A tactical reset to sharpen your ad strategy for the second half of 2025.
January’s strategy got you through Q1. Maybe even Q2. But if you’re still running the same campaigns, budgets, or creative today, chances are you’re leaving results (and revenue) on the table.
The year’s midpoint is your best chance to stop, audit, and upgrade before the busiest marketing months kick in.
Here’s your no-fluff, 5-part checkup for Google and Meta Ads — and how smart brands are getting ready to outperform in Q3 and Q4.
1. Recheck the Foundation: Are Your Campaign Goals Still Aligned?
Letting your ad accounts run without re-evaluating goals is like steering a ship with last quarter’s map.
Your original strategy might’ve been lead gen. But now you’re trying to close sales. Or maybe you started the year focused on volume, and now quality matters more. The goals you optimize for must match where your business is headed, not where it began.
Audit Now:
- Are you optimizing for the right conversion actions?
- Are you measuring quality (LTV, ROAS), not just leads or clicks?
- Are branded search or retargeting campaigns eating budget without scaling reach?
This isn’t a platform problem — it’s a clarity problem. Align your campaigns with what drives revenue now.
2. Creative Fatigue Is Real — And It’s Costing You
Running the same creative for 90+ days? You’re likely bleeding engagement and driving up costs.
Meta and Google’s algorithms favor freshness. And audiences burn out faster than ever. Even your best hook eventually becomes background noise.
What to Do:
- Refresh headlines and imagery, especially on high-volume ad sets
- Rotate vertical video assets into Meta for better mobile performance
- Use Performance Max’s asset group testing to discover new top performers
Don’t wait until performance drops to swap creative. Get ahead of the curve and stay algorithm-favored.
3. Budget Distribution Might Be Hurting You
Where you spend is just as important as how much you spend.
Maybe your Google Search campaigns are still rock solid, but your meta retargeting has fallen off. Maybe Performance Max is winning, but you’re still pushing dollars into outdated keyword groups.
Mid-year is a great time to pull back the curtain and reallocate budget based on performance, not assumptions.
Look for:
- High CPL or low ROAS campaigns with unchanged spend
- Campaigns with 70 %+ budget share and declining performance
- Untapped channels: YouTube Shorts, Meta Reels, or even lead-gen forms
Budgets should follow outcomes, not legacy plans.
4. Automation Has Changed — Are You Letting It Help or Hurt?
Automated campaign types (like Performance Max or Meta’s Advantage+) are no longer optional. But that doesn’t mean they’re plug-and-play.
Smart advertisers know how to feed the machine with the right signals, tracking, exclusions, and creative so that automation works for them, not against them.
Fix Fast:
- Make sure your pixel or GA4 tracking is firing on actual revenue events
- Combine automation with exclusions (low-performing locations, placements)
- A/B test auto vs. manual bidding in specific campaigns to spot gaps
AI can’t guess your business goals — it needs clean input to deliver clean output.
5. Ad Platforms Rolled Out New Features — Are You Using Them?
Since Q1, both Google and Meta have released significant updates designed to improve creative delivery, reporting, and targeting. Most advertisers haven’t touched them.
Check if you’ve enabled:
- Google Ads: Enhanced asset-level reporting in Performance Max
- Meta Ads: Creative automation tools like Dynamic Experiences
- Both: Ad Libraries & Transparency tools to track competitor trends
Staying current isn’t just “nice” — it’s a performance multiplier. And every underused feature is a missed edge.
What to Do Next
If you haven’t done a full campaign audit since Q1, now’s the time.
Q3 is when lead costs shift, ad auctions heat up, and consumer intent rises toward year-end peaks—advertisers who check performance now and adjust accordingly win the year’s second half.
Need a hand optimizing your ad strategy?
That’s what we do. From creative refreshes to full-funnel rebuilds, REALTOP helps brands outperform where it counts.
Let’s get your accounts ready for what’s next.
Contact REALTOP today for a consultation and discover how to grow your business online.
Nik Tsoukales, founder of REALTOP, is an experienced digital marketer with a track record of growing businesses and sales teams. He has received multiple awards for leading fast-growing companies and specializes in organic SEO, Google PPC, and Social Media. With over 89k clients acquired online, Nik’s expertise spans various industries including finance, healthcare, and real estate.
