Down The Stem
Every purchase starts as attention in the cortex and ends as a decision lower in the brain. DTS runs the whole path — the ads, the tracking, and the site that closes it — for clients across the United States, 100% virtual.
The funnel isn't a shape. It's a route through the brain.
Most funnels get drawn as a triangle. DTS draws it as anatomy — attention, trust, and action live in different parts of the brain, and a buyer has to move through all three.
Get noticed before there's any intent yet
YouTube, display, paid social, broad-match search — nobody's deciding yet, they're just clocking that you exist. The job is reach, not conversion.
Connect attention to a decision that hasn't happened yet
The connective tissue between noticing and deciding — retargeting, trust signals, and the site itself. It's also where the tracking lives: every scroll and form fill gets wired into GTM and GA4, then fed back into the ads.
Where the decision actually gets made
Buying decisions are made in the limbic system, not the rational cortex. By this stage the job isn't convincing — it's removing friction. High-intent Search, remarketing, and a site built to get out of the way.
"Most agencies optimize the ad. DTS optimizes the whole nervous system the ad is talking to." — How I explain this on the first call
Four disciplines, one connected funnel
I don't hand you a stack of disconnected vendors. I run the ads, wire up the tracking, and build the site — so the data from one stage actually improves the next.
Google Ads, run end to end
The only channel that shows up at every stage of the stem — YouTube for the cortex, retargeting through the bridge, Search and Performance Max for the limbic system. Run as one system, not one campaign.
Get a free account audit- Search & ShoppingCapturing people already looking to buy
- Performance MaxTuned to your conversion data, not platform defaults
- YouTube & DisplayTop-of-stem reach that feeds retargeting
- Account structure & biddingRebuilding accounts bleeding spend on the wrong signals
Paid social & display
Prospecting on Meta and other platforms — introducing the brand and handing off a clean signal downstream.
GTM & GA4 setup
Tag Manager, GA4 events, and conversion tracking set up right — so ad platforms optimize against real actions.
Website builds
Sites built to do one job: take a warm visitor and remove every reason to hesitate.
Five steps, in the order they actually matter
Most agencies start with the ad. I start with whether you can even see what the ad is doing.
Audit the account and the tracking
Before touching spend, I check whether GA4 and GTM are measuring the right things at all.
Wire up the signal
Build or repair GTM and GA4 so every meaningful action gets captured and passed back to the ads.
Build or fix the landing experience
The site is the last thing a buyer sees before deciding — it has to earn that moment.
Launch and structure the Google Ads account
Campaigns built around your actual funnel stages, with bidding matched to clean conversion data.
Report on what actually moved the decision
Reporting that shows which stage is working, and which one's losing people.
A few things people usually ask
Do you only work with local businesses?
No — everything is run virtually, so Down The Stem works with clients across the entire United States regardless of location.
Is Google Ads the only channel you run?
Google Ads is the specialty, but paid social, GTM/GA4 tracking setup, and website builds are handled too, since they all feed the same funnel.
What is the "Down The Stem" approach?
It maps the marketing funnel to the brain: top-of-funnel awareness (the cortex), consideration and tracking (the bridge), and the actual buying decision (the limbic system) — so the ads, tracking, and website are each built for the stage they're actually working on.
Do you handle analytics and tracking setup, or just the ads?
Both. GTM and GA4 setup is part of the process, since ad platforms can't optimize well against broken or missing conversion data.
Let's find out where your funnel is actually losing people.
A free audit covers your Google Ads account, your GTM/GA4 setup, and your site's path to conversion — the whole stem, not just one piece of it.
or, if you'd rather just grab a time on the calendar —
Book a call Back to top