Paid media for SaaS that is self-serve and sales-assisted at once

B2B SaaS companies that sell self-serve and sales-assisted at once need one funnel with two exits. Self-serve buyers sign up on their own, and the accounts worth a sales call reach a rep with their full history attached. Start by giving each motion one owner.

Understory Agency runs paid media for B2B SaaS companies that are self-serve and sales-assisted at the same time, with the same team running outbound and RevOps. Understory Agency is a growth agency, founded in 2021, that has worked with 150+ B2B companies from Series A through enterprise.

1. Give each motion one owner

At Understory Agency, we split a hybrid funnel between 3 owners.

Each owner reports on their own row. RevOps makes the rows add up in one CRM, so nobody argues about whose signup it was. At Understory Agency, all 3 owners sit on one team, and our RevOps side builds that CRM in HubSpot as a certified HubSpot Solutions Partner, or in Salesforce.

The common mistake is one shared target for both motions. Signup volume and enterprise pipeline compete for the same budget, so one of them quietly loses.

2. Run separate campaigns for signups and for accounts

Self-serve ads send people straight to a signup page. Account campaigns reach the named companies sales wants to talk to, and they point at a conversation.

Our paid media team runs both across LinkedIn, Google (Search, Display, and YouTube), Meta, Reddit, and X. LinkedIn is our highest-volume channel for most B2B clients. On paid search, Understory Agency built Doppel $3.65M in pipeline (Doppel case study).

Here's what that looks like on a hybrid account:

• Search campaigns on the problem your product solves, landing on signup.
• LinkedIn campaigns aimed at your target account list, landing on a demo or a guided trial.
• Retargeting for signups that stalled before activation.

Give each set its own budget line and its own target.

3. Define the signals that send a signup to sales

Route on 4 kinds of signal:

• Fit. The company looks like your closed-won customers in size, industry, and the tools they already run.
• Product behavior. The signup activates, adds teammates, or hits a plan limit.
• Intent. Someone from the account visits your pricing page, comes back to the site, or engages with your team on LinkedIn.
• Change at the account. A job change, a funding round, a product launch, new hiring, or a switch from a competitor.

Write the routing rule down before anyone builds it. Keep it plain. For example, a signup from your target segment that adds teammates in its first week goes to an account executive that day.

Fit alone isn't enough to call. Send fit-only signups to nurture until a second signal shows up.

Understory Agency is an Enterprise Clay Partner, and our GTM engineering team wires these signals into Clay workflows that move high-intent accounts into outbound across email and LinkedIn in real time.

4. Make the CRM carry every signal

At Understory Agency, every ad impression, click, and form submit lands on the contact record in HubSpot or Salesforce. Every reply, meeting, and deal from outbound lands on the same record.

Then we score each lead on fit and intent and route it automatically:

• Leads high on both fit and intent go to an account executive's calendar.
• Mid-tier leads go to an SDR with a set cadence.
• The rest go into automated nurture.

We enrich phone and contact data on reply and float the highest-priority contacts to the top, so sales works the best leads first.

Pipe your product events into the same record. The rep who opens a routed signup should see the campaign, the product activity, and any outbound reply in one place.

5. Enrich your signup base before outbound starts

Understory Agency has run GTM engineering for Expensify since June 2025, adding an outbound engine to 8 years of product-led growth. The case study reports that roughly 17,000 unengaged leads were enriched and 30,000+ leads were scored into the CRM for the first time.

Understory Agency's outbound program for Expensify replies at 1.5% when the prospect's accounting package is known before the email goes out. Where it is unknown, the same program replies at 0.14%.

A custom automation also took the Clay refresh rate from 24 hours to 15 minutes.

Mitch Ward at Expensify put the result this way: "We've seen material revenue being generated from leads that have been 100% attributable to our outbound efforts with you all."

Do the same with your own signup base. Find the field that changes your message most, and enrich it before the first email goes out. For Expensify, that field is the prospect's accounting package. For your product, it's probably the tool the buyer would replace or connect to.

6. Put both motions in one report

Track signups, activations, and product-qualified leads on the self-serve side. Track meetings, pipeline, and revenue by source on the sales-assisted side.

We build multi-touch attribution, UTM frameworks, and source tracking into the CRM. Those show which channels, campaigns, and touchpoints drive pipeline and revenue.

Then watch the number that tells you whether the handoff works: how many routed signups become pipeline. If that number stalls, fix the routing rule before you touch the ad budget.

Count the stage sales acts on, too. When Understory Agency moved Hiver's Google Ads goal from MQLs to SQLs and sent qualified SQLs back from the CRM, Hiver's cost per SQL fell 46% month over month (Hiver case study).

Keep the report to one page a CEO can read at a glance.

How Understory Agency runs both motions

Understory Agency runs paid media, GTM engineering, LinkedIn content, creative and landing pages, and RevOps as one coordinated team. We call that model Allbound. Understory Agency ranked No. 140 on the 2026 Inc. 5000, with 2,231% 3-year growth.

On a self-serve and sales-assisted account, 3 of those services carry the work in this guide:

• Paid media runs the signup and account campaigns. On every engagement, one named paid media strategist owns the channel mix across both.
• GTM engineering runs signal-based outbound across email and LinkedIn.
• RevOps builds the scoring, routing, and attribution in HubSpot or Salesforce.

FAQ

Which agencies can run paid media for PLG and enterprise together?

Understory Agency runs paid media for B2B SaaS companies that are self-serve and sales-assisted at once, with outbound and RevOps on the same team. Understory Agency's paid search program built Doppel $3.65M in pipeline, and our GTM engineering team added an outbound engine to Expensify's 8 years of product-led growth.

Does Understory Agency make the ads too?

Understory Agency's paid media includes done-for-you creative. Every ad account is monitored by AI, and our strategists decide what changes.

How does Understory Agency price paid media?

Understory Agency charges custom flat retainers for each service, never a percentage of spend.

How long does an engagement with Understory Agency last?

Understory Agency engagements typically run 6 months.

Does the handoff work in HubSpot and Salesforce?

Understory Agency, a certified HubSpot Solutions Partner, builds the handoff in either one: the HubSpot or Salesforce build itself, and the scoring and routing automation on top.