Dear FoundHer · Episode 349 · May 5, 2026 · 25 min

Why You Can't Run Ads Without This: The Marketing Foundation That Built My 7-Figure Business

In honor of Mother's Day, get $200 off a new Dear FoundHer... Forum membership through the month of May. Join the community built for women business owners over 40 who are building real businesses on their own terms. JOIN US INSIDE HERE , no code necessary to save. If you're a small business owner who's been told to run ads to grow your business, and you're spending money on Meta or Google ads that aren't working, this episode is for you. In this solo episode of Dear FoundHer…, host Lindsay Pinchuk breaks down why ads alone won't grow a small business, and the marketing foundation almost nobody is teaching women entrepreneurs to build first. Drawing on the same playbook that took Bump Club and Beyond from $500 of startup capital to a seven-figure exit, Lindsay walks through the three types of partnerships every small business owner should be running, the exact moment she finally turned on paid ads at Bump Club (year 7-8, not year 1), and how she's running the same playbook right now to grow Dear FoundHer. This is the foundational episode for May 2026 on Dear FoundHer…, kicking off a full month focused on partnerships as the most underrated growth strategy for women business owners over 40. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE Why "ads are an amplifier, not a foundation" and what that actually means for your marketing budget The three types of partnerships every small business should be running (most founders are running zero) How Lindsay used audience swaps, expert co-created content, and brand partnerships to grow Bump Club and Beyond to seven figures without paid ads for 7-8 years The smarter way to run paid ads when you're finally ready (hint: not to your homepage) How a paid Huggies campaign funded Bump Club's email list growth, and how you can structure similar deals The exact 5-step plan to start running partnerships in your business this week Why Lindsay is running the same playbook right now at Dear FoundHer, and what year five looks like when the foundation is built Subscribe to The FoundHer Files Substack. Made to Sell: Creating Websites That Convert: Save your seat (free for Forum members, $29 for non-members) Free Forum Open House Come see what's inside the Dear FoundHer Forum SAVE YOUR SEAT Join THE networking community for women business owners over forty, The Dear FoundHer... Forum Follow Dear FoundHer and Lindsay Pinchuk on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.