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Click Here: The Art and Science of Digital Marketing and Advertising

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The ultimate guide to digital marketing and advertising – from one of the most influential digital marketers in the world, Alex Schultz, CMO of Meta.

Growth is good. But how do you achieve growth for your business in the digital age?

Now, more than ever, there are a myriad of ways to achieve growth by marketing your business, large or small, using the tools available on the internet. There are any number of different channels and platforms, and a vast array of tools and mechanisms to advertise to your potential customers. How do you decide which is the best for your product or service?
 
The answers are right here, thanks to Alex Schultz, the chief marketing officer of META. Alex’s unparalleled expertise and experience is crystalised in this essential bible for digital marketing. He guides readers through the key principles for maximizing the impact of your marketing budget – whether you are working for a global corporation or running your own start-up. From understanding channels, to testing creative, to measuring incremental gains – CLICK HERE is the book you need to read if you want to grow your business.

"Alex is one of a small handful of people that I can say without his work, our community would not have connected more than 2 billion people around the world." - Mark Zuckerberg, CEO - Meta

"Alex is the person I go to when I have a really hard growth question." - Sam Altman, CEO - OpenAI

400 pages, Hardcover

Published October 7, 2025

223 people are currently reading
623 people want to read

About the author

Alex Schultz

14 books6 followers

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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Rebecca.
251 reviews
December 30, 2025
A useful book to read if you’re interested in digital marketing, however I did find it a bit difficult to fully take in all the information.

I feel like this book was tailored towards people who are at a more advanced stage in their digital marketing career rather than someone like me who is technically still in the early stages.

I thought the first section covering ‘the basics’ was useful (even if a lot of it was reemphasising what I already knew), and I also found parts of ‘the channels’ section interesting too.

The only part of the book that was the least useful/interesting for me was ‘the infrastructure’ section, however I imagine for some people this might be the most useful/interesting part.
Profile Image for Amanda King.
2 reviews
October 16, 2025
Click here is one of those rare business books that...clicks immediately. It's a fantastic primer for anyone that works in digital, and a great refresher for industry veterans.

Schultz starts with a concept that resonated with me right out the gate - the idea of a North Star, a guiding principle...and the fact that it should inform and help identify goals and targets for your business, as well as guide your decisions. Simple and maybe obvious, but common sense isn't that common, and we can all use the reminder.

The rest of the book follows much in suit - no nonsense, straightforward advice informed by years of doing the work: how to measure conversion in ways that make sense to everyone and help the business actually understand how it's doing, how to target, how to understand and choose channels in a saturated digital market (and not entirely drop the traditional either), how to approach creative...all peppered with personal anecdotes that only make the Schultz's approach shine all the better for it's efficiency and practicality. To then follow on with softer yet no less important concepts like internal and external stakeholder management, team dynamics and communicating return and ROI, as well as a fantastic overview of the channels at play in the marketing ecosystem these days.

I would strongly recommend this get added to the shelves of anyone who calls themselves a marketer in the 21st century.
143 reviews9 followers
October 7, 2025
Listened to the audiobook on Spotify. It’s a great Marketing primer, especially for small businesses
Profile Image for Abhijeet Kumar.
Author 4 books20 followers
December 25, 2025
Click Here by Alex Schultz is like a practical handbook for digital growth. The book talks about the art and science of digital marketing and advertising. Rather than flashy tips, it has well-established frameworks for different channels and conversion types.

His emphasis on a “North Star” metric and his anecdotes from Meta and eBay provide insights into how large-scale platforms operate. Heck, it even provides a primer on hiring a team.

The book, though, is more focused on the technicalities of digital marketing, primarily the paid channels. And that too, skewed towards paid socials. Of course, it also includes insights on search, affiliate and display marketing, but Meta-driven advice dominates the content.

At times, it feels like a subtle promotion of Meta. An invitation to step into Meta’s advertising platform. Like a nudge to adopt their tools for your marketing, as if Meta is the ultimate solution for business growth.

That being said, I found the parallels with The Social Dilemma hard to ignore. It has that unsettling vibe that made me feel marketing and advertising repulsive.

Of course, the points about precision targeting seem undeniably effective, but they reveal a corporate mindset that prioritises growth at all costs. The absence of any ethical reflection makes Click Here feel as if it advocates surveillance-driven advertising.

I found Alex’s view that strict European privacy regulations are a hindrance to Europe’s digital growth particularly concerning. That due to such regulations, the region has produced relatively few major SaaS companies.

So, I’d say Click Here isn’t for a privacy-concerned ethical marketer. It’s gonna make you uneasy. For marketing professionals, especially those looking to refine paid marketing strategies, it’s a solid resource. Beginner marketers may find it overwhelming

PS... The book could have been tighter and better structured. Phrases, such as “as discussed in chapter…” and “as mentioned above,” crop up too often.
Profile Image for Sarah Cupitt.
848 reviews46 followers
December 19, 2025
question your conversion metrics relentlessly

building a successful marketing team requires two fundamental ingredients: hiring people who’ve proven their worth during tough times, and implementing measurement systems that expose real impact versus vanity metrics.

notes:
- Do you need to create awareness of your brand in general, or do you need to convince potential customers to take action?
- GoDaddy’s bold move: they invested heavily in Super Bowl ads to raise awareness for the entire domain hosting industry. This freed their competitors to focus on winning customers further down the funnel with better prices and features, thriving without spending on awareness campaigns.
- Facebook learned that reactivating dormant users mattered more than registrations. Similarly, eBay discovered that paying affiliates for users who actually bought or sold items – rather than just confirmed email addresses – transformed their marketplace quality overnight. Total registrations dropped, but revenue soared. They were finally measuring what mattered.
- A major razor company once spent thousands on billboard ads targeted at men, only to discover that 30 percent of their buyers were women purchasing gifts for their partners. This costly mistake illustrates why modern targeting has revolutionized marketing – and why understanding behavior beats demographics every time.
- While traditional marketers bought TV spots during soap operas to reach housewives or stadium billboards to target men, today’s tools let you reach someone who browsed for running shoes last night at 11:00 p.m. (um how??)
- if you want to target women, don’t let a team of men assume what they like.
- Start by feeding platforms rich behavioral data about what your customers do, not just who they are. Take advantage of auto-optimization tools that have encoded decades of best practices. But remember that no amount of targeting genius replaces being persistently visible where customers naturally look.
- focus on what truly works, not just what appears to work

random lesser important notes:
- When Yahoo offered to buy the young startup, he said no. Most founders would have taken the money – even his own executives urged him to sell. But Zuckerberg refused, choosing instead to focus on one crystal-clear goal: connecting the world online.
- North Star: Monthly Active Users (MAU)
- When CMO Kelly Bennett cut the company’s entire pop-under ad budget in the late 2000s, something shocking happened: nothing. Sales stayed exactly the same. They’d been wasting millions on ads that looked effective but delivered zero actual value. The freed-up budget helped launch Netflix Originals.
- Most companies pour money into external advertising while ignoring their own product as a marketing tool. In-product merchandising and direct email campaigns can shepherd customers from initial awareness all the way to purchase. Facebook’s Messenger team discovered this when testing ways to promote app installs. Instead of intrusive banner ads, they placed a small, persistent button right on the messaging screen – exactly where people were already thinking about messaging. That single contextual placement drove a third of all app installs, outperforming flashier campaigns because it met users in the right mindset.
Profile Image for Shiju.
18 reviews4 followers
October 21, 2025
Probably the only book on digital marketing that I'll ever need.

Strongly grounded in sound marketing theory and comes from a giant of a man with his own accomplishments that stand tall.

I've decided to keep it as my handbook on Digital Marketing.
3 reviews
October 14, 2025
Even though this says it is good for start-up businesses I felt like it was not very helpful for a start-up. I couldn’t follow most of the information as it is too advanced. What I could follow was not discussed in detail…just an overview of the basics.
Profile Image for Jung.
1,960 reviews45 followers
Read
December 19, 2025
"Click Here: The Art and Science of Digital Marketing and Advertising" by Alex Schultz is a practical and experience-driven exploration of how modern digital marketing actually works when it delivers extraordinary results. Drawing on Schultz’s time helping scale Facebook into a global platform and guiding companies like eBay through periods of crisis, the book argues that marketing success is not about flashy tactics or endless spending, but about clarity, discipline, and measurement. In a digital world where nearly every business has access to the same tools, the difference between modest growth and exponential outcomes lies in how well leaders define their goals, understand user behavior, and build systems that compound over time rather than leak value.

At the heart of Schultz’s thinking is the importance of a single, guiding objective. He emphasizes that the most successful companies anchor every marketing decision to one clearly defined 'North Star' metric that reflects their true mission. Facebook’s early obsession with connecting people globally was operationalized through a simple focus on monthly active users, which allowed leaders to instantly reject ideas that might generate short-term revenue but damage long-term engagement. This clarity prevented endless debates and kept teams aligned, proving that saying no to tempting opportunities can be as powerful as chasing new ones. Once this central goal is defined, marketers must identify where their customers sit in the journey from awareness to action, concentrating resources on the stage that truly limits growth instead of spreading effort thinly across every channel.

Schultz repeatedly challenges readers to question the numbers they rely on. One of the book’s strongest messages is that many businesses track metrics that feel logical but fail to capture real value. Facebook’s realization that reactivating inactive users and preventing churn mattered more than acquiring new sign-ups illustrates how misleading surface-level metrics can be. Similarly, eBay transformed its marketplace by rewarding affiliates for meaningful transactions rather than simple registrations, even though this reduced headline growth figures. These examples show that growth often accelerates when companies accept smaller, more honest numbers that reflect genuine engagement. The real work of marketing, Schultz argues, lies in mapping every step of the conversion process and identifying invisible friction points where users silently drop away.

The book also dismantles traditional assumptions about targeting. Schultz explains that demographic profiles often hide more than they reveal, while behavior tells a far more accurate story. Modern digital platforms allow marketers to reach people based on intent and action rather than age or gender, which has proven dramatically more effective. However, this precision only works when companies feed platforms meaningful data, especially information about the actual value of conversions. When algorithms understand not just who converts but how much that conversion is worth, they can optimize toward outcomes that truly matter. At the same time, Schultz reminds readers that technology alone is not enough; sometimes the most powerful 'targeting' is simply being visible at the exact moment users are ready to act, even if that means a humble design change rather than an expensive campaign.

Building an effective marketing organization requires the same rigor. Schultz advises leaders to hire marketers who have proven themselves during difficult periods, not just during times of explosive growth. Professionals who survived downturns tend to understand efficiency, prioritization, and accountability far better than those who only experienced success. Equally important is establishing measurement systems that clearly show incremental impact. If a team cannot explain, in simple terms, how their work creates value, they are vulnerable when budgets tighten. Schultz highlights how teams with strong measurement credibility were protected during industry-wide layoffs, while those relying on vague brand narratives were cut deeply.

When it comes to channels, the book encourages relentless skepticism. Schultz shows how companies often waste vast sums on tactics that appear effective but add no real value, as Netflix discovered when cutting underperforming ad formats without any drop in sales. He urges marketers to treat their own products as powerful marketing engines, embedding promotion directly into user experiences where it feels natural and helpful. Partner-led, search, and social channels each offer unique advantages, but all require careful testing to ensure they generate new demand rather than simply capturing customers who would have arrived anyway. Across every channel, the discipline of experimentation and honest measurement separates durable growth from illusion.

A significant portion of the book is devoted to artificial intelligence, which Schultz frames not as a distant innovation but as a force already reshaping marketing. He explains how AI has allowed platforms to recover from data limitations by learning patterns more efficiently, and how this capability is now available to businesses of all sizes. AI enables personalization at a scale that was once unimaginable, creating the possibility of tailoring messages to individual users rather than broad segments. Schultz cautions that waiting for AI to feel 'ready' is a mistake; the companies that gain the most are those that begin experimenting early, even imperfectly, and structure their data so machines can learn from it.

Ultimately, Schultz presents digital marketing as a system rather than a collection of tricks. Success comes from aligning goals, metrics, teams, and technology around what truly drives value, then iterating relentlessly. The book does not promise easy wins, but it does offer a framework for building marketing engines that grow stronger over time. In its closing message, "Click Here: The Art and Science of Digital Marketing and Advertising" reinforces the idea that while tools and platforms will continue to change, the principles of focus, measurement, and user-centric thinking remain constant. For anyone seeking sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive digital landscape, Schultz’s insights serve as both a reality check and a roadmap forward.
Profile Image for MusingsofRu.
407 reviews53 followers
December 31, 2025
Click Here by Alex Schultz was recommended to me by a friend who is also a digital marketing creative, and while I found it informative, I don’t think I was the target audience. The book is educational and best suited for readers who are already marketing educated or trade taught. It’s not a casual read, nor is it a book focused on quick tips and tricks.

Instead, it reads more like optional college level coursework, offering a deeper, more structured look at digital marketing strategy. Much of the content centers on Meta, which makes sense given Schultz’s background, but there are broader concepts that might translate well to digital marketing as a whole. While it wasn’t a personal favorite, it did provide useful perspective and moments that encouraged me to think more critically about marketing strategy.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
Profile Image for Braden Buchanan.
23 reviews
January 2, 2026
I went into this book with high expectations after watching Alex’s YC lecture and several of his talks. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to them.

The content stayed at a very high level throughout. Essentially covering ideas that most experienced marketers will likely already know, while still being too basic to offer much new insight. It felt closer to a Marketing 101 textbook than a deep, experience driven playbook.

To be clear, the book would probably be useful for beginners or people with little prior exposure to marketing fundamentals. But given the author’s reputation and his experience as CMO of Meta, I was expecting more original frameworks, concrete case studies, or hard-earned lessons that go beyond surface level overviews.

Maybe I’m being overly critical, but I was hoping for something more substantive and differentiated.
Profile Image for Molly.
183 reviews53 followers
December 2, 2025
As someone who has been in digital marketing for five years, I found this book incredibly helpful as I deepen my expertise specifically in running ads. Some of it was super basic for me and other parts a little bit over my head and required some other research, but that’s exactly what I like versus the book being super super basic. It also showed me how I had holes in my current experience. I would say this book does present a holistic view of marketing, but leans super heavy on paid ads, which probably in today’s world is the correct ratio.
Profile Image for Kushmakar Sharma.
93 reviews3 followers
January 4, 2026
Great overview of digital marketing coming from the industry giant himself. Some real nuggets there that put Social, SEO, Paid Ads, and many more touch points into a perspective. Alex's decades worth of experience truly shines through. As a digital marketer, I am left feeling quite smart after reading this.
17 reviews
October 25, 2025
It was good for an intro to digital marketing, though I expected it to go more in depth. If you have never run a digital marketing campaign and are totally new to the field, I would recommend it.
Profile Image for Budd Margolis.
862 reviews13 followers
November 22, 2025
If there is one book to read that completely explains the miraculous digital marketing era we live in then this is the best I could find and recommend. Many lessons with background and results. Some is counter intuitive and you will see why technology expands our marketing but much of human shopping behaviour remains the same.

Click here is current and in an industry that has changed more in the past five years than in the previous fifty, this is very useful and valuable.

The last chapter in AI is especially useful!!

If uyou operate online then you just READ THIS BOOK!!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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