How a Multi-Location Retailer Cut Lead Cost Under $3.50

Most business owners we talk to are paying an agency $3,000 to $5,000 a month and can't tell you what a lead costs them. Here's what the numbers look like when the marketing is run as an operating system instead of a retainer.

The setup

A multi-location business in our own family of companies, after leaving a national agency. Competitive market, seasonal demand, and products that change often enough that stale creative is a real cost. Before we took over, content went out when someone remembered, review requests were manual, and nobody could say which ad produced which lead.

What we built

Not a campaign — a machine that runs every day:

• Automated content engine. Daily posts for every location across Facebook, Instagram, Google Business Profile, and TikTok — built from live product data, so every post shows something real. Captions are laned by location economics: each location promotes what it actually sells.
• AI visibility work. When a customer asks ChatGPT or another AI search tool where to buy in the area, the answer now includes this business. We measure it: 3 of 6 → 5 of 6 ChatGPT answers in 60 days.
• Local search tracking. Grid-level rank tracking on the money keywords, across each location's service area.
• Lead plumbing. Every lead routed, tagged, and alerted to a human within minutes. No form fills dying in an inbox.

The numbers

• ~309 leads per month on $899/month in paid spend
• $2.49–$3.35 cost per lead
• Lead volume up 25% since the system went live
• 3 of 6 → 5 of 6 ChatGPT answers in 60 days

Why we publish this

We run this playbook on our own businesses before we sell it. That's the model: prove it on our own money first, then run it on yours. Every number above comes from our own tracking, on our own account.

Want to see what your own visibility looks like? Run the free scan at mavrik.io/scan: 2 minutes to request, report delivered within 24 hours. The report is yours either way.