case study 2026

Maratos Counselling

From $300 leads to $55 — and a full practice pipeline built in a single quarter.

ENGAGEMENT

Google Ads • Local SEO

TIMELINE

Q1 2026 (10 weeks)

01. THE CHALLENGE

Starting from zero with real urgency.

A growing private counselling practice in Brantford, ON needed a scalable lead channel. No ad history, no keyword footprint, and a tight budget made early results critical.

KEY ISSUES

What made growth difficult

02. OUR APPROACH

One performance strategy.

We focused spend on high-intent local search, cut what wasn’t converting, and let the data drive every optimization call.

01

Intent-First Google Ads

Launched Local Leads Campaign targeting ‘therapist Brantford’ and near-me searches. Brantford Therapy — Core followed in March.

02

Rapid Campaign Learning

Campaign exited the learning phase by March — bidding, keywords, and copy aligned to convert at 18.1% rate.

03

Meta: Test, Evaluate, Cut

Ran Meta Jan–Feb ($1,183 CAD). Lead quality didn’t convert to sessions. Budget fully reallocated to Google within 2 months.

03.THE RESULTS

The numbers speak
for themselves.

Q1 2026 — Jan 17 to Mar 31.

Cost-per-lead reduction
50 %

$300 in January → $55 in March

Google Ad Inquiries
0
New Clients Booked
0
Conversion Rate
5 %
Lead-to-Session Rate
1 %

THE SHIFT

Before vs. after.

BEFORE

Expensive leads with no clear path forward.

AFTER

A converting pipeline — at scale.

CAMPAIGN GROWTH

The acceleration in numbers.

Alison Maslin Maratos

BA, BSW, MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker
Psychotherapist · Founder
Maratos Counselling

When I was first introduced to Tina of Direct Route Design I was skeptical.  After years of being let down by companies who made empty promises I had all but given up on achieving results in marketing my small therapy practice. A trusted friend assured me that Tina was the real deal — and she wasn’t lying!

 Not only did Tina and her team create a beautiful and functional website, they optimized for SEO and have created and sustained a marketing campaign that has consistently produced results with solid leads that have translated to ideal clients for our team.

 Not only is Tina talented, she is an honest and genuine business woman. She heard me when I expressed concern about my investment and budget and worked hard to adjust her proposal to ensure her work still fostered my business growth while remaining within my financial means. As someone who values communication, responsiveness and trust, I highly recommend Tina and her team to support your business’s image and growth.”

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