We Analyzed Our Biggest Client Failure (And This Is What We Learned)

Perpetual Traffic

Tier 11

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 849 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Before you spend another dollar on ads, you need to do your business math right. Download our Marketing Performance Indicators checklist to track the key metrics that accurately measure your marketing efforts.

Download the checklist here: https://www.tiereleven.com/mpi

Today’s case study is a perfect example of why such metrics matter more than your creative or targeting efforts. The client came to us with growth goals, though their business had been in decline for three years. About 60% of their revenue was coming from existing customers, but that segment was shrinking year over year.

Even with our top strategist, Ricardo Pouwels, deploying proven strategies, we weren't able to break through the tough competitive landscape. We shifted the budget from Google to Meta ads and focused on improving new customer acquisition metrics, but the client couldn't wait for the strategy to fully take effect.

You'll learn that marketing can't fix a fundamentally flawed business model. Tracking metrics like new customer acquisition cost (NCAC) can show progress even when overall revenue drops, but only with realistic expectations about recovery timelines that most businesses aren’t prepared to accept.

In This Episode:

- Meet Tier11’s growth strategist, Ricardo Pouwels

- Case study: Gardening niche client with a flawed business model

- Challenges with Google Shopping and price competitiveness

- How pricing issues contributed to the client’s decline

- Testing new strategies: Meta Ad budget adjustments

- What is the ideal timeframe for testing new marketing strategies?

- Managing client expectations while saving a struggling business

- Why a paid media strategy does not always work

- What’s the best way to turn around a declining seasonal business?

- Why didn’t we focus on email marketing to boost sales?

- How to tackle business challenges with paid media

Want to learn how to calculate your NCAC?

Listen to our previous episode on NCAC:

https://podcasts.apple.com/sk/podcast/part-1-the-5-step-formula-to-determine-your-ncac/id1022441491?i=1000686217283

Listen to This Episode on Your Favourite Podcast Channel:

Follow and listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-traffic/id1022441491

Follow and listen on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/59lhtIWHw1XXsRmT5HBAuK

Subscribe and watch on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@perpetual_traffic?sub_confirmation=1

We Appreciate Your Support!

Visit our website: https://perpetualtraffic.com/

Connect with Ricardo Pouwels:

LinkedIn:

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	There's a lot of things that need to be considered that anyone that's listening where you're like,
0:03.3	I see my Google ads declining. I'm seeing my new customer growth declining. You have to be
0:10.0	prepared because it's only going to get worse as we get closer to Q4. What would be your advice to
0:15.7	them when it comes to paid media and or business metrics? If they want to grow their way out of this, they will have to.
0:24.4	You're listening to Perpetual Traffic.
0:29.0	Hello, and welcome to the Perpetual Traffic podcast.
0:31.7	This is your host, Ralph Burns, founder and CEO of Tier 11 alongside my amazing co-host.
0:38.7	Lauren E. Petrulo, the founder of Mongoose Media.
0:41.7	So glad you joined us here today. And today, we are going to be digging deep into what not to do.
0:49.2	I love these kinds of examples, Lauren, because everybody wants to show how great they are.
0:56.9	I kind of sometimes want to show like the mistakes that we've made.
1:00.9	We're not perfect, although, you know, we get it right most of the time.
1:04.9	The point is, is some of our clients aren't perfect either.
1:09.3	Surprise, surprise.
1:10.2	I don't know if you've had any imperfect clients. Have you had any, Lauren, in your experience? You know what? Anyone who's listening that is a current client, anyone that's listening who's a past client, too, are perfect and beautiful in every single way, shape, or form. Any future clients, I will think the same thing, probably. That is such a politically correct answer, which I was not expecting considering who you are.
1:30.0	But anyway, no, at the end of the day, it's all about...
1:32.6	What was it bad? Considering who you are? You mean because of my sense of humor?
1:36.9	You're a sense of humor and you're just, you're not a bullshitter. Like, that's who you are.
1:42.1	But anyway, no, we love our clients.
1:48.0	These guys, we actually really did our best.
1:49.9	We did our damnedest.
1:59.9	But sometimes you can't help a business with paid traffic and creative and digital marketing strategies, if there is a,
	...

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