Launching a Reddit Ads Pilot to Unlock a New Channel

The Problem

Rugged Monitoring had exhausted scale on Google and LinkedIn. CPCs were rising, and the team needed a new channel to drive top-of-funnel awareness and qualified leads in a technical, skeptical audience.

The Goal

Test Reddit as a viable paid channel, achieve CAC under $180, and generate 50+ MQLs in the pilot phase.

Strategy

Mapped target subreddits by audience intent (IT ops, DevOps, SRE communities), built native creative that matched Reddit's editorial tone, launched conversation ads to drive engagement, and used pixel-based retargeting to convert browsers into leads.

Execution

Launched campaigns in 8 subreddits with A/B tests on headlines, imagery, and CTAs. Used Reddit's conversion pixel to track form fills, integrated with HubSpot for lead attribution, and ran weekly creative refreshes based on comment sentiment and CTR data.

Results

Generated 73 MQLs at $162 CAC (10% better than target). Reddit became the #3 paid channel by lead volume. CTR averaged 1.8% (2.3x platform benchmark). 4 deals closed from Reddit-sourced leads within 90 days, generating $340K pipeline.

What I'd Do Next

Expand to conversation ads at scale, test AMA (Ask Me Anything) sponsorship in key subreddits, build dark post strategy for community engagement, and integrate Reddit data into multi-touch attribution model.