The Portland Girl
Building Balanced Demand Across a Multi-Location Beauty Brand Through Google Ads
2,755
37%+
$0.64
20,976
Snapshot
The Situation
The Portland Girl had strong brand equity, two locations, and a loyal client base. The challenge wasn’t demand. Growth wasn’t balanced, and Google Ads wasn’t functioning as a true acquisition engine. The demand was there. The infrastructure wasn’t built to capture it efficiently.
What Changed
- Google Ads was rebuilt with stronger architecture and conversion tracking
- Campaigns expanded into branded, treatment-specific, and competitor search
- Both locations were unified under a single acquisition strategy
- Ongoing optimisation improved efficiency and consistency
The Outcome
- 2,755 new clients acquired
- 37%+ new client retention
- 20,976 high-intent clicks generated
- Google became a predictable acquisition channel across both locations
The Portland Girl didn’t need more marketing. It needed a system that could capture the demand already looking for it.
Read the full case study below
New patient flow should be predictable. If it isn’t, something in your marketing isn’t working.
The Portland Girl
The Full Case Study
What we changed, what we did, and what it produced
2,755
37%+
$0.64
20,976
The Portland Girl had built something real. Two locations, an established brand, and clients who came back. What it didn’t have was an acquisition system that worked as hard as the business did.
When demand is uneven across locations and campaigns aren’t structured to fix that, the gap doesn’t close on its own. It just becomes the status quo.
The Situation
The Portland Girl operates in the beauty and wellness space across two locations. One had settled into consistent demand. The other was generating results, though not at the level the brand should have been achieving given its market position.
The Google Ads account was active. But active isn’t the same as efficient. Campaigns were running against broader intent, conversion tracking had gaps, and the structure wasn’t built to support both locations as a unified acquisition ecosystem. The result was uneven performance and an acquisition cost that hadn’t been pushed to its floor.
The business also had strong organic visibility and offline brand presence. That mattered, but it meant Google needed to function as a precision acquisition layer, not a brand awareness channel.
The clients already aware of The Portland Girl needed a clear, low-friction path to book. The clients searching for the first time needed to find the right location, not just any result.
What Was Actually Wrong
What We Did And In What Order
1
Rebuild the Search Acquisition Structure
The first phase was foundational.
Before increasing reach or spend, the acquisition infrastructure needed to be rebuilt. Campaign architecture was restructured, keyword intent tightened, conversion tracking corrected, and bidding strategies refined.
The goal wasn’t more clicks. It was cleaner data and a stronger acquisition signal to build from.
2
Expand Visibility Across the Full Search Journey
Once the foundations were in place, the strategy expanded across the client decision journey.
Branded search captured existing demand. Treatment-specific campaigns targeted high-intent searches. Performance Max extended visibility, while retargeting re-engaged potential clients who hadn’t yet converted.
Together, these layers created a unified acquisition system supporting both locations.
3
Optimise for Efficiency Over Time
As campaign data matured, the focus shifted to efficiency.
Underperforming terms were removed, bids refined, and budget allocated toward the strongest acquisition opportunities. CPC reduced significantly while acquisition consistency improved.
The data also revealed something important: clients acquired through search were staying. Retention rates above 37% across both locations suggested the system was attracting clients who were a strong fit for the business.
The Detail Behind The Numbers
Who Was Searching
The search demand came from clients with specific intent: people looking for treatment services, local availability, and recognised brand names.
High-intent treatment searches, branded recall, and competitor-aware searches formed the core of the acquisition opportunity. The strategy was built to capture each stage of that demand.
What The Acquisition System Produced
20,976 high-intent clicks and 2,755 new clients during the engagement period.
The average CPC of $0.64 reflects the impact of ongoing optimisation, while the campaign structure reduced reliance on any single acquisition source by capturing demand across multiple stages of the client journey.
What The Retention Data Tells Us
The 37%+ new client retention rate provides an additional signal that the business was attracting clients who were a strong fit for what The Portland Girl offers.
While retention is influenced by many factors beyond marketing, one location achieving 46.48% retention suggests the acquisition system was helping attract the right people, not simply generating more traffic.
The Compound Effect
The strongest results came from compounding improvements over time.
Each optimisation improved the next. Better data created better bidding decisions. Lower CPCs increased efficiency. Stronger acquisition created stronger retargeting audiences.
This is the difference between running campaigns and building acquisition infrastructure.
The Results
2,755
37%+
46.48%
$0.64
$0.23
20,976
Balanced demand
Lower acquisition
Scalable system
Google became a core acquisition layer for the business. Not a side channel. A consistent driver of new client demand across two locations under a single unified strategy.
What This Tells Us
Multi-location businesses often assume they need more campaigns. More spend. More creative. More platforms.
This case suggests the more productive question is whether the acquisition structure that already exists is actually working.
The Portland Girl had brand awareness, market demand, and two operating locations. What it needed was a Google Ads system built to capture that demand efficiently: structured correctly, tracked accurately, and optimised consistently over time.
The retention numbers are the most revealing part of the story. A 37%+ retention rate following search acquisition indicates the right clients were found at the right time. That’s not a targeting trick. It’s what good acquisition infrastructure looks like when it’s aligned with what the business actually offers.
Is This Relevant To Your Practice?
This case will feel familiar if your business has brand awareness but uneven acquisition results.
- One location or service is performing strongly, while another isn’t reaching its potential
- Google Ads campaigns are running, though they don’t feel like a real acquisition system
- You’re generating clicks, but the new client numbers don’t match the spend
- Acquisition costs feel higher than they should be, with no clear path to reduce them
- You have strong retention once clients come in, but not enough of them are arriving through paid channels
- Your marketing feels like a collection of campaigns rather than a system
The issue is rarely demand. It’s usually the gap between the demand that exists and the infrastructure capable of capturing it.
As the new client acquisition infrastructure matured and results became more consistent, the relationship evolved into a highly autonomous partnership focused on ongoing optimisation, strategic refinement, and long-term growth.
— Kirsten Le Grice, Founder & Digital Marketing Director
Scope Of This Engagement
Platforms
Duration
What was included
Running ads and not seeing the bookings to match?
Consistent new patient flow isn’t random. It’s driven by how your marketing is structured.