Marketing & growth insights for owner-operators. Practical strategy, real numbers, honest takes.https://basecamp23.com/en-ushttps://basecamp23.com/blog/the-100-day-floor-why-meta-wont-work-below-it-and-what-to-do-if-youre-there/https://basecamp23.com/blog/the-100-day-floor-why-meta-wont-work-below-it-and-what-to-do-if-youre-there/You set your daily budget to $50. Seems reasonable — you're testing the waters, you don't want to blow through cash. Two weeks later, you've spent $700, got mayMon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPaid MediaElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/programmatic-seo-for-service-businesses-when-it-works-when-it-just-makes-google-/https://basecamp23.com/blog/programmatic-seo-for-service-businesses-when-it-works-when-it-just-makes-google-/You've seen those sites with thousands of "city + service" pages. "Plumber in Austin," "Plumber in Dallas," "Plumber in Houston" — 500 pages that all look suspiWed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTSEOElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/hire-outsource-or-tool-up-a-decision-framework-for-every-marketing-function/https://basecamp23.com/blog/hire-outsource-or-tool-up-a-decision-framework-for-every-marketing-function/You're sitting at $2.5M in revenue and your website needs work. Do you hire a full-time developer? Outsource to an agency? Buy a Webflow subscription and learnMon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTMarketing StrategyElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/google-ads-pmax-vs-standard-search-the-smb-decision-that-nobody-frames-honestly/https://basecamp23.com/blog/google-ads-pmax-vs-standard-search-the-smb-decision-that-nobody-frames-honestly/You've been told that Performance Max is the future. Your Google rep called it "AI-powered" and showed you a slide deck with 23% better ROI. Then you turned itFri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPaid MediaElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/from-owner-led-to-owner-reviewed-the-marketing-handoff-most-smbs-botch/https://basecamp23.com/blog/from-owner-led-to-owner-reviewed-the-marketing-handoff-most-smbs-botch/You're still approving Instagram captions at 9 PM because you don't trust anyone else to "get" your brand voice. You've hired three different marketers in the pWed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTMarketing StrategyElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/cac-got-worse-after-you-optimized-heres-the-audit-order-to-reverse-it/https://basecamp23.com/blog/cac-got-worse-after-you-optimized-heres-the-audit-order-to-reverse-it/You spent three months dialing in your ads. Cost per lead dropped. CAC looked healthy. Then, without warning, the unit economics flipped. Now you're paying $400Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPaid MediaElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/when-to-kill-an-ad-set-a-500-spend-threshold-decision-tree/https://basecamp23.com/blog/when-to-kill-an-ad-set-a-500-spend-threshold-decision-tree/You just launched three ad sets on Monday. By Wednesday, one has spent $187 with zero conversions. Another is at $312 with two conversions at $156 CPA. The thirFri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPaid MediaElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/building-a-utm-convention-that-survives-three-agency-handoffs/https://basecamp23.com/blog/building-a-utm-convention-that-survives-three-agency-handoffs/You've been burned before. The last agency left you with a tracking nightmare — three different UTM naming conventions across campaigns, none of them documentedWed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTSEOElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/why-your-meta-ads-stopped-working/https://basecamp23.com/blog/why-your-meta-ads-stopped-working/When your Meta ads tank, the easy answer is 'the algorithm changed.' The real answer is almost always one of 6 specific issues — most of them inside your account, not Meta's. Here's the diagnostic framework to figure out what's actually broken.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTPaid Mediameta-adsfacebook-adspaid-socialdiagnosticsowner-operatorElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/how-to-evaluate-a-marketing-agency-1/https://basecamp23.com/blog/how-to-evaluate-a-marketing-agency-1/Most owner-operators get sold by sales reps and serviced by junior staff. These 12 questions cut through the pitch deck and reveal what your engagement will actually look like — and the agency models that genuinely work for $1M-$20M businesses.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTAgency vs In-Houseagency-evaluationhiringdue-diligencemarketing-agencyElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/stop-hiring-cmo-marketing-team-in-a-box/https://basecamp23.com/blog/stop-hiring-cmo-marketing-team-in-a-box/Hiring a senior marketer costs $179K+ a year before benefits. A fractional CMO costs $8K-15K a month for ~10 hours of strategy. Here's the actual math on the third option owner-operators usually miss.Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTOwner Operatorcmomarketing-team-in-a-boxhiringfractional-cmoElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/why-most-owner-operators-measure-marketing-roi-wrong/https://basecamp23.com/blog/why-most-owner-operators-measure-marketing-roi-wrong/Most business owners look at one number to judge marketing performance: revenue. That's how you fool yourself for years. Here are the 6 metrics that actually tell you whether your marketing is working — and what to do when they don't.Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTMarketing Strategyroimarketing-metricsattributionanalyticsowner-operatorElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/what-13k-marketing-retainer-actually-buys/https://basecamp23.com/blog/what-13k-marketing-retainer-actually-buys/Most agencies hide what's in their pricing. Here's exactly what $13,500/month gets you across paid media, SEO, email, and social — broken down by hours, deliverables, and outcomes.Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTPricing & Budgetspricingmarketing-budgetagency-pricingretainerElige Carter IIIhttps://basecamp23.com/blog/owner-operator-marketing-mistakes/https://basecamp23.com/blog/owner-operator-marketing-mistakes/After running marketing for 100+ owner-operated businesses, the same expensive mistakes show up over and over. Here are the seven that cost the most — and how to avoid them.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTOwner Operatormarketing-strategyowner-operatorcommon-mistakesgrowthElige Carter III