Revenue Operations
Marketing budgets, metrics, and attribution for service businesses: the operating model behind predictable revenue, and how to plan around your spend.
How do you hire a marketing agency, from shortlist to signed contract?
Hire a marketing agency in writing: brief, shortlist, written answers, references, a paid first deliverable, then a contract your attorney has read.
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What should the first 30 days with a marketing agency look like?
Access, baselines, priorities, and a 30-day plan beat “we’ll optimize as we go.” Here’s what good onboarding looks like for service operators.
Read the postWhat marketing agency contract red flags should you check before you sign?
Account ownership, termination, auto-renew, and scope vagueness show up before performance does. Operator checklist, then have your attorney review.
Read the postWhat are the signs your marketing agency isn’t working?
Missed forecasts, vanity dashboards, and no revenue metrics are signals, not vibes. Use this operator checklist before you renew or replace anyone.
Read the postRetainer vs fixed-fee marketing: what are you actually paying for?
Hours, retainers, and % of spend buy activity. Fixed-fee models buy a scoped system. Here’s how operators should compare incentives, before they sign.
Read the postWhat should a marketing agency RFP scorecard include before you sign?
Score agencies on systems, measurement, and commercial model, not pitch decks. Use this operator RFP checklist in writing before you hire anyone.
Read the postHow do you evaluate a marketing agency before you sign?
Agency churn peaks at agencies that sell tactics, not systems. Use this checklist before you sign, then apply if you want fixed-fee infrastructure.
Read the postCAC vs. LTV: how much you can actually afford to spend on a customer
A budget percentage tells you what you spend. CAC and LTV show whether that spend makes money. The unit-economics math every service business should run.
Read the postOne agency vs. five vendors: the hidden cost of fragmentation
An ads guy, an SEO consultant, a content freelancer, a web developer: five invoices, zero accountability. The hidden costs of fragmented marketing.
Read the postMarketing attribution for service businesses: a practical guide
A practical, no-jargon guide to marketing attribution for service businesses: call tracking, form tracking, CRM, and what good-enough actually looks like.
Read the postThe only 5 marketing metrics that predict revenue
Impressions, reach, and engagement don't pay your team. The five marketing metrics that actually predict revenue, and the vanity metrics to stop reporting.
Read the postWhat percentage of revenue should you spend on marketing?
The real 2026 benchmarks for service-business marketing spend: why the percentage is the wrong starting point, and how to set a budget your margins sustain.
Read the postThe revenue system: why marketing tactics fail without structure
Most service businesses don't have a marketing problem: they have a structure problem. The system that turns fragmented tactics into predictable revenue.
Read the postReading about it is one thing. Installing it is another.
Every engagement begins with the Growth Blueprint: a complete audit and a 12-month roadmap that turns the ideas in these posts into a system built for your business specifically. The Growth Blueprint is $5,000 one-time and takes about 4 weeks from the day you give us access to your systems.
We accept four new clients per month. When capacity is full, enrollment closes.
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