SAAD FAHIM · MARKETING STRATEGY, SYSTEMS & AI · RALEIGH, NC
I connect paid media, conversion optimization, CRM, and automation so marketing performance can be followed through to business results. With an engineering background and hands-on marketing experience, I bring the strategy, technical understanding, and execution needed to turn a diagnosis into a working solution.
How I work
Marketing performance depends on how well the pieces connect: campaigns, landing pages, CRM, follow-up, and reporting. I work across those connections to identify what holds results back, improve the process, and confirm that the changes work from start to finish.
Google Ads, Meta, SEO, outbound.
Landing pages, forms, CRO testing.
HubSpot, Zoho, routing, ownership.
Lifecycle email, n8n, AI agents.
GA4, GTM, Looker Studio.
Click to CRM record, tested end to end.
A conversion improvement should carry through to accurate reporting, reliable CRM capture, and the right follow-up.
Selected results
From industrial auctions to university enrollments, these projects connect marketing execution with outcomes the business can measure.
The auction generated $2,261,386 across 861 lots, about 51% above target, and attracted 21,113 bids. I structured promotion across the overall event, equipment categories, and individual high-value machines, tailoring the creative and audiences to reach relevant buyers at each level.
I used heatmaps and session recordings to identify friction, then tested changes to the homepage, product pages, and checkout. The six-month program improved conversion rate by 17%, alongside stronger engagement and a lower bounce rate.
More results
A targeted paid campaign recorded approximately $527,250 in attributed revenue against $8,400 in ad spend. I focused the campaign on specialized equipment and relevant buyer segments, using machine-specific messaging to connect the available inventory with buyers most likely to act.
Content and SEO improvements helped increase organic enrollments from 55 to 68, while organic search’s share of total enrollments rose from 31% to 40%.
From June through August, organic search generated 31 leads, 7 applications, and 4 enrollments. CRM tracking connected each stage, showing how search inquiries progressed to enrolled students.
Where systems leak
Some improvements start with a closer look. These examples show how tracing a problem across systems leads to a more useful solution.
I replaced a generic confirmation with a personalized HubSpot experience: the relevant program guide, an introduction to the prospect’s assigned enrollment advisor, and one clear next step. The existing form and CRM capture continued working throughout the change.
Paid-media reporting could show spend, clicks, leads, and CPL, but not what happened further down the CRM funnel. I rebuilt the reporting around campaign attribution and HubSpot lifecycle data so performance could be analyzed through applications and enrollments rather than stopping at lead volume.
University marketing emails were using HubSpot’s fallback sending domain despite showing the university’s From address. I traced the sending configuration and identified a mismatch with the authenticated domain, establishing the changes needed to align authentication with the intended sender and improve the email setup.
Repeated suspicious requests were reaching the site despite existing filtering. I moved protection upstream to Cloudflare, where traffic could be challenged or blocked before reaching the origin, and added login rate limiting to reduce abuse and support reliable access for bidders.
AI & automation
I connect AI with the tools, data, and processes behind real work. That includes building websites, investigating platforms, connecting business systems, and automating recurring tasks. I take projects from the initial problem through implementation, testing, and handover.
Self-hosted Agent Zero · 13 project workspaces · Custom integrations
Measurement period: Sep 27–Oct 23, 2026
A self-hosted Agent Zero workspace for development, marketing, research, and operations. Persistent project knowledge, API and MCP connections, browser automation, and reusable instructions carry complex work across sessions.
MiMo handles much of the workload. GLM supports complex builds and project takeovers. I test for output quality, reliability, and total task cost, with a custom loop detector flagging repeated actions and stalled progress.
Nearly 20,000 requests · Four weeks
Illustrative token-cost comparison, not an equivalent-results benchmark.
Recorded usage. September 27–October 23, 2026. Actual Agent Zero model API spend was $41.61 across 19,839 requests, including three image requests.
Comparison. Applying GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 standard API rates to the recorded text-token volume, preserving its cached-input share, gives approximately $3,732 and $3,097 respectively. Rates checked October 24, 2026.
Token definitions. The 1.06B total includes input and output tokens. Cached input is part of input and is not counted twice. The 80.9% cache hit rate measures cached input as a share of total input.
Scope. Estimates exclude additional cache-write charges. Hosting and other services are excluded. Different models may require different token volumes and numbers of requests to complete the work.
Calls prospective equipment sellers and qualifies what they have, what condition it is in, and when they would sell. Structured results go straight into the CRM, and promising conversations are handed to a human rep.
I use Agent Zero to turn approved designs into working websites across Astro, EmDash, Cloudflare, and WordPress. Reusable instructions guide implementation, followed by responsive checks, CMS editing tests, and recovery documentation. The workflow carries a build through to a reviewable handover.
A scheduled workflow pulls Google Ads and GA4 data each morning, compares spend and cost per acquisition against a baseline, and flags changes that need attention. A concise Pushover notification brings the findings to me, with account changes kept under human control.
Runs on self-hosted infrastructure: Hetzner · Docker · n8n · Caddy · Cloudflare
What I work across
About
I spent seven years at SLB in technical field and project roles, followed by two years managing sales. That experience shaped how I approach marketing: understand the business, investigate the problem, and build a solution that works in practice.
I’m drawn to work that combines strategy with implementation: building automation, improving HubSpot setups, and running CRO programs where understanding the data matters as much as making the changes.
I hold a Master of Science in Management from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with a specialization in marketing. Outside work you will find me with my two kids or outdoors.
Experience
Education
Certifications
Explore the credentials below, with links to issuer verification where available.
Client feedback
Saad brings a strong mix of marketing strategy, execution, and technical problem-solving to MachineryMax. He has helped us improve how we promote complex industrial auctions, reach highly targeted buyers, and connect marketing activity to real revenue. He is proactive, resourceful, and especially effective at turning ideas into practical systems that support both marketing performance and day-to-day operations.
What stands out most is Saad's ability to look beyond the immediate task, understand how the different systems connect, diagnose what is actually causing the problem, and then implement and test the solution. He is highly self-directed, technically capable, responsive, and consistently focused on getting the work done correctly.
Very professional and responsive. He is patient and takes the time to really understand what you are wanting to create.
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