Podcast Summary: Owned and Operated – Episode #241

Title: What Would YOU Do With $1,000,000 in Marketing?
Date: September 11, 2025
Host: John Wilson (Owner, $30M Home Service Company, Ohio)
Guest: Ethan Wright (Co-Founder, Service Scalers)

Episode Overview

In this episode, John Wilson and guest Ethan Wright dive into the strategic question: "What would you do with a $1,000,000 marketing budget for your home service business?" They explore allocation strategies, real-world ratios between lead generation and branding, common pitfalls, and the evergreen importance of lead capture. The episode is packed with actionable perspectives for businesses at multiple stages of growth, whether you’re running your first campaign or scaling toward eight figures.

Key Discussion Points

1. The Centrality of Leads in Business Growth

• Lead Generation as Foundation:
  • Generating leads is the starting point and key to sustained growth, regardless of company size.
  • "The very first thing always is the lead. Nothing else can happen in the entire rest of the business. Without the lead, it’s like a car without gas." — John Wilson [00:17]
• Lead generation continues to be the primary focus even for multimillion-dollar companies.
  • "The number one job I still have is lead generation." — John Wilson [02:05]

2. Practical Budget Allocation Framework

• Standard Marketing Spend Rules:
  • For companies spending $1M annually on marketing, typical revenue ranges from $8–$14M. This represents 6–12% of revenue, though most companies fall within the lower end.
  • Realistic marketing budgets for most are closer to 6-8%, with only 4% of industry players spending $1M/year and up.
  • Emphasize that the core principles scale up and down ("regardless of the size of budget, million bucks is a lot, but the same principles apply at $100K or $20K").
• Demand Creation vs. Demand Capture:
  Demand Creation:
  • Branding, TV, radio, billboards, community sponsorships.
  • Example: "The blimp that we're going to buy because we just got a million bucks." — John Wilson [04:11] Demand Capture:
  • PPC, LSAs, SEO, aggregator/lead partners (Angi, Thumbtack, Modernize), website optimization.
  • "How are we capturing people that are in the market to buy your goods or services?" — John Wilson [04:39]
• Suggested Allocation Ratios:
  • Many suggest starting with a heavy focus on what's already working, then cautiously expanding.
  • Typical splits range from 90:10 (capture:generation) to 50:50 depending on urgency and size.
  • John’s actual: "Our allocation is a 75-25 between lead capture and lead generation. It used to be as high as 85-15." — John Wilson [08:24]

3. Channel Selection and Maximizing What Works

• Double Down on Winning Channels:
  • "For most companies, what has been working for you, do more of it." — Ethan Wright [01:57]
  • Scaling leaders "beat the horse till it's dead" — running top-performing channels up to $100K/month before diversifying.
    • "The people that I know that are growing the fastest over the past two or three years are running one to two channels, up to like $100K a month." — John Wilson [00:00], [17:08]
• Paid vs. Organic Mix:
  • Varies significantly by service line; for example, their HVAC is almost all organic, with little paid, while electrical is 50–60% paid.
    • "Plumbing is 35% of our leads are bought, HVAC is like 5%, electric's 50 or 60, drains is 40–50." — John Wilson [11:30]

4. The Ongoing Role of Lead Partners

• Reliance Changes, But Never Disappears:
  • Many look forward to “graduating” from Thumbtack, Angi, etc. But even big, advanced companies still leverage these aggregators — just more strategically.
    • "I remember saying, ‘We don't need this anymore,’ and here I am, twice the size as when I said that, and I'm using the hell out of these things." — John Wilson [13:43]

5. Demand Generation: Diversify Carefully

• Deploying Branding Money:
  • TV is cited as the highest ROI broad outreach ("TV is the cheapest way to reach the largest amount of people." — John Wilson [19:10])
  • Billboards recommended only alongside broader strategies.
  • Social media/FB groups valuable if done with an authentic, community-focused approach, not just offers.
    • "Most businesses in a Facebook group just go, 'Hey, buy now,' but what we see is some people do a really good job of telling their story, ingraining themselves in the community." — Ethan Wright [22:12]

6. Candid Expectations and Realities

• More Budget = Just 'More', Not Always 'Different':
  • Many expect a $1M budget to dramatically change marketing approaches, but the reality is more of the same — just at higher volume.
    • "It looks really similar to when it was $200,000. It's just more. We're going to buy more leads… just more." — John Wilson [22:48]
  • "Dance with the girl that brought you here… add things you didn’t before, but the majority of growth was driven through this channel." — Ethan Wright [15:11]

Actionable Insights and Takeaways

• Fill the Board First: Today’s and tomorrow’s jobs must be prioritized before leaning heavily into branding.
• Track Your Ratios: Regularly review allocation between direct response and awareness efforts; adjust if you outgrow capacity or reach market saturation.
• Don’t Abandon Lead Partners Prematurely: Even large, established systems may rely on lead aggregators for incremental growth.
• Invest in Digital Assets: Website, GMB, and SEO remain “mission critical” at any spend level.
  • "We get $300,000 a month in attributed sales through our website… it matters and it works." — John Wilson [18:28]
• Branding Works, But Takes Time: Branding is slow-burn and often feels less tangible; supplement once your “boards are full.”
• Boring is Good: The most mature, effective strategies look disciplined and repetitive, not flashy or experimental.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The very first thing always is the lead. Nothing else can happen in the entire rest of the business.” — John Wilson [00:17]
• "If you have a few things that work really well, how can I double and triple down on them?" — Ethan Wright [01:57]
• "Our allocation is 75:25 between capture and generation… it used to be as high as 85:15. We ran LSAs till it was $100K a month—just ran it, got leads, and that was it." — John Wilson [08:24], [08:36]
• “Leads are exactly like—this is it and this is the game.” — John Wilson [13:10]
• “It looks really similar to when it was $200,000. It’s just more.” — John Wilson [22:48]
• “Marketing is a contact sport—and so you have to be in it.” — Ethan Wright [06:22]
• "The board's full, the system works. The board's not full, the system doesn't work." — John Wilson [16:12]

Important Timestamps

• [00:00–01:25] — Defining the question; the mindset around scaling and big marketing checks.
• [02:04–06:07] — Frameworks: Demand generation vs. demand capture; the urgent primacy of leads.
• [08:24–09:31] — Real-world allocation ratios and channel prioritization.
• [11:30–12:09] — Channel attribution breakdowns (plumbing, HVAC, electrical, drains).
• [13:10–13:45] — Aggregator and lead partner reflections.
• [16:10–16:30] — Hypothetical breakdown: $700K capture, $300K generation.
• [19:10–20:38] — TV as a high-leverage branding platform.
• [22:12–22:31] — Facebook Groups and community engagement.
• [22:48–23:08] — Closing thoughts: More budget = more of the same.

Final Thoughts

This episode offers a grounded perspective for service business owners and marketers: true scale comes from relentless focus on proven lead channels, not flashy new tactics. As budgets grow, discipline and measurement matter more than ever; filling the board with actionable leads will always be the bedrock of home service success.