Today's Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight introduces Marcus Slater, the innovative founder of AdCloud. Marcus has revolutionized how franchise brands approach digital marketing with an AI-powered system that converts leads into booked appointments at an impressive 73% rate. Marcus identified the critical gap between lead generation and revenue, creating a solution that transforms marketing metrics into actual business growth for multi-location businesses.
Hi, Marcus! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?
At AdCloud, we help franchise brands and multi-location businesses grow through data-driven digital marketing and AI-powered lead conversion. Our clients include businesses in the beauty, wellness, and fitness industries—brands like Deka Lash, F45 Training, Frenchies Modern Nails, beem Light Sauna, and Woodhouse Spa.
We specialize in paid advertising, SEO, AI-driven lead engagement and automation—all designed to increase booked appointments and memberships. One of the biggest challenges for service-based businesses is turning leads into actual paying customers. That’s where AdCloud’s AI Lead Engage comes in—it follows up with leads in real time, responds intelligently, and gets them booked fast. Over 73% of our leads convert to booked appointments within minutes.
The impact? Our clients see higher revenue, more memberships, and reduced marketing waste because we focus on real, measurable outcomes—appointments and sales, not just clicks and impressions.
Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.
That moment came when I realized I wasn’t just running another marketing agency—I was building a system that directly impacts a business’s bottom line in a way that traditional agencies don’t.
Most agencies focus on driving traffic, leads, or brand awareness, but those metrics don’t mean anything if they don’t translate into revenue. At AdCloud, we take a different approach: we focus on converting leads into booked appointments and turning those appointments into lifetime members.
This was especially critical because most of our clients operate on a membership model, meaning that growth isn’t just about getting more leads—it’s about building long-term customer retention and predictable revenue. When I saw franchise brands turning to AdCloud because our approach was actually moving the needle, that’s when I knew this wasn’t just an idea—it was a business with real, scalable value.
Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.
I spent years leading marketing for multi-location brands and saw firsthand how businesses struggled to turn leads into actual revenue. The disconnect between marketing, sales, and operations was costing them thousands in lost opportunities.
That’s when I realized the real problem wasn’t just getting more leads—it was creating an automated, AI-driven system to convert those leads instantly.
So we built a solution that goes beyond traditional marketing by integrating directly into POS and booking systems, ensuring that every lead is followed up within seconds and converted into a booked appointment. This innovation was a game-changer because it meant businesses were no longer relying on manual follow-ups or letting potential customers slip through the cracks.
When we proved that AI-powered marketing and seamless POS integration could dramatically increase conversions, I knew we had something that could transform the industry. That’s when I made the leap.
Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?
AI-driven lead engagement has been a total game-changer.
At AdCloud, we don’t just run ads—we make sure every lead gets an immediate, intelligent response that guides them toward booking an appointment. Our AI Lead Engage follows up in seconds, personalizes conversations, and converts leads 73% of the time.
That kind of automation means our clients don’t lose business because they were too slow to respond. It also makes our ad campaigns more effective because we’re turning more leads into paying customers—not just driving traffic for the sake of it.
We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.
One of the biggest lessons I learned early on was that great marketing alone isn’t enough—businesses need systems in place to capitalize on that marketing.
Early in AdCloud’s journey, we ran highly successful ad campaigns, but some clients struggled to follow up with leads quickly enough to see results. That’s when we pivoted to include AI-driven lead engagement as part of our service.
That single pivot transformed our results—and made AdCloud much more than just a marketing agency. Now, we own the entire lead conversion process, from ad clicks to booked appointments. That shift made all the difference.
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?
One unconventional strategy we use is treating digital marketing as a full revenue system—not just an ad service.
Most agencies focus on generating leads, but we take it further by ensuring those leads actually turn into paying members. Our approach is hyper-focused on lead conversion—not just getting people to show interest, but getting them booked and keeping them coming back as long-term customers.
This is especially critical for membership-based businesses like Deka Lash, F45 Training, beem Light Sauna, and Woodhouse Spa. Our strategy doesn’t just fill their pipeline with leads—it ensures that those leads turn into booked appointments and, ultimately, lifetime members.
By combining AI-driven lead engagement, automation, and direct booking system integrations, we’ve built a marketing engine that not only drives growth—it creates sustainable, long-term revenue for our clients.
What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?
I wish I had learned sooner that building a business is about solving a real pain point in a repeatable, scalable way.
A lot of early entrepreneurs focus too much on the “cool factor” of their idea instead of asking, “Does this solve a painful, expensive problem for my ideal customer?” The moment you shift your thinking from what you want to create to what your customer desperately needs, everything changes.
My advice? Obsess over your customer’s pain points, and create a system that solves them at scale. That’s how you build something that lasts.
Want to dive deeper into Marcus' work? Find more in the links below:
- Visit AdCloud's website adcloudagency.com
- Follow AdCloud on Instagram @adcloudagency
- Find Slater Digital Group on Instagram @slaterdigitalgroup
- Follow The Growth Hacks Podcast on Instagram @the_growthhackpodcast
