In September 2024, we surveyed 1,600 homeowners across the U.S. about how they find and choose home service companies. Two sources tied for first place: online research and referrals, each named by 88% of respondents. The list kept going from there: social media (66%), TV and cable (65%), direct mail (59%), streaming (52%), and radio (49%).
That spread is the problem a marketing agency is supposed to solve. Your next customer isn’t in one channel. They’re in five or six, and they move between them depending on the time of day and their age.
When it came time to actually pick a company, though, the deciding factors weren’t ads. Homeowners ranked reputation first (38%), followed by a recommendation from someone they trust (34%) and experience with their specific type of project (33%).
Those happen to be good criteria for choosing an agency, too. This guide covers when it makes sense to hire one, what a good one measures, what to ask before you sign, and what to expect in the first six months.
Signs You’re Ready to Hire a Marketing Agency
Your marketing happens in bursts. You run ads when the schedule is slow and stop when it fills up. Then the slow season arrives and there’s nothing in the pipeline. Consistency is the first thing an agency gives you.
You’re spending, but you can’t say what’s working. If you’re putting $200K or more a year into marketing and can’t tell which half is producing jobs, the problem isn’t effort. It’s measurement.
Growth has stalled, or costs are climbing. Lead volume is flat even though spend is up, or your cost per acquisition rises every quarter and you don’t know why.
Media reps are setting your strategy. TV, radio, digital, and mail reps each have a case for their channel. Without someone independent weighing them against each other, the loudest pitch wins.
When you’re not ready
Your offer isn’t settled. If you haven’t decided which services you lead with, who you serve, and what makes you different, an agency can’t position you. Settle that first.
Your budget can’t support both fees and media. Our clients’ total marketing budgets typically range from $200K to $15 million, and our fees usually run 3 to 10% of that. If your budget is well below that range, a specialist freelancer or a single-channel vendor may be the better fit for now.
You can’t follow up quickly. An agency can generate leads, but your team has to answer them. If calls sit for a day, fix that before you add volume. (More on that in Speed to Lead.)
Look for an agency that plans around how homeowners actually behave
Media habits shift through the day and across age groups. In our survey, streaming led evening viewing at 63%, ahead of social media (58%) and cable (41%). Among homeowners 65 and older, it flipped: 54% watched cable in the evening, compared with 49% for streaming. Facebook (78%) and YouTube (65%) were the most-used social platforms.
One finding catches a lot of contractors off guard: 62% of homeowners don’t closely follow any local home services company on social media. Social presence matters (53% said they’re likely to choose a provider based on social presence or recommendations), but building a following won’t reach most of your future customers on its own.
The takeaway for hiring: an agency should decide where your budget goes based on who your customers are and how they consume media, not on which channel the agency happens to sell. Ask every agency how they’d make that decision. If the answer is a standard package, keep looking.
What a good agency measures
Campaign metrics matter, but they aren’t the goal. We focus on three questions:
- Is the business growing profitably?
- What advertising-to-sales ratio does the business need to stay profitable, and are we hitting it?
- Are qualified leads increasing?
Be wary of reports built on impressions, reach, and engagement with little about leads, booked jobs, or revenue.
Ask how the agency handles attribution, too. A homeowner might see a TV spot, get a postcard, search your name, and call a week later. Which channel gets credit? A good agency can explain its method, and the best way to answer that question is to match marketing exposure against your actual sales records, not rely on each platform’s own reporting.
Measurement often finds problems that aren’t advertising problems at all. Travis Burch, owner of K-Guard Heartland, says measurement showed his team issues beyond lead generation. They recently cut their advertising-to-sales expense by 33% with no drop in growth.
Questions to ask before you sign
What share of your clients are home service businesses? Then ask for references in your trade. Homeowners value experience with their specific project; you should value experience with your specific business.
Who will work on my account? Get names and roles. The person who sells the account and the person who runs it are often different.
How will you decide where my budget goes? Listen for your customers and your market in the answer, not a package.
How do you handle attribution? See above.
Who owns the ad accounts, website, creative, and data? The answer should be you. If you leave, everything should leave with you.
What happens if results lag? A good agency describes a process for diagnosing and adjusting. Be skeptical of anyone who guarantees lead counts or rankings. Nobody controls your market or Google’s algorithm.
How is your pricing structured? In our survey, 69% of homeowners said pricing or cost estimates were the most important thing to find on a contractor’s website. Hold an agency to the same standard. See what affects marketing agency pricing, or get a range from our pricing calculator.
Contract terms
We don’t use long-term contracts. We scope the work, agree on a timeline, and adjust the scope as we learn. Either side can end the relationship respectfully if it isn’t a fit. Our average client stays about five years anyway.
Whatever agency you consider, read the termination clause before anything else. Watch for automatic renewals without a clear notice period, fees for leaving, and any language giving the agency ownership of accounts or creative paid for with your money.
What to expect in the first six months
Months 1–2: Discovery and setup. Research on your customers and competitors, an audit of your current marketing and tracking, and a plan. Expect activity, not transformation.
Months 3–4: Testing. Campaigns run and produce data. The agency should be showing you what’s working and what it’s changing.
Months 5–6: Scaling what works. Budget moves toward the channels and messages producing qualified leads at an acceptable cost.
Channels move at different speeds. Paid search can produce leads within days. SEO takes months. TV, streaming, and direct mail build awareness that pays off over a longer window, which is exactly why measurement matters.
Use your customers’ test
Homeowners choose contractors on reputation, trusted recommendations, specific experience, and clear pricing. Apply the same test to any agency you’re considering.
DW Creative works with homeowner-focused businesses: HVAC, roofing, remodeling, gutters, and furniture retail. If you want a second opinion on your current marketing, schedule a 15-minute fit call. The full survey findings are in our American Homeowner Media Research.
