Joshua Ramsey: Why Your AdWords Isn't Working (And It's Not the Agency's Fault) | Ready Set Exec

Most businesses are handing thousands of dollars a month to marketing agencies that start from scratch every time, run ads at 2 am to nobody, and load 1,200 keywords when 50 would do the job.Joshua Ramsey has spent over 20 years as a fractional CMO running campaigns across 15 industries, and he's seen every way a marketing budget gets quietly wasted.In this episode, we break down how to hold agencies accountable, what your AdWords account should actually look like, and why following AI for your marketing strategy may be the most expensive mistake you make in the next two years.About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate.Chapter:0:00 - Intro: Who is Joshua Ramsey?1:25 - Managing agency transitions without killing your pipeline6:36 - How to hold agencies accountable with KPIs9:33 - Law of diminishing returns in AdWords12:27 - What healthy AdWords numbers actually look like14:51 - Search impression share: the sweet spot20:58 - What a real fractional CMO actually does30:42 - AI search optimization: real or hype?33:07 - How to show up in ChatGPT and Gemini37:00 - Why AI marketing advice will sink your business42:58 - Building a brand narrative that differentiates you44:03 - The trauma egg: your founder story as your edge51:18 - Nike, McDonald's, Rolls-Royce operational truth in brandingConnect with Ready Set Exec:John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExecListen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_gListen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413Connect with Joshua Ramesy:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaramsey#FractionalCMO #MarketingStrategy #AdWords #GoogleAds #BusinessGrowth#DigitalMarketing #BrandNarrative #AIMarketing #ContentMarketing #Podcast2026#SMBMarketing #LeadGeneration #MarketingAgency #FounderMindset #Entrepreneur