How a home services business earns its revenue shapes how its marketing should work. These guides look at four business models (one-time, recurring, route-based and project-based) and what each one changes about which customers to go after, which channels lead and where the budget should go first.
One-Time Service Businesses
Every job has to be found, won and paid for on its own when there’s no ongoing agreement behind it. This guide covers what a one-time service business needs from its marketing, from capturing demand to the economics of each job.
Read more →Project-Based Service Businesses
Project work can take weeks or months to go from inquiry to signed contract. This guide covers what a pipeline of projects changes about the marketing, and why it’s measured by signed work rather than the month the ads ran.
Read more →Recurring Service Businesses
A recurring business grows only when new customers outpace the ones who leave. This guide covers what a base of repeat customers changes about the marketing, from winning customers who fit to measuring what the base is really doing.
Read more →Route-Based Service Businesses
For a route-based business, where a new customer lives can matter as much as what they pay. This guide covers how route density, capacity and targeting change the marketing, and how to grow routes on the owner’s terms.
Read more →How we match the marketing to the model
We start with how the business makes its money: whether customers buy once or keep paying, whether the work runs on routes or projects, and which jobs the owner wants more of. That shapes which channels lead, which services the campaigns focus on and where the budget goes first. Two related topics are covered elsewhere in the resource library: repair and replacement work in Types of Home Service Demand, and the differences between residential and commercial customers in Residential vs. Commercial Marketing.
About The Author
Mark Riley is a marketing executive and the founder of Riley Summers Marketing Group, where he leads customer acquisition strategy for home services businesses across paid search, Google Local Services Ads, local SEO and paid social media. He rose to VP of Digital at a national legal-marketing agency, where the digital programs he led generated a significant share of its revenue. Over a 15+ year career, he has managed more than $70 million in digital advertising spend, much of it in one of the most expensive and competitive advertising categories in North America. He measures marketing by what it costs to win a booked job, not by traffic or lead volume.