In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Diel Gerber, founder and CEO of Gerber Media, shares her expertise on paid media strategies, cross-channel campaigns, and data-driven decision-making for small and medium-sized businesses.
With over 16 years in digital advertising, Diel has witnessed the industry evolve from static ads to AI-powered, multi-channel optimization—a game-changer for SMBs. She highlights emerging trends for 2025, the importance of leveraging analytics to compete with larger brands, and the power of testing and audience insights to refine marketing efforts.
As a WBE Canada Certified woman entrepreneur, Diel also offers valuable advice for women in digital marketing, encouraging them to think big, embrace innovation, and expand beyond niche markets. Through Gerber Media’s customized and data-backed approach, she continues to help Canadian businesses maximize ad spend and achieve sustainable growth in an ever-changing digital landscape.
Diel Gerber is the founder and CEO of Gerber Media. She is a Digital paid media expert and business enthusiast, and together with her team, she manages paid media for top Canadian brands.
Diel had a prosperous career in digital marketing and over 16 years of experience in advertising agencies and media companies. She is driven by a mission to provide high-quality and cost-effective media solutions, ensuring that her clients receive the best value for their investment. She is a mom of 2 girls and lives with her family in Vaughan, Ontario
Gerber Media specializes in paid media management for enterprises. How do you tailor your approach to meet the unique needs of Canadian SMBs looking to maximize their digital advertising ROI?
Every small business offers and needs are unique. At Gerber Media we create customized digital marketing strategies for each client based on their marketing objective and ideal client.
Our expert paid media team makes sure that we only invest in ad campaigns with the highest return on ad spend possible.
With the data we gain, we optimize the campaign daily, we run a/b testing and we work with our clients to improve their user experience and their making funnel.
There is no one size fits all solution in today’s market. We use different channels, tactics and focus on targeting the right audience for each client. From there, we track all the data so we can make informative decisions.
Your agency was recently awarded for “Best Cross-Channel Campaign” in real estate for your Ellisdon Arcadia District campaign. Can you share insights from this campaign that SMBs could apply to their own digital marketing strategies?
When we look at Cross-Channel Campaign the best tactic is testing. Testing new channels, new audiences, new creatives and messaging. Sometimes ads that provide strong results on one platform provide different results when testing on different channels.
When we manage Cross-Channel Campaigns for our clients, we make sure to fit the right campaign to the right platform and we shift budget quickly from one platform or one campaign to another, according to the data and the trends. In this way, our campaign can reach its full potential and we maximize the return on investment.
We are also very lucky to work with Ellisdon Developments and to be part of an exciting project like Arcadia District.
With 16 years of experience in advertising, how have you seen the paid media landscape evolve, and what emerging trends should Canadian SMBs be aware of as we move into 2025?
After 16 years in digital advertising, the one thing I’m sure about is that the industry keeps changing. From static images and no data we have moved to multichannel dynamic formats with powerful algorithm optimization and data being collected in all stages. The dynamic ad formats today are powerful and successful for all businesses. Small businesses have access to the same platforms and the same AI optimization tools as big brands. Using these tools can be a game changer for a small business and provide growth opportunities like never before. Your marketing data (like your Instagram audience) is already used by the platform to optimize your competitors ads. My best advice is to not stay behind.
Gerber Media emphasizes data-driven decision-making. How do you help smaller businesses leverage analytics to compete with larger competitors, especially in saturated digital markets?
Smaller businesses can enjoy all the analytics tools available in the market.
Using a website analytics platform we can understand the website traffic, the audience and their path in the website.
Companies can gain information about the demographic and interest of the users who visit their content online, and compare the quality audience driven from each channel. It is important to track the right information that will be insightful for your business. For example, ecommerce should track sales but also cart abandoners, adding to cart, adding payment method and ect, while service providers can track results such as booking and leads.
Collecting and using the right information can improve business performance significantly. eCommerce can use cart abandoners to improve their sales. Service providers can use the search data to understand what is the most important question their customers are looking to get the best answers right now. At Gerber Media, we not only analyze the data, we help inform our clients on what the next best step would be to grow their business.
As a WBE Canada Certified women-owned business, what advice would you offer to other women entrepreneurs looking to establish themselves in the competitive digital marketing space?
We see a lot of women business owners think small or trying to build business to support other women. Our best tip will be to get out of the comfort zone and build a business that can serve everyone. In the online ecosystem today you can test different offers to different audiences and you don’t need to stay in one small niche. The starting point for trying new businesses has never been so accessible.
