When this emerging pet care franchise brand came to us with 25 locations and plans to open 40 more within 18 months, they had almost no digital marketing infrastructure in place. No SEO strategy, inconsistent Google Business Profiles, no paid media program, and a basic website with no location pages. We built their entire digital marketing program from scratch, growing from zero to 8,000+ monthly leads within 9 months while creating the scalable marketing infrastructure to support their aggressive expansion plans.
Starting from Scratch: The Infrastructure Build
Month 1 to 2 was entirely focused on building the marketing foundation. We built a new website with individual location pages featuring unique content and LocalBusiness schema. We claimed, verified, and optimized Google Business Profiles for all 25 locations. We implemented a CRM with location-based lead routing and automated follow-up sequences. We set up call tracking with unique numbers per location for attribution. We deployed analytics tracking (GA4) with location-level event tracking. And we created brand-approved ad creative and social media content libraries.
Phased Marketing Launch
Phase 1 (Months 3 to 4): Launched Google Search campaigns for high-intent keywords at all 25 locations with location-specific ad copy. Activated Google Business Profile posting and review generation. Phase 2 (Months 5 to 6): Added Facebook and Instagram advertising with location-level targeting and Lead Gen Forms. Launched automated email marketing (welcome series, review requests, re-engagement). Phase 3 (Months 7 to 9): Began content marketing and blog publishing for SEO. Added retargeting campaigns across Google Display and Meta. Launched TikTok advertising in 10 pilot markets.
Results: Zero to 8,000+ Monthly Leads in 9 Months
At 9 months: monthly leads grew from near-zero to 8,200+. Google Ads contributed 45% of leads at $18 average CPA. Facebook/Instagram contributed 30% of leads at $12 average CPA. Organic search contributed 15% of leads (growing 20%+ month-over-month). Google Business Profile generated 800+ monthly calls and direction requests. Review generation program built an average 4.7-star rating across all locations. The scalable infrastructure supported seamless onboarding of 15 new locations during the period, each hitting lead generation targets within 30 days of opening.
Key Takeaways
- 2 months of infrastructure before a single dollar of media spend
- Phased launch: search first, then social, then SEO and retargeting
- Scalable infrastructure supported 15 new location launches seamlessly
- Blended CPA of $15 across channels within 9 months of program launch
- 4.7-star average rating built from scratch through systematic review generation
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