When COVID wiped out 40% of his agency’s revenue overnight, Robert Cooper didn’t downsize—he doubled down on sales, analytics, and PPC. In this episode, he breaks down exactly how data-driven marketing, smart positioning, and disciplined follow-up turned a near-fatal setback into record growth for service-based and legal businesses. In this episode, Ted and Robert Cooper discuss: How Robert pivoted from a struggling print shop to running multi-million-dollar online marketing campaignsThe landing page A/B tests from the early 2000s that still beat most modern copy approachesWhy owner-run service businesses (especially law firms) win when they obsess over analytics and ROIHow COVID forced a 40% revenue loss—and led to doubling the agency through disciplined sales and CRM follow-upThe realities of PPC in legal and service industries, including lifetime value, Google Premier Partner status, and the impact of AI search Key Takeaways: Early A/B testing with massive email lists and high-volume e-commerce taught Robert that combining concise, high-impact copy at the top of a page with longer, detailed content below consistently outperforms “short vs. long copy” extremes.After losing 40% of their business overnight during COVID—largely from tourism and hospitality clients—Robert chose not to cut his team but to pull himself out of client delivery and get “serious about sales,” ultimately doubling the agency’s size by the end of the pandemic.Robert’s agencies thrive with owner-run businesses that care more about “the most logical thing”—more leads, more cases, more revenue—than about internal politics, allowing them to make decisions grounded in clear reporting and performance metrics.In competitive verticals like legal and wellness, customer lifetime value is often the real lever; a chiropractor or estate lawyer may not recoup ad spend on the first transaction, but long-term client relationships can justify significantly higher acquisition costs.As a Google Premier Partner, Robert sees both the upside and the limits of Google’s automation: recommendations can help DIY advertisers, but in high-stakes, competitive niches like law and home services, expert, hands-on PPC management still makes the difference between profitable campaigns and “getting slaughtered.” "You could go as long as you liked, as long as you punctuated things with strong calls to action, where it was appropriate, and those outperformed standalone short copy or standalone long copy pages." — Robert Cooper About Robert Cooper: Robert Cooper is a digital marketing strategist with over 25 years of experience in search marketing, SEO, PPC, copywriting, and inbound marketing. Since beginning his career in 2001, he has helped service-based businesses, including law firms, grow through practical, performance-driven marketing strategies. He is the founder of PlusROI Online Marketing and What Works Marketing, where he focuses on search marketing, thought leadership, and helping businesses adapt to the evolving impact of AI on digital marketing. Connect with Robert Cooper: Websites: https://whatworks.marketing/ , https://plusroi.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertecooper/ Traffic to Leads Information and links JuvoLeads.com contact page: https://juvoleads.com/contact/ JuvoLeads website: https://juvoleads.com/ Connect with show host Ted DeBettencort: ted@juvoleads.com Ideas or guests for the show: ted@juvoleads.com Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.
