Written by Craig Wilson
Founder of Sticky Digital. Helping Australian SMEs turn marketing chaos into consistent growth.
Key Takeaways
- Great ads and SEO mean nothing without a clear follow-up process.
- A funnel guides your prospects from awareness to decision — and most SMEs don’t have one.
- If you’re getting traffic but not sales, your funnel has leaks.
- You don’t need more spend — just better structure.
- Full-funnel thinking connects strategy, marketing, and sales into real business growth.
You’ve launched Google Ads. Your content’s going live. You’re active on social media. But leads still aren’t converting…and it’s driving you mad.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Your marketing isn’t broken. Your funnel is.
Most SMEs don’t fail because of poor marketing. They fail because they haven’t built a path from click to customer.
Without that journey mapped and optimised, you’re pouring money into a bucket full of holes.
The $3,000 Lesson Most SMEs Learn Too Late
One client came to us after spending $3,000 on a campaign they were sure would work. The ads were solid. The offer was compelling. Traffic poured in.
But here’s what happened next:
- No autoresponder.
- No follow-up sequence.
- No reminders or remarketing.
Just… silence. Most leads vanished. By the time they got around to calling people back, those leads had moved on.
The lesson? You can’t fix a funnel problem with more ad spend.
What’s a Sales Funnel, and Why Should You Care?
Think of your sales funnel as the GPS for your customer journey. It moves people from “never heard of you” to “here’s my credit card.”
It looks like this:
- Top of Funnel (TOFU) – Awareness: ads, SEO, blogs, social.
- Middle of Funnel (MOFU) – Consideration: lead magnets, emails, retargeting.
- Bottom of Funnel (BOFU) – Decision: phone calls, proposals, bookings.
Without these touchpoints working together, people fall off the radar. Your competitors follow up. You lose the sale.
The Most Common Funnel Failures (That Are Costing You Leads)
No Follow-Up
A prospect fills in a form… then hears nothing. No thank you page, no email, no call. That lead dies fast.
One-and-Done Contact
You send a quote and move on. But most leads need 5+ touches. No nurturing = no deal.
Mismatched Messaging
Your ad says one thing. Your landing page says another. Confused prospects don’t convert — they click away.
Slow Response Times
If you wait a day to reply, you’re already too late. Businesses that follow up within 5 minutes are 9x more likely to convert.
How to Stop Wasting Money and Start Converting
You don’t need a giant tech stack. You just need a smarter system.
Here’s where to start:
- Map Your Funnel: Write out exactly what happens after a lead clicks. If there’s no next step, build one.
- Fix Your Lead Magnet: Make your offer useful (a free checklist, calculator, quote guide) something worth exchanging an email for.
- Set Up Autoresponders: Use tools like ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp to send instant follow-ups and drip value over time.
- Retarget with Purpose: Stay top of mind with Meta or Google Display ads. Remind them you exist, and are worth contacting.
- Align Sales + Marketing: Make sure your team knows how leads are generated and what to do next.
Your Funnel Is Where Growth Happens
Your ads grab attention.
Your funnel turns attention into action.
Build trust early.
Educate over time.
Make conversion easy.
That’s how SMEs scale sustainably without wasting another dollar on ads that don’t convert.
FAQs: Fixing Funnels for Better ROI
What’s the difference between a funnel and a CRM?
A funnel is the customer journey. A CRM is the tool that supports it. One is strategy, the other is software.
How do I know if my funnel’s broken?
If you’re getting traffic or leads but few sales or bookings — that’s a clear sign of leaks.
Can Sticky Digital help fix our funnel?
Absolutely. We help growth-minded SMEs build and optimise funnels that turn marketing into momentum.
Stop Patching Ads. Fix the Funnel.
You’ve got the traffic. You’ve got the tools.
Now it’s time to plug the leaks.
At Sticky, we help SMEs turn ad spend into actual ROI by building full-funnel growth systems — not just campaigns.
Don’t waste another quarter guessing.
Get the plan, the people, and the performance to scale.
Book your free strategy session with Sticky
