The Trap of Looking Good While Going Broke
I’ve sat in boardrooms from Chermside to Cleveland, and I see the same thing over and over. A business owner pulls up a report from their current marketing person, and it’s full of big numbers. 10,000 impressions. 500 likes. A 20% increase in 'engagement'.
But when I ask, "How many of those people actually booked a job?" or "How much profit did those likes put in the bank?", the room goes quiet.
Most marketing reports are designed to make the agency look good, not to help you grow your business. They focus on what we call 'vanity metrics'—numbers that look impressive on a graph but don't pay the rent. If you’re a plumber, a lawyer, or a shop owner, you don't need 'engagement'. You need the phone to ring and the till to chime.
In this guide, I’m going to break down the difference between the numbers that actually matter and the ones you should stop paying attention to today. We’re going to look at data through the lens of a business owner, not a technician.
The "Feel Good" Numbers That Cost You Money
Let’s start with the stuff that usually fills up those monthly PDF reports you get emailed. These are the numbers that make you feel like things are happening, but they are often a complete waste of your time.
1. Website Hits and Page Views
I’ve seen businesses in Brisbane brag about getting 5,000 hits a month. That sounds great until you realise 4,000 of those hits are from robots or people in other countries who can’t buy from a local service business.Total hits tell you nothing about whether your website is working. It’s like counting how many people walk past your shopfront on a busy street. If none of them walk in and buy something, does it matter how many walked past? No.
2. Social Media Likes and Followers
Unless you are a global brand like Coca-Cola, your follower count is almost entirely irrelevant to your bank balance. I’ve worked with a landscaper in The Gap who had 300 followers and a three-month waiting list, and I’ve seen others with 10,000 followers who were struggling to pay their staff.Likes don't pay bills. They are a measure of how many people saw a photo and tapped their screen. They aren't a measure of intent to buy.
3. Google Rankings for Random Keywords
Agencies love to tell you that you’re "Ranking #1 for [obscure phrase]." If that phrase isn't something a customer types in when they are ready to spend money, it’s a ghost. You want to show up when people search for what you do in the suburbs you serve. Anything else is just ego.The Numbers That Actually Result in Profit
If we’re going to ignore the fluff, what should we look at? To grow a business in a competitive market like Brisbane, you need to track the path from a stranger seeing your name to money hitting your bank account.
1. New Enquiries (Leads)
This is the most important number for most small businesses. How many people actually reached out? - How many phone calls did you get? - How many contact forms were filled out? - How many people messaged your business directly?This is the first real sign that your marketing is working. If your 'hits' are going up but your phone isn't ringing, your website is failing you. Often, your marketing data is lying to you because it counts every click as a win, even if that click never resulted in a conversation.
2. Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Once you know how many enquiries you’re getting, you need to know what they cost. If you spend $1,000 on Google ads and get 10 phone calls, each lead cost you $100.Is $100 a good price? It depends on what you sell. If you’re a family lawyer and a new client is worth $5,000, then $100 is a bargain. If you’re a cafe and a new customer spends $20, you’re going broke fast. You need to know your numbers so you can decide if your marketing is an investment or just an expensive hobby.
3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
This is the big one. This is the total cost of marketing and sales divided by the number of people who actually paid you money.Let’s say those 10 phone calls resulted in 2 actual jobs. You spent $1,000 to get those 2 jobs, so your cost to get a customer is $500. Knowing this number changes how you run your business. It allows you to plan your growth with certainty rather than guessing.
Why Most Brisbane Businesses Get This Wrong
The biggest mistake I see is looking at marketing as an isolated expense rather than part of a sales process. You might have a great marketing person getting you cheap leads, but if your office staff aren't answering the phone or your quotes are taking three days to get out, the marketing will look like it's failing.
To get a true picture, you have to track how people buy from you. Did they see an ad, visit your site three times, and then call? Or did they find you on Google Maps and come straight in? When you understand the journey, you stop cutting the budget for things that are actually working just because they don't show an immediate 'sale' in a report.
Comparing the Two Approaches: Ego vs. Income
Let's compare how two different businesses might look at their monthly performance.
Business A (The Ego Approach): - Focus: Total website visitors, social media reach, and keyword rankings. - Result: The owner feels good because the numbers are big. They keep spending $3,000 a month. However, they can't quite figure out why they aren't busier. They are chasing vanity metrics instead of focusing on what makes the phone ring. - Outcome: Stagnation. They eventually get frustrated and quit marketing altogether, thinking "it doesn't work."
Business B (The Income Approach): - Focus: Qualified phone calls, cost per lead, and the total value of new quotes sent. - Result: The numbers in the report are smaller (maybe only 50 leads instead of 5,000 hits), but the owner knows exactly how much profit they made from that spend. - Outcome: Scalable growth. Because they know that every $100 spent brings in $1,000 in revenue, they aren't afraid to increase their budget to grow faster.
How to Start Tracking the Right Stuff
You don't need a PhD in data to fix this. You just need to be disciplined about what you ask for. If you’re working with an agency or a marketing person, tell them you want a "Business Owner Report," not a "Marketing Report."
Here is what should be on it: 1. Total Spend: Every cent you spent on ads and management. 2. Total Leads: Real people who contacted you. 3. Lead Source: Where did the best ones come from? (Google, Facebook, Referrals?) 4. Conversion Rate: What percentage of those leads became customers? 5. ROI: For every dollar spent, how many dollars came back?
If they tell you they can't track phone calls, they are lying or lazy. There is technology available right now that can tell you exactly which ad made a specific person pick up the phone. If you aren't using it, you are flying blind.
Practical Steps for Next Week
If you want to stop wasting money and start seeing results, do these three things next week:
1. Audit your current reports: Go through your last three months of marketing reports. Cross out anything that doesn't directly relate to a customer contacting you. What’s left? If the answer is "nothing," you have a problem. 2. Ask your team: Ask whoever answers your phones how many people said "I found you on Google" or "I saw your ad." It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. 3. Set a Lead Goal: Decide how many new enquiries you actually need to hit your profit goals. Work backwards from there. If you need 5 new jobs a week and you close 1 in 2 leads, you need 10 leads a week. Now you have a target for your marketing.
The Bottom Line
Marketing isn't about being famous in Brisbane; it's about being profitable. You can have the most beautiful website and the most popular Instagram page in Queensland, but if your bank account isn't growing, it's all just noise.
Stop settling for reports full of jargon and big numbers that don't mean anything. Demand to see the numbers that impact your bottom line. It might be uncomfortable at first—especially if the real numbers are lower than the vanity ones—but it’s the only way to build a business that lasts.
At Local Marketing Group, we don't care about making pretty graphs. We care about making your phone ring. If you’re tired of the fluff and want to know what’s actually happening with your marketing spend, let’s have a straight-talk conversation.
Ready to see the numbers that actually matter? Contact Local Marketing Group today.