Each stage of your funnel — awareness, acquisition, and conversion — supports buyer information needs based on their level of interest. So, each stage needs a paid media game plan, with all three stages working together to move buyers progressively through the journey. In the full-funnel approach, channel mix, budget, creative, success metrics, and how you use intent data change by stage. When these elements don’t line up with the right funnel stage, performance drops. You spend more but get less. Engagement falls off. ROI slips.