The question I hear most from owners is some version of “where should I be spending my marketing money?” More Google? More SEO? What about AI? Those are all reasonable questions. I just think they come second. I’m not asking as an outside consultant. I own a trailer dealership and a vending company here in the Hill Country, so I sign my own marketing invoices. I’ve watched money leave my account for activity that never turned into a customer. Most businesses don’t have a marketing problem. They have a strategy problem, and spending money makes it more expensive.
1. Who is your ideal customer?
Most owners answer this too broadly. If you’re a contractor, your customer isn’t “anyone who needs construction.” Your best customers usually have something in common. Which jobs are the most profitable? What causes those people to start looking? You don’t need to reach more people. You need to reach more of the right ones.
2. What is a new customer actually worth?
It’s the most important number in marketing, and most businesses have never calculated it. Run the math once. Average profit per customer multiplied by your close rate tells you what you can pay for a lead. Close one in four at $2,000 each, and a $200 lead is a good trade. It also turns “how much does marketing cost” into “if I invest $5,000, what should that produce?”
3. Why should someone choose you?
This sounds simple until you try to answer it. Look at ten websites in any industry and you’ll read the same four phrases: quality service, locally owned, experienced, customer focused. They may all be true for you. They’re also what your competitor is saying. Maybe it’s your process, your people, a guarantee, or your reputation. Whatever it is, say it in the first ten seconds. If a customer can’t tell why you’re different, they’ll compare you on price.
4. Where do your best customers come from?
Before you add a channel, understand what’s already working. Ask customers how they found you, and look at your analytics, call logs and CRM. The path is rarely clean. Someone hears your name from a friend, googles you, reads your reviews, and calls two weeks later. The referral didn’t do that alone, and neither did Google. Something has changed quickly. Customers are asking ChatGPT and AI search for recommendations before they open a browser. That’s a new front door, and most businesses don’t know if they show up in it.
5. How will you know if it’s working?
Impressions, engagement and followers can be useful, but they aren’t the point. The numbers that matter are how many qualified leads you generated, what they cost, how many became customers, and which channels produced them.
The biggest mistake I see isn’t that businesses are doing the wrong marketing. It’s that they’re doing a lot of activities with nobody connecting them. One company built the website, someone else runs social, a third runs ads. Now everyone is adding AI. Nobody is asking what the business is trying to accomplish, and which combination gets it there. That’s where we start at WSI-Haggerty Group. Strategy first, then execution across web, search, paid, social, content and AI. Sometimes we’re the strategist alongside your team, sometimes we do both. The real question isn’t whether you should spend more on marketing. It’s whether the money you’re already spending has a strategy behind it. If you can’t answer all five, that’s where I’d start.
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