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June 16th, 2026

Why Most Paid Ad Spend Fails (And How to Fix It) with Ari Pirutinsky (#75)

  1. Why Most Paid Ad Spend Fails (And How to Fix It) with Ari Pirutinsky (#75) Peter Vera 28:40

Do you own a transportation or 3PL business doing $3M or more in revenue? Visit www.bizexitgrow.com to find out how we can help you grow, scale, and exit at maximum value.

Most paid ad budgets fail for one reason: you cannot tie marketing data to business outcomes. In this episode, we break down how to build a paid media engine that actually drives revenue, why measurement comes before creative, and how to use AI without losing authenticity, with Ari Pirutinsky, founder and CEO of Steady Growth Partners.

Ari spent seven years as the first employee at one of the top Google Ads agencies in the country, scaling it to 60 employees and three offices before launching his own firm.

We cover:

– Why Ari starts every client engagement at the goal, not the ad account.
– How to find the leverage points in your funnel where small tweaks make the biggest impact.
– Why comparing your results to other brands sets up the wrong questions.
– The bottom-of-funnel-first framework for building paid campaigns that scale.
– Why native, short-form, authentic video beats polished static ads.
– How AI slop is making authentic brands easier to recognize and win.
– How Steady Growth uses AI internally to augment the team, not replace the human layer.
– Ari’s tip: if you cannot track the user journey from ad click to customer, start there.

Connect with Ari on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/aripirutinsky/) and grab a free attribution roadmap at www.trysteadygrowth.com/offer-landing.

Ready to grow and plan your exit? Visit www.BizExitGrow.com.

Related episodes:
– Ep. 74: How AI Turns One Story Into Content for Every Channel with Siva Chellamuthu
– Ep. 73: How to Get Your Business Discovered in AI Search with Chris Panteli

00:00 Intro: Meet Ari Pirutinsky of Steady Growth Partners
00:57 Seven years scaling a top Google Ads agency
03:08 The biggest lesson: nobody knows anything, everyone is faking it
05:03 Why every client engagement starts at the goal
07:18 How metrics relate and where the real leverage points are
12:43 The bottom-of-funnel-first paid media framework
16:15 Why native short-form video beats static ads
18:32 How AI slop makes authentic brands win
20:57 How Steady Growth uses AI internally
26:45 Ari’s tip: tie marketing data to business outcomes

#PaidMedia #PaidAds #GoogleAds #PerformanceMarketing #MarketingAttribution #PaidSocial #DigitalMarketing #AdSpend #MarketingFunnel #AIinMarketing #ScaleSmarter #SellStronger #ExitAlgorithms #BusinessGrowth #SmallBusinessMarketing

Pete Vera Managing partner, Greenrock Logistics

I'm a former U.S. Naval officer with a UC Berkeley degree in Economics. I managed high-stakes logistics operations, leading teams up to 60 personnel and overseeing $320M in aviation inventory, boosting aircraft readiness by 20%.

I'm now a Managing Partner at GreenRock Logistics, our holding company. We consolidate lower and mid-market transportation and 3PL firms through acquisitions and partnerships, deploying shared services and tech for growth while preserving seller cultures and employee legacies.

Our team unites decades of expertise: the CEO offers 40 years in trucking leadership and acquisitions as well as a SVP role at the American Trucking Association; the other Managing Partner brings 32 years in warehouse ops, government contracts, entrepreneurship, and marketing.

I also host the Exit Algorithms Podcast, launched in June 2025, sharing insights from top minds in logistics, M&A, and business growth to help business owners scale and exit stronger. The show has been featured in Acquisition Aficionado Magazine and named to Million Podcasts' Best 10 3PL Podcasts.