Before You Spend Another Dollar on Marketing, Figure Out What's Actually Broken
Not getting enough leads? Before spending more on SEO, Google Ads or a new website, find out what's actually keeping your marketing from working.
One of the most common things I hear from business owners is some version of:
“I need more leads. What should I be doing?”
SEO? Google Ads? Social media? A new website?
Maybe.
But before I recommend any of those things, I want to know what’s actually keeping you from getting more leads.
Because “I need more leads” tells me the result you want. It doesn’t tell me what’s preventing you from getting there.
You could have a traffic problem. A conversion problem. A visibility problem. A reputation problem. A messaging problem.
Or you might have several of them happening at the same time.
Until we figure that out, spending more money on marketing can mean spending money to solve the wrong problem.
A New Website Won't Fix the Wrong Problem
I've seen businesses spend thousands of dollars redesigning a website without ever figuring out what was wrong with the old one.
One example was a therapist whose website needed help. A redesign seemed like an obvious solution.
And yes, the new website looked significantly better.
But a better-looking website doesn't automatically bring in more business.
If nobody is finding your website, changing the colors, photos and layout isn't going to solve your traffic problem. If visitors don't understand what you want them to do next, you still have a conversion problem. If your website doesn't show up when potential clients search for your services, you still have a visibility problem.
There's another potential problem with website redesigns that many small business owners don't realize.
SEO isn't automatically included in a website redesign.
Not every website designer provides SEO services, and the SEO work that helped your old website rank doesn't simply transfer itself to a new site.
Existing URLs, page content, keywords, title tags, internal links, site structure, redirects, website speed and other SEO factors all need to be considered.
You can end up with a website that's 100 times better than the old one and actually lose business because fewer people can find it.
That's why I don't start with, "Do you need a new website?"
I start with, "What isn't your current website doing that you need it to do?"
What If You're Already Getting Website Traffic?
Here's a completely different scenario.
Your website looks good.
You're showing up in Google.
People are visiting.
But they aren't calling, scheduling or filling out your contact form.
In that situation, getting more traffic might not be where I'd spend your next marketing dollar.
I'd want to know why the people already visiting aren't becoming leads.
Can visitors immediately tell what you do and who you help?
Is there an obvious next step?
Are your calls to action clear?
Have you answered the questions or objections that might keep someone from contacting you?
Do you have reviews and testimonials that let customers explain, in their own words, why they chose you?
Does the website give someone a reason to choose you instead of opening the next Google result?
And perhaps most importantly, are we actually tracking the actions that matter?
This is where conversion optimization can be more valuable than simply sending another thousand people to a website that isn't convincing the people already there.
More traffic isn't always the answer.
Sometimes you need to get more from the traffic you already have.
What If You Have a Great Reputation, But You Look Terrible Online?
This is one I see with established businesses.
You've been in business for years. Maybe most of your customers come through referrals and word of mouth.
People in your community know you're good at what you do.
Then someone refers a potential customer to you.
What does that person do next?
There's a pretty good chance they Google you.
And suddenly there's a disconnect.
The business they heard great things about has an outdated website, very few Google reviews or barely any online presence.
Your reputation in person says:
Experienced. Established. Trusted.
Your online presence doesn't.
That's not necessarily a "we need more marketing" problem.
It's a credibility problem.
I want your online presence to look as good as you actually are.
Imagine how much more powerful those referrals become when someone hears wonderful things about your business, Googles you and finds a professional website, strong reviews, useful information and a consistent brand that confirms everything they were just told.
In that situation, we may need to work on your website, local search marketing, reviews or SEO before adding an entirely new marketing channel.
What If People Simply Can't Find You?
Sometimes the diagnosis really is visibility.
I worked with a trash collection company that had already rebuilt its website. The website wasn't the primary problem anymore.
They needed people to find it.
We focused on SEO, and within the first six weeks of implementation, the company had tripled its business leads.
That's a situation where increasing visibility made sense.
But here's the important part:
I wouldn't recommend SEO simply because SEO is one of the services I provide.
I'd recommend it because we'd identified visibility as a problem that was keeping the business from getting more leads.
That's a very different conversation.
You can see more examples of how I've approached different business challenges in my digital marketing case studies.
What If You Need Leads Quickly?
Time matters, too.
SEO can be an incredibly valuable foundation for a business, but it takes time.
Google Ads can put your business in front of potential customers much faster.
That doesn't automatically make Google Ads better.
It makes it different.
When you stop paying for ads, the leads generated by those ads stop too. With SEO, you're investing in visibility that can continue producing results long after the initial work is completed.
So one of the questions I ask is:
How quickly do you need results?
If a business needs leads now, we might use Google Ads while simultaneously building a stronger organic foundation.
But even then, I don't want to send paid traffic to a website that isn't ready to convert it.
Paying Google to send more people to a website that doesn't generate leads is just a faster way to waste your marketing budget.
And Sometimes People Aren't Searching for You at All
Here's another reason I don't automatically recommend SEO to every business.
What if your ideal customer doesn't know your service exists?
They're probably not Googling it.
Think about the difference between a pool cleaning company and a business offering a new service people have never heard of.
Someone with a dirty pool knows they need help. They're likely to search for things like "pool cleaning near me."
But if someone doesn't know there's a service that solves the problem they're experiencing, they don't know what to type into Google.
That's when social media, content, networking, advertising or another awareness strategy may play a bigger role.
Your industry matters.
Your customer matters.
Your market matters.
That's why the answer to "Should I do SEO, Google Ads or social media?" is sometimes:
I don't know yet. Tell me about your business.
Strategy Comes Before Tactics
Small business owners are constantly being told what they need to do.
You need SEO.
You need to run Google Ads.
You need a new website.
You need to post on social media.
You need video.
You need AI.
There will always be another marketing tactic someone says you "need."
Some of those recommendations may be exactly right for your business.
But they're tactics.
Strategy is figuring out what problem you're trying to solve before deciding which tactic has the best chance of solving it.
When I sit down with a business owner, I want to know:
What's working now?
Where are your leads currently coming from?
What have you already tried?
Are people finding you?
If they're finding you, are they taking action?
What are your competitors doing?
What does your customer need to see before they're ready to contact you?
How quickly do you need results?
What can you realistically invest?
Only then do I want to talk about what we should actually do.
Not Sure What's Broken? Start There.
You don't need to come to me already knowing that you need SEO, Google Ads, conversion optimization or a new website.
In fact, I'd rather you didn't choose the solution before we've identified the problem.
My free 30-minute digital marketing consultation is a chance for me to learn about your business, what you've tried, what's working, what's not and where you want to go.
I'm not going to automatically recommend my highest-priced service.
We're going to start by figuring out what makes sense for your business.