Mirus Digital

Worked on successful paid media & growth projects for clients including Nanit, Latch, Nurture Life, Canary and more. Built paid media focused growth engines for vc-backed brands with over $200 million in funding and helped generate 100's of millions of dollars in recurring revenue.

Growth Marketer & Performance Media Strategist

Up & Coming Media

UCM has helped numerous funded startups architect successful growth engines with data-driven marketing. 
UCM has worked with clients including Quip, Starry, Insightly, Nanit, LittleBits and Flywheel Sports. **Please note UCM is currently closed and therefore has a limited web presence.**

Paid Media Strategist

PMX Agency

Worked on clients including Abt Electronics, MoneyGram and National Funding. Led successful growth projects with paid search.

SEM Manager

Growth Marketer

Digital Marketer

Digital Strategist

Kennametal

Operational Excellence Intern

Google+Meta Ads Expert | Top 1% Growth Marketer | DTC+Amazon growth advisor

If you are you struggling with:
→Rising ad costs/CAC
→Limited scalability potential for your paid ads and funnels.
→Simplifying growth in an increasingly complex landscape. 

The old playbook for growth with paid media is dead. In the past, brands could create compelling ads and see solid traction out of the gate. The new playbook has moved towards a more ecosystem based approach. I help brands cut through the noise and laser-focus on growth. 

I've worked on paid media and growth projects for brands including ecom brands, big name brands and emerging brands. With experience within both ecom and lead generation.

Brands I've helped grow:
-Nanit
-Nurture Life
-Canary
-Kinsa Health
-Latch
-Nara Organics
-Abt Electronics

Project work:

→Helped grow a consumer brand 9x DTC for their Shopify store breaking $14M/year in DTC (top 1% of revenue) and $30M+ in ecom. And scaling ad budgets from $30K/month to over $300K/month.

→Managing paid media for a brand that became a category leader on Amazon and won the Deloitte Technology Fast500 2 years in a row. And  #1 selling product in their sub-vertical on Prime Day 4+ years in a row. 

→Established scalable paid media funnels for brands with over $200 million in VC funding. Including 2 brands that were acquired and 1 brand with a billion dollar valuation. 

I help brands own their bottlenecks by looking at the big picture. This includes funnels, analytics, positioning and content creation. I work with platforms including Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads and Amazon Ads. 

Want to connect?
-I’m always open to connect with people and explore opportunities.
-Shoot me a DM
-Email me @ feras@mirusdigital.co
-Join my newsletter @ mirusdigital.co. I talk about ecom growth, paid media, B2B marketing and mindset.

DTC founder: "We're seeing seasonality with Meta Ads & pulling back." 

I've spoken to dozens of DTC brands under $1M/month.

And Meta Ads will often have "off" weeks or months.

Most brands are sleeping on maximizing Google Ads.

Here are 5 reasons to consider moving budget to Google Ads.

1. Google Ads is usually more scalable than you think:
-If you are spending under $30K in Google Ads profitably.
-9/10 times that number can be tripled.
- PMAX+Non-Brand Search are highly scalable. 
-PMAX rivals Meta Ads in it's reach for most industries.

2. Google Ads lets you focus your energy on what matters:
-Creative testing is important for PMAX.
-But you often get less of the "hamster wheel" effect of Meta.
-Where creative saturates after 1-2 weeks.
-Some brands are testing 100+ ads a month in Meta.
-You can move your energy to testing landing pages for example.

3. Less "fire drills" and drama:
-Many brands I've spoken to when I mention "Meta" their brains shut off.
-Because let's be honest Meta Ads can be an ego/time/morale sink.
-"Why would I spend more time on a channel that I cut budgets for?".
-Google Ads tends to be fairly consistent in it's performance.

4. Higher conversion rates:
-Virtually every brand I audited Google Ads is the highest ROAS channel.
-I've seen Non-Brand keywords convert at >5% for many industries.
-We empirically know Meta Ads have moved upper funnel.

5. Easy to "up the spend" for promotions:
-I've spent $75K pooled between Google and Meta Ads in 1 day.
-For big promotions like Prime Day, Black Friday or even non holiday promotions this can lead to huge revenue wins.
-Google is usually easy to scale without causing the algorithms to go bezerk.

This type of thinking helped build foundational world-class growth engines for multiple emerging brands that became household names.

Including brands that were acquired and 1 brand that 9xed DTC breaking $14M/year (top 1% of Shopify stores). In multiple verticals including health and wellness, electronics and more.

What have your experiences been with the above?

P.S.: Looking for a second pair of eyes on your DTC+ad funnels. Feel free to shoot me a DM.

P.P.S. Below is a song I wrote on guitar December 2022.

Feras Khalbuss

Top 1% Growth Marketer+Growth Coach | Google+Meta Ads Expert

Getting ghosted by your leads from Meta Ads?

This is the number one problem I see with brands.

In multiple verticals, really any brand that needs qualified leads.

Like high ticket consumer, schools/coaches or B2B.

They spend all their time on
→Creative testing.
→Audience testing.
→Maximizing lead volume.

But they end up begging for the meeting.

Only to get ghosted and have to chase down leads.

Meanwhile Zuckerberg is having a field day as they line his pockets.

It can be demoralizing not to mention the ROI implications…

All it takes is 1 "slow" month to go into the red.

It’s time to stop dilly dallying and messing around.

Your standards represent what you are willing to accept.

Do you accept a reality where you buy leads and beg?

Real champions do things differently.

They use Go High Level.

Instead of optimizing to leads they optimize to booked calls.

Imagine getting booked calls for $23 a pop - like 1 brand we work with.

Our client contact is working 10+ hours a day just to fulfill the demand.

The kicker - they’re spending peanuts on Meta - about $50 a day.

They booked often 17 calls a week.

And generated an estimated $75K in pipeline.

If you'd like to get this set up - feel free to shoot me a DM. 

P.S. I really liked this song by Cosmic Gate+Diana Miro.

98% of Google Ads accounts have wasted ad spend.

I regularly audit Google Ads accounts for verticals including:
-Ecom.
-SAAS.
-Lead generation.

Here are 5 common Google Ads "growth traps" I've observed:

1. Change history shows little activity:
-If your accounts haven't been touched in months.
-99% of the time this is a red flag.
-Even accounts with limited growth need maintenence.
-Google Ads is one of the most competitive markets.

2. Lack of growth and direction:
-If you are spending under $30K/month in Google Ads.
-And you have world class products.
-Odds are pretty high that your accounts can be scaled profitably.

3. Lack of strategy & proactive tests:
-Many partners/agencies take a reactive approach.
-They put more energy into client management.
-On average if tests aren't run weekly or biweekly.
-This is a red flag that something is amiss.

4. Inconsistent revenue or lead flow:
-If your revenue fluctuates heavily.
-You can't always blame "sesonality".
-More than likely this means best practices are missed.

5. Intuition:
-Many founders have stellar intuition.
-Vs. being micromanagers.
-Yet their intuition tells them something is amiss.

If you're looking to scale your Google Ads in 2024.

And get your account to be the top 1% in your category.

I might have something for you.

DM me "workshop" and I can send over our playbook.

DTC founders: If growth is flatlining 👇

I've spoken to and audited multiple brands under $500K/month.

Here are the common patterns that I observed for brands that are "stuck".

1. Not focusing on growing conversion rates:
→ The simplest mechanisms are offer, website and landing page testing.
→The biggest blockers for the above: 
 →Clear systems.
 →Having clear direction on what to test.
 →An easy way to get tests to market.

2. Not prioritizing analytics and continuous research:
→Brands that excel master analytics+content in harmony.
→You can use data-driven frameworks to write better content.
→Not many brands understand how operations+napkin math to architect $50K-$100K+ revenue days.

3. Lack of imagination:
→Paid media channels like Google+Meta Ads are often underestimated in their potential for scalability.
→Same goes for creating incremental revenue streams in channels like email marketing and TikTok Shop.

4. Finding the right team:
→I've talked to brands that it took 5 agencies to find the "right one".
→Many brands I talk to create content in house and have their agencies just "manage media".
→In 2024 the right leverage comes from blending content+strategy+team.

These types of learnings helped build foundational world-class growth engines for multiple emerging brands that became household names.

Including brands that were acquired and 1 brand that 9xed DTC breaking $14M/year (top 1% of Shopify stores). In multiple verticals including health and wellness, electronics and more.

What have your experiences been with the above?

P.S.: Looking for a second pair of eyes on your DTC+ad funnels. Feel free to shoot me a DM.

P.P.S. I just found this song "Wildfire" by Natascha Polke really groovy.

What would you do if you lost everything?

Today I share part 1 of my journey with courage.

Knowing that a lot of people are “displaced” looking for jobs, contracts, etc..

I do not think that is an “easy” position to be in.

To make a long story short. 
-I graduated college and interviewed with 50+ companies.
-Got feedback to improve interviews for IT jobs.
-Got 0 offers.

I was living in Pittsburgh with my folks at the time.

Had some money saved.

I then drove to NYC.

Interviewed with dozens of companies.

But pivoted to marketing instead.

5 months later, my back was to the wall.

I was down to my last $1,000 with no offers or income.

I had to borrow money from my grandmother to survive.

Worse yet I had fenagled signing a lease in Fort Greene.

What did I do?

I told myself “There is a way out of this mess.”


And within 10 days I got the awaited call.

One job offer came through.

For those of you going through speed bumps.

Your dream is one interview, DM or phone call away.

Sometimes as things seem to be getting “worse”.

You actually make space for better.

Those of you looking to get to the next level in anything from a to z. 

Once you take fear out of the equation. 

There are infinite possibilities on how to win. 

And the only way to lose is if you throw in the towel.


P.S. I recorded a short voicemail speaking through this. 

P.P.S: Have any of you gone through similar situations?

Sick and tired of poor traction from Meta Ads? 👇

Odds are if you have recently gone to market.

In the past 6 months.

You’re going through the “ugly ducking phase”.

Let me explain.

Meta Ads is a mechanism to validate your funnel.

For true cold traffic.

As opposed to Instagram or Facebook followers.

This means you need to invest in
→Testing multiple landing pages.
→Testing lots of ad angles.
→Testing funnel structures.

Otherwise the risk is you pay the "Meta Ads stupidity tax".

There's two ways to succeed.
A. Bare knuckle and "throwing money at the problem".
B. Using time-tested principles.

In fact I've helped brands go to market spending $50/day.

If you’re brand is above $100K/month in sales.

And you have a validated product+market fit.

And want to learn how the top 1% go to market.

Instead of burning money.

And lining Zuckerberg’s pockets.

Shoot me a DM - "workshop". 

And I'll send over our proven playbook.

Ever feel like you’re swimming upstream? 👇

Today I share more of my personal journey with courage.

I learned that god has something called “red light” synchronicities.

When he temporarily blocks your magnetism.

In other words, your ability to attract opportunities.

This is my POV by the way. 

But some people.

That have extended job or client hunts go through this.

Hear me out.

>The natural order of things is self-actualization.
>But sometimes abberational patterns occur.
>To see how you react.

This happened for about a year.

That meant I worked about 50 hours a week with no income.

At the start I almost went crazy.

I actually decided to go and heal in Tunisia. 

One of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Nothing I did for my business worked.

Outreach, Linkedin posts. Zero revenue.

Yet I never gave up. 

My business made decent cash flow in prior years.

But that went down to -$2K/month.

In the end I wrote god a letter.

To tell him I was ready for the next phase.

And the prayer was granted.

I’ve seen this with other people too.

I’ve now learned.

That in 2024 your biggest asset isn’t a nest egg.

It’s not necessarily a crazy personal brand.

But more big picture.

It’s being connected to your community.

And love and passion for what you do.

If you’re going/went through something similar.

Feel free to share.

How I generated $75K of pipeline on autopilot. 👇

We all know it is "easy" to generate leads w/ Meta Ads.

But let's be honest.

Most brands have issues with lead quality.

Leads ghosting. Or not responding.

Anyone can pull a bunch of leads out of a phone book.

Too many leads ghost and your ROI is in the red.

Meanwhile Zuckerberg is having a field day as they line his pockets.

What if there was a way to flip the script?

This is where Go High Level comes in.

Instead of buying leads.

You buy booked calls.

And peace of mind.

Imagine getting booked calls for $23 a pop - like 1 brand we worked with.

I ran this campaign while eating cereal and making small creative tweaks.

Instead of hustling just to get the campaigns to work.

Our client contact worked 10+ hours a day just to fulfill the demand.

The kicker - they’re spending peanuts on Meta - about $50 a day.

This approach works for:
-Brands with a LTV of $2K and up.
-High ticket consumer products.
-Schools+coaches.
-B2B/SAAS.

P.S. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you're interested in getting this set up.

P.P.S. This is a celtic song I always found beautiful. Credit to Lorenna Mckennit.

DTC founders seeing speed bumps w/ Meta Ads. 👇

I’ve learned firsthand that when solving a channel.

Being humble and leaving the ego at home are key.

Meta Ads in 2024 sometimes feels like a slice of humble pie.

It is very easy to get tunnel vision.

Sometimes your funnel needs a little bit of TLC.

Or a second opinion.

I see a lot of brands pulling back spend due to :
-Rising acquisition ads. 
-Inconsistent performance.
-Time sinks dealing with fire drills.

Sometimes the root cause is simple:
-Sending ads to the homepage.
-Not testing landing pages.
-Not efficiently testing & creating ads.

Other times it involves a more customized approach depending on your product+funnels.

If you’re looking to solve these speed bumps I may have something for you.

DM me workshop and I'll send over the playbook.

P.S. Credit to Yoni Schlesinger for this awesome cover of "California Dreaming".

Ecom brands seeing speed bumps with Google Ads 👇

The old playbook of “set it and forget it” is dead.

That is a surefire way to see limited growth.

I regularly audit Google Ads accounts.

These are the common issues I see:

→ Lack of imagination and TLC:
-Founders without a technical marketing background have a sixth sense for this.
-Brands simply don’t see how much their Google Ads can be scaled.
-Due to tunnel vision and working with lackluster agencies.
-If you are spending less than $50K/month you are likely leaving opps on the table.
-For example 1 brand Google Ads was 5% of traffic/sessions but 20% of sales. 

→Lack of proactive testing of copy, content, etc..
-Testing ideally weekly changes is huge.
-This helps you stay ahead of competitors.
-And continuously improve results. 
-I’ve seen change histories show a lack of regular tests.

→No framework to create and test landing pages fast:
-Many brands are sleeping on this.
-Creating landing pages should not spark an existential crisis.
-They send traffic to homepages+PDP's vs. dedicated landing pages.
-And wonder why conversion rates are nothing to write home about.

→Not following “must have” best practices to a “t”:
-Using a clear and solid campaign structure.
-That often includes broad match+solid audiences.

→Scaling what works:
-Often your best performers can be scaled.

→Pause the “gunk” that doesn’t work:
-Look at campaigns/keywords last 30-60 days 
-Identify segments with lots of spend and little revenue.

→Focusing on what moves the needle:
-It's very easy to get "distracted" by a complex account.
-The 80/20 principle is not a marketing gimmick.
-But a legit way to save time.

These types of learnings helped me build foundational world-class growth engines for multiple emerging brands that became household names.

Including brands that were acquired and 1 brand that 9xed DTC breaking $14M/year (top 1% of Shopify stores). In multiple verticals including health and wellness, electronics and more.

What have your experiences been with the above?

P.S.: Looking for a second pair of eyes on your Google Ads campaigns? Feel free to shoot me a DM.

P.P.S. This is a killer cover of the song "Losing My Religion". Credit to Ian Storm, John Laurant, Carl Clarks and Polina Vita.

SAAS Founders: Sick of getting your emails getting ignored? 👇

Worse yet you are causing reputational damage.

Sound familiar?
→"Take me off your list."
→"Stop."
→"Not interested"

Let me explain.

Stop begging for the meeting.

Your emails are talking about your solution.

Or offering bribes.

And this repels prospects.

Instead of getting booked calls you get:
→Blacklisted by your dream prospects.
→Bad energy and vibes.
→Take 3 steps back and 1 step forward.
→More angry responses than positive ones.

There’s another way.

I regularly book calls while:
→Eating cereal
→On the beach
→Browsing YouTube.

There is a way to flip the script.

And get 10 calls booked per week.

And “paint with all the colors of the wind.”

Shoot me a DM “workshop”.

And I’ll share the blueprint.

P.S. I always like this song from the movie "Pocahontas".

DTC Founders: If growth has flatlined in 2024👇

Is it time to lower your standards?

Not necessarily. 

9/10 times the biggest limitation.

Is belief systems.

I’ve spoken to dozens of brands under $1M/month in DTC.

Here are the common challenges I’ve observed:

Clear Limiting Beliefs:
-“We don’t want our brand to be a dignified click funnel”.
-Meta Ads only has leverage if you give your power away to it.
-The persona/market research from Meta Ads alone is worth its weight in gold.
-I've sold products with AOV's ranging from $30 to $2,000 w/ Meta Ads.

Team:
-Many brands have been “burned” by agency partnerships.
-I've spoken to brands that went through 5 agencies to find the "right fit".
-Big name brand experience is often a hindrance.
-Many brands lack of creativity to create hybrid in-house+agency teams.

Troubleshooting:
-Everyone seems to have issues with Meta Ads. 
-Not realizing funnel maturity is 70% of the equation.
-Meta Ads and Google Ads normally are limited by your imagination.
-Few brands understand CRO's power.

Tunnel Vision:
-Most brands underinvest in content.
-Many underestimate  Google+Meta Ads’ scalability potential.

Self actualization= Building a seasonality proof funnel.

These types of learnings helped build multiple world class growth engines for consumer brands that became household names.

Including brands that were acquired and 1 brand that 9xed DTC breaking $14M/year (top 1% of Shopify stores). In multiple verticals including health and wellness, electronics and more.

What have your experiences been with the above?

P.S.: Looking for a second pair of eyes on your DTC+ad funnels. Feel free to shoot me a DM.

P.P.S. I just found this song "California Dreaming" very groovy.

"We don't pay for leads - last time we did this the leads were junk". 
- Business owner

I got this feedback recently on a call.

This sentiment is shared across industries including:
-High ticket consumer.
-SAAS.
-Agencies and freelancers.
-Solar and roofing installers.

And this gentlemen is right. 

Most providers provide junk leads that ghost.

But not all.

What if there was a way to flip the script?

Cue Go High Level.

Instead of buying leads - you buy booked calls.

Begging to work with you.

I regularly use this system to book leads while eating cereal.

Like one brand that had 17 calls in 1 week.

While spending peanuts in Meta Ads.

Looking to get this set up?

Feel free to shoot me a DM.

P.S. This is a really cool song by Zero 7+Mozez.

Sick and tired of "junk leads" from Meta Ads? 👇

I just spoke to a solar company owner.

That mentioned the last time they bought leads from Meta Ads.

They were sh*t.

They had no income and were mislead by the ad.

The problem is not the platform or Mark Zuckerberg.

It's the strategy.

This is the 3 step process to 10x lead quality:

Step 1: Define and increase your standards:
-Your standards represent what you are willing to accept.
-Stop accepting being a victim.
-Meta Ads specifically lets you qualify leads based on your standards.
-Simply add a form field for income and age.
-The actual ad (image/video and text) need to qualify leads as well.

Step 2: Fire partners asleep behind the wheel:
-If you partners are delivering junk leads.
-And it is preventable (99.9% of the time).
-And there is no action plan to correct.
-This is called "fraud".
-Never accept a paradigm that doesn't serve you.

Step 3: Troubleshoot and iterate:
-Lead generation does involve some troubleshooting.
-For some verticals you may want to ask if they are in the "short term" or "long term" market.
-You can always tweak your lead forms.

Meta Ads is about creating your standards and reality.

Looking to stop buying junk leads?

Shoot me a DM.

What have your experiences been with the above?

P.S. I really liked this song by Diana Miro linked to below. Very groovy.

How I regularly fix flatlining Google Ads results: 👇

The old playbook of “set it and forget it” is dead.

That is a surefire way to see limited growth.

I regularly audit Google Ads accounts in verticals including:
-ecommerce
-SAAS
-lead generation

These are the common issues I address:

→ Lack of imagination and TLC:
-Founders without a technical marketing background have a sixth sense for this.
-Brands simply don’t see how much their Google Ads can be scaled.
-Due to tunnel vision and working with lackluster agencies.
-If you are spending less than $50K/month you are likely leaving opps on the table.
-For example 1 brand Google Ads was 5% of traffic/sessions but 20% of sales. 

→Lack of proactive testing of copy, content, etc..
-Testing ideally weekly changes is huge.
-This helps you stay ahead of competitors.
-And continuously improve results. 
-I’ve seen change histories show a lack of regular tests.

→No framework to create and test landing pages fast:
-Many brands are sleeping on this.
-Creating landing pages should not spark an existential crisis.
-They send traffic to homepages+PDP's vs. dedicated landing pages.
-And wonder why conversion rates are nothing to write home about.

→Not following “must have” best practices to a “t”:
-Using a clear and solid campaign structure.
-That often includes broad match+solid audiences.

→Scaling what works:
-Often your best performers can be scaled.

→Pause the “gunk” that doesn’t work:
-Look at campaigns/keywords last 30-60 days 
-Identify segments with lots of spend and little revenue.

→Focusing on what moves the needle:
-It's very easy to get "distracted" by a complex account.
-The 80/20 principle is not a marketing gimmick.
-But a legit way to save time.

These types of learnings helped me build foundational world-class growth engines for emerging ecom, SAAS and lead gen brands.

Including brands that were acquired and 1 brand that 9xed DTC breaking $14M/year (top 1% of Shopify revenue). And a brand with a billion dollar valuation.

What have your experiences been with the above?

P.S.: Looking for a second pair of eyes on your Google Ads campaigns? Feel free to shoot me a DM.

P.P.S. This is a unique song "Love and Hate" by Michael Kiwanuka.

SAAS founders looking to book more meetings. 👇

What if there was a way to circumvent "product market fit".

Let me explain.

The harsh truth is nobody cares about your product.

Talking too much about your product and you repel people.

Or worse yet you get blacklisted by your "wish list" of clients. 

Sound familiar?
→"Take me off your list".
→"Unsubscribe".
→"Not interested".

But the human brain is hardwired to:
→Focus on business problems
→Humans naturally lean towards being social.

How do you book more meetings - if PMF is an issue?

Is this a chicken and egg scenario?

Not at all. 

No the problem is flawed frameworks.

And not understanding how attraction works.

DM me - I have a way you can book 10+ calls a week.

Without having to "beg" on the phone. 

Or offer $100 ethical bribes for demos.

Or spend a fortune on ads that don't work.

I use this method to earn convos+ book meetings while:
→Eating cereal.
→At the beach.
→Watching YouTube videos.

Simply DM me the word "workshop".

And I'll share the blueprint.

P.S. I always liked this song back in the day.

Taplio

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