How Do I Run Paid Ads Without an Agency?
A step-by-step recipe for running paid ads with Revnu instead of an agency. Connect your ad account, set up the outcome you want, set a monthly budget and approve the test budget. Revnu writes the ads, builds them paused, launches on your yes and judges them on results, not clicks.
Revnu runs your ads on Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit, X, Microsoft and TikTok, alongside your outbound and SEO, so what wins in one channel feeds the others. It judges every ad on booked calls and sales, not clicks, never spends past your monthly cap, and tells you what moved every morning.
Connect your ad account, set up the result you want your ads to bring in, set a monthly budget and approve a test budget. Revnu writes the ads, builds every campaign paused, launches on your yes, and pulls money from what's burning it.
What you need
An ad account on Google, Meta, LinkedIn, X, Reddit, Microsoft or TikTok, with a payment method on it, set up with your own login so the account and its billing are yours.
Someone, or a coding agent such as Claude Code or Cursor, who can add a few lines to your site and server. That's how Revnu counts results. No developer? Set up outcomes has the route.
A monthly ad budget of at least 50 in your ad account's currency. The platform bills your card directly. Revnu adds no markup and takes no cut.
Step by step
Tell Revnu you want ads first
start with a google ads test, not email
Revnu picks a starting channel from what it knows about you. Say plainly if you want ads. Before anything is connected, it shows you finished ads in chat and saves them as drafts on Ads > Campaigns.
Connect the ad account
Open Connections > Advertise and press Connect on the platform's row. Sign in with the login that can open the ad account. Connecting never launches an ad or spends money.
Google asks which login to use, then for permission to manage your ad account. See connect Google Ads.
LinkedIn Ads needs the person connecting to be an admin of your company page.
Set up the result your ads should bring in
Click Ads in the sidebar and open Revnu Tag. The setup walks you through it:
Your Website: enter it, and Revnu reads it.
Your Ads Will Chase: Revnu suggests purchases, booked calls or trial starts, with its reason. Press Sounds Good, or Change it.
Add Revnu to Your Site: Revnu Adds It for You opens a pull request on your GitHub repo, or Paste a Prompt Yourself gives you a prompt for your coding agent. Then add the server key to your host.
Check It Works: Revnu waits for your site to load the tag and your server to send one test event. No real purchase is needed.
Once an outcome is set up, Revnu builds your campaigns and they go live when you approve them, so every ad is judged on a real result.
Set the monthly budget
On Ads > Campaigns, press Set Monthly Budget beside Spent This Month, enter the most Revnu may spend across every channel in a month, and press Save Budget. Or say it:
spend up to $800 a month on ads. start with google search ads for people looking for bookkeeping for restaurants in london
Revnu moves money between channels inside that total, and the total stays yours to set.
Approve the test budget
Revnu puts a card in Review, such as Approve a Google Ads Learning Budget, with a Total, a Daily maximum and a Length. The total is your worst case. Press Approve Learning Budget. Approving doesn't launch anything.
To spend less, say "make it $15 a day for two weeks" and Revnu prepares a new card. See ad budgets.
Approve each launch
Revnu builds each new ad paused in your ad account and asks before it goes live. Read it and approve. A draft on Ads > Campaigns has its own switch: flip it, pick a daily budget, and Revnu builds that ad and turns it on. Want to send your own image? Attach it in chat and say which campaign it's for.
Read the results
Open Analytics in the Ads sidebar for spend, clicks and results per campaign, and the Concept Ranking of which ad idea cost least per result. Or ask:
which ad actually got us the booked calls?
After a sales call, tell Revnu how it went: "they signed" or "no-show". It records exactly what you said against that booking.
Tip
Pick something that happens often for your first outcome. A trial start or sign-up suits most software.
Counting Calendly or Cal.com bookings
Bookings reach Revnu through a small receiver you host, and Calendly sends them on its paid plans. See set up outcomes.
Does each launch always ask me first?
On Pro, Ad Tests starts on Ask Me First in Settings > Agent, so each new ad waits for you. Set it to Just Do It and Revnu launches and swaps tests inside your approved test budget without asking. Every budget and every budget change still waits for you.
What to expect, and when
Right after connecting and setting an outcome: ads written and a campaign built paused, waiting for your budget and launch approval.
Nothing spends until you approve. Every budget and every budget change waits for you.
As soon as the numbers show it: Revnu pauses a losing ad on its own once its spend, against what a result is worth to you and how long results take to follow a click, shows it isn't working. It tells you what it paused and the numbers, and a reply resumes it.
Longer for rare results: Revnu waits for enough spend to tell a real loser from bad luck, and tells you roughly how long that takes before you approve a budget. Google, Reddit and TikTok can stay in learning for weeks when results are rare.
At your monthly budget: Revnu pauses every campaign before reported spend can pass it.
If it doesn't work
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Nothing has launched | Work down the list: is an ad account connected, is an outcome set up, is there a monthly budget, did you approve the test budget and the launch? Check Ads and Review for a waiting card. See why your ads aren't running |
| Google says no advertising account was found | The Google login isn't on the ad account. Add it in Google Ads under Admin > Access and security, then connect again |
| Every ad paused | Spend got close to your monthly budget. Raise it with Edit Budget if you want, press Resume after Launches paused, then tell Revnu which campaigns to resume |
| Bookings say Receiving and count for nothing | Press Set Up on the Booked call row and finish the setup it opens |
| Clicks but no results | Under Revnu Tag, check each outcome says Live, Last seen is recent and Reported to lists your platforms |
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
Who pays for the ads?
You do, directly. Campaigns run in your own ad accounts and the platform bills the payment method on that account. Revnu adds no markup and takes no cut. Your Revnu plan is separate, $99 a month on Pro.
Which ad platforms can Revnu run?
Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), LinkedIn, X, Reddit, Microsoft and TikTok, each connected from Connections > Advertise. Microsoft runs Search, Performance Max, Audience and Shopping campaigns, and Meta optimizes for clicks or for an event your own pixel receives. See connect Meta Ads.
Will Revnu spend money without asking?
No. Revnu asks before it sets or changes an ad budget, and builds every campaign paused. On Pro, each new ad also waits for your approval until you set Ad Tests to Just Do It.
Can Revnu look at the Google campaigns I already run?
Yes. Ask "which of my google campaigns should i scale or cut?" Revnu reads every campaign in the account and gives one call per campaign, with the number behind it. It changes nothing until you say yes.
Does Revnu make video ads?
Revnu writes the copy, makes images and runs video you already have, on TikTok or as a Google Demand Gen campaign from your own YouTube video.