Google Ads Strategies for Small Business
Welcome to another episode of Spark & Ignite Your Marketing, where we explore the innovative strategies that drive success in today’s fast-paced business world. In this episode, we are thrilled to host Cally Pedersen, the CEO and founder of the Sage Agency. Cally is not just an expert in digital marketing; she’s a pioneer in the Google Ads space, having embraced the platform since its inception in 2001. Today, she’s here to share her deep insights and the powerful strategies that have helped her clients turn every dollar spent into substantial revenue.
Expert Insight on Google Ads
This focus on Google Ads wasn’t just about preference; it was about profitability and data-driven results that she could clearly measure and optimize. Cally emphasizes the importance of data and how it should dictate the way accounts are managed. From discussing the ideal customer lifetime value to the critical role of conversion rates, she offers listeners a comprehensive view and shares her Google Ads strategies for small businesses.
Overcoming Challenges
Scaling a business comes with its own set of challenges. Cally shares her current experiences with scaling the Sage Agency, transitioning from a freelance model to potentially hiring full-time employees, and adjusting her team structure to maintain the quality and personalized service that her agency is known for.
Cally’s Favorite Book:
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More than They Expect – Will Guidara
Free opt-in!
Is Your Business Ready For Google Ads?
Follow Cally Pedersen:
The Sage Agency
Cally Pedersen | LinkedIn
@the_sage_agency | Instagram
Watch on YouTube
Transcript:
Beverly:
Did you know that small businesses that advertise on Google ads typically make an average of 2 or more in revenue for every 1 spent? Today, we’re diving into the world of Google ads expertise with our special guest, Cally Peterson, CEO and founder of the Sage Agency. Cally’s journey as an early adopter of Google ads, Way back in 2001. Paved the way for over two decades of proficient digital marketing experience. Her goal, to ensure her clients profitability with Google ads. With her strategic approach, she manages and optimizes accounts based on each business’s specific needs and data, setting them up for success in the digital realm. The Business Journal recognized Cally as one of the top 20 advertising agencies to watch in 2021 and awarded her the Marketing 2. 0 Outstanding Leadership Award. Her expertise in Google Ads is second to none. Join us as we uncover the secrets behind Cally’s success in Google Ads, learn about her innovative strategies, and gain valuable insights to ignite your marketing endeavors. So sit back, relax, and dive into the world of Google Ads with Cally Peterson. Welcome, Cally. Thanks, Beverly. So nice to be here. I’m very excited to have you. We’re new friends we met, gosh, like two months ago, maybe, through a networking group online. And immediately when I saw that you did Google Ads, I was very excited because our agency, we’ve done them, but it’s just not our expertise. We can do it, but it’s just not something that we do every day. So I think somebody who lives and breathes and is so immersed and passionate about Google Ads, Is amazing. Let’s dive in and discover the sparks that created this opportunity for you to really specialize in Google ads. Share a little bit about your journey into entrepreneurship and how it all began for you and your business.
Cally:
Yeah Really my start to advertising in general began on Madison Avenue. My grandfather was one of the original madmen when you drank martinis for lunch and painted ads. And so he was always in advertising and I adored him. And so I just always wanted to be an advertising. And I worked in agencies right out of college. My parents were always entrepreneurs. They actually own houses down in Costa Rica and they’ve done that my whole life. And so being an entrepreneur was never this unattainable thing. It was almost like yeah, that’s probably what I’ll end up doing at some point. And then in 2018, I just, I don’t know. I just remembered. Sitting in the office and being like, if I’m going to work really hard for someone else, I might as well just work really hard for myself. And so I launched the Sage agency and really because I had so much marketing background and experience, I was taking on any job and any job that a client asked me to do, which I actually really hated. I hated it. I hated my business. I was going to quit and give up. And then in 2021, I just got really real with myself about what I didn’t like about certain things in marketing, what I did like about the other ones. Social media, bless the Facebook ads managers and the ones who do the organic social, because it is not my thing. I just, I hated it. Yeah, I know. We need each other though. We need, yes. We need people like, yes. But what I really, I’ve been doing Google ads the whole time. And what I really enjoyed about it was that it was just black and white, like the numbers told the story. And if something wasn’t working, I knew how to fix it. I’ll never forget I lovingly broke up with about five clients and, as a small business, that’s a big thing to do. And I had written this email and I had edited it and I would be thinking about it for weeks at the time, obviously 2021 it’s COVID. And me and my girlfriends are all on the call together. I have a glass of wine in one hand and they’re like, just send it. I sent it and I was so scared. And in that email, I had also increased my rates. So that was also another big, I was just really flexing my boundary muscles, which, and if you don’t build them up, they get weak. But the more you use them, the stronger they get. That year I built a team and I was solely offering Google ads and I tripled my business. I think the whole idea of niching down, there is something to it the thing is we can still work with any industry, right? Some perform better on Google ads than others. Like for example, with your, the Scott that you mentioned one thing that I consistently see over and it breaks my heart is that businesses just, unfortunately people aren’t managing their accounts for profit whether it’s another agency or freelance and. We’re very diligent and transparent from the beginning about whether your business can be profitable with ads. It’s not that it’s a yes or no forever. It’s just, if you’re not ready, let’s do the things to get you ready, come back, and then you can be profitable with ads.
Beverly:
Talk a little bit about who exactly is your ideal client. And then how to know if they are ready.
Cally:
Yeah. I have what I call a goals and expectations calculator. It’s an Excel sheet, but essentially what I do is I ask you your actual business numbers. For example, what’s your average order value or your average customer value? There’s two different types of businesses. There’s e comm and then there’s service based. We ask questions based on each one, but essentially you want to know your average order value. The biggest key to ads in general, whether it’s Facebook ads, Google ads, anything that’s driving traffic to your website is what is your conversion rate. And what I mean by that is If you have analytics set up and if you don’t set them up now, but set up Google analytics on your website and it’ll track how many people come to your website. And out of those number of people, let’s just say in a 90 day period, how many people out of those who visit your website take an action. Do they, Sign up and set up for an appointment. Do they call you? Do they sign up for your email? Taking an action once they get on your website. That’s your website conversion rate. Because the thing is, if people are coming to your website and they’re not buying or taking an action, ads is not going to help that. All we do is send people to your website. So that’s the biggest part of it. And then particularly for service based, I get asked a lot, Oh, should I do ads or should I build a sales team? And the thing is, You want to be prepared for all those people coming to your website. that’s what we call your lead rate percentage. You want to be about like converting at least 50 to 70 percent of your leads who come to your website on the other side for e commerce. You want to be your website conversion rate. You want to have it to be around three to 5%. And that’s based on sales on your website.
Beverly:
I don’t think every business is perfect for I’ve even told some of my clients I don’t think it works really for you or your business, depending. Yeah. Who would really benefit from this type of advertising and marketing, do you think?
Cally:
Yeah, I think, there’s a few aspects. And just to answer your question, but to set the scene a little bit, Facebook ads are great for brand awareness. If you’re a smaller business, if you’re in the coaching business, something where you’re really trying to get people to get to know you and your brand, Facebook is great. So that’s what we call like top of funnel. If you’re thinking about a funnel of getting your ideal client to actually become a client with you. Facebook ads are great. Google ads are more for if you think about like people are physically typing in for your business. Local businesses like plumbers and roofers and those types of businesses do really well with ads. Medical does really well. I actually have a few. It’s interesting. I have a few therapist clients who do really well, but life coach or coaching tends to, I think, do better with Facebook ads. Certain industries have a really high cost per click. So some industries have 50 just for one click. You’ve really got to have That marketing budget and Google ads needs to be. Just one part of that. It can’t be everything. If someone, for example, a lot goes into it, but I won’t nerd out on it, but we’re here for this. We’re
Beverly:
here for this Cally. Don’t worry. Okay.
Cally:
Watch what you ask for. Absolute bare minimum of budget that would go directly to Google. This doesn’t count. Someone actually managing your account would be a thousand dollars. And even that doesn’t really work because what happens is Google will take your monthly budget and divide it by 3. 30 0. 2. And that gives you your daily budget. And once you hit that daily budget, your ads go down for the day. So if someone has 500. It’s really only 16 a day. And if you’re spending 50 a click, you’re not even showing up. But if you’re saying let’s say it’s, more like around 2 a click, that’s really, that’s only giving you like seven or eight clicks a day. That’s not much. And then that’s just taking them to your website. So that’s where the website conversion rate comes back in. That’s so key and important. And that’s mainly when I tell someone they’re not ready for Google ads is because their website conversion rate is. Below like one and a half percent, 1%. And so now we do offer a website conversion rate services just because I’ve seen so many people needing that, but I think, really. Any industry that has a healthy marketing budget is also doing other marketing, like email marketing, maybe Facebook ads, SEO has a presence. And also people are actively. I call it high intent, like it’s a high intent search because they are actively Googling you and searching for you versus just scrolling on their Facebook feed.
Beverly:
Looking for a plumber and most people are desperate in that moment, right? There toilet is overflowing I need help right now. Yeah, the
Cally:
restaurants, we work with a lot of restaurants construction one of our clients, one Google ads lead led to a million dollar contract. That’s why when I touched on niching before I feel like Google ads is niche enough. I was like, Oh, maybe I should only do a certain industry, but I feel like Google ads is niche enough. We’re transparent and we’re honest and we want to make sure that you’re going to be profitable. And also it’s not fun for us to work on an account that’s up against itself from the start, unfortunately I see a lot of agencies. Not managing accounts that way. And it’s not great.
Beverly:
You talked about a couple of things that I think are really important from an entrepreneurial journey standpoint that I want to go back to for a second. So one, as you said, you had to niche. And I think this is super important for entrepreneurs to understand that finding your right niche, finding where you resonate, resonate. The highest, the strongest, where your passion is and where the profitability is key to a successful business and a happy business owner. Because then everything’s functioning the way it’s supposed to. One of the things that we do for our clients is we help them find their heart and soul in their business based on their vision and their mission and all those things. So many business owners struggle with the niching. They don’t know what they want. They just know they want to do this thing or solve this problem. And they think, Oh yeah, everyone’s my potential client. No. So you really do need to know who is the ideal client for yourself to help your marketing work for you, as opposed to that spray and pray mentality, which really does not ever work. Based on, I think most people have. I will say budgets. They don’t want to just waste, right?
Cally:
Yeah, and I think another way, sometimes people are like what does that even mean? Niching down, another way to think about it and this is where I went was like confused minds don’t buy. So if you’re talking about a whole lot of stuff and you’re offering all these complex offers and there’s, your service list is like this long you have three seconds for people to come to your website and take an action. Three. So if your site speed takes three seconds to load, they’re off doing something else. So once they’re on your website, you’ve got to really simplify. So if the word niche is I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what my niche is. Just simplify it, like what is the ultimate result that you want for your client and what is the easiest, most simple way to get them there, and then that might help you to. Even if it’s just categorizing things I have a million ideas. Like I love talking about business. I’ve got like 20 business ideas floating around at one time, but I just do Google ads. I know that’s part of the being an entrepreneur is like wanting to do all these things and having all these ideas and being creative, which is amazing. You don’t want to stifle that, but at the same time, you just need to really simplify and bring it back to what is the ultimate goal for your client?
Beverly:
I love that. And then I also really respect the idea of firing clients. I did the same thing in the fall. there’s four clients that I had to part ways in many ways. And I think when you niche down and you know who you need to serve and how you need to serve them and who, I think at the end of the day, what I want, and I’m sure it’s the same for you, but I won’t speak for you, Cally. At the day, I want to work with people that I know we can be successful with because they, when they’re successful, we’re successful. And that is like word of mouth and all that is super important for service based businesses like ours. So I want it to be a win situation for everyone. I don’t want to be dragging somebody across the finish line. That is exhausting. And that fun for either side, like that becomes a really not fun experience for anyone. Yeah. So I think firing clients is really great, but it does take a little bit of liquid courage maybe and the rooting of the push the send button. So yay for your tribe and your hype squad to make sure you did the right thing. Yeah. Yeah. Business. Yeah.
Cally:
Yeah. And I think also it’s just especially if you’re just starting out, it’s a rite of passage, right? Like you don’t know these red flags, you don’t know these pink flags until you start seeing them popping up again and again, I think there is part of having to go through the fire, but I don’t know with those clients that you spoke of, was there like a theme or was there a learning lesson for you that you’re like, okay, moving forward now I’ll know, or was it just once you were working? And it wasn’t a good fit. I don’t know. There’s so many different variables.
Beverly:
There really is. Last year I really, I did a rebrand and I looked at, I put myself through the same process I do with my clients that I’d never done. Cobbler’s kids have no shoes. Like we never do the thing. What happened was I was giving some marketing advice to one of my clients and I was like, why am I not doing that? And it was literally like, I had an out of body experience of why are you not following your own advice? And so I put myself through this experience of who am I really? Who do I really serve? What is my message? What is my legacy going to be? And I realized that those kinds of clients were not the people that I wanted to be part of that. So it became very crystal clear to me about who I wanted to work with and why. It really was, it was like the clarity of like the glasses came off, the fog came off and the joy came out. 12 years in business, my business had become its own beast. Like you grow and you grow and you grow and people are referring you and you’re taking, like you said, you’re taking the work and you’re doing whatever. And you’re getting like, it’s great. Like I was growing and I was making really good money and all the things that I had staff and from the outside, it’s very successful, but I was completely stressed out. I was not happy. I spent many a night crying and in tears and sobbing. Cause I was like, I just feel like I could never make anybody happy. There was all these things that were happening. I just, I had to have I had to have a come to Jesus moment. Why am I not following my own advice? And I did that three 60. Gosh, it’s like a whole different experience and I feel much more empathetic to my customer, which is, it’s been a great experience all the way around. And then I know the potential that’s there for my customer, because I know how I feel now. And I want everyone to feel the way I feel because I am so happy with my business.
Cally:
Oh, that’s amazing.
Beverly:
It’s been such a journey. But that’s how it’s, how it is as an entrepreneur. You have to go through the fire. Like you said, you have to get to that place where you’re like, Can’t anymore. Or this is not working for me or it’s not working for my family or whatever it is for you and your business. But I love the fact that you’re really honest about that. Like you had to find your niche, you had to clean some house, so what has been the biggest challenge that you think you’ve overcome as a business
Cally:
Something that I am overcoming like present tense, is scaling. I’m in the process of shifting my team set up. I’m looking at potentially hiring my 1st full time employee. I have an amazing team of freelancers. But I think I’m like, I’m going to that next level of, maybe not for myself growing up a little bit, but also for, it’s not a job. It’s a business. And I never thought of it that way. I just didn’t want to be in corporate anymore. And I wanted, I travel a lot. Like my husband’s Danish. I’ve been to like 74 countries. If I could get paid to travel, that’s my, I have another business, by the way about travel, but I just wanted that freedom. And so really what I created was another job for myself. And that’s what it’s been for the last few years, which is great. But I’m ready to, I never went into it thinking, Oh, this is something I’m going to create to sell. And now I’m shifting my mindset around that. So something that I have been dealing with and figuring out and what’s the right fit for me is that scaling. So one of my favorite books is Unreasonable hospitality. I don’t know if you’ve ever read it, but it’s all about making sure that the client is having the best possible experience that they can. And obviously we’re all about results too. So making sure the client’s profitable, but I just want to know that if I’m not having the direct touch point with my client, that they are being taken care of. The best as possible. So that kind of narrows your scope of team and, or maybe it’s just my small mind to thinking, I don’t know. I, like I said, I’m in the, in this process right now, but scaling is something that is been a part of how I’ve been setting up my business for the last year and what I’m actually going through as we speak and. We’ll see what comes out of it. But ideally I want to take off the 50 hats that I wear. I track my time and I put it towards all the different hats that I’m wearing just to have an idea of wow, okay, maybe I should hire someone to do that.
Beverly:
Yeah, I think you about the time you like you’re where you’re at six years, five, six years. I was like, how do I clone myself? And it’s a real challenge from every business owner because you are the only one that’s going to have that true passion and that real dedication and commitment. But there are things when you scale. And I think this is important for entrepreneurs to remember is it’s not just about necessarily getting bigger, but perfecting processes and training and things like that so that you can get bigger. So what has helped me may not help you is creating training. For everything I do and I loom everything like when I’m doing something or I’m writing a communication or I’m doing, I actually will loom it and I have a literally a library of training that I have set up for my team. And we talk a lot about client communication and client experience and client journey. And we talk about like communications, like such the big thing in my industry anyway, is how do we communicate with a client? And that means you can say something’s done Oh yeah, that’s done. Or you can say. I took care of that flyer. I took care of all the events that went with it. The social posts are updated. Everything is all set for next month. There’s 2 ways to communicate that. And it’s really important that we do the 2nd way and not that’s all done. Because you leave too much ambiguity, too much assumption, too many opportunities for something not to get handled. And then it’s on you. So make it as clear as possible. And I always say over communication is never wrong. Like you can, over communication is a good thing when we’re talking about task based services. So I, but I literally have, It down to a T like when we have monthly meetings with a client. What does that look like? Here’s the formula like I want it to be Not mcdonald’s whether you have or ford
Cally:
Yeah,
Beverly:
but this is the expectation I have for the client to have this similar experience no matter who’s working with the client I also I made a change to a couple of years ago where I now give my team profit. They get some investment as well, which is some dedication and commitment in a way that never was before. So by giving up a little bit of profit though, like I have committed people there, like you’re much longer there. Like it’s changed the whole entire dynamic. So when you’re looking at scaling, I think the biggest thing is training. And then. You want them to have a little bit of skin in the game somehow too, whatever that looks like for your business. Like law firms and real estate firms all have these people under an umbrella, but they have a percentage in the game. So I was like, that’s what I’m going to, how I’m going to structure my business is I’m the umbrella and my team has skin in the game, but I’m also going to offer them mentoring and systems and certain training and all the things that kind of come with it. It’s changed the entire dynamic, which is absolutely fabulous because people are really invested and committed to their clients now. It’s a very different kind of caliber of people. And yeah, they’re not mini me’s, but they’re closer than I’ve ever been anyway. So that’s a good thing. Scale is scary. And growing is hard and trying to figure out what works best for you and for the team can be really challenging. I like the fact that you’re like, it’s present progressive overcoming. Right now, here I am in the middle of it. Yeah. Can you highlight a moment or an experience that maybe sparked a unique opportunity along your entrepreneurial journey?
Cally:
I did my first keynote speech. What year are we in? December 2022. And I do not like speaking. Doing a podcast is fine, but in front of, and it was actually at a marketing conference. So it wasn’t, it was like in front of my peers. And I wasn’t supposed to be the keynote speaker. They actually, Something happened to the keynote, and then I was supposed to just be on a pa, a panel, and they told me like a week before they gave me the opportunity to be the keynote speaker and I took it. But yeah, that was pretty nerve wracking. But I have to say, like now I feel like I, I can do speaking. I, I enjoy it. And also it’s just given me that confidence to. Add that to my LinkedIn, add that to my website, it gives me that credibility and authority, but also again, like building those muscles of entrepreneurship, where you’re doing something that you’re like, wow, I didn’t expect to be doing this, but, or I am on this stage staring at hundreds of people, but it went really well. I got a lot of questions afterward. So I, I’m really glad I did it, but that was definitely one of the. Pivotal moments. I’d say because at that point I’ve been doing Google ads for about, specifically Google ads in my agency for about two years. And it was really cool to get all the questions from my peers about ads. Cause you make these assumptions that Just because people are in marketing, they know everything about Google ads and they don’t, and that’s okay. Like you said earlier, it’s your niche do you have a recording of the talk? I do.
Beverly:
You’ll have to send it to me so I can put it in the notes. It is very nerdy. I don’t want to see it. I’m here for the nerdy now. That’s exciting for me. So the fact that you went out of your comfort zone, I think entrepreneurs are notorious for constantly pushing their boundaries and going out. I think successful entrepreneurs go outside of their comfort zone a lot. There’s this like visual that I have, and it’s it’s going to be probably hard for my listeners to, I’ll see if I can explain it. You have a circle, right? And when you go out of your comfort zone, it becomes a little bump on the circle. And then your circle goes around the bump. So now it’s expanded the size of the bump. So every time you go out of your comfort zone. It keeps expanding, you never go in, you keep going out. You’re just slowly but surely be creating this bigger and bigger circle for yourself. And things that were scary 10 years ago, aren’t scary anymore.
Cally:
Yeah.
Beverly:
And you’re like, yeah, bring it. It becomes a whole different vibe, right? I don’t know if you like bring it, like you want to do that again, but that way, but I think you’re like, I’m prepared. I know what to do now. Like I’ve been there, done that. It’s been scary. And some of the scariest things I’ve done in my life have been the most rewarding.
Cally:
Yeah. And now I have a keynote speech that I can use for other conferences, like you say, like now I have that experience and I have that in my back pocket and I’m prepared for if someone happens to want to offer me a keynote speaking place again, I’m ready to go, yeah. What was your topic? How to make your ads work for you, the ins and outs of paid search marketing.
Beverly:
Awesome. I love it. So in, in Google, the bane of my existence I say that lovingly only because it’s a little bit of PTSD about Google ads, but it’s a very real thing. But there are, the reason why I think it’s so frustrating for me is because it keeps changing. Analytics has changed. I, the ads have changed. The algorithms are constantly changing. That’s what causes some of the PTSD. Just so when I think I figured it out, they add some other stuff. Yeah.
Cally:
I’m like, can we just take a break, please? Everyone’s seriously.
Beverly:
20 years of marketing has been so transformative. It was
Cally:
two years. It’s insane. With AI
Beverly:
and everything else.
Cally:
And now they’re getting rid of cookies. So that’s happening later this year.
Beverly:
Yes. So you have all these changes. So how do you? Small business owners, I think it’s impossible to stay up on the trends because we, I read daily and still feel like I have things to learn, but how do you stay ahead on the trends and what trends are you seeing and opportunities are you seeing for businesses in the Google ads space?
Cally:
Yeah. So I’m part of, so I did a very intensive training in 2020 for Google ads and she’s, man, her course is Talk about detailed. It’s like intense, but it was great. And so I’m part of her mastermind. And so I’m part of a group of just Google ads service agencies, businesses. And so we’re constantly talking about it and really we have each other’s back, like we’re constantly posting about updates and new things coming along. You can’t really have A marketing conversation without mentioning AI. And I think what I’ve seen is a lot of people seem quite, you’re either really excited about it or a bit scared. And for me, I, AI has been happening for a long time. It’s not, I know chat, be cheap. Chat GPT like really bust the bubble, but it’s been around and we, we’ve been using AI in Google ads for a long time. The biggest thing about for the last couple of years, Google has been, I’d say, forcing people to go to their smart campaigns. So anything that Google calls smart or maximize is really not a good idea. Basically only puts more money in Google’s pocket and not yours. For example if a campaign is only getting around 30 conversions a month, I will still manually optimize it. So for bidding, location, targeting, audiences, all that. Now, once we hit maybe around 30 to 50 a month, I might switch to smart bidding is what it’s called, but it’s basically AI bidding. You still need a human brain to tell AI what to do. So I just think, if anyone is listening to this and they’re in marketing or business I think the best thing that we can do is learn how to be that brain. Of a I because it’s not going away. It’s been around for a long time. It’s, it’s this buzzword and for good reason. But we’ve been using AI for a long time. It’s just use it smart, smartly in a way that makes sense for your business. Like you said, you use chat to create a quiz. Amazing. Chat. All it does is it pulls information that’s already out there, right? Okay. Like anything, nothing is just like this easy, one time done thing. Like even when I switch over to smart bidding, I want to make sure that we’re still getting, not only the conversions are going up, but also the cost per conversion is going up and the return is still going up. People think Google is this set it and forget it. And it’s so not,
Beverly:
that’s the part that’s I think laborious as you have to like really watch and look and do some testing. It’s like a mad scientist. Like you have to do all the things, right?
Cally:
Actually that’s in my keynote speech.
Beverly:
So that’s where I get overwhelmed because it is, you have to give it love. And I think you’re right. AI is only as good as what you do, like understanding how to prompt, what to prompt, when to prompt that to me is really key. And even with the the prompt to create a quiz, I said I was very specific about my prompt. I said write a quiz for a marketing associate level with less than a year experience or whatever the thing was. Yeah, and write it as if to make sure they understand the content. So I want it written with a purpose. If you don’t give it a purpose, Like when you’re prompting either and who the audience is and who you are, it’s not going to be a good prompt. So you do, you have to be really specific. And I think understanding how to write prompts is probably one of the superpowers of today.
Cally:
Yeah.
Beverly:
Prompt writing.
Cally:
Yeah, 100%. That’s like a whole new job now. A whole
Beverly:
new language. It’s really, you have to understand how to do that. As somebody who’s in marketing, what do you think is the most effective marketing tactic you have used
Cally:
for
Beverly:
your business?
Cally:
That’s probably a not very good question for me because I do not market my business. I’m like, I am the role of yeah, but I can tell you what are good. Like when you were saying, Oh, why am I not doing this when I’m telling my client? I’m like, yeah I’ve been in that moment many times. I can tell you what good tactics, but I don’t do them for myself.
Beverly:
So word of mouth would a mouth be the tactic? Okay.
Cally:
Yes, of course, partnering with other people who provide services like we’ve talked about in the past that fully support the client. For example, Facebook ads hit a client at a different time than Google ads, SEO, website conversion, branding. They all support each other. So going back to what I was saying, who is a good fit for ads? It can’t be just ads. You’ve got to be doing other things. And also the highest conversion rate is still email. Don’t knock email. Even if you’ve got 200 people, a hundred people, Email those people. They took an action and they want, they are saying, I want to hear from you. And by far email has the highest conversion rate of any marketing. So that would be my biggest thing, which I have an email list and I email them like once a year, but but email for sure. And. I think also going back to that simplicity and the niche, you’ve just, you’ve really got to know what is the final outcome for your ideal person. There’s 8 billion people on this planet. I promise you, even if you have a tiny little niche, There’s still thousands of people who are in it, so don’t hold yourself back.
Beverly:
Great advice. I think one other thing that you’re really good at that maybe you’re not revealing here today, Cally is networking.
Cally:
Oh yeah. So I actually built my business really off Upwork. So positioning myself as a freelancer, but Yeah, networking going to now that especially I think there’s like this resurgence of in person networking to you really can’t replace meeting someone in real life. But yeah, putting yourself out there, networking everyone. The thing is like every business owner wants To improve their business. So if you can, whether it’s a client or a potential partner or whatever it is, it’s okay, what can I bring to this person that can help their business and vice versa, how, like, how do, how is it a good fit for me and my clients too? So it’s, Pulling in a little bit of strategy, but also you never know who people know too. It’s like sometimes your best referrals are from totally random sources. So I think it’s always just, give everyone a minute of your time and get to know them and see what comes from that. And sometimes it doesn’t go anywhere and that’s fine too. So
Beverly:
you got to meet a cool human or something in that process. Or maybe you learned
Cally:
something
Beverly:
new, sure, and when you and I connected, one of the things that was really nice is that when you talk about partnerships and networking and being a little more strategic sometimes with the way you connect, you and I have a very similar niche. In a sense of our ideal client is very similar, but I don’t do what you do and you don’t do what I do. So we actually compliment each other and we can be providing even more value to our customers because we can say, Oh, you need that. I know the right person to send you to. And they trust us already. it’s a really nice way to make your business bigger. Yeah. In the sense of you have more services, but you don’t have to do all those services. Like I don’t have the mental. patience to do Google ads, which is amazing that you do them. I was so excited when I met you. I really wasn’t. I was like, Oh, thank you. The thing is though, is that’s the perfect thing. You love what you do. I love what I do. And that’s the kind of people you want to work with and partner with. And it’s also really nice because as a business, nice just to bounce ideas off of each other. Cause we do serve the same people. We are in a similar industry, those kinds of things. So just as a business owner to business owner, sometimes, you can call a master manager, they’re not very organized, but it’s just like people who. Understand the speak and some of the challenges. My husband doesn’t understand.
Cally:
It’s a totally different language. Yeah, for sure.
Beverly:
So it’s just nice to have people you can connect with in that way. And share some of that. And, we talk about struggle or you talk about scaling, you’re talking about whatever you can like this is what I’ve done. And maybe there’s one little like gold nugget you can take for your business. So having people like this and this type of partnership, no matter what business you’re in. can be really helpful because people have done other things and you can learn from them and maybe grow in a way you didn’t know was even possible, I am so glad we have met and friendship is growing as well. So that’s awesome. Okay. So we’ve talked about where you’ve been like marketing things. Now I have a thing called the lightning round. But it’s just a few questions to uncover your favorite business insights, your tools that you like, and the inspirations you have for your business, do you feel ready?
Cally:
Let’s do it
Beverly:
Okay. You got this. I know you can do it. Okay. What’s your favorite way to connect and network?
Cally:
In person. I’ve definitely started going to a lot more in person local. I think there’s a lot of value and actually just reaching out to your local community. There’s especially if you’re a B2B, but B2C as well. And then I love LinkedIn. I didn’t. I haven’t up until recently, but now I’m like, Oh, forget Instagram and all that. LinkedIn is where it’s at.
Beverly:
It is where it’s at. You actually respond. What is your favorite business or marketing book? You talked about the un, Yeah
Cally:
that’s definitely one of my, at the top getting things done is another one and I am blanking on the author’s name, but it’s, it talks about just ways to be strategic with your time, essentially But that’s another really good one.
Beverly:
The most limited resource we have is time. Yeah. So being able to manage your time as an entrepreneur is key. What is your favorite podcast?
Cally:
Oh, goodness. It’s not business. It’s business. It’s called plenty by Kate Northrup. She does interview other business owners, primarily women business owners, and yeah, it’s just nice to hear their different stories and where they’ve come from and how they got there. She tends to interview like larger business owners, but women, which is a great to see and great to see as an example.
Beverly:
What is your
Cally:
favorite
Beverly:
business tool or app that you use for work?
Cally:
I could not do what I do without Asana, obviously Google ads, but besides Google ads Asana for sure, without a doubt. I try to cut a lot of different kind of project management tools and I just find it the most intuitive and easy to use.
Beverly:
What is your favorite way to refocus and reduce stress at work?
Cally:
Yeah. So I’ve really gotten into being aware of my nervous system. I tend to be very like hyper and I’m like not hyperactive, but and then, there’s like somatic nervous systems that I tend to be like, okay, I’m just going to get this done. And no matter how long it takes, I’m not going to get myself a break. And then it’s eight hours and I’m starving. My husband’s a chef and he’ll be like, Have you eaten recently? I’m like, no, why? I mean you’re
Beverly:
hungry.
Cally:
Yeah. So rather than just like getting it done if I’ve been on a call for an hour or been, haven’t stood up in a couple hours, I’ll just go for a walk. I luckily, I live right by the beach, so I actually have been going and floating quite a bit. Like just floating in the ocean, my happy place, Cally. I’m really sad, but I was sorry. I felt like a jerk. We’re just walking along the beach is also a nice way to relax, but honestly, nature in general I think even if you’re in the middle of the city, like just opening up your window and getting some fresh air or giving yourself a minute to listen to the birds, I just, there’s actually a lot of action happening around us that we’re not aware of and, Nature doesn’t care about AI and how much money we make and all of that. And so it’s just, I just, it helps me to recenter about my priorities.
Beverly:
What is your favorite marketing tactic? So you talked about, you don’t really do a lot. So what is the thing that you, except for Google ads, obviously that’s your favorite tactic, but.
Cally:
Yeah, I think SEO and email marketing would be my next two. We’re like actually getting results.
Beverly:
What’s your favorite source of inspiration? Who or what inspires you?
Cally:
I’m inspired by. So we just started working with a new financial officer and she also has these monthly calls that are a little more like woo, spiritual, whatever. And a lot of her clientele are like million dollar women, business owners. I was looking around the virtual room and I was like I’m not really much different than these women, yeah they’re way further ahead of me in revenue and all that. I think I’m inspired by this younger generation that are freaking making bank, man. Like I didn’t, if I had only started like putting money away in a Roth, everyone put money away in a Roth.
Beverly:
Yes, max it out every year, max it out
Cally:
every year. But some of these people are making a lot of money on YouTube and they’re like 20. I think that’s pretty inspiring,
Beverly:
but I just like making money on Tik Tok. I worry about them because if Tik Tok goes away, I’m like, what are they going to do?
Cally:
You pivot, don’t you?
Beverly:
You pivot, but still I’m like, Ooh, how about that?
Cally:
I know.
Beverly:
It might kick them in gear to do something else. That’s something I tell my fans all the time. You can’t have a social media, own your contacts. You have to do the email list so that you own your email list because God forbid, Facebook goes down. God forbid, you need to own it. Yes.
Cally:
But also Facebook does not care about you. Like I know of multiple people who spend hours. Thousands and thousands of dollars on Facebook ads and they just, they’ll just pause your account or ban you or whatever. Like you have that a hundred. That is the best marketing advice is to always. And if you start looking at some of the bigger businesses, they always get your email somehow. Because you own that
Beverly:
you own it and like you said, we have clients who get 40 and 50 percent open rates. So despite the fact that people think email is annoying. It’s not people. If you have value, if you provide value, they will open it. So yes,
Cally:
just don’t
Beverly:
be annoying. I even say, be annoying to the point where, be annoying to the point where people start to unsubscribe and that’s your perfect, like amount of times.
Cally:
So that’s just not your perfect person. There’s certain businesses that I’m like, I want to know what’s going on. Tell me,
Beverly:
One of my clients, we do the 12 days of deals essentially around Christmas and we send two to three emails every day and those open rates are like 70 and 80%. Like those, they know there’s a deal every day. And there’s a potential to win a prize at the day. So there’s all kinds of good goodness with it. And people, it’s just amazing to me. They love that. They love those emails. So just depends on what kind of value you are presenting in your email. Who is your favorite entrepreneur to follow?
Cally:
I, I’ve been in Shanda Sumpton’s world for a while. She, I think she gives really good advice. Honestly, I try not to be on social media that much. Because it just really zaps my energy. I don’t really have a favorite person. Sorry. That’s okay. It’s hard to pick one.
Beverly:
I don’t know. Yeah. Think that you get like bits and pieces. Like I love Gary V for certain things and I love Julia I think is great for certain things. It just depends on who you, Julia Pimsler is who we’re talking about. That’s how we met was through her networking. But just get certain pieces of nuggets of things from each individual. person. So it just depends. I don’t know. It’s a hard one for me
Cally:
too. Depends on where you are in your business too. Like you, you evolve. And so the people you resonate with evolves too.
Beverly:
The last segment is about it’s a blaze forward segment. It’s really all about sparks of inspiration from our conversation and from you for other businesses, people who are either inspiring. Entrepreneurs are currently in the depths of entrepreneurship. So I would like you to give advice to the young Cali just starting out. Maybe she’s 18, 19, 20. So she’s not done with school. She’s not she’s just starting out. When you think you can do anything, but you know nothing, what would you tell her now that you know what you know?
Cally:
You don’t, Need to know everything to just move forward. You don’t need to know all the details. You don’t need to analyze it and think about it. Just do it. And start a lot earlier, start your business a lot earlier. I was so miserable and had so many horrible bosses and yeah, I really wish I had started my business so much sooner, but it’s scary to get out there and put yourself out there, especially as a young person. I think. At least in our generation, I think that is changing more now almost to the other extreme, and also I used to look really young for my age too. So I just always felt like people aren’t going to take me seriously, yeah. So I think it’s just, it’s really just keep putting the next foot forward. You 18 year old self and myself right now, it’s totally, Yeah, there’s ups, there’s downs. I’m in a moment where I’m like, should I keep doing this business? Or maybe I should start another brand new business that I’m thinking about. I think that’s just your constant entrepreneurial mind working all the time. But I think one of the other things like going back to Networking and putting yourself out there and growing your business. You just never know what the next email or phone call is going to bring. Just keep that optimism open.
Beverly:
I will say this. Like I recently got a business opportunity from somebody who was, I went to, I was in seventh grade with Oh, wow. Those connections can turn into opportunities. And my husband always teases me people for so long, but I think that if you nurture those relationships and you, Really stay connected. You just never know what opportunity will come from that. And that’s just a huge, genuine human connection. Like I would never have thought that about him. I wasn’t like being friends with him because of that. Like we were just friends. So you just be human and stay connected. That’s such a huge thing. Like
Cally:
Just stay curious, just have curiosity around things as well. Yeah, it’s just, I think that people like to buy from people they like and yeah, and so it’s like going back to that, like just give people a chance, you never know what’s going to come out of it, but also people want to work with people who they know they can trust. And if you’re referred by someone that they trust, then that already is a huge hurdle that you don’t even have to deal with.
Beverly:
Yeah. And sales, it’s the no, like trust factor, right? So do they know you, do they like you and do they trust you? There’s a lot to that in the marketing world. That is very psychological on people buying from you and your content should build those three things. It should build, understand what you do, create trust, and then hopefully they like you at the end of it. So be human and be authentic. And one more question. Is there an easy step that a small business owner or someone just starting out today could do like today, like right now, after they look it up for this podcast, they could go do it right now to help spark their unique opportunity or ignite their marketing.
Cally:
Yeah. Go check. What is your website conversion rate? If you don’t know what that is, it is so important. Even if you’re not going to run ads, your website is basically your digital billboard to the world. So if people are coming to your website and not taking any action, that is feedback. Or, if some people are taking action and not others, like You want really two to 5 percent of the people visiting your website to take an action. And if they’re not, then there’s a problem. And if you don’t have analytics set up, go to analytics. google. com. It’s free.
Beverly:
You can set up conversions and all kinds of things on Google. So it’s a rabbit hole of fun to go and it just keeps going. It keeps going. So yes, there’s all kinds of opportunity there. Super great advice, Cally, and definitely very practical and understanding. I think metrics I am not a fan of, I’m a very creative soul. So numbers are like soul sucking. However, they are so important. They paint a picture of what is working and what is not working. So understanding your top 10 Ways people are getting to your site, even those, that’s the stuff you need to be spending more money on and more marketing it. Like things like that are like your website analytics are huge. So understanding where people are coming from, understanding where they’re converting, understanding where they’re dropping off, all that is important information for any business owner. So before we go, I know you have a goodie you want to give away to the listeners who are looking for more information about you. What have you prepared for us? I’m excited.
Cally:
Yeah. I have a three part video series called, Is your business ready for Google ads? I’ve touched on it here, but I basically walk you through what analytics, what information that’s very easy to get because I walk you through it. And if you’re not ready for Google ads what you can do to get ready for ads. Cause like you just said, ads either amplify what’s working or what’s not working.
Beverly:
Yeah. Awesome. So we’ll put the link to that in the show notes. So if you’re interested in checking out Cally’s totally free. I do ask
Cally:
you for your email.
Beverly:
Yeah. Oh, email marketing. Look at that. So you do email marketing.
Cally:
I do, but you probably won’t get an email from me after that sequence. For a year.
Beverly:
Maybe we can talk about that at some point. Yes, definitely. For sure. To nurture your people. Then where can people where can our listeners learn more about your business and keep up with you on LinkedIn or any other social?
Cally:
Yeah. So my website is the sage agency. com. On LinkedIn, I’m Cally Sage Peterson. Sage is my middle name. Don’t judge me based on my Instagram. I don’t do much there either. That’s not what you do. You add.
Beverly:
You do add. That’s not what you do.
Cally:
Exactly. Yeah, the Sage Agency and on LinkedIn is really the two places.
Beverly:
It took me three years to get a website. Like I’d, I built websites for people. So like us marketers, we’re not always kind to ourselves.
Cally:
That’s what we do all day long. So it’s Oh, am
Beverly:
I going to work on my own thing? I don’t know. Yes. It’s so hard to stay creative for yourself. I did a whole rebrand last year and spent a lot of time. I’m still tweaking it here and there, but yes, I, it was exciting to actually spend the time on my brand for a little bit. Yeah. As we conclude today’s episode, I want to thank our incredible guest, Cally Peterson for sharing a wealth of knowledge and expertise in Google ads. Thank you. Your insights have illuminated our listeners paths, offering valuable tips and strategies to enhance their digital marketing efforts. And to our listeners, I hope you found this episode as enlightening as I did. Remember to implement the insights shared today into your own marketing and don’t hesitate to reach out to Cally or myself if you have any further questions or need assistance. Stay tuned for more inspiring conversations and actionable tips to ignite your marketing journey on future episodes of the Spark and Ignite Your Marketing Podcast. And until next time, keep sparking and igniting.
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