Is Your Software Making You Money or Just Costing You Monthly Fees?
If you’re running a business in Brisbane—whether you’re an electrician in Coorparoo or a law firm in the CBD—you’ve likely noticed that your monthly bank statement is littered with small software subscriptions. $20 here, $50 there, $150 for that 'essential' tool you haven't logged into for three months.
Most business owners I talk to are frustrated. They were promised that these tools would make life easier, but instead, they spend their weekends trying to make one app talk to another, or worse, they’re still manually copying phone numbers from an email into an Excel spreadsheet.
In this guide, I’m going to break down the two main ways you can set up your business technology. We’ll look at the data on what actually generates more phone calls and bookings, and what is just a massive waste of your time and money.
The Great Software Debate: One Tool vs. Many
When you want to grow your business, you generally need to do three things: get people to find you, turn those people into enquiries, and make sure those enquiries actually pay you money.
There are two schools of thought on how to handle this with software:
1. The "Best-of-Breed" Approach: This is where you buy the best specific tool for every job. You have one app for your website, one for your emails, one for your social media, and another for your invoices. 2. The "All-in-One" Approach: This is where you use one single platform that handles everything from your Google reviews to your customer database and automated text messages.
I’ve seen both work, but for most small businesses in Queensland, one of these is a recipe for disaster while the other is a fast track to more sales.
Approach 1: The "Best-of-Breed" (The Expensive Jigsaw Puzzle)
On paper, this sounds great. You get the "best" of everything. You use the most famous email tool, the most popular calendar booking system, and the trendiest website builder.
The Reality: I recently sat down with a landscaping business owner in North Lakes. He was paying for seven different subscriptions. The problem? None of them talked to each other. When a lead came in through his website, it stayed in his email inbox. He then had to manually type that name into his CRM, then manually send a calendar link from a different app.
The Data on This Approach: Cost: Usually 40% higher due to multiple individual subscriptions. Time Waste: Owners spend an average of 5-10 hours a month just moving data between apps. Lost Money: About 20% of leads fall through the cracks because a human forgot to copy-paste information.
If you love spending your nights playing IT support for your own company, this approach is for you. If you want to stop the tech bloat and actually get some work done, keep reading.
Approach 2: The "All-in-One" (The Growth Engine)
This is where you use a platform like GoHighLevel (which we use for our clients at Local Marketing Group) to handle the entire customer journey.
The Reality: When a customer clicks your Google ad, they go to a page built in the system. When they fill out a form, the system automatically texts them back in 30 seconds. It puts their details into a list and reminds you to call them. Everything is in one place.
The Data on This Approach: Cost: One flat fee. No "per user" surprises. Speed: Because the tools are built together, your site loads fast and your responses are instant. Results: We typically see a 30-50% increase in booked appointments simply because the software doesn't "forget" to follow up.
Why Most Brisbane Businesses Get This Wrong
Most people buy software when they have a specific pain. "I need a better way to send quotes!" -> Buys Quote Software. "I need more Google reviews!" -> Buys Review Software.
Six months later, you have five different logins and you’re paying $400 a month for stuff you barely use. This is what we call "accidental complexity." You didn't mean to build a mess, but here you are.
If you want to grow, you need to stop thinking about "tools" and start thinking about "systems." A tool is a hammer; a system is an automated nail gun that works while you sleep.
The Cost Comparison: A Real-World Look
Let's look at the actual dollars. If you went out today and bought the "popular" versions of everything you need to run a professional marketing setup, here is what your monthly bill would look like:
Website Hosting: $30/mo Email Marketing: $50/mo (starts cheap, gets expensive fast) Calendar Booking: $15/mo Review Management: $99/mo SMS Marketing: $40/mo CRM/Sales Tracking: $100/mo Funnel/Landing Page Builder: $97/mo
Total: ~$431 per month.
Compare that to an all-in-one system which usually sits around $150 - $300 per month depending on how much help you need setting it up. Over a year, you’re saving nearly $2,000 just on the software itself—not even counting the value of your time.
How to Choose What’s Right for You
I’m not going to tell you there is only one way to do this. Every business is different. But here is my honest, blunt advice as someone who looks at the numbers for Brisbane businesses every day.
Choose individual tools if:
You have a full-time marketing person on staff who knows how to use "Zapier" to connect everything. You have a very specific, weird requirement that only one niche app can handle. You enjoy spending money on logos and brand names rather than functionality.Choose an all-in-one system if:
You want to automate your business so you can actually go to your kid's footy game on the weekend. You want one login and one support number to call when something breaks. You want to see exactly where your money is going and which ads are actually making the phone ring.What Should You Do First?
You don't need to go out and cancel everything today. That’s a recipe for breaking your business. Instead, follow this 3-step plan:
1. The Audit (The "Ouch" Phase)
Open your bank statement. Look for every software subscription. If you haven't used it in 30 days, cancel it. If you have three tools that do the same thing (like having Mailchimp but also using the email feature in your invoicing software), pick one and kill the other.2. Focus on the "Money Tasks"
Before you worry about fancy designs, make sure your tech can do these three things: Can people book a time with you without calling you? Do you automatically text back every missed call or web enquiry? Do you have a way to track your sales so you know which leads turned into cash?If your current tech stack can't do those three things easily, it’s time to switch.
3. Implementation (The "Do it Once" Phase)
If you decide to move to an all-in-one system, don't try to build it yourself on a Sunday night. Hire someone to migrate your data, set up your automations, and show you how to use the app on your phone. It might cost you $1,000 or $2,000 upfront, but it will save you ten times that in avoided headaches and lost customers over the next year.Common Myths That Cost You Money
Myth #1: "I need the best software to look professional." Rubbish. Your customers don't care what software you use to send an invoice or a text. They care that you showed up on time and did a good job. A "basic" looking automated text sent immediately is worth 100x more than a "beautiful" email sent three days too late.
Myth #2: "It’s too hard to switch." It’s harder to lose $500 a week in missed leads because your system is a mess. Yes, switching takes a week or two of transition, but then it’s done. We've helped dozens of businesses in suburbs from Ipswich to Geebung make this switch, and not one has ever said, "I wish I kept my 10 different apps."
Myth #3: "I'm not tech-savvy enough for this." That’s exactly why you need a simpler system. All-in-one platforms are designed so you can run your whole business from one app on your phone. If you can use Facebook or send a text, you can use a modern business system.
The Bottom Line
Marketing operations sounds like a fancy term for big corporations, but for a small business owner, it just means "how the work gets done."
If your "marketing operations" involve you manually typing stuff, forgetting to reply to Google messages, and paying for software you don't understand, you are burning money.
Stop buying tools. Start building a system that works for you, not the other way around.
At Local Marketing Group, we specialise in stripping away the junk and giving Brisbane business owners the exact tools they need to grow—and nothing they don't. We focus on results: more phone calls, more bookings, and more profit.
Ready to stop the tech headaches and start growing? Contact us today and let’s look at what’s actually worth keeping in your business.