Look, I get it. You’re running a business in Brisbane, you’re busy, and every man and his dog is trying to sell you a different way to "get your name out there."
But here’s my honest take: "Getting your name out there" is how you go broke.
If you spend $1,000 on ads, you shouldn't be celebrating because 5,000 people saw it. You should only be celebrating if that $1,000 turned into $3,000 or $5,000 in your bank account.
Most agencies will try to confuse you with spreadsheets full of jargon. They’ll talk about impressions and clicks. Honestly? Most of that is rubbish.
The only thing that matters is if the money you're tipping into marketing is coming back with friends.
The Simple Math of Making Money
You don’t need a degree to figure out if your marketing is working. You just need to know two things: what you spent and what you made from it.
In the marketing world, people call this ROI. I just call it "not getting ripped off."
Here is the basic way to look at it: (Money Made - Money Spent) / Money Spent = Your Result.
If you spent $500 on a local Facebook ad and it brought in three new jobs worth $1,500 total, you’ve done alright. But you’ve got to be careful. That $1,500 isn't all profit. You’ve got staff costs, materials, and petrol.
If you don't stop flying blind with your figures, you might actually be losing money while thinking you're winning.
Why Most Business Owners Get This Wrong
I see this all the time. A tradie or a shop owner tells me, "Yeah, the ads are great, the phone is ringing off the hook!"
Then we look at the books.
They’re spending $4,000 a month to get $5,000 in extra sales. Once you take out the cost of doing the work, they’re actually paying for the privilege of working harder. It’s madness.
You need to know your "Break Even" point. If you know that every customer costs you $50 to get through the door, and you only make $40 profit off them, you need to switch those ads off immediately.
Tracking Where the Money Comes From
You can’t calculate your return if you don’t know who sent you the lead.
If someone calls your office, do you or your staff ask, "How’d you find us?"
If you aren't doing that, start tomorrow. It’s the easiest bit of data you’ll ever get. But even better, you should be using technology to do the heavy lifting.
We use different phone numbers for different ads. If the "Google Number" rings, we know exactly where that money came from. If the "Flyer Number" never rings, we stop printing flyers. Simple.
"If you can't point to a specific customer and say exactly which ad brought them in, you aren't marketing—you're just gambling with your profit margins."
— Angus Smith, Founder & Marketing Director
The Difference Between 'Leads' and 'Cash'
This is where most agencies hide. They’ll tell you they got you 50 leads this month.
But if 45 of those leads were people looking for a freebie or lived outside your service area, those leads are worthless. They actually cost you money because you wasted time calling them back.
You need to be measuring what matters instead of just looking at big numbers that feel good but don't pay the rent.
I’d rather have 5 leads that turn into 4 sales than 50 leads that turn into nothing.
How Long Should You Wait for Results?
I’ll be straight with you: if someone tells you they can double your business overnight, they’re lying.
But you shouldn't be waiting six months to see if something works, either.
For most of our clients, we expect to see the phone start ringing within the first 30 days of a new campaign. It might take 90 days to really dial it in and get the cost per lead down, but you should see signs of life almost immediately.
If you’ve been paying an agency for three months and you can’t see a bump in your bank balance, it’s time to have a very uncomfortable conversation with them.
The "Lifetime Value" Trap
You’ll hear some experts say, "It’s okay to lose money on the first sale because that customer will come back for ten years!"
Look, that’s fine if you’re Amazon and you have billions in the bank. But if you’re a plumber in Paddington or a lawyer in the CBD, you need cash flow now.
Don’t bank on "future money" to justify losing money today. Your marketing should be profitable on the first or second transaction. Anything else is just too risky for a small business.
Stop Renting, Start Owning
One of the biggest wastes of money I see is businesses spending a fortune to send people to a website that doesn't work on phones, or worse, just sending them to a Facebook page they don't own.
Every dollar you spend should be building your own assets. You want to own your data so you aren't always at the mercy of Google or Facebook changing their rules and hiking their prices.
Quick Wins You Can Do This Week
If you want to sort this out without spending a fortune on a consultant, do these three things:
1. Check your last 10 customers. Ask them how they found you. Write it down. 2. Look at your marketing bills. Total them up. 3. Do the math. Did those 10 customers bring in enough profit to cover those bills twice over? If not, something is broken.
Honestly, most people are shocked when they actually do this. They realise they've been spending $2,000 a month on a directory listing that hasn't sent them a lead since 2019.
The Bottom Line
Marketing isn't an "expense" like your electricity bill. It should be an investment.
If you put $1 into a vending machine and nothing comes out, you stop putting money in. Marketing is the same.
Stop looking at "reach" and "engagement." Start looking at your bank account. If the number isn't going up, your marketing isn't working.
If you’re sick of guessing and want to know exactly which of your ads make money, we should probably have a chat. We don't do fluff, and we don't do jargon. We just focus on getting your phone to ring.
Ready to stop guessing? Get in touch with us at Local Marketing Group. We’ll take a look at what you’re doing and tell you straight if it’s a waste of time.