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Is Paid Advertising Still Worth It in Q4 or Is Smart Automation Taking Over?

Hey everyone đź‘‹

As ad costs skyrocket heading into Q4, I’ve noticed a shift fewer founders are trying to outspend their competition, and more are learning to outsmart them.

Some are building automated ad systems that re engage warm audiences.
Others are using AI to create hyper-personalized creatives that convert better with less spend.

It’s interesting to see how automation and smarter funnels are changing the game for advertisers especially for SaaS and eCommerce founders looking to close the year strong.

What’s your main focus this Q4?
Are you scaling ad budgets, experimenting with automation, or doubling down on retargeting and email flows?

I’ve also been in touch with a few ad experts helping founders cut costs and increase ROAS through smarter setups happy to share if anyone’s curious.

posted to Icon for group Advertising
Advertising
on October 7, 2025
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    This is a great observation. You've perfectly captured the Q4 market shift: outsmarting the competition is the only path left.

    The problem is that most founders are still trying to outsmart their competition too early in the funnel. They spend all their time on 'smarter funnels' and 'automated ad systems,' only to send hyper-personalized traffic to a low-converting email sequence.

    The real strategic play is not in finding a general 'ad expert,' but in ensuring the final, cheapest step of your funnel delivers maximum revenue.
    You can cut ad spend, use AI for creatives, and retarget all you want, but if your email copy is stuck at a 4.5% CTR, you are actively destroying the efficiency of every dollar you just spent.

    The bottleneck is always the final conversion step. My focus is entirely on that Conversion Certainty,engineering email flows to deliver the 13% CTR Standard and lock in that year-end budget. That's the only way to genuinely outsmart the competition.

    If you're solving the ad cost problem, you're only solving half the issue. You have to guarantee the result at the end.

    1. 1

      That’s an excellent perspective I couldn’t agree more. Most founders get obsessed with the front end and forget that every dollar lost in poor conversion is a silent leak in the system.

      Your take on “Conversion Certainty” really resonates. Focusing on maximizing returns from the final step instead of just lowering ad costs is a mindset shift more solo founders need to adopt this Q4.

      Are you currently managing those high-performing email flows yourself, or do you collaborate with specialists to refine them? I know someone who’s been helping founders tighten that conversion layer with automation and data-backed testing could be worth connecting if it aligns with your approach.

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