I watched the same movie play out over and over again, just with different actors.The scene always started the same way. A successful business owner, usually doing $800K to $2M annually, sitting…
I watched the same movie play out over and over again, just with different actors.
The scene always started the same way. A successful business owner, usually doing $800K to $2M annually, sitting across from me with a familiar frustration. Beautiful website. Clever social media. Facebook ads that looked amazing.
And leads that barely trickled in.
One coaching business we worked with was spending $15K a month on marketing. Their return? Maybe 2–3 qualified leads. When I asked the founder what they actually did, they couldn’t give a clear answer. Their messaging was scattered. Their positioning? “We help everyone with everything.”
Classic random marketing act thinking.
The founder kept saying “we need better ads” or “maybe we should try TikTok.” But all these tactics were like putting a Band-Aid on a broken bone. The foundation was completely shattered, but everyone stayed obsessed with surface-level fixes.
That’s when I realized most of the marketing industry had it backwards.
The numbers tell a brutal story. Over 41% of overall ad spend goes to waste, with wasted digital advertising hitting a record $123 million in just the second quarter of 2024.
But the real problem runs deeper than inefficient ad placement.
Two-thirds of small and medium enterprises have no marketing plan at all. They’re operating on what we call “random acts of marketing.” A sure-fire way to waste money and effort without delivering positive returns.
I started seeing this pattern everywhere after that coaching business revelation. Million-dollar businesses stuck in feast-or-famine cycles, throwing money at the latest marketing trend instead of fixing their roots.
It was like watching people try to build a house starting with the roof.
The most dangerous marketing myth is that better tactics solve everything.
I’ve worked with businesses that had gorgeous websites, viral social content, and won awards. They were still struggling to generate consistent leads because their marketing roots were broken.
Poor positioning. Unclear messaging. Offers that don’t differentiate them from anyone else.
When you can’t explain what you do in one clear sentence, no amount of clever campaigns will save you. When your positioning is “we help everyone with everything,” you’re positioning yourself to help no one effectively.
The feast-or-famine cycle becomes inevitable.
Service businesses get trapped in a repeated pattern. They work frantically to secure new business, then stop all sales and marketing activities to fulfill that work. The cycle repeats because they never build momentum.
They’re always selling from scarcity, taking work they don’t want, underpricing just to make the sale. Never leaving enough money to invest in real growth.
Market leaders stopped thinking in campaigns years ago.
While most businesses chase the next marketing trend, successful companies build acquisition engines. Systems that generate consistent, qualified leads month after month.
The difference is foundational.
Random marketing acts focus on tactics. What’s the next ad platform? What’s the latest social media trend? How can we hack our way to more leads?
Strategic marketing systems focus on roots. What’s our unique position in the market? How do we communicate our value clearly? What acquisition engine will generate predictable growth?
Only 27% of businesses actually set objectives for their marketing agencies. The rest don’t even know if their marketing coordination is working.
That’s not marketing. That’s expensive guesswork.
After 17+ years in this industry, I can spot broken marketing roots in the first conversation.
The red flags are always the same.
When I ask “What do you do?” and get a rambling explanation that takes three minutes, the positioning is broken. When I visit their website and could easily swap their company name with a competitor’s, their differentiation is nonexistent.
When they’re constantly chasing new marketing tactics instead of optimizing what they have, they’re treating symptoms instead of the disease.
The real diagnostic question is simple: Can you explain your unique value in one clear sentence that makes someone say “I need that” or “That’s not for me”?
If not, no marketing tactic will consistently work.
The solution isn’t doing more marketing. It’s doing better marketing.
My Rooted to Rise methodology starts where most agencies finish. With your foundation.
Roots: Crystal-clear positioning, messaging that differentiates you, offers that make your “why you” undeniable.
Engine: Acquisition systems that generate consistent leads, not random campaigns that might work.
Ascend: Authority moves that establish market leadership, creating long-term competitive advantage.
Most agencies jump straight to Engine or Ascend. They want to run ads, create content, optimize funnels. But beautiful websites and clever campaigns don’t work if your foundation is broken.
Fix your roots first. Then watch consistent leads flow naturally.
Random marketing acts are dying because they never worked consistently.
They created the illusion of progress while draining budgets and fragmenting focus. They kept businesses trapped in feast-or-famine cycles, always one failed campaign away from panic.
The businesses that survive and thrive understand a simple truth: marketing is not a collection of tactics. It’s a strategic system built on solid foundations.
Your positioning must be clear. Your messaging must differentiate you. Your acquisition engine must generate predictable results.
Everything else is just expensive distraction.
The question isn’t whether random marketing acts will die. They already have for smart businesses.
The question is whether you’ll keep funding their funeral or start building something that actually works.
If you’re ready to stop throwing money at marketing tactics and start building a real acquisition engine, we should talk. But only if you’re serious about fixing your foundation first.
Because I don’t do surface-level anything.
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