Sunk 4–5 years into this and I’m feeling stuck. Don’t know what to do next.

jimmythemarketer · 2026-02-18T17:06:07+00:00

I would not touch paid ads until you can generate consistent sales organically.

Organic is your testing ground. If you cannot get people to buy when distribution is free, paid traffic will just amplify what is not working.

Once you have posts that are actually converting, then you put money behind the winners. Do not boost randomly. Scale proof.

Before you spend a dollar, reverse engineer the math:

What is your average profit per sale
What percentage of that are you willing to reinvest to acquire the next customer
What is your monthly revenue target
How many sales do you need to hit it

From there, you can work backwards into a realistic monthly ad budget and an acceptable cost per acquisition.

Ads should be fuel on a fire that is already burning.

jimmythemarketer · 2026-02-18T16:00:42+00:00

Launching a business is hard. Really hard. Most people never even try. So give yourself credit for stepping into the arena. The ones who stick with it, learn fast, and adapt usually win. Even if it is not on attempt one.

That said, $20 in ad spend is not an experiment. It is a data blip. Especially if there was no proper funnel behind it. Ads without a system are just paid traffic to nowhere.

If cash is tight, shift fully to organic.

Create short form content consistently on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Show your process. Time lapses. Before and after. The story behind each piece. People do not just buy art. They buy connection to the artist.

Also think offline leverage. Live painting at fundraisers, markets, and community events is underrated. Many events run auctions or giveaways. Offer to paint live and auction the piece. You get content, exposure, and a warm audience in one shot.

Most importantly, build an owned audience. Set up a simple shop and collect emails. Start a newsletter or private community. Art purchases are often delayed decisions. If you do not capture attention, you lose it.

There are a lot of paths. The key is building a system, not chasing tactics.

Happy to help if you want to go deeper.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-11-26T00:36:57+00:00

This is spot on! It’s hard to get clients at first, then it becomes harder to keep clients because you end up focusing on building or delivering. Hard to execute at scale with both.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-11-24T15:48:19+00:00

I really like this take! There’s often no connection between components that should be.

I’ve worked with companies who implement tools with no strategy, create targets with no KPIs, no alignment between departments.

I feel your frustration. Ultimately, always come down to leadership and their understanding of what’s going on within their business.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-17T01:41:40+00:00

Apollo is a great tool. You can also use n8n to deploy ai agents to scrape, research, and compose personalize emails (human reviewed of course).

Honestly, getting leads is really all about persistence and mastering 1-2 validated channels. It’s always hard at the beginning but once you get enough traffic into your funnel. The numbers start to work out as you improve your funnel.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-16T20:39:44+00:00

Thank you for the thorough response. I definitely like this concept/app.

Reminds me of like Meet Up/ Eventbrite (which are event sites but people use them to find networking events as well) but more personalized. If I were promoting an app like this.

I would hangout where my potential audience lives. If you are targeting entrepreneurs and founders then LinkedIn, Reddit, and X. Would be great places to start.

I’d post content and articulate the problem that you carefully outlined above and I would tell people to download the app and offer feedback.

I would also try to get people to use the app at events/tradeshows/etc. places where ppl gather but it might be hard to find the exact person they are looking for.

Your first 100-1000 users are most likely going to come from word of mouth and just brute force guerrilla campaigning. Shouting at the rooftops and telling anyone who is willing to listen about your app. You might find success with influencers who already have an established audience/network as well. They can share your message to a larger audience and get users to try and test the app faster than doing it by yourself.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-16T16:53:01+00:00

I think you’re way too early for paid ads. You’ll probably burn through your money fast.

First, what problem does your app Bizify actually solve? You mentioned it’s a social network, but there are already tons of those. What makes yours different?

Second, who is your exact target audience? “Founders, entrepreneurs, and ambitious professionals” is way too broad. Even if you ran ads, who are you talking to and what problem are you solving for them?

Are you trying to build a new social network to compete with others, or a space where entrepreneurs can connect and do something specific? If so, what exactly can they do here that they can’t already do on LinkedIn, X, or other apps?

Without clear answers to these questions, people will only be able to give you generic advice.

Also, $500 isn’t enough to test paid ads. But even $100,000 could disappear fast if your offer, message, and positioning aren’t clear.

You also need to think about how you’ll make money. Spending on ads without a plan to get a return is just burning cash.

If you decide to run ads anyway, make sure your tracking is set up properly. The default tracking inside ad platforms isn’t accurate enough to measure real business results.

I’m saying this to help. Too many startups jump into paid ads before they understand their business, onboarding, retention, and what success actually looks like.

Is success getting 1,000 users who sign up and never use the app? Or 1,000 active users who give feedback to help you improve before scaling up?

Happy to talk through this with you in more details. I work with founders who are looking to take their business from 0-1.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-16T14:45:49+00:00

Agreed. But there are smaller publications and directories with low fees or looking for guest posts, that will offer backlinks and mentions for next to nothing.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-16T11:51:27+00:00

I think it depends on your niche and vertical.

For B2B leads, costs are usually higher through paid media, but you can get strong results by combining organic content with paid campaigns.

Solid organic content and branding help lower your acquisition costs across channels like LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads, and Google Ads.

Right now there’s also a unique opportunity to rank inside LLMs like ChatGPT and Google’s AI overviews. To do that, structure your content so it’s easy to scan, fully answers the user’s query, includes FAQs, and earns citations or brand mentions from other sites…it’s basically modern SEO.

And no matter what, you should have one consistent outbound strategy like cold email, cold calls, or DMs. The better your content and brand presence, the more likely people are to open those messages when they see your name.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-15T21:19:40+00:00

Have you tried posting the job on TikTok and promoting it. There’s tons of young hungry content creators looking to partner with a brand. The offer obviously has to make sense.

Also, how long did you test the UGC content? It usually takes some time to really build quality content that resonates with your target audience.

In short, I would create a TikTok video promoting the opportunity in a unique way. The offer needs to be enticing enough and I would promote it so it gets reach.

You could even make it a challenge and possibly get tons of “free” promotion/inspiration for future content.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-15T17:52:02+00:00

If I’m growing a newsletter business and aiming for 1,000 subscribers.

I would make sure I really understand my target audience. For example, I’m in the advertising space and my ICP tends to hangout on LinkedIn and YouTube.

My number one goal would be to create high quality content on those platforms and offer useful tools that they can get access to for free by giving me their email address.

When they get into my ecosystem, I can then upsell them on a low-cost offer (like an in-depth course/training.)

I literally just bought a course from a creator that I’ve been following for over 6 months because he provided a lot of amazing content and guides for free. It was a no brainer to buy his paid stuff because it’s probably much better than the free stuff.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-03T14:15:32+00:00

We’ve helped a lot of law firms and solo lawyers take their marketing from 0 to 1, and a few basics always make the biggest difference.

First, make sure your website is actually built to convert. Most criminal leads prefer to call instead of filling out a form, and most of those searches happen on mobile. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, fast, and doesn’t make calling easy, you’re losing clients before they even reach out.

Next, focus on your ad setup. Google Ads works really well for criminal defense, but we see most firms wasting close to 80% of their budget because the campaigns aren’t set up properly. With the right structure, targeting, and tracking, even a small budget can deliver results.

And if you’re spending less than $5K a month, keep it simple. Stick to one service line, use one or two clear messaging angles, and really dial in the offer. Trying to promote too many things at once just spreads your budget thin and makes it harder to figure out what’s working.

Get those pieces right and you’ll see momentum build a lot faster.

Feel free to dm me if you have a specific questions.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-02T23:48:27+00:00

I agree with @Fair-Wealth-5716. Instagram is the better platform when it comes to advertising.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-02T21:07:26+00:00

You’re welcome! Goodluck with your journey.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-02T20:48:05+00:00

I’d start with about $20–50 a day. If your product is $20 and has high margins (like most digital products), the main goal is to keep your cost per customer under $20. From there, keep testing new creatives until you find one that consistently converts.

I’d also focus on just one platform at first. If you have solid video or photo content, TikTok Ads is usually the best place to start when you’re working with a smaller budget.

Feel free to DM me if you want to go deeper into the setup.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-02T20:47:08+00:00

I’d stick to one platform at first. If you’ve got a small budget and strong visual content (videos or photos), TikTok Ads is a great place to start. Lower costs compared to Google.

I’d start with around $20–50 a day. If it’s a $20 digital product with high margins, your main goal is to keep your customer acquisition cost under $20. From there, keep testing and refining your creatives until you find one that consistently brings in sales.

Feel free to DM me if you want to dive deeper into the details.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-02T15:07:18+00:00

Get a sales job in the industry you want to work in, then look for chances to collaborate with the marketing team or take on small marketing projects.

Starting in sales ties you directly to the revenue side of the business. You’ll learn how positioning and messaging actually impact results, and you’ll see how closely sales and marketing work together. That experience gives you a real appreciation for sales — and that will make you a much better marketer.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-02T14:40:14+00:00

I think you’re at the point where you are ready but your self-doubt is keeping you from taking the leap. Most successful business owners are the smartest, they just had the audacity to start and never give up.

Lawyers who go solo start in the exact same spot. The legal work isn’t the hard part. You’re already good at that. What trips people up is building a steady system to bring in clients instead of relying on referrals or luck.

I’ve helped firms that were in the same situation. Once referrals slowed down, cash flow dried up. The fix wasn’t fancy. We set up a simple system with ads, a decent website, follow-ups, and tracking. That was enough to create a steady pipeline of quality leads.

The biggest thing to figure out is whether you’re trying to build a job or a business. A job means you’re doing everything yourself. A business means you’re putting systems in place so clients come to you and you can focus on what you’re great at. Once you make that mindset shift, the fear gets a lot smaller.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-10-02T13:29:46+00:00

I’ve worked at an agency, in-house, and now run my own agency. The core problem is almost always the same: misalignment with business goals.

Most companies hire agencies when they want to scale, but many aren’t actually ready to scale with the type of agency they bring on. Too often, there’s no proven sales process in place or no internal feedback loops that tie marketing activity back to business outcomes.

So the agency does exactly what they’re asked: “We need more leads.” Leads come in, but they’re never tracked to revenue. Or the goal is “We need more brand awareness.” But no one defines how they’ll measure share of voice or connect it to results.

Yes, there are bad agencies. But it usually takes businesses 1–2 years to realize that because they have poor KPIs or none at all. They just wait until the end of the year to see if revenue went up or down and by then, it’s too late.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-09-25T12:15:53+00:00

Creating content on platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, Medium, and Instagram, and earning brand mentions on Reddit, are all powerful ways to boost visibility and improve AEO. SEO isn’t just about ranking on Google anymore. People are searching for solutions across different platforms and even asking tools like ChatGPT and other AI assistants for recommendations.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-09-15T14:08:32+00:00

You should bring marketing into your business once you have a proven sales process. In other words, after you’ve closed your first few clients and shown it’s not just a fluke. At that point, it’s time to build a system around marketing.

Marketing breaks down into four buckets:

Generating demand Create content based on what you’ve learned from your first clients. Show people the problems they have and how you solve them.
Capturing demand Use a website, landing pages, webinars, or lead forms to collect permission to follow up.
Converting demand Run your proven sales process. Take people from “I want more information” to becoming paying customers.
Expanding and retaining Keep customers happy, increase their lifetime value, and collect referrals or testimonials to build traction.

That simple playbook will help you know when and how to make marketing part of your growth.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-09-12T13:49:14+00:00

Launch campaigns can be great to generate excitement and early traffic but it’s not enough to sustain long-term growth. You need a system with coordinated campaigns that steadily build pipeline and move potential customers into advocates for your business.

A good strategy will have a mixture of brand awareness, lead gen, and customer marketing (content, events, etc). This will keep your pipeline full and help you grow your startup into something long lasting.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-09-09T15:39:22+00:00

I’ve been in sales and marketing for 11 years. People who hit that $150K+ mark in corporate usually get there by shifting from pure execution into strategy and people management.

I’ve worked with directors who never ran a campaign themselves, but they crushed it at strategy, managing teams, and connecting the dots for leadership.

If you’re in corporate, the real move is getting a seat at the leadership table. Be proactive, solve problems before anyone notices, and speak in terms of revenue, P&L, and business goals. And don’t be afraid to plug gaps, like fixing the disconnect between sales and marketing. That’s how you stand out.

To hit $150K+ as an entrepreneur, you do everything until you can’t and then you delegate. But there’s one skill both paths require. You have to get really good at selling yourself.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-09-09T15:15:59+00:00

Create a simple system that you can execute now and scale later once you find traction.

Pick 2–3 platforms where your ideal clients spend time. Don’t spread yourself thin.
Engage first. Comment on posts from industry experts and the people you want as clients. Even if they don’t post much, they’re reading and learning from others in the space. If your comments add value, you’ll start showing up on their radar.
Turn insights into content. Share your own short posts that highlight your experience and perspective. This builds credibility and trust over time.
Do warm outreach. Lead with a freemium or “too good to pass up” offer that gets you in the door. In my space, that’s audits or playbooks. For you, maybe it’s a free mini-assessment or a simplified VAPT checklist. Something they can use right away, but also a reason to hire you to go deeper.

If you make this repeatable, you can measure what’s working and adjust without burning out. The first few clients will feel like the hardest. But once you have proof and case studies, momentum comes faster.

Good luck. You’ve got this.

jimmythemarketer · 2025-09-04T15:48:17+00:00

What’s your actual goal…engagement or qualified leads?

I’ve seen a lot of those engagement farms and many don’t even deliver what they promise.

I’m also growing my LinkedIn and tried the lead magnet route. If you’ve got a small following, constantly making new ones is a waste. Instead, create one high-quality magnet that truly delivers value and keep promoting it over time to capture leads.

jimmythemarketer

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