Stop Burning Ad Budget: Fix This First in Your Marketing 🌪️

After over 10 years in this marketing trade, I'm still shocked at how many of my clients say their previous contractors just set up some ads with no tracking and spent money leading random people to random places. Just the other week I had a call with a potential client who needs help with lead generation, but their current contractor is running generic LinkedIn ads, leading to their LinkedIn company page. No funnel, no landing page, and no tracking.

Ads are just one part of the machine. If you don’t understand the complete buyer’s journey, you’re basically sending strangers into a maze with no exit sign.

So, where do you start when building a funnel?

This article is also available as a video on our YouTube channel:

Mapping the buyer's journey starts with researching your target audience (or audiences) and understanding their pain points and what they care about. This leads you to discover how your brand can deliver distinctive value for each specific audience.

Next, you need to find out where your potential customers dwell online. Apart from social media preferences, take a look at which newsletters they prefer, which subreddits they follow, which podcasts they listen to (just to name a few ideas). Based on these findings, you can shape your message to catch their interest.

At this stage, you're deciding what will be your USP, how you'll communicate it, and where will you communicate it.

In marketing, this translates to branding, content strategy, ad creatives and copy, and performance marketing strategy.

To build a full funnel you need to put yourself in the shoes of your clients and understand what information they need before they make a final decision. Most probably, they won't convert right away, so you have to follow up through retargeting (ads and email). They need proof of the value you deliver, and this is where nurturing comes in place.

If you don’t understand the complete picture you risk burning money.

If you don't say the right message, your customers won't listen.

If you're not advertising where they are, no one relevant will see your ad.

If you don't take them to a destination that informs or delivers value, they will leave and forget you.

Understanding the whole buyer's journey helps you map each step of the funnel to optimally lead the potential client to a paying customer. And it all has to be tailored to your company and its target audience; no copy-paste solutions allowed. Your funnel has to guide them through that entire path - on purpose.

That means:

📍 Clear ad message that speaks to your audience’s pain points

📍 Landing page that gives them value now

📍 Retargeting to stay top of mind

📍 Follow-up that builds trust over time

Even the best ad creative can’t save a broken funnel.

And at the end, despite all automation and tech stack, marketing stays human - it consists of reaching and convincing people. So if your marketing isn’t pulling its weight… Start by mapping your buyer’s journey. Then build a funnel that actually leads somewhere.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by choices on how to get started and what to do - that’s because there are many. But this is where experts like us come in. Drop me a comment and I’ll prepare a free marketing audit for you!