Jonathan Goodwin

If you’re running an agency and want to hit $2M+ fast, here’s the play: automate, leverage AI, and keep your margins high. Most agencies waste time and money on bloated teams and outdated processes. But the ones scaling fast? They’re using tools like Make and Zapier to replace traditional roles with seamless automation. Profit margins of 40%+ aren’t a dream—they’re a result of smart operations. Add AI into the mix, and you’ve got a powerhouse. AI can ideate, design, and even build—whether it’s content, apps, or websites—at a fraction of the cost. It’s not about replacing talent, but enhancing it. The takeaway? Scale smarter, not harder. We’re running an accelerator for agency owners who want to multiply their valuation by 2x in 3-6 months. Sign up here: agenciesx.com #AgencyGrowth #Automation #AIForBusiness #Entrepreneurship #BusinessScaling

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Here’s how to make SEO your biggest revenue driver (advice based on generating +$20 million in revenue, not pipeline): ✅ Treat it as a demand capture channel Skip top of the funnel entirely, and jump straight into JTBD middle & bottom of the funnel. There’s gonna be plenty of room later to play the awareness game. The magic of SEO lies in the ability to reach buyers who are already searching for your product. That may be only 5% of your TAM buyers (in-market buyers), but that’s more than enough to grow you to (hundreds of) millions in ARR. Plus, the bar is so low - since most SEOs are chasing vanity metrics (traffic), these low-volume, high-intent long tail money keywords are such an untapped opportunity. ✅ Spend money on content, not backlinks Backlinks don’t generate revenue, content does. You can’t rank for all these keywords where buyers are already searching for your solution until you have a page of content for that query, so building backlinks won’t help. Let’s say there are 10,000 ways (KWs) prospects are searching for you already. This is your lowest hanging fruit you should saturate first. Once you cluster those 10,000 keywords, you’ll have e.g. 2,000 pages of content to create. The faster you publish this content, the faster you’ll capture all the existing demand. So, your goal should be increasing content publishing velocity, because publishing 10 pages a month means it’ll take you 200 months (almost 20 years!) to just saturate existing demand. Publish 200/month, and you’ll do that in under a year. ✅ Natively integrate product into content Google rewards content that provides the most value to the user. That should be your first step - to create the best page of content Google can show to the user. Skip this step and jump straight into promoting your product and you just won’t rank. Once you’ve provided value and solved the user's problem, the next step is to position your product as the natural next step: as a better / cheaper / faster alternative. It’s that simple! ✅ Report on performance weekly It’s hard to hide when you’re transparently reporting on progress every week. It’s gonna push you to do better. Once the campaign hits mid stage (usually 4-6 months in), go from just reporting on leading indicators to reporting on signups & revenue. Conversions should start increasing linearly with traffic. I know that with the old SEO playbook conversions never increase linearly with traffic, but with this playbook, they do. Because, remember, we’re targeting just high-intent, revenue generating opportunities - none of those fluffy TOFU keywords that drive a ton of traffic but little-to-no signups.

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I’ve spent $3,891 on Linkedin ads and driven 9,155 clicks at an average CPC of $0.43. We’ve acquired 88 free RB2B users for $40.43 who (at 9% free-to-paid) are $444 CAC, and over $2.5k LTV (5.6x ROAS). Here’s the breakdown: BACKGROUND: I started working with Understory last month. Ever since Samantha McKenna told me she was: 1. Running LinkedIn Thought Leadership ads 2. Getting SUPER cheap clicks back to a landing page 3. Retargeting those cheap clicks with RB2B and booking demos I have been wildly intrigued. But I had ONE hesitation... Would these ads negatively impact my organic reach? There was only one way to find out. _______ THE PLAN: - $10k media budget month 1 - Mix of my posts, other peoples’ UGC - Mix of CTA (hard, soft, AND no CTA at all) - 4 Audiences: Sales, Marketers, Founders, LeadGen Agenices Understory went at it, and we had our first bi-weekly meeting last Monday. Here were the results as of July 11, 2024: - $3,891 media spend - 9,115 clicks - 11% CTR - $47.14 CPM - $0.43 CPC - 88 conversions - 40.43 cost per free user - 9% free-to-paid conversion rate - $444 CAC - $2,586 Baremetrics LTV (this will be higher as churn drifts down) - 5.6x ROAS Question: Am I overstating ROAS by counting view-through conversions? _______ Meanwhile, here are my organic impressions by week: 5/17   350,000 5/24   420,000 5/31   383,000 6/7     430,000 6/14    350,000 6/21   165,000      <<<<<   Linkedin TL ads started 6/26 6/28    238,000     7/5      175,000 7/12    275,000 Question: Would you be concerned about this drop? Did anyone else see a similar drop around this time? _______ INSIGHTS: 1. The SALES persona is $284/conversion. I’m not surprised, they can’t buy our tech, marketing does 2. The FOUNDER persona is the cheapest conversion - 22 at $33.33. I’m also not surprised, they are my real die-hard fans, and they move quickly 3. The Outbound Agency persona had the MOST conversions - 37 at $33.96. This audience has the best potential for UGC virality with us. 4. The posts about SALES drive the most conversions, but NOT from salespeople. _______ TAKEAWAY: I’m captivated by the concept of Thought Leadership ads. The fact that you can create a piece of content that you KNOW LinkedIn loves... Then put AD SPEND behind it… If you can create great organic content that your prospects love, NOBODY, no matter how big, can compete with your ability to generate awareness. This is the ultimate leveling force between the little guy and mammoth brands. And makes the ability to create great organic content the most powerful force in the world today. What would I do if I had zero followers and were just getting started? I’d start posting. Every day. Not for engagement, not for leads, not for deals. I’d post because the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll find your voice. And in 2024, finding your voice gives you the keys to the kingdom.

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"Our SEO is great, but sales are flat." I hear this all the time from SaaS founders. The problem? They're treating SEO and sales as separate entities. Big mistake. Here's how to bridge the gap: 1. Share keyword data with sales teams 2. Use top-performing content in sales emails 3. Create SEO content based on common sales objections 4. Track which keywords lead to actual deals At Revenue and Traffic Authority, we've seen this approach double conversion rates. Remember: Traffic means nothing if it doesn't turn into revenue. What's one way you've connected SEO to sales success? #B2BSales #SEOStrategy #SaaSTips #Revenue #Entrepreneurship #Sales #Conversions

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"We turned $5k into $1M in ad revenue in just 30 days!" ...said no legitimate agency, ever. We've fielded several conversations lately from DTC startups with massive growth expectations and disproportionately low budgets. We've had to have "the talk" about why that's a recipe for disappointment. First, paid media shouldn't be the initial focus for new brands. It's a powerful growth lever, but it's most effective when you've already laid the appropriate foundation with email, automations, etc., and have some organic momentum. Second, building brand awareness and driving immediate ROAS are not the same thing. These are different goals with distinct campaign strategies, creative executions... and budgets. In many categories like apparel, you can't skip the first step and race to the bottom. Third, you need to budget for sustained ad spend to get the flywheel spinning. You can't realistically expect this month's sales to fuel next month's campaigns. It takes time and budget to build up data for both humans and machines to optimize. If you're trying to bootstrap with just a few thousand dollars a month, PPC might not be the best use of your resources. Instead, explore digital PR, content marketing, social media, or affiliate programs. Here's the hard truth: building a brand takes time and sustained investment. There's no magic bullet that will guarantee you'll go viral or 10x your revenue in 30 days. Anyone promising that is selling snake oil. If you're a newer brand considering initial paid media investment and need a realistic conversation about what it really takes, reach out to me and I can help. #MediaStrategy #DigitalMarketing #DigitalAdvertising #MediaBuying

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The proof is in the pudding. If you're a DTC business owner spending less than $10M/year on ads. I have the perfect system to scale your ad spend and lower you CPR.

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If you've been told, "You can't get better than 1:1 ROAS in Meta," you're being lied to. Here's the mistake we see too many DTC brands (or agencies working with brands) make: ➝ Running highest volume awareness campaigns to boost metrics ➝ Not getting efficient conversions and direct business impact ➝ Blaming the "algorithm" and not running enough creative We refuse to make that mistake — you need a fundamentally different process for fundamentally different results. Here's how we operate at Kynship: 1. Using financial forecasting to set benchmarks If you don't know first order profitability (based on unit economics), how can you expect to run profitable ads? This is where most agencies mess up, not digging into your numbers and creating an accurate forecast based on profitable CPA targets. 2. Collect and source as much creative as possible Anything you have in Google Drives, Dropbox folders, ad accounts, etc. is creative leverage. In most cases, we also supplement existing creative with influencer seeding to generate a large volume of native, organic content to be leveraged in ads. 3. Leverage high volume against cost controls Remember our forecasting and profitable CPA targets? We're setting those as benchmarks in your Meta ads, then pushing as much creative as we can to unlock potential winners. By using cost controls, anything Meta spends against will be profitable, meeting your target ROAS (whether it's 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, etc.). Any questions about our performance marketing approach? Let me know 🤝 

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Outbound campaign attribution in HubSpot just got a whole lot easier. You name it—from meetings and converted leads to closed won deals. This new capability is part of our “packages” feature, which uses Supered⚡ to deploy fully built lists, workflows, and dashboards straight into your HubSpot portal. It all starts with Smartlead campaign data which is synced with OutboundSync. Here's what's possible... - Funnel Reporting: Track conversion rates at each stage. Whether you’re using a strict vertical funnel or a more flexible horizontal view, you’ll see exactly how many outbound emails convert to closed deals. - Campaign & Rep Performance: View email sending volume, positive reply rates, and track results by individual sales rep. See which campaigns are driving results. - Sales Enablement Insights: Monitor follow-up activity. Are reps calling? Sending LinkedIn messages? Using direct mail? The dashboard captures all follow-up actions thanks to the power of syncing outbound data with HubSpot. - Multi-Touch Attribution: Get a complete view of how outbound efforts impact deals, even if multiple touchpoints are involved. Track pipeline value, deal size, and closed revenue attributed to outbound campaigns. Last month, one user realized they'd exceeded their monthly meeting goal by two. (They booked 52 meetings.) And they'd closed won nearly $19K in September alone. All using this data. I can't wait to share more stories as we roll this out across our user base. What'd I get wrong? What report would you add or remove? PLEASE TELL ME. Because I can't wait to ship v3 of this thing. Stay tuned for how we’re using this setup for lists, workflows, and more.

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3 steps to increasing revenue for your DTC brand: Step 1: Drive traffic Step 2: Convert traffic Step 3: Retain customers But....there’s a catch. Don’t neglect step 3. If done well, step 3 pays the cycle all over again. For free.

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Bundling is a great tip for increasing Avg. Order Value. In D2C, if your AOV is less than $50 you will struggle mightily to make paid ads work (unless what you sell is a consumable with lots of repeat purchases). Image credit: Ben Heath #ecommerce #woocommerce #shopify #conversionrateoptimization

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Curious about how SEO works behind the scenes? Here's a sneak peek into just that! This video covers real SEO issues and solutions. If you need help with anything SEO-related, this is what you can expect if you hire me (wink-wink). "In this video, I present the current health score of 77 and highlight crucial technical SEO issues, including short meta descriptions, duplicate titles, and missing H1 tags. Action required: Address these issues to enhance SEO performance."

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Common sense and complexity in marketing measurement Yes, last-click attribution is suboptimal to other methods that consider and attempt to measure the contribution of all marketing efforts on commercial outcomes. Yes, last-click attribution introduces the risk that an advertiser invests money into a channel that does not deliver truly incremental outcomes. Yes, last-click attribution could result in analytics that wholly distort a business’ underlying marketing dynamics. But in certain circumstances, last-click attribution can be the best approach for measuring marketing outcomes.

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There are certain agencies I consistently hear terrible things about. There are certain agencies I consistently help brands move away from. Still -- I don't think those agencies are 'bad' agencies. They are bad for those clients though. Better for others, presumably. And, even "the best agency in the world" to some of their clients, too. I don't want to work with them. And I wouldn't recommend them. But, the point is this. Finding an agency is easy. Finding the right agency is hard. Agencies should be more selective in who they take on. Agencies should be more graceful when they lose clients. Agencies should stay in their proverbial lane. Brands should communicate their needs better. Brands should be more transparent with their agencies. Brands should invest more into their agencies. *not necessarily $$. Good agencies exist. Bad agencies exist. Great agencies exist. Good to you, may be bad to another. Great is the goal. Ya just gotta find them. ..ya may have to kiss a few frogs first, too.

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⏲️Quick Local SEO Tip⏲️ A URL should be so descriptive that Google understands the page topic just from the slug. Think: 👉 /danforth-iphone-repair 👉 /miami-residential-movers 👉 /orlando-roofing Clean, straightforward, and loaded with intent. Not only does this help with search rankings, but it also builds trust with users who know exactly what they’re clicking on. Every detail counts in SEO. 🔥

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One of the most impressive SEO initiatives I've seen in the last few months is how Dialpad took over a lot of queries in the SERP for area codes. What a masterclass in long tail SEO. Our team at Foundation Labs recently broke it all down... #SEO #ContentMarketing #Strategy

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9 steps to add $900k ARR to your agency in the next 9 months (learnings from the biggest agencies). [Ps for agencies seeking scale in'25, March intake now open. More on this later] I’ve spent the last 10+ years helping agencies (> $2M rev per year) scale their sales & marketing efforts. Many added circa $1M within a year and others 4x’d their rev in a few years. Regardless of agency specialisation or vertical, the principles are the same. With that said, here’s the 9-step framework to crank your growth. . . . 1. Setup a single source of truth via Hubspot Without this, you’ll struggle to scale. Invest in Hubspot will help: → Create one view across marketing, sales, client services, finance & beyond → Access marketing leads, deals won, ROI in seconds → Accelerate lead conversion rates & deal velocity → Revamp your retention process & slash churn 2. Branding (Meta + LinkedIn) Awareness first, conversion comes later. → Advertise on Meta & Linkedin - max landing page views & traffic → Create a truly unique USP - sound different to others → Get 50+ Case studies for trust & credibility → Get 30+ 5-star reviews on Glassdoor → Get 60+ Google My Business reviews 3. Google ads Capture the highest intent conversions (2 above is critical for success) → Focus on 1 main location & product → Expand the budget slowly as you gain traction → Team up with an agency or contractor to max your returns → Build strong landing pages - run them in parallel to your website → Start with a $5-10K/month, focusing on your highest revenue product 4. Blogging → Build trust with actionable content → Outsource copywriting, don't do it yourself → Appoint an in-house subject matter expert to review/train the copywriter 5. SEO → Focus on high-intent keywords, technical & offsite → Prioritise homepage & top service page. → Combine in-house oversight with external consultants for results 6. Email nurturing → Repurpose your blog content and stay top of mind → Use it to get people to click back to your site 7. Website visual update → Invest in a slick design → Optimise your homepage for conversions → Go hard on social proof, place these above the fold (case studies etc) 8. Hire a full-time revenue-focused marketer → Your biggest assets to scale → Handles the entire brand awareness & lead gen process → Will accelerate pipeline & deals won 9. Build a dedicated sales engine: → Hire 1 BDM, 100% focused on selling → Add more BDMs as needed, add SDRs as BDMs settle in → Focus BDM time on “closing” & SDR time on "booking" — And there you go, the exact framework to crank revenue growth. You know where to focus now - go hard, good luck! PS: I’ve helped the largest agencies 4x their revenue and others add $1.5M per year. I work with just 5 agencies every 6 months; March '25 intake is now open. This isn't just about more leads/sales - it's about holistic growth (retention, sales, marketing, HR & more). Interested? DM me “MARCH” or book a 1:1 via my profile link.

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PSA: accrue returns and use estimates for daily tracking. And Shopify please stop presenting Total Sales as the default revenue definition in the dashboard. If we can't have contribution margin can we at least get order revenue?

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SEO keyword research can be so annoying... But it doesn't' haven't to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Here's the easiest 5 step framework you'll ever need: Step 1) Generate Relevant Keyword Ideas Step 2) Assess Keyword Metrics Step 3) Determine Search Intent Step 4:)Examine the SERP Step 5) Choose Primary Keywords You can thank me later... #entrepreneurship #SEO #keywordresearch #keywords #revenue #searchtraffic

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The Worst Amazon Update I have heard in 2024 The introduction of the "DON'T BUY NOW" widget? This feature is designed to discourage impulsive purchases.  While the intent behind this initiative might seem commendable  Its potential implications are far-reaching. 1. Averaged Sales: The widget might lead to a decrease in sales before a deal. When combined with the sales boost during the deal The overall sales could remain relatively unchanged or even decline. 2. Lightning Deals:  For Lightning Deals, which rely on a sense of urgency and limited availability The widget could discourage purchases, leading to lower overall sales. 3. Potential for Manipulation: There's a risk that Amazon might use this widget to manipulate consumer behavior Guiding them towards products that align with their interests rather than the audience's needs. At this moment we all just need to pay attention.  An experienced specialist will always dig & take advantage of every opportunity. It's crucial to carefully consider the potential impact of such features on sales and customer behavior. What do you think about this? Could this widget negatively impact sales and profitability? #Amazon #eCommerce #ConsumerBehavior #Sustainability #Retail #Technology

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