I previously worked for a bootstrapped and profitable SaaS, I stepped up to help turn around a marketing and sales team that had enjoyed 9 years of consistent growth.
But when I took the reins, the numbers had started to soften. For the first time, it felt like the momentum we had built was stalling out, and I couldn’t quite tell why.
Was it the market? Were our competitors eating our lunch? Was it something internal we could fix?
We had always relied on tried-and-true marketing strategies that worked—until they didn’t.
Here was what I was facing…
- SEO traffic was flat or declining.
- Google Ad costs were stable, yet the returns were shrinking.
- Affiliate revenue dropped dramatically.
- Overall revenue took a hit.
I started looking at trends to figure out what changed, and what I found was alarming: a lot fewer people were looking for our solution.
Our brand search had fallen off a cliff, and all the old methods we used to generate leads—organic content, PPC ads, affiliates—just weren’t working anymore.
The Leads Were There… But They Weren’t Converting
We weren’t passive in trying to solve the problem. We threw everything at the wall:
- Webinars
- Lead magnets
- Facebook ads
These campaigns generated leads, and we did so at an affordable cost. On paper, it looked like we were on the right track. But the leads weren’t converting into customers.
So, we dug deeper.
We repositioned our sales site copy with A/B testing. We updated our email nurture sequences. We revamped our product demo.
And these changes made small improvements—but they didn’t move the needle enough.
We had hit our growth ceiling and couldn’t out-market or out-optimize our way back to the trajectory we once enjoyed.
That’s when I realized: Digital marketing has already changed, and we didn’t adapt quickly enough.
Digital Marketing Has Completely Changed. If You Don’t Realize It, You’re Already Behind.
Businesses still operating on outdated strategies are watching their revenue decline, their customer acquisition costs soar, and their teams shrink. Some are even shutting their doors altogether.
If this sounds familiar, it’s not because you’re bad at marketing—it’s because the rules have been rewritten.
I wrote about my conviction in the shift already – so feel free to catch up and see if you agree or disagree.
What I Should Have Done Differently
Looking back, I realize what we should have done when growth stalled:
#1 Prioritized Credibility: Created content that showcased real expertise, stories, and results.
We started down this path but I should have went all in with the team. We should have created 10+ case studies and spammed them all over our social channels and sales site.
#2 Focused on User Intent: Dug deeper into what our audience truly needed and created solutions-driven content.
We actually did this – but took the wrong approach. We tried doing this through keyword research. Instead we should have used online communities like Facebook, BiggerPockets, and Reddit to get a more clear picture what people were looking for and how we could help them.
In some ways our entire marketing team should have STOPPED what they were doing and answered every post we could find on the internet about our industry or product.
#3 Adopted AI Strategically: Used AI to optimize workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and empower our team to focus on strategy.
Again – we went down this path but at a very superficial level. We used AI to rewrite some of our nurture sequences and help us A/B test some headlines. But who CAN’T do this?
We should have worked with our product team to build free tools or resources that ONLY could come from our deep data banks.
#4 Accepted the Shift: Acknowledged that the old playbook no longer worked and adapted faster to the changing digital landscape.
I should have called an emergency week long series of meetings to get everyone on the same page and starting to reprioritize work, focus and objectives. Instead we tried to fit some of the above in between running webinars, Facebook ads, and using AI to create new blog posts.
Hindsight is 20/20
I love learning – and I love a good challenge.
What all of these hard lessons have brought are a renewed sense of clarity and purpose. I am on a mission to help other marketing teams who are struggling, frustrated, and burned out by leveraging AI and other tools to help with the digital marketing shift that HAS ALREADY taken place.
In the next 3 months – Conversion HQ will be building features that specifically address these pain points and show you a NEW way to do marketing.
A way that will future proof your growth and allow you to feel back in control after the shift that happened in early 2023 with the launch of ChatGPT to the masses.
What Conversion HQ Will Be
AI Driven: Yes Conversion HQ will leverage AI as a technology…but not in the way you think. Instead of contributing to the fire hose of AI content on the internet it will be used to help you identify ways to strategically improve your marketing.
Innovative: I promise this tool will have competitors – but I am unaware of any…yet. It’s a great chance to get in early and get your marketing back on track before others figure it out and start to compete. I’ll have competitors – but you already have them.
Simple: Marketing tools are naturally complex. They try to solve a lot of problems for a lot of industries. Because this is a bootstrapped and small team – it will be focused and therefore simple to understand and more important, simple to use.
What Conversion HQ Will NOT Be
AI Content Tool: Another AI content tool that helps you pump out hundreds of blog posts in seconds
Fully Automated: Full automation sounds nice in theory – but it has some major flaws. Instead Conversion HQ will be your sherpa as you climb the revenue mountain. Always working behind the scenes 24/7 to keep you ahead of the competition
Expensive: After leading a marketing team I was always struggling to keep our budget in check. You have enough going out the door with head count, ad costs, affiliate costs, and events. I want to make this tool a NO BRAINER for any marketing organization and return 10x – 25x the value you get from the product.
Want To Help?
I am actively taking discovery calls to make sure I build the right product for the right marketing team.
If you want to share your thoughts, frustrations or hopes with me – you can book a call here.