---
title: Weekly Call w/ Gilbert — Doodla Farms & Google Ads Review (2026-03-25)
type: article
created: '2026-03-25'
updated: '2026-04-05'
source_docs:
- raw/2026-03-25-weekly-call-w-gilbert-132751713.md
tags:
- meeting
- google-ads
- amazon
- doodla-farms
- aviaries
- papertube
- pmax
- inventory
- advertising
- ecommerce
- remarketing
- conversion-tracking
layer: 2
client_source: Doudlah Farms
industry_context: food-beverage
transferable: false
---

# Weekly Call w/ Gilbert — Doodla Farms & Google Ads Review (2026-03-25)

## Overview

Weekly review with Gilbert and Karly covering Doodla Farms Amazon performance and inventory status, a live Google Ads audit that fixed broken remarketing tracking and missing ad extensions (raising optimization score from 60% to >80%), a new PMAX lifecycle strategy, and a critical flag on the Aviaries account due to zero conversions and broken tracking.

**Attendees:** Mark Hope, Gilbert Barrongo, Karly Oykhman
**Related client:** [[wiki/clients/current/doudlah-farms/_index]]

---

## Key Decisions

- **Yellow Cornmeal PPC bids** will be increased to recover sales momentum lost since December; ROAS is strong and CPC is declining, making this a favorable moment to push.
- **PMAX lifecycle strategy adopted:** Use PMAX for ~90 days to gather performance data, then convert to Search or Shopping campaigns. Existing Black Beans, Popcorn, and Cornmeal PMAX campaigns are candidates for conversion.
- **Display Remarketing campaign rebuilt** to target cart abandoners with all-product messaging, replacing a beans-only focus that was producing zero counted conversions despite 115k+ impressions.
- **Brand Search campaign** bid strategy switched from Manual CPC to Target Impression Share (95% absolute top, $1 cap) to stop missing 23% of brand queries.
- **Old World Search campaign** switched from Maximize Clicks to Maximize Conversions; campaign is new so performance will be monitored before further changes.
- **Inventory velocity floor set at 6 units/month** for any product with velocity below 10, to prevent the planning algorithm from recommending zero replenishment.
- **Aviaries account requires full overhaul** — spending $33/day with zero conversions due to broken conversion tracking and poor campaign structure.

---

## Action Items

- [ ] Increase PPC bids on Yellow Cornmeal to regain sales momentum (@Gilbert Barrongo)
- [ ] Review top 10 products (last 30 days) in Sellerize; check inventory/trends; prep pricing review (@Gilbert Barrongo)
- [ ] Set minimum velocity to 6 units/month in inventory sheet for all low-velocity products (@Gilbert Barrongo)
- [ ] Create catch-all Google Shopping campaign for the 58 untargeted products (@Gilbert Barrongo)
- [ ] Create and upload PMAX videos (correct aspect ratios) for low-score campaigns (@Gilbert Barrongo, @Karly Oykhman)
- [ ] Launch PMAX campaign for Old World products; connect Merchant Center feed (@Gilbert Barrongo)
- [ ] Email Parag the PaperTube performance chart (flat conversions, rising CPC); schedule next-week review (@Karly Oykhman)
- [ ] Complete Aviaries GTM/conversion tracking fixes; implement call-outs/snippets; switch to conversion bidding (@Karly Oykhman)
- [ ] Schedule Aviaries working session with Mark and Sebastian to finish account setup (@Karly Oykhman)
- [ ] Meet Monday to configure AI agent tool on Gilbert's computer (@Mark Hope, @Gilbert Barrongo)

---

## Doodla Farms: Amazon Performance & Inventory

### Sales & Metrics

- Sales are recovering; recent high of **$4,800/day**.
- Organic rankings trending positively.
- Ad units and ad costs are flat; **TACOS is decreasing**.
- Profit margin holding in the **30–40% range**.
- Overall ROAS improving week-over-week (3.4 → 3.66).

### Top Products (Day of Call)

1. Black Beans
2. White Doodla Popcorn
3. Yellow Old World Popcorn
4. Yellow Doodla Popcorn

### Inventory Issues

| Product | Status | Action |
|---|---|---|
| White Old World Popcorn | Out of stock | $2k shipment en route to FBA |
| Pinto Beans (25 lb) | Low stock — 6 units en route | New order sent to Jason |
| Yellow Cornmeal | Adequate inventory; PPC sales down since Dec | Increase PPC bids |
| Blue Haven Cornmeal | 11 months inventory (within 6–12 mo target) | Monitor |

### Inventory Management Process

- **Target range:** 6–12 months of inventory on hand.
- **Overstock action:** 25% coupons applied to all products with >12 months inventory; coupons expire **April 22**.
- **Velocity floor fix:** For any product with velocity below 10 units/month, manually hard-code velocity to **6** in the planning sheet. Prevents the algorithm from recommending zero replenishment when a product temporarily goes out of stock.
  - *Watch these products closely* — the floor will gradually build inventory if actual demand doesn't recover.

### Product Flags

- **Yellow Cornmeal:** PPC sales flat since December despite healthy ROAS and declining CPC. Decision: increase bids to regain momentum.
- **Organic Rye Flour:** Bestseller Rank declining since March 15. Not an inventory issue — root cause under investigation.

---

## Google Ads: Live Audit & Fixes

### Starting State

- Account Optimization Score: **60%** — below the ~80% threshold where Google throttles impressions.
- No site links, call-outs, or snippets on most campaigns.
- Display Remarketing spending ~$300/month with **zero recorded conversions**.

### Fixes Applied During Call

#### 1. Display Remarketing Campaign
- **Problem:** $300/month spend, 0 conversions, 115k+ impressions. Beans-only messaging targeting a broad 90-day visitor window.
- **Root cause:** Tracking error — 574 conversions were occurring but not being counted.
- **Fix:** Campaign rebuilt to target **cart abandoners** with all-product messaging. New headlines: *"Still thinking it over," "Your cart is waiting," "Complete your order."*

#### 2. Missing Ad Extensions
- **Problem:** Site links, call-outs, and structured snippets absent from Brand Search, Old World Search, and most other campaigns.
- **Fix:** New **account-level** extensions created (8 site links with full descriptions, call-outs, structured snippets). Account-level placement means they serve across all campaigns without per-campaign setup.
- Expected to improve ad real estate, CTR, and Quality Score across the board.

#### 3. Brand Search Campaign
- **Problem:** 76% impression share — missing 23% of brand queries.
- **Fix:** Bid strategy switched from Manual CPC (34¢) to **Target Impression Share, 95% absolute top, $1 cap**.
- *Rationale:* On brand campaigns, the goal is presence, not conversion efficiency. Every missed brand query is a competitor opportunity.

#### 4. PMAX — Black Beans
- **Problem:** Target CPA set at $17; actual CPA running at ~$30–32.
- **Fix:** Target CPA raised to **$30** to reflect reality and allow the campaign to bid competitively.

#### 5. PMAX — Popcorn
- Strong ROAS (5.5x). Budget increased from $10 to $20/day to capture available demand.

#### 6. PMAX — Cornmeal
- Budget already at $20/day but spending only $3/day. Target CPA of $12 was constraining bids too tightly.
- **Fix:** Switched to pure Maximize Conversions (no target CPA).

#### 7. Old World Search Campaign
- **Problem:** Spending $37/month with 0 conversions. Campaign is new (~2 weeks old).
- **Fix:** Switched from Maximize Clicks to **Maximize Conversions**.
- *Note:* Campaign is too new to draw conclusions. Monitor for another 2–3 weeks before further action.

#### 8. New "Catch-All" Campaign
- **Problem:** 58 products in Merchant Center have no active advertising.
- **Fix (pending):** Create a low-budget catch-all Shopping campaign to ensure all products have coverage. Mirrors the "gold banner" approach — don't let products slip through with zero visibility.

### Post-Audit Optimization Score
Raised from **60% → >80%** through extension additions, tracking fixes, and bid strategy corrections.

---

## PMAX Lifecycle Strategy

> Use PMAX for ~90 days to gather performance signal, then convert to more efficient Search or Shopping campaigns using the learned data.

PMAX spends broadly to discover what works. Once patterns are established (~90 days), the data should be used to build targeted Search or Shopping campaigns with tighter control. The existing Black Beans, Popcorn, and Cornmeal PMAX campaigns are approaching or past this threshold.

**Immediate next step:** Build a new PMAX campaign specifically for **Old World products** (connect to Merchant Center feed) to start the 90-day learning clock.

---

## Other Accounts

### PaperTube

- Gilbert pulled a year-long trend (Jan 2025–present) showing **flat conversions despite rising CPCs**.
- Asymmetric does not yet manage PaperTube's Google Ads — awaiting final approval from Parag.
- **Action:** Karly to send the performance chart to Parag as supporting context for the account handover conversation.

### Aviaries

Live audit during the call revealed critical issues:

| Issue | Detail |
|---|---|
| Spend with zero conversions | $33/day, 0 conversions recorded |
| Broken conversion tracking | "Submit Lead Form" was set as a secondary conversion action, not primary |
| Poor campaign structure | Phrase match only; no conversion-optimized bidding |

**Decision:** Full account overhaul required. Karly to schedule a working session with Mark and Sebastian to plan and execute the rebuild.

See also: [[wiki/clients/current/aviaries/_index]] *(if exists)*

---

## Transcript Excerpts

**On optimization score and impression throttling:**
> "Google punishes you if your optimization score is below 80. It actually throttles your impressions. So you need to have optimization scores above 80. And honestly, it's a good idea to have optimization scores above 90. Usually, you can get to 90 without increasing the budget." — Mark Hope

**On ad extensions as free real estate:**
> "This is real estate that we're wasting. It's like buying a house with a big yard and then putting a fence and ignoring half of it. It makes the ad bigger — instead of just showing the title, it actually shows the links and other stuff. We should always use site links, snippets, and call-outs for every campaign." — Mark Hope

**On the PMAX lifecycle:**
> "You use PMAX to figure out what works, and then you convert it to other types of campaigns. After a while, you say, OK, we've tried everything. So now let's take what we learned and build good, solid campaigns going forward." — Mark Hope

**On brand search impression share:**
> "We're missing 23% of brand searches. That's just dumb. If somebody's searching for your name, you don't want to leave any on the table." — Mark Hope

**On inventory velocity floor:**
> "The lowest velocity should always be six, never zero, never one, never two... If the velocity goes to zero, it messes up the algorithm — it's going to say you don't need any because you're not selling any." — Mark Hope