Steven Ayres

Most coaches think they need 50 clients to make it. Math says otherwise. Here’s the breakdown of 10 clients vs 50 clients. 10 clients X $30K average LTV = $300K/yr 50 clients X $6K average LTV = $300K Which practice would you rather run? The one where you're juggling 50 relationships, always in sales mode, racing between sessions? Or the one where you deeply serve 10 clients who see you as indispensable? Here's the secret: Premium clients aren't looking for the cheapest coach. They're looking for the right guide. Price for value. Serve deeply. Scale smart. Thoughts?

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I ran my first SEM campaign in April of 2010. Here's what I've learned after 15 years doing PPC/social/syndication/display advertising: 1. No $1K/mo Blind Bets Do not green-light even a $250 budget without proof. Start at $10/day for three days on LinkedIn or Facebook. If you’re not seeing traction, you stop. Not “wait to see what happens.” 2. Benchmark Against Your Actual Client Lifetime Value Don’t settle for a low cost per acquisition on a one-off download. Require each campaign to deliver 2.5-3× payback over a 5–10 year advisory relationship. Anything less? Hit pause. 3. Drive to One High-Value Commitment All ads must point to exactly one CTA. “Book a 15-minute session to review your options.” Drop the ebooks, webinars, and white papers. Letting your team juggle multiple downloads, webinars, or gated content loses focus. And it attracts tire-kickers who will waste everyone's time. 4. Laser Targeting Or Bust Layer AUM bands, senior titles, and behavioral signals (e.g. retirement webinar attendees). For cold outreach, stick to 3rd degree connections, maximum. Without structure like this you’ll be happy about how cheap the impressions are, but they will never convert. 5. Enforce a Nightly Quality Check Each evening, require a one-line email: • Form fills by AUM tier • Sessions booked • Planned creative tweak if sessions above is zero that day Waiting a week is too slow. Underperformers drain the budget fast. 6. Scale Only Ads That Book Real Conversations If you book a real prospective client session, pause everything else. Double that ad’s budget for three days. If engagement holds, double again. If you try to scale the entire thing, you will never figure out what's driving ROI. 7. Track Relationship Metrics, Not Just Clicks Monitor time on page, and form-completion quality (accurate AUM info). If form-quality dips below 60%, fix your landing page. Otherwise the volume alone from ad spend will clog your CRM. 8. Always Have a Human-First Contingency When ad engagement softens, pivot immediately: pull that same list for a personalized email or LinkedIn DM from a senior advisor. Automation is one lever. The secret weapon is having a real human follow-up. Bonus Tip: Hold Your Agency Accountable Require weekly scorecards showing which guardrails they followed, which campaigns passed your 3× payback test, and which are paused. Do not settle for vague reports. Make sure they give you raw dashboard access. -- Disclaimer: These strategies are not optimal. But if I led marketing at a wealth management firm and wanted to run paid ads in a pinch, this is what I would do. I don’t claim to be your hands-on ad buyer. That’s your team’s job. But I do know how to keep them out of trouble. I’ve been in the trenches at growth‐stage tech and B2B firms where I managed seven-figure ad budgets and drove sustained pipeline lift for companies scaling from zero to millions in ARR.

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The middle of the funnel is where deals go to sleep. Top of funnel gets attention: lead sources, ads, events, referrals. Bottom of funnel gets attention: listings, buyers, closings. But the middle—where sellers are deciding if they will actually sell—often has no system. That’s where “maybe” lives, and “maybe” consumes calendars. When we map the middle, the conversation changes from “How do we follow up?” to “What evidence of readiness do we need next?” That shift is the difference between busy and predictable. #BusinessBrokers #SellerReadiness #PipelineManagement #DealFlow https://lnkd.in/e9hRAyGi

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You don’t have a lead gen problem. You have a positioning problem. Most franchisors think more money = more leads. So they throw cash at Google Ads, brokers, Facebook, and PR… …and still hear crickets. Here’s the truth: People don’t buy franchises because of a funnel. They buy because of a feeling. They believe in the brand. They trust the leadership. They see themselves in the story. If your messaging is weak, no funnel can fix it. And if you’re trying to sell a franchise to “everyone”? You’ll end up with no one. You want better leads? • Speak directly to your ideal franchisee • Show the lifestyle, not just the unit economics • Build brand affinity before you ask for commitment • Use content, not just ads, to build trust • Ditch the brochure pitch. Go human. Go specific. Because great leads don’t just click. They connect. 👇What’s one lead gen tactic that’s actually worked for your brand? #franchising #franchisegrowth #leadgeneration #qsr #marketingstrategy #restaurantbusiness #founderinsight #growthhacking #brandstorytelling Thierry Rousset Ishann Dhawan Dec Penfold Clayton Ginsberg

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I used to think higher pricing meant harder work. But with agencies, that’s rarely true. The ones charging premium rates? They’re not working more — They’ve just positioned better. Here’s what they do differently: → Niche down → Sell outcomes, not hours → Focus on perception, proof, and premium clients Here’s the insight: Agencies that niche + position around outcomes Charge 2–5x more than generalists — Often with fewer clients and leaner teams. It’s not about doing more. It’s about being seen as worth more. PS: I post business insights daily. You might consider following to not miss in the future.

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I’ve sold over $30,000 worth of digital products. No ads. No team. No paid shoutouts. Just clear, consistent content...and a system behind it. Too many creators think they need a huge audience to make real money. They overcomplicate strategy. They burn out trying to be everywhere. And they never turn attention into actual income. Here’s the truth: Content is leverage...if you use the right tools and structure. Here’s what worked for me: → Share valuable ideas that people want to save → Build trust every single day with your content → Use AI to repurpose & scale output → Promote your offers with clarity and consistency That’s the system. No hacks. No burnout. Just focused execution. So ask yourself: – Is your content building trust or just noise? – Are you selling with confidence or hesitation? – Is your strategy built for scale or stress? You don’t need to go viral. You need a system that turns one idea into income. Want help building yours? I help creators clarify what to sell, who to sell it to, and how to create content that drives results. Check it out ↓ https://lnkd.in/g8uv2vTG

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Education marketers: Your Facebook Ads are probably violating compliance rules right now. (And burning cash on audiences that can’t enroll) Facebook’s Special Ad Category for education blocks: → Age/gender targeting → ZIP code restrictions → Outcome claims without proof But we’ve driven 5X ROAS for education clients by focusing on what WORKS: 1. Interest targeting (SAT prep > soccer moms) 2. Retargeting sequences (94% convert after 7+ touches) 3. Mobile-first creative (3-second hook or bust) The $250B education sector’s dirty secret? Enrollment growth isn’t about MORE leads - it’s about SYSTEMATIC nurturing. We build engines that: ✔️ Automate lead follow-up (5-min response time) ✔️ Track true cost per enrollment (not vanity metrics) ✔️ Convert at 3X industry averages Comment “EDUCATION ADS” below and I’ll send our 5-step compliance checklist + campaign templates. #EducationMarketing #FacebookAds #LeadGeneration #EdTech #StudentAcquisition

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I just had Claude Code build me a 17-slide partnership deck in <10 minutes. Not only would I have built something worse, it would have taken me 2-3 hours. The process was laughably simple & can be used for any partnership or sales convo: 1) I fed Claude 4 relevant files - Call transcript from previous meeting with partner (this anchored the deck in the key goals and points around the partnership) - Previous partnership proposal (to draw inspiration from the format/sections) - A markdown file with my thoughts on the partnership (what a win-win would look like, what value we can bring to a partner, etc) - A pdf breaking down our media strategy to think about how a partner can be plugged in 2) I fed it this prompt... "I'm meeting with the [redacted] today as a follow-up conversation about a potential partnership together. The team is expecting a clear and actionable proposal for what this partnership could look like.  The team we'll speaking with includes: [redacted] Use the files in the [redacted] folder on my desktop to formulate a one-pager that outlines what a win-win partnership between Tenex & [redacted] could look like.  Ask me any clarifying questions as you build out the one-pager partnership doc." 3) It asked me clarifying questions. 4) It then nearly one-shotted the proposal. But I wanted to punch up the design, so I fed it this prompt... "i want you to play the role of world class product designer take a look at the proposal and score the design/format of this proposal and what specific tweaks you'd make" 5) Proposal absolutely nailed.

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Read the full post → https://lnkd.in/gQDW_zuF 🛑 One bad Google review can tank your local conversions—and most business owners don’t even realize it. Google reviews aren’t just social proof—they’re local SEO fuel. A few 1-stars can drop your ranking and your revenue. The good news? You’re not powerless. 🚀 In this blog, we break down: ✅ How reviews shape your visibility (and trust) ✅ When and how to get negative reviews removed ✅ Tactics to turn 1-stars into 5-stars ✅ Pro strategies to bury bad feedback with glowing reviews 🔍 Local SEO now depends on trust signals—not just keywords. If you’re not managing your Google Business reviews, your competition will do it better (and win more customers). 💬 Are Google reviews helping—or hurting—your business? What’s working for you? #LocalSEO #GoogleReviews #ReputationManagement #SmallBusiness #DigitalMarketing #TrustSignals

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This is where paid growth goes wrong: • Creative isn’t data-backed. • $ doesn’t go to top-performing ads. • Or to top-performing channels. • Ads go mostly to bots, not real humans. • Budgets bloated w/ contractor overhead • Agencies aren’t accountable for sales. Fix these 5 things, and you almost guarantee yourself 2x ROAS or more. That's what REX is built for. REXd.com

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They invested ₹5,40,000. 6 months in, their website closed over ₹30,00,000 in sales 100% organically (math below). This isn’t a viral moment. It’s retrieval-driven growth that most agencies don’t even measure. When we first pitched this to them, the founder said: What if we just take your strategy but get someone cheaper to execute? We smiled and said: Totally your call. But execution is where this lives or dies and we already have 9 people aligned to your account. They signed. Let me show you the exact strategy we used. Step 1: Understanding their buyer for #B2BMarketing The client had a great product but their ideal customers were never finding them. We did 3 things fast: 1. Mapped every buyer persona to search behaviour (Google + AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini) for #GenerativeEngineOptimisation 2. Tracked “retrieval gaps” where they ranked on Google but were missing from AI answers 3. Audited their website like a bot checking crawl depth, schema, load speed, and content readability That gave us our #marketingstrategy battle plan. Step 2: Structured the website for AI retrieval Most agencies focus only on keywords. We focused on modular visibility, breaking their #contentstrategy : 1. Semantic H1s → so LLMs understood the topic 2. Retrieval-Ready H2s → each addressing a specific question buyers asked 3. Quotable Insights → so answers could be pulled into ChatGPT verbatim 4. Schema Blocks → for added structure and context We called this our Retrievability Stack. Step 3: Created Search-Aware #contentmarketing We didn’t just create blogs on the basis of keywords. We engineered a multi-path inbound funnel: 1. Blogs that ranked for 80+ long-tail keywords 2. Sales pages optimized for ChatGPT and Perplexity fetch 3. Internal linking systems that built crawl hierarchy 4. AI prompts + IndexNow API for instant visibility Everything was built to be discovered, recommended, and converted. Step 4: Trust-layered SEO execution Traffic is meaningless if it doesn’t convert. We added: 1. Use-case breakdowns → To speak directly to ICP needs 2. AI-optimised FAQs → Trained on real buyer questions 3. Authority link building → Not just backlinks, but brand trust builders We aligned 9 experts across Content, SEO, Tech & AI-optimization. The outcome within 6 months - 50 to 60 leads per month through #leadgeneration and #conversionoptimisation - ₹1L+ ticket size per client - Consistent ranking in AI platforms and Google - Website became their number 1 lead source Since then, dozens of founders have told us: “Our GTM doesn’t search us on Google” “We only grow through referrals” “#SEO doesn’t work in our industry” But when they see results like this, they pause. And that’s all we need. One pause to show them what’s actually possible. If you're a founder who is done chasing traffic and now wants organic leads, just DM me “ROI SEO”. I'll show you what your website could be doing differently.

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Most brands pick podcast sponsors the same way. Ask for downloads. Check the CPM. Move on. Here's what 25 campaigns actually showed: One affiliate platform captured less than 8% of what Shopify recorded. A Boulder car dealership did $440K in gross transaction value from a podcast most media buyers wouldn't have called back. Download count measures reach. It doesn't measure trust. Those aren't the same thing. New piece on why small shows hit different; and the affiliate structure that surfaces the data to prove it. PLUS a link to a calculator you can use to see the math behind it all. Link in comments.

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“I think AEO/GEO is a load of crap,” spouted a CMO from a $250mm SaaS company, adding, “if you follow SEO best practices, you’ll be fine.” After I picked up my jaw from the floor, I pondered this purposeful provocation and asked myself, could she be right? Stick with me as I share what I think I know about AEO. Showing up in LLMs has significant business value. Members of the CMO Huddles community report that LLM-generated site traffic converts at 4-6x the rate of traditional Google traffic. These visitors are not your proverbial tire kickers. They’re ready to put you on their short list. So if you haven’t figured out how to track + respond to these visitors appropriately, stop reading this and get on that!  Brands that ranked high in Google searches are more likely to show up in LLMs This makes sense, since these brands tend to have broader digital footprints. But I’ve also read that this only applies to about 50% of LLM searches. So that means that in the other 50% of searches, lesser-ranked brands are finding a way into LLM synopses. And if that is the case, then they must be doing something other than SEO-like activities. [If this logic is faulty, don’t blame an LLM, I’m on my own here.] Yext research agrees with our provocateur CMO This brilliantly timed bombshell dropped into my email this week: “Yext just analyzed 6.8 million citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity and found that 86% actually come from sources brands already control, like websites and listings. Reddit and forums? Just 2% once location and query intent are factored in.” I’ll give you a second to re-read this. Is Yext’s research relevant to AEO + B2B brands? Not sure. Perhaps their CEO, Michael Walrath, will weigh in here. If Yext's research includes B2B brands and complex queries, those of you investing heavily in AEO may want to reconsider. Another reason to hedge on AEO is that it is so damn hard to measure cause and effect right now. Every LLM search delivers unique results. The game is to measure the percentage of times you show up in an LLM query of 23 words on average. Now imagine one word is different each time. My head hurts thinking about the mathematical permutations. Hedging your AEO bet Many of the AEO “best practices” are things you should be doing anyway. Having extensive Q&As on your website is simply being user-friendly. Taking it a step further and having an answer bot like Webless that pulls from your website content is also being customer-centric. Another example is having competitive information (including pricing) on your website. Prospects need that info, and if you don’t provide it, the LLM will source it from somewhere else.  Like most humans, I hate gated content. Turns out, so do LLMs. So that's another example of doing the right thing that also may help with AEO. There's more to cover, but I'm out of space + am counting on my AEO-expert friends to fill in the vast gaps, including the technical stuff (like schema).

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Invest in links. See 20x the SEO payoff. We consistently see one strategy outperform the rest: link development. Whether it’s editorial outreach or digital PR... if you’re investing in link acquisition, you're giving Google what it still values most ---> trust and authority. Why does it work so well? Because PageRank still matters. Despite hundreds of ranking signals in Google’s algorithm, backlinks remain a core driver of visibility and long-term SEO success. In fact, businesses that invest in link building see 10–20x faster SEO gains than those that don’t. Here’s what you've got to remember: ✔️ Internal + external links both matter ✔️ Editorial > spammy directories ✔️ Consistency beats shortcuts ✔️ Tools like HARO (or featured) still deliver If you're not seeing results, it’s rarely about content quality alone. It might be about who's vouching for it. What’s the one link-building strategy that’s delivered the highest ROI for you this year?

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Can you get personal injury clients for under $1,500 using Google Ads? Short answer: meh (cue the 💩 talkers in the comments). Let’s talk math. In Miami, “car accident attorney” clicks are around $300+ per click. Landing pages convert ~30%. Intake closes ~20%. That puts your cost per client around $5,000+. Now could you go top-funnel and pay less per click? Sure. But lower intent = lower conversion rates. And the CPA often ends up even higher. This doesn’t mean Google Ads don’t work. It means you’re in one of the most competitive industries in the country. If you’re not prepared to spend and optimize at scale, you’re going to get crushed. If a $4–5k CPA doesn’t make sense for your firm, you need a different channel mix. Facebook, blended search, local authority plays — there are other ways to win. Lawyer marketing isn’t about opinions. It’s about math. Follow for real numbers, not hype.

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Your traffic isn’t the problem. Your conversion path is. I recently spoke with the CMO of a $10M e-com brand based here in Chicago. They’d been steadily increasing their Google Ads budget—but conversions weren’t budging. So I asked him one simple question: “Before you spend more to bring in traffic, have you fixed what happens after the click?” Because here’s the truth: You’re already paying premium prices to bring qualified visitors to your site. But when I looked at their site, without looking at their analytics, I saw what’s killing performance: Navigation that makes you guess where to go next. A value proposition that doesn’t land within 5 seconds. And a checkout flow that feels more like a chore than a sale. The path to conversion was filled with unnecessary steps, unclear messages, and silent drop-off points. I told him: Before you scale ads, audit the journey. - How many steps from click to purchase? - Where are people dropping off? - Which form fields are causing friction or abandonment? Fixing those issues costs less than increasing your ad budget. And here’s the kicker: unlike paid ads, conversion improvements don’t vanish when the budget does. They compound. They scale. They keep paying off long after the test is over. If you’re throwing more money at traffic without fixing the post-click experience, you’re not investing in growth.

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I spent $143,200 on video ads in Q3. 🔥 Hired editors. Built calendars. Optimized every frame. CTR: 2.1%. CPA: $34. Respectable. Not remarkable. Then I tested a static image made in Canva in 8 minutes. Yellow background. Black headline. Zero product shots. "You're Paying $2,400/Month for Software That Does This for $89." CTR: 4.7% | CPA: $11 | 6+ weeks before fatigue That single static image outperformed 17 video ads. Here's what nobody tells you: Video works. But it's not always the answer. People don't watch ads. They decide whether to watch in 0.3 seconds. If your thumbnail doesn't stop the scroll? The video never plays. And 73% of video ads are watched on mute anyway. Static images force a different game: Your message hits instantly. No play button required. Real comparison from last month: Video: $3,400 production + $12K spend = 2.3% CTR, $28 CPA, 11 days lifespan Static: $0 production + $12K spend = 4.1% CTR, $14 CPA, 43 days lifespan Same budget. 2X better performance. $3,400 saved. The 9 hacks work because: ✅ Pattern Interrupt = Stops scroll in 0.3 seconds (faster than video loads)  ✅ Text-as-Image = Instant message (no unmute needed)  ✅ Fake Screenshot = Doesn't look like an ad  ✅ Ugly Ad = Stands out when everyone's polished  ✅ Before/After Split = Transformation without timeline Brands scaling past $250K/month do this: Test static first. Validate winners. THEN scale to video. Most advertisers do it backwards: Spend $8K on video, pray it works, panic when it dies in 5 days. That's not strategy. That's expensive hope. The top 1% work differently: Test 5-7 static angles at $40/day Find 2-3 that hit 3%+ CTR Scale winners to $500/day+ THEN produce video if needed Static validates. Video amplifies. If your static can't break 2% CTR, video won't magically fix it. Fix the message first. Static wins because: Lower cost. Faster iteration. Easier to scale. You can launch 6 static variations in 2 hours. Try doing that with video. Speed of testing = speed of scaling. The brands dominating feeds test more, learn faster, scale harder. They don't waste weeks waiting for video edits. Your action plan: 1️⃣ Pick 3 hacks  2️⃣ Create static images (30 mins max each)  3️⃣ Launch at $40/day for 5 days  4️⃣ Kill anything below 2% CTR  5️⃣ Scale winners to $200+/day  6️⃣ Track what works Test static first. Let data decide. The difference between burning money and printing it? Test cheap. Scale proven. While everyone's stuck in 2-week video cycles, you're already 12 tests deep. That's the advantage. 💬 Static or video? What's crushing for you? 💾 Save this — for when your next video flops. 👉 Follow @sannidhyabaweja for creative strategies tested on $2.4M+ in ad spend. No fluff. Just results. #FacebookAds #MetaAds #StaticAds #AdCreative #PerformanceMarketing

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Keywords and ads: the dual engines that drive an ad group. I once worked with a roofing contractor in Kansas City. He was tired of paying exorbitant fees to agencies with little to show for it. When he finally gained access to his own Google Ads account, it was a tangled mess. No clear service focus. Random keywords. Bland, generic ads. This was a wake-up call for him. Two components were missing from each ad group: precision and purpose. Keywords are more than just a list. They are your customer's voice—the precise words they use when they need your services. Dial into this. The second component, ads, must speak directly to the pains, fears, and desires those keywords reveal. They aren't just flashy text. They're your handshake, your promise. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Truth is, when these elements align, businesses transform. The roofing contractor? He learned to craft keywords that mirrored his clients' language. His ads zeroed in on the exact pain points his customers voiced on every call. Boom. His lead quality skyrocketed. Now, he’s not just another ‘contractor’. He’s the trusted solution. So, take control. Open your ad account. Look at each ad group: Does it scream precision and purpose? If your keywords and ads don’t harmonize, you’re missing out on serious growth potential. Now it’s your turn: Have you examined your own ad groups with this clarity? Comment below with your insights or questions. Let’s sharpen this together.

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