium?
- Can ads be placed on specific self-storage or passive income podcasts, or only by topic/interest category?
- Apple Podcasts noted as a potential supplemental channel (Sebastian subscribes to self-storage podcasts there)

This is top-of-funnel / awareness spend — direct attribution to leads will be limited.

DoorHallway — Meta Ads

Static display ads and video creative are ready. Campaign is built in Meta at $10/day but not yet activated — pending confirmation of budget and receipt of a downloadable video file (the YouTube link cannot be uploaded directly to Meta). Once live, Meta will auto-optimize spend between ad types, or the campaign can be split into separate ad sets for manual budget control.

DoorHallway — LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn campaign brief has been drafted by Sebastian. Targeting approach differs from the Meta campaign: LinkedIn will focus on commercial property owners rather than a custom audience. Robyn will complete the brief and return it so the campaign can be built out. Running both Meta and LinkedIn simultaneously will provide useful cross-platform comparison data for the self-storage audience.

Seminar Marketing — Seattle

Seattle seminar registration numbers are low. Current PPC performance: $0.26 per landing page visit, ~550 clicks. Geographic targeting was previously limited to WA, OR, and the Vancouver area. Expanded during the call to include Idaho and Alberta. Robyn noted Trachte has customers in Montana and Alberta who travel for events.

Indianapolis seminar is also running concurrently.

Trade Shows — MetalCon & Big Ideas

Both events are on the radar for PPC support. Campaigns are blocked pending landing pages from the Trachte team. No further action from Asymmetric until pages are provided.

Regional Budget Reallocation

Trachte's Director of Sales (Scott) flagged that Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regional reps are not generating enough leads, while Southwest/West reps can't keep up with volume. Midwest and Northeast are holding steady. Sebastian will restructure existing campaigns to isolate these regions and shift budget accordingly. Reference: Trachte regional manager map on their website.

Related

• ^[2]
• ^[3]