u/Chemical-Music-7366

Running google search ads in germany, poland and czech. Also doing meta on top but google is where it really hurts. Dont actually speak any of these languages lol.

Current setup is throwing english copy into chatgpt, getting a translation, sending it to a friend who speaks the language. They usually rewrite half of it. When im in a rush I just trust the AI version and pray.

On meta its annoying but doable, you have room to breathe in primary text and headlines. Google is a different story because of the character limits. 30 chars on headlines means the translation either doesnt fit at all or fits but reads like a robot. And RSAs make it worse because google mixes them on its own and I have no way to know if the combos actually make sense in czech or just sound like word salad.

Ad strength scores all over the place. Quality score same. Cant tell if my underperformance is bad copy, bad keywords, or just CEE getting more expensive in general.

Negative keywords in foreign languages is another nightmare but thats a different post.

How are you guys doing this? Native speaker per market? Just trusting AI? Running english ads and hoping? Something smarter im not seeing?

Doing paid events for a while now, few hundred guests a month spread across a few shows.

Ticketing tools (EB, TT) cover the revenue side fine. The problem is everything else. After every event I'm sitting in front of a gsheet typing in costs venue, staff, ads, refunds, no-shows. Then trying to figure out which customers came back from last time, who I should invite again, which events bring the repeat people. That info is in like 4 different places.

The big event platforms cost too much and feel built for conferences and corporate stuff, not for small operators running recurring shows.

So I'm asking - is everyone else also doing it in sheets? Airtable? Some CRM? Just looking at ticketing reports and hoping?

Anyone tracking repeat customers properly or also just by feel?

Honestly starting to think nobody has this solved at our scale.

Running ads in Germany, Poland and Czech right now. I don't speak any of them lol.

What I do now: throw the English copy into ChatGPT, get the translation, send it to a friend who speaks the language and ask "does this sound weird?" Usually they rewrite half of it. When I'm in a rush I just run the ChatGPT version myself and hope.

Honestly no idea if my ads underperform because of bad targeting or because the copy reads like Google Translate vomit.

CPMs in CEE going up and I can't tell what's the actual issue.
How are you guys doing this?
Hiring someone per country?
Just trusting AI?
Running everything in English?

I run small paid events, usually a few hundred guests a month.

We use ticketing tools for ticket sales (EB, TT) and they’re good for the basics. But I still end up doing the “real” event math in gsheets. Things like venue cost, staff, food/drinks, ad spend, whether repeat customers are actually worth much, and who should be invited again next. It is quite annoying.

How are you handling this?

Just Sheets? Airtable? CRM? Ticketing reports only?

I know there are bigger event CRM tools, but I don’t really want to pay hundreds per month just to know if an event made money and remind people to show up.

Curious if others have a cleaner setup, or if everyone is also duct-taping this together.