Hi, It's Dakota. Today I was going over some strategy stuff. Main takeaway was that it's actually quite easy to win if you just do ONE thing as a local business. It's as close to a magic bullet as you can get. Most local businesses don't advertise much. And when they do, they advertise their service or product. Plumbers. Chiropractors. Divorce attorneys. You name it. Just for fun, Google 'divorce attorney' and then add your city. See what shows up. It's one of the most expens

Hi, It's Dakota. Ran into something superweird, and I'm almost positive you've had a similar experience. I'm running ads for a client, and they're doing extremely well. Roughly speaking, they're making $4 for every $1 invested in ads. So I'm talking to the client and going over the account, just looking at these ads and seeing where we can further optimize. At some point, the client asks me: 'So, if we wanted to double the amount of leads coming in... how would you do it?' An

Hi, It's Dakota. Quick one this time. If you run a local business, you need to use Google Ads. There is no local business that would be hurt by using Google ads. Every local business would benefit from running Google Ads. Every. Single. One. I guarantee it. BUT. If you're using it you do need to know what you're doing. Because every time I log in to a Google ads account for a new client I see that they're using the dreaded 'Performance Max' campaign. And every time it's perfo

Ever had the experience where some product just keeps chasing you? You check out a certain type of lawnmower or power drill and before you know it your Internet feed gets haunted for a full week, showing you the same ads everywhere you go. It’s called ‘retargeting’ and it’s a shame that it’s used in such a sloppy way. Because not only is there a way to make this work, if you use it right it will give you some of the best return on investment on your marketing dollars.  Let me

Good writing is the best way to get attention, attract more clients, grow your business, show people you’re a pro at what you do, and...

Plenty of brands and companies have top of mind awareness. Think about cola and what brand comes to mind? Think about a search engine and...

The Pareto Principle states that 20% of content online gets 80% of the views. That’s what they taught me in business school. And it’s...

Spending money on ads is scary because you just don’t know if that money is coming back. Hopefully bringing some of his friends. ...

Quick question: who’s your ideal customer? A lot of business owners answer that question with a variation of: ‘Anyone with a pulse and...

“Heyyyyyy, what’s new with you!?” Pretty common way to greet someone when you haven’t seen them for a while. Notice that we don’t ask:...

In today's digital world, small businesses need to stand out more than ever. With local consumers eager for services and products close...