EPISODE 250
The New Rules of Paid Advertising and What’s Working Now
with John Horn
Have you ever wondered why some brands seem to crack the code with paid ads while others burn through budget with nothing to show for it?
If you’ve ever dabbled in Google Ads—or avoided them out of fear of expensive mistakes—this conversation will open your eyes to what’s possible when strategy and execution align.
John Horn, CEO of StubGroup, has helped hundreds of companies transform underperforming campaigns into profitable acquisition machines.
His team is ranked in the top 1% of Google Partners worldwide for performance and customer care—and their reputation is built on both deep technical expertise and a refreshingly human, boutique approach. John lives and breathes PPC, but what sets him apart is his ability to translate complexity into clarity.
In this episode, John breaks down how to build smarter ad systems, navigate AI-driven changes, and use data to make confident marketing decisions—so you can scale sustainably.
Building Effective Google Ads Campaigns Starts with Strategy
Before a single ad runs, John emphasizes one crucial question: What does success look like? So many brands jump straight into campaign creation without defining the exact action they want a user to take.
Whether it’s booking a call, filling out a form, or placing an order, the call to action must be clear, trackable, and front-and-center on the landing page.
From there, it all comes down to relevance. Google search is built on demand, not interruption. That means your job is to align with the terms people are already searching for—balancing high-intent keywords with lower-cost, broader queries that reveal early interest.
And once ads are running, tracking becomes your lifeline: real data allows advertisers to cut waste, double down on what’s working, and eventually leverage Google’s AI-powered bidding strategies for even greater efficiency.
How AI and New Algorithms Are Changing the Future of Advertising
AI is dramatically reshaping how users search and how brands need to show up. Google’s AI Overviews now dominate search results, and platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity are becoming discovery engines in their own right. For marketers, this means optimizing not only for Google but also for GEO: Generative Engine Optimization.
John reveals a surprising insight: AI models pull heavily from third-party sources like Reddit, YouTube, Quora, and listicle-style articles. That means service providers and brands must think beyond traditional SEO and start contributing valuable content across these ecosystems.
As John puts it, “AI is an incredible tool, but it’s not a critical thinker.” Without strong human guidance, automated systems can quickly misinterpret signals and overspend in the wrong places.
Enjoy this episode with John Horn…
Soundbytes
07:13 – 07:21
“Advertising is not a magic bullet. We’re not going to just launch a campaign and suddenly you’re printing money and life is amazing.”
23:00 – 23:10
“Businesses are having to definitely think through, how do I make sure my business is coming up as a solution in those other platforms when people search there as opposed to Google.”
30:41 –31:06
“So what would you suggest to service providers specifically to start ranking in the AI platforms?”
“Start engaging on Reddit. When I say engaging, answering questions, commenting on posts, creating your own posts. And you have to be—you can’t be too salesy. You have to bring legitimate value because people are very allergic on Reddit to too much of the salesy approach and things can go south quickly.”
Quotes
“Advertising is not a magic bullet. There’s risk involved, and every business is different.”
“You have to define what success looks like and the action you want people to take before you ever launch a campaign.”
“AI is a fantastic tool, but it’s not a critical thinker. You have to pair it with human judgment.”
“You can’t rely on AI to make all the right decisions. If you give it bad direction, it will spend a lot of your money very quickly.”
Links mentioned in this episode:
Connect with our Guest Host
Website: https://stubgroup.com/
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjhorn1/
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