Mitchel van Luit

How did you get into this line of work?

Through an internship at an online marketing agency, during my consumer psychology degree. During that course I was taught a lot of theory, but I couldn't do anything with it in practice. Many fellow students went to work as consultants: writing reports that someone else has to implement. Online marketing appealed to me precisely because you implement it yourself and immediately see what a psychological principle does.

What struck me straight away there: if you apply psychology without understanding how the advertising platforms work, the effect is zero. And vice versa just as much. Bringing those two together has been my profession ever since.

What do clients only see in you after a few weeks of working together?

They hire someone to launch campaigns and get someone who first takes a step back. Is this product already being sold anywhere? Is the landing page ready to convert? Is the tracking set up correctly? In week two or three, they see that the problem usually doesn't lie in the ad account, but in the setup around it.

They're expecting a media buyer and they get someone who starts talking about the message, about the awareness phase, about how people process information and make decisions. Tracking is the easy part. And “seniors only” turns out to be no mere buzzword on paper: no account manager in between, no quiet handover to a junior, just direct contact with the person who's actually working on the account.

I am also honest about pace. Start small until there is a proof of concept, do not scale up too early, and take into account a decision-making process lasting from weeks to months. In week one that feels slow. In month three it is precisely the reason it works.

What do you say no to, even if it makes money?

Addressing customers who are too early. There needs to be a product or service that is already selling somewhere, or for which there is demonstrable interest. Advertising is an expensive way to find out if you have product-market fit; you figure that out more cheaply during product development.

I also say no to driving traffic to a destination that isn't going to convert anyway, and to budgets or content that simply aren't there. A campaign needs minimal ingredients: enough budget to let the algorithm optimise, enough content, a clear narrative and a place to send people. If these are missing and cannot be created, it costs the client money and me time, and we're both unhappy with the outcome.

What project are you most proud of?

Not on a single project, but on one type of project: an account that isn't working. Diving in, figuring out what's set up incorrectly and what is missing for the person who will see that advert later, and then overhauling it.

Generating revenue and leads from something that previously yielded nothing. And once that initial foundation is in place, scaling it up to something much larger than was initially anticipated. That is the most enjoyable thing there is.

What is the biggest misconception about your field?

“We've tried advertising, it doesn't work for us.” I hear that often, and I get it too: their own experience tells them so. But almost always, a simplified version has been implemented, the minimum has been done in the hope of the maximum, and the plug has been pulled before there was anything to measure.

That makes it a difficult conversation, because as a party that sells advertising, it is hard to claim that it does work with a better setup. That is why I prefer to show it rather than tell it: start small, a proof of concept first, and only after that the conversation about scaling up.

What does an ideal collaboration look like to you?

Engagement and freedom at the same time. A client who thinks along, makes suggestions and contributes ideas, but also gives you space. You hire expertise because you don't have it in-house; you shouldn't still want to dictate everything yourself. Conversely, the exact same thing applies: I'm not going to tell anyone to keep quiet. It is a balance.

And if it works, I hope for ambition. Some people say: money goes in, money comes out, fine. That's fine. But I prefer to take something from nothing, or from negative, to positive and then make it bigger than anyone thought possible beforehand. Customers who see this as a real acquisition channel, that's what makes me happy.