Too Soon. Too Late. Just Right.

Fire too early, and you lose momentum right before results kick in.

Wait too long, and you bleed budget that will never come back.

Knowing when to stop or continue is the hardest part of leading marketing.

When finalizing your marketing plan with your agency, build in clear checkpoints to review results.

Typical checkpoints look like this:

• PPC (Paid Ads): 2–4 months before you can see clear performance trends
• Email Marketing: 6–12 months to gather enough data and consistency
• SEO: 12–18 months to see true compounding impact

We’re recommending these checkpoints based on patterns we’ve seen in our own work with clients:

New London Electric (PPC, Email, SEO – 12+ months)

They didn’t see massive growth overnight. However, by testing and refining their approach across channels for a full year, they generated a 337% revenue growth, which was enough to hire three new electricians and expand their fleet.

OPS Security Group (PPC – 3 months)

Early PPC results looked great, but most leads were job seekers, rather than buyers looking to hire a security company. After repeated refinements and still not seeing positive results, we made the smart call—stop PPC and shift the budget to SEO and email, where ROI was stronger.

Sperr’s Fuel (SEO, PPC – 12 months)

The first few months were quiet, with slow organic growth and minimal search traction. But by the 12-month mark, their website traffic exploded by 3,000%, proving that patience (paired with checkpoints) drives real ROI.

Sometimes, a course correction builds momentum.

At other times, it’s a signal to part ways and redirect the investment.

We’ve seen both in practice, and the difference between the two comes down to setting the right expectations early.

Read more case studies to see how other CEOs we’ve worked with approached the timeline and pivoted or persisted.