There is a number I return to often. Not because it is large, though it is, but because of what it represents.

A life coach came to me last year. She was spending carefully, hoping quietly, and watching her advertising produce the digital equivalent of a polite cough in an empty room. We did not begin by changing her campaigns. We began by sitting with the question of who she was actually trying to reach, and what those people were carrying when they woke up at three in the morning and could not sleep.

The result, eventually, was a return on her advertising spend that multiplied her investment twenty three times over. A 23.3x ROAS, to use the industry shorthand. And for a growing e-commerce client in 2026, a sustained five to one return on every pound invested in paid media.

I am not telling you this to impress you. I am telling you because I think the mathematics obscure the more interesting story, which is this: the moment her marketing stopped trying to persuade people and started trying to understand them, everything changed.

Marketing at its finest is not a transaction. It is an act of recognition. It says, quietly and without fanfare, I see you. I know what this feels like. And I think I can help.

When you get that right, the mathematics, rather wonderfully, tend to take care of themselves.

With warmth, Mimi

Frequently Asked Question

Why do most paid advertising campaigns fail for service businesses?

Most paid advertising campaigns fail because they focus entirely on the algorithm rather than the psychology of the client. They attempt to persuade rather than understand. When a campaign speaks to the nervous system and acknowledges the client’s actual pain points, the conversion rate improves significantly.