How to (Not) Start a Business: Advertising

Mr. Lisa and I’s tax paperwork was due last week and it included income and expenses for Nerd Girl Industries. (I learned as an LLC, my business taxes are filed with personal taxes and not separate.)

As I cataloged my income and expenses for 2025 I saw two patterns: I spent more than I budgeted for the conference I presented at in July 2025 and I spent more than I thought on advertising for the year. In fact, I spent 12% of my gross income on advertising. A small business should spend between 7-8%. 

Now, this is pure advertising. This does not include marketing such as stickers, business cards, t-shirts, flyers, and whatever else I’m forgetting which would probably drive up the percentage a few more points. (This stuff did get tracked on my P&L but I’m too lazy to pull up the spreadsheet.)

In 2024 I spent 106% of my gross income on advertising. Again, this does not include business cards, t-shirts, flyers, and whatever else I’m forgetting which would probably drive up the percentage a few more points.

The first question is obvious: How did I spend more than I make in 2024? Easy. I had seed money that covered all the big expenses such as advertising and buying a laptop.

In 2025, everything was covered 100% by my gross income.

How did I spend my advertising dollars?

Now that we see I’m terrible with money, where did I spend my advertising dollars?

• Flyers on community boards around the area (I had to pay for printing)
• Print newspaper ads
• Digital newspaper ads
• Paid newsletters
• Direct mail marketing (the postcards you get in your mailbox)
• Conference programs
• Social media ads

Free advertising included

• Free newsletters
• Email signature
• Workshops (I received income from workshop and not the other way around)
• Testimonials on NGI’s website
• Networking events

Basically, I threw everything against the wall to see what stuck.

How  did I get clients and sell products and services?

• Free newsletters
• Flyers around the community
• Word of mouth
• Recommendations
• Workshop attendees
• Networking events

None of the direct marketing, newspaper ads (digital and print), nor paid newsletter gave me a single client or sold a single service. I’m not including social media in this per se since social media ads drove traffic to NGI’s website as well as increased social media followers, but there was no conversion.

More products and services

In 2025 I increased the number of workshops I offer, where I was teaching, and started selling digital products on the NGI Shop. One writer’s chapter keeps canceling my workshops due to low enrollment (they are TERRIBLE at advertising their own workshops) so I pitched my slide decks for those classes to the membership and sold decks that way, which was nice.

What did I learn about advertising and marketing?

The first big thing I learned was that my method of throwing everything against the wall and praying for it to work does not actually work.

The second thing is that the community flyers, recommendations, and word of mouth are the most effective way for me to get clients. Also, I’ve gained clients and sold services from workshop classes and periodical reminders to past clients. Cold calling was also effective, specifically to writer’s groups, since I am building a reputation. Providing testimonials, summaries, and take-aways proved effective for follow-up.

Having coupon codes also worked. I offer a variety of coupons at various price points depending on how the person found me. Additionally, I sat down with my content calendar for 2026 and found six periods to offer sales across services and products. 

For example, March is Women’s History Month so I’m offering 20% across all services and products if you use the code ADA at check-out. Upcoming sales are in June (my birthday), August (Women’s Equality Day), October (Cybersecurity month), December (Black Friday / Small Business Saturday / Cyber Monday), January (Data Privacy Week), and we’re back to March for Women’s History Month and the cycle starts all over.

Some sales are on specific products, a day, week, or month, or some other variation. 

What’s upcoming for 2026?

I made a colossal mistake of spending slightly more than 10% of February’s gross income on an ad for Alignable, a small business network. That ad generated one lead with nearly 500 page views. And the lead only earned a connection. I didn’t even talk to the person, rather, they just friended me. Once I saw the numbers after the first few weeks, I quickly canceled the ad.

I’m spending small amounts on social media ads (Facebook and LinkedIn) for March’s month long sale. I just checked and I got 10% click through rate (average is 5-7%) on my Facebook ad (no conversions) and for LinkedIn, 2.25% click through rate. I only ran the ads for three days with a tight budget on both platforms. Obviously, the bigger the budget the more eyeballs, but I do not have a bigger budget.

I plan on running social media ads on and off of March but I’ll probably stick with Facebook and not go back to LinkedIn. Too pricey with not enough click through rate.

I’ll be presenting more workshops throughout 2026 so that’s more free advertising. I also plan on continuing to promote workshops and services on writer’s groups since that is also free. Cold calling continues and follow-ups with previous clients is also on the docket.

Mr. Lisa and I, when the weather is better, will continue to place ads around the area on bulletin boards. With the flyers already created, it’s just a matter printing, driving, and posting the ads.

I will continue to attend networking events (also free) and top up business cards as needed. 

Is there anything else I should be doing?