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How Attribution Turned a Free Google Ads Test Into a Scalable Growth Engine
This is one of my favorite case studies because it didn’t start with a pitch.
It started with a power washing company servicing my home. While chatting with the owner (who was also the technician), marketing came up. I mentioned I worked with lead generation businesses.
Fast forward to the following year. I hired them again and asked a simple question:
“How’s business been?”
Their answer surprised me. They still weren’t running Google Ads. So instead of selling them, I made an operator decision:
We bartered.
I offered:
- One free month of Google Ads management
In exchange for:
- Power washing services on my home
Low risk. Clear upside.
What happened next is the real lesson.
| What’s the hardest part of deciding when to scale Google Ads? |
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Once ads went live, leads started increasing immediately.
Not just clicks, real leads:
- Text messages
- Phone calls
- Contact form submissions
Attribution was clean. And because attribution was clean, confidence followed. From May through September, they averaged 150–200 leads per week.
Even better?
- Cost per lead consistently went down
- Lead volume continued to rise
- The owners could see the business impact in real time
That visibility changed how they thought about marketing.
This ties directly back to something I’ve mentioned in a previous edition:
Attribution isn’t just a marketer’s tool, it’s a decision-making system.
When business owners can clearly connect:
- Ad spend → lead → booked job
Scaling stops feeling risky.
Many businesses spread budget across multiple channels.
Others go all-in on Google Ads. Either way, if you can prove performance, budget conversations get easier.
But here’s the key:
Scaling should never be based on emotion or Google’s alerts alone. Just because Google says “Limited by budget” doesn’t mean you should increase spend.
Sometimes:
- Your ads are already winning most auctions
- Impression share lost due to budget is low
- Quality and relevance are doing the heavy lifting
In those cases, staying steady is often the smarter move. The real unlock is knowing when scaling actually makes sense.
And that only happens when:
- Attribution is clear
- CPC and CPA are already optimized
- Lead quality is verified
💡 Liking this? The Free issue scratches the surface — the Pro one shows you exactly how to do it.
🧠 Frameworks, client-tested playbooks, and behind-the-scenes results drop every Thursday.
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Next week, I’ll break down how to scale Google Ads budgets properly, without burning cash or chasing vanity metrics.
Because scaling isn’t about spending more. It’s about earning the right to spend more.
