Want to know the biggest mistake I see trades businesses make with their marketing? They jump straight into running expensive ads before fixing their reputation management.
Here’s what happens: You spend $1,000 on Google Ads. You get clicks, maybe even some calls. But potential customers do what everyone does now – they check your reviews. If your reviews are weak or you’ve got some bad ones you never responded to, guess what? That $1,000 just went down the drain.
I had a client who was spending $2,500 a month on ads but couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t getting quality leads. Turns out, he had three one-star reviews from two years ago that he never addressed. To potential customers, that silence screamed “I don’t care about my customers’ problems.”
We fixed his review system first. Started actively managing his Google Business Profile. Set up automatic review requests for happy customers. Within 60 days, his lead quality completely changed. Same ad spend, totally different results.
The truth is, you don’t need perfect reviews. You need recent reviews and, more importantly, you need to show that you care enough to respond when things go wrong. That builds trust, and trust is what turns clicks into customers.
Fix your reputation first. Then, when you do start running ads, you won’t be throwing money away.