The โ€œTree Scaling Strategyโ€ for Massively Scaling Ad Campaigns ๐ŸŒฒ

Aleric Heck
5 min readAug 26, 2024

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Aleric Heckโ€™s Tree Scaling Strategy for Scaling Ad Campaigns

Have you ever wondered why some businesses seem to effortlessly scale their ads while others struggle to grow?

The secret is honestly simpler than you think. Today, Iโ€™m going to reveal one of the most powerful strategies Iโ€™ve developed over years of running successful YouTube Ad campaigns: The โ€œTree Scalingโ€ Strategy.

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—•๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต: ๐—ช๐—ต๐˜† ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—˜๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น

Before we get into the Tree Scaling Strategy, letโ€™s talk about why most advertisers fail when they scale.

They typically use what I call the โ€œBalloon Approachโ€

Hereโ€™s how it typically goes:

1. You find a winning ad campaign

2. Excited by the results, you dramatically increase the budget

3. Initially, you see a surge in results

4. But soon, performance starts to decline

5. You keep pumping money in, hoping to recreate the initial success

6. Eventually, the campaign โ€œpopsโ€ โ€” costs skyrocket, and results plummet

Sound familiar? ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ This approach fails because it doesnโ€™t account for the nuances of ad platforms and audience behavior. When you rapidly increase spend, you:

- Exhaust your most responsive audience too quickly

- Trigger algorithm changes that can hurt performance

- Lose the ability to optimize effectively due to too many variables changing at once

Itโ€™s like trying to turn a speedboat into a cruise ship overnight. It just doesnโ€™t work. But luckily for you โ€” I have a better & safer alternative to scaling:

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜†?

The Tree Scaling Strategy is a method of scaling your YouTube Ads that mimics the growth of a tree (or forest of trees). Just like a tree grows from a single trunk and branches out, your ad campaigns start with a core successful campaign and branch out into new, related campaigns!

Hereโ€™s how it works:

1. Start with a Solid Trunk (Your Core Campaign)

2. Grow Strong Branches (Scale Successful Elements)

3. Prune Weak Branches (Cut Underperforming Elements)

4. Plant New Seeds (Test New Ideas)

Letโ€™s break each of these down:

๐Ÿญ. ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฎ ๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ธ (๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป)

The trunk of your tree is your initial successful campaign. This is the foundation of your ability to scale. Itโ€™s the campaign thatโ€™s already proven to work, delivering a positive ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).

For example, letโ€™s say youโ€™re running a YouTube Ad for your coaching business, and youโ€™ve found a winning combination of targeting, ad creative, and landing page. If that campaign is producing leads, calls & sales at a good rate โ€” then this is likely a campaign you want to scale! This is your trunk.

You can start scaling this campaign slowly (just like you would water & nurture a tree) while beginning step 2 โ€” which is creating new campaigns (branches)!

(๐˜ˆ๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ & ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ โ€” ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฌ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ง!)

๐Ÿฎ. ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€ (๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ & ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—˜๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€)

Once you have your base campaign (trunk), itโ€™s time to grow branches. These are variations of your successful campaign.

You will create New Campaigns (not the same campaign) that are slight variations on your winning campaigns โ€” we call these tree branches!

- Create slight variations of your successful ads (different hooks etc.)

- Expand your targeting to similar audiences

- Test branching into new targeting options, audiences or even demographics

The key here is to make small, incremental tests in new campaigns. Youโ€™re not reinventing the wheel; youโ€™re optimizing whatโ€™s already working.

(๐‘…๐‘’๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘๐ธ๐‘Š ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘”๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘’๐‘ฅ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘ฅ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘”๐‘›)

๐Ÿฏ. ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ช๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐˜€ / ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€

Just like a real tree, not all branches will grow strong. Some campaign variations might not perform as well as your original campaign. This is where pruning comes in.

Regularly review your campaigns and cut off the underperforming branches.

- Pause ad variations that arenโ€™t converting

- Removing targeting options that arenโ€™t delivering results

- Remove videos that arenโ€™t performing

- Reduce budget on lower-performing campaigns

Remember, pruning isnโ€™t a failure โ€” itโ€™s a necessary part of healthy growth!

As Iโ€™ve shared before, you either Win or Learn โ€” and this is how you rapidly learn & test so you can Win even more!

๐Ÿฐ. ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜€ (๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—œ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€)

While youโ€™re growing, branching out and pruning your main tree, donโ€™t forget to plant new seeds.

These are entirely new campaign ideas that you test on a small scale to see if they can become trees themselves (building your forest).

You might try:

- A completely different ad angle

- A new offer or lead magnet

- A new Funnel

- An untapped audience segment

Start these new campaigns with a small budget. If they show promise, you can gradually increase investment and potentially grow a whole new tree & build your forest (repeat steps 1โ€“3 for your new tree)!

๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜…๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜†

1. Be Patient: Trees donโ€™t grow overnight, and neither do scaled ad campaigns. Give your variations time to gather data before making decisions.

2. Keep Detailed Records: Track which elements youโ€™re changing in each variation. This will help you identify patterns in what works and what doesnโ€™t. (This way you Learn)

3. Balance Growth and Stability: While itโ€™s exciting to try new things, always keep a portion of your budget allocated to your proven winners.

4. Use AI to Your Advantage: Tools like our KeywordSearch AI Audience Targeting Tool can help you identify new targeting opportunities and even generate ad copy variations!

5. Donโ€™t Forget the Roots: As you scale, always keep an eye on your foundation โ€” your offer, your landing page, your overall funnel. Make sure these can handle increased traffic.

The Tree Scaling Strategy has been a game-changer for my business and for many of our clients. It allows you to scale systematically and sustainably, minimizing risk while maximizing growth potential!

Remember, the goal isnโ€™t just to spend more on ads โ€” itโ€™s to grow your business. By following this strategy, youโ€™re not just increasing ad spend; youโ€™re cultivating a thriving ecosystem of campaigns that can support long-term business growth.

Thatโ€™s it, thatโ€™s the Tree Scaling Strategy โ€” Now go out & plant those trees! ๐ŸŒฒ

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Aleric Heck
Aleric Heck

Written by Aleric Heck

YouTube Ads & Video Marketing Expert | Founder & CEO of AdOutreach | CEO of KeywordSearch.com - AI Ad Targeting SaaS | Free YouTube Ads PDF AdOutreach.com/Gift