Paycor is a platform built to help leaders recruit, manage and develop high-performing teams through technology that supports everything from payroll to performance management. The SaaS brand needed to scale their primary indicators of pipeline growth, marketing qualified leads (MQLs) and first-time appointments with sales reps (FTAs), but already had a mature digital program in place. With their existing digital strategy reaching a plateau, Paycor challenged Monks to unlock new avenues for scalable growth.

Standard display tactics on the Google Display Network had been relatively effective for the brand; engagement was strong and the campaigns helped maintain visibility with remarketing audiences, but cost-per-click (CPC) was relatively high. To really scale, we turned to AI. Unlike traditional display tactics, Google’s Demand Generation product could learn, adapt and scale outcomes faster if given the right inputs.

Our team designed a two-part Demand Gen strategy tailored to Paycor’s goals. We started by running prospecting campaigns focused on competitor audiences to attract new, high-potential users. Then we layered in remarketing to re-engage users who had already shown interest but hadn’t yet converted. Both campaigns used a mix of static imagery and messaging pulled from top-performing Search ads, but video quickly became a standout performer.

We tested a range of video formats, from 30-second feature clips to five-minute product tours. The long-form videos drove the highest engagement and view-through rates, helping build interest and familiarity with Paycor's offering. The shorter videos were stronger at driving direct conversions. This combination formed an integrated creative system that guided users from awareness to action within the same campaign environment.

To build early traction, we launched with a Max Clicks bidding strategy to give Google room to gather data and optimize delivery. Once the campaigns were capturing enough engagement volume to shift out of the algorithmic learning phase, we shifted to Maximum Conversion Value to align spend with deeper-funnel results. We also implemented a tailored value-based bidding structure that reflected Paycor’s business goals. To align with these goals, we dynamically weighted MQLs based on company size and historical close-rate trends. FTAs and Opportunity Created conversions were given higher, fixed values to reinforce the quality of those users, while early-stage leads were excluded to sharpen the algorithm’s focus on revenue-ready prospects.

When we looked at performance side by side, the difference between the Demand Gen and traditional GDN campaigns was immediately clear: we saw a 2x increase in average lead value, a 90% increase in appointments, and a 20% improvement in cost per opportunity. These improvements reflect the stronger intent and relevance of the audiences we reached through AI-powered targeting and a dynamic value-based bidding structure that mapped directly to Paycor's business priorities. By focusing on signals that aligned with revenue potential, we quickly outperformed legacy display tactics and validated Demand Gen campaigns as a scalable approach to drive pipeline for Paycor.

Paylocity, a leading HCM SaaS built to make work simpler, has been working with Monks since 2023. Since Paylocity serves brands from 35-person SMBs to teams of 25k employees, the value of each lead and time to sale varies greatly. They struggled to connect leads to their eventual business value, making it difficult to optimize campaigns for high-quality conversions.  This hindered their ability to measure Google Ads’ revenue impact and confidently drive leads in every buyer segment without sacrificing quality. Paylocity partnered with Monks to solve this challenge and unlock the full value of their ad spend.

To help Paylocity bridge the gap between the initial click and the business outcome they’re accountable to (first-time appointments with sales, FTAs), we helped upgrade the data integration with their CRM. Our team drove the strategic planning and technical implementation, using Enhanced Conversions for leads and Google Data Manager. This increased the number of match keys used (specifically Google click IDs or “GCLIDs,” email addresses, and phone numbers) and resolved data-formatting issues. These improvements made it possible to differentiate a high-quality lead from a low-quality one within the ads platform and lean into value-based bidding (VBB), bidding directly against SQLs to achieve more FTAs.

The improved data connections allowed Paylocity to recognize a greater proportion of its sales-qualified conversions in Google Ads. The brand saw a 62% lift in conversion value of leads from Google Ads, a 61% higher conversion rate from marketing qualified lead (MQL) to sales qualified lead (SQL), and a 19% gain in first-time appointments (FTA). For the first time, the brand could make better decisions about scaling ad spend, confident that a higher lead cost would drive more business value. This critical insight gave Paylocity a more complete picture of the funnel than they could get from other media investments.

Our partnership with TikTok is about helping brands engage authentically and build real relationships with their audiences. Social media is where ideas take off and trends are shaped, and we guide clients in becoming true social brands that create lasting impact. TikTok offers a unique space for trust and intimacy, and whether it's crafting a comprehensive campaign or leaning into culture with a 10-second trending video, we help our clients spark meaningful engagement and grow their brand in a way that feels true to who they are.

As black-box algorithmic campaigns take over digital platforms, creative is the most critical lever to fuel new performance gains. The modern digital landscape requires all ad creative to be quantifiable, tested at scale, audience-specific and channel-native. To deliver on this, our performance creative experts work hand-in-hand with media strategists and AI technology to rapidly produce and optimize new assets according to your business goals. Our solutions combine agile development, iterative testing, generative AI, and human ingenuity to deliver the most effective and relevant message to your target audience and unlock efficient growth for your brand.

Text-to-image technology gets our creative in market faster, unlocking multiple benefits in the creative process. In addition to cutting down time spent on concepting and approvals with AI-generated mockups, the technology also speeds up QA with automated content checks based on your brand guidelines, testing taxonomy, and ad platform requirements.

Even the biggest brands have challenges maintaining fresh asset libraries, with long timelines and high cost to shoot new content. Generative AI allows us to get scrappy with existing content and create modularity. From new backgrounds to alternating models, localization to platform-native aspect ratios, the opportunities are endless.

Our performance creative experts are embedded with our media strategists to put data-driven testing at the beginning of the development process, rather than retrofitting tests onto existing brand work. We start with custom learning agendas based on historical performance and your business goals, then bake in our testing dimensions to the creative concepts themselves, from visuals to value props to tone and more. We generate a tailored ad taxonomy to analyze results in aggregate, then fuel iteration quickly. Every decision is data-driven, while keeping your brand’s voice center stage.

Our creative strategists form an agile bridge between your brand designers and your advertising experts, whether in-house or outsourced. Your creative team benefits from extended capacity, combined with deep knowledge of performance media best practices, while your media marketers can ramp up their testing velocity without sacrificing quality or learnings. ROI is our north star as we adapt your brand concepts and traditional media assets into bespoke digital iterations for each stage of the funnel and each ad placement. We are equally fluent in “art director,” “media buyer,” and “data analyst”—our cross-functional expertise seamlessly integrates us into your team to benefit your bottom line.

Programmatic media efficiency and effectiveness is harder than ever to get right. In the privacy era of advertising, you need a partner proven to navigate the complex programmatic landscape while holding media accountable to your growth goals—at every point in the funnel. We're the key programmatic partner to the world’s most innovative brands, helping them achieve incremental growth by guiding cross-platform strategy, streamlining operations, enabling personalization, and constantly experimenting.

We partner with high-growth brands in every vertical—from retail to financial services, consumer tech to B2B SaaS—to build a strong digital media foundation on the right tech stack. Our teams are experts in all leading DSPs, including Display & Video 360, Amazon DSP, The Trade Desk, Verizon Media, Xandr, and more. We will guide your ad operations and platform selections based on your business’s needs.

Programmatic isn’t a channel, it’s a bridge for all forms of digital media. Our programmatic experts maximize efficiency by finding and engaging your audience where they live, optimizing frequency across touchpoints while eliminating redundancy and siloes. Our process starts with detailed research into your audience’s online behaviors, then weaves in AI for dynamic personalization and optimization. We make the most of every dollar invested with advanced measurement methodologies. No blind awareness buys or over-reliance on cookie-based attribution here; we’ll help you understand incrementality, time to impact, and profitability of your campaigns and guide your investments accordingly. Efficiently reach the users who matter most to your business, without waste.