#241 What Would YOU Do With $1,000,000 in Marketing?

Summary

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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)

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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.

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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]

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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.

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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]

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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.

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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.

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Transcript

[John Wilson]

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 100 grand a month.

[Ethan Wright]

The people who are scaling beat the horse till it's dead. If you have a few things that work really well, how can I double and triple down on them? Mainly through things that are actually actively getting you leads today.

[John Wilson]

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.

[Ethan Wright]

The number one job I still have is lead generation.

[John Wilson]

Welcome back to owned and operated. I'm your host, John Wilson. I run a $30 million home service company in Ohio. Today on the show, I have Ethan Wright from service scalers. Service scalers is a digital marketing agency focused on home service growth. Today we're talking about how we would spend a million dollars on advertising. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you know that we've been big fans of service scalers. One of the things that they just dropped that we are really excited about is a pay per lead program program. So what they help you do is they help you directly gain access to leads and scale up your lead partner program. Go to service scalers.com and say, we sent you someone gave you a million dollars.

[Ethan Wright]

It's a lot of money.

[John Wilson]

It's a lot of money.

[Ethan Wright]

Million dollars.

[John Wilson]

$83,333.33 a month.

[Ethan Wright]

You've thought about this.

[John Wilson]

Everyone's thought about this.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

First thing, but go buy a blimp.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

For my company.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah. Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Talking about mean, pure brand.

[Ethan Wright]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

You know, that would totally work, right?

[Ethan Wright]

100%.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

Just fly it over over Dallas all day. No, it's interesting and I'm excited to hear your thoughts on it because I think some companies would say, you give me a million dollars for marketing.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

I spend $10,000 a month on marketing. That, like, is a very big difference.

[John Wilson]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

For you, I think maybe you've probably thought about it a little more and have some interesting takes. But my, my initial reaction to it.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

For most companies is what has been working for you and do more of it.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Right.

[Ethan Wright]

I think maybe people's initial reaction would be, I need to go and buy, like, get a big branded billboard or, you know, do all these things that we aren't doing yet.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yes.

[Ethan Wright]

My opinion, and I'd be interested to hear what you would say. But if you have a few things that work really well, how can I double and triple down on them? Mainly through things that are actually actively getting you leads today. But I'd be interested, you know, in your position with where your business is. Like if you've thought about this or if you literally got that check, what would you do?

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Wilson]

I think the quick profile on like who would spend $1 million. So usual rule of thumb is like 10 at the top. Now some people break it. So maybe like if, if it's a well capitalized person, maybe they're coming in like 12%. So it's a 8 million dollar business or more realistically, 6 to 8%. That's what most larger companies, including us, spend. We spend 6 to 8%. We have for years. So that's like what, $14 million?

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah, 12.

[Ethan Wright]

14.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah. So.

[John Wilson]

So that's the, that's the size of a business we're talking about here. 8 million to $14 million would, would be spending 80 grand a month on marketing. And I totally agree with you. Like, I think, you know, we're entering the planning season, the sort of bud, depending on someone's budget practice, but like the budgeting season for next year. And we're thinking about, oh man, you know, how do we grow, how you know, we're entrepreneurs, how do we keep moving and doing the next thing? And I think spread is the first thing that people tend to do where. And we've done this too. Like, I'm super guilty of it. We're like, all right, yeah, I'm planning next year's marketing budget. I've got this 50 page or 50 line item Excel sheet and we're gonna do radio and we're gonna do SEO and we're gonna, we've never done field do tv. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what would help is for a framework is regardless of the size of budget, like million bucks is a lot. We're talking about 8 to 14. That's like 4% of the industry.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

So most of the industry doesn't even qualify for this conversation. But like this can go down anywhere you go. It can also go up anywhere you go. Yeah, but what percentage of your budget are you spending on demand creation, which is tv, radio, billboards? The blimp. The blimp, you know, the blimp that we're gonna buy because we just got a million bucks. I wonder how much a blimp it. Like it has to be tens of millions. Like there's like 10 of them.

[Ethan Wright]

I don't even know if you could. I don't even know I even fly it.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Wilson]

I don't even know so, yeah, demand. Demand creation or generation is. Is like the branding efforts that you're putting out there. You know, TV boxes, sponsoring a little league team, putting stuff in your church bulletin. And then what is Demand capture? So LSAs, PPC lead partners. How are we capturing people that are in the market to buy your goods or services?

[Ethan Wright]

Actively searching.

[John Wilson]

Actively searching.

[Ethan Wright]

And I need your service.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yes.

[John Wilson]

I am seeking. I'm seeking someone to do this.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

So demand capture. So people have different rules for, like, how they think about this. And some companies really do well with like a 50, 50 split. Some companies do really well with a 9010 split in either direction. So I think you just have, like. Like you said what was working before this. So first principles. Is my board full today?

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yep.

[John Wilson]

Is my board full tomorrow? Is my board full the next day? Like, are we taking care of today? And the current and urgent, you know, thing. If our bird. If our board's not full, like, today, tomorrow, then, like, we got to be focusing on leads. We got to be focusing on the lead capture side of the funnel. And Maybe that means 80 or 90% of your budget goes there. If you are just, like, totally good to go and you're trying to figure out how to add, you know, more leads in a year from now, demand generation starts to make a lot more sense.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

It's interesting talking to you yesterday, you know, you said, even at the stage of our business, the size of our business, you're like, the number one job I still have is lead generation.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

Now, obviously you're not actively doing it, but, like, if that part of my business is not dialed in, is not focused on, you know, you said marketing is a contact sport, and so you have to be in it.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

If that part isn't fixed, nothing else matters. Great sales process, best tax. You know, hey, we've got great wraps on all the trucks. Well, the trucks are going out to jobs. It doesn't really matter. And so, yeah, when you're thinking of a business in that 8 to, you know, $14 million range, but even if, you know, you're a smaller business and someone said, hey, I'm writing you a check for a million dollars over the next year, I think specifically maybe smaller businesses that think towards that, then go, oh, then I can start. Then I don't have to think about my lead partner or like, PPC and LSA as much because I've, like, made it, and you're hitting sitting here and you go, no, that's still the number one thing I'm thinking about.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

And for perspective, we spend two and a half million dollars.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

So we're still.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Leads. Like, leads. It, you know, it's that you. We talk about knowing your numbers, like, what's your average ticket? What's your closing rate? What's your booking rate? And literally none of that matters if you don't have the leads. Like, it doesn't matter what your closing rate is on sales if there's no potential appointments to convert into sales. So the very first thing always is the lead. Nothing else can happen in the entire rest of the business without, without the lead, it's like a car without gas.

[Ethan Wright]

And then even if your board is full, well, then it's a question of like, okay, I still want to grow.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

That's an opportunity to hire. But then again, yeah, now I need to fill a different board, a larger board with more leads. So it's interesting because I do have this conversation, have this conversation as people scale. And I do think the perspective when you're early on is, hey, when I get there, it'll look a lot different.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

But then as people grow, they realize, like, it's, it's, it's the same machine. It's the same taking the same gas.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

Now you.

[John Wilson]

Well, it's the same allocation.

[Ethan Wright]

Yes.

[John Wilson]

And like, we'll break out. Exactly. But like, our allocation is a 75.

[Ethan Wright]

25 between, like lead capture.

[John Wilson]

Capture, lead generation.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Now, it used to be as high as like 85, 15.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

And just this year we, we eased it up 10%. A little bit more demand creation. But yeah, I mean, like, I'm notorious for saying, like, run that thing till it's dry. Like, we ran LSAs till it was 80, 90, 100 grand a month, and that was 85% of our budget. Like, we just ran it, we got leads, and that was it. We didn't think much about diversifying.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And, and what's interesting too is on the demand capture side of things, there is some natural. It naturally somewhat plays into the like, brand awareness side as well, because you get in someone's home, you have their.

[John Wilson]

Contact, so you can remark, sell a membership.

[Ethan Wright]

Sell a membership. You got this. There's the sticker on the unit again. They're in your database. They, they leave you a Google review that then boosts your, your presence and, you know, your GBP is still, you know, still demand capture.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

But your brand is like, still growing through that. And so it naturally does somewhat play into that. And so like you said, there's a lot of different percentages or ratios that people have and work well for different people. But the vast majority of time there's still this much heavier allocation towards how am I going to fill the board and continue to fill it as I hire, as I look to scale.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And so yeah, like you mentioned, local service ads, pay per click are obviously like two of the obvious paid ones investing in your SEO, both for your Google business profile and for like on page your website. That's obviously great because the more that your scales can tip towards organic the better because then you're paying eventually less for leads or you get to continue paying the same for leads and you just see your total lead bucket grow.

[John Wilson]

Yeah, we've been working with WeSupplyTrades.com for the past 10 years, but most importantly for the past six months as our primary vendor for H Vac supplies. And that's going to be generic as well as some oem. They have been a huge partner for us in our H Vac for restocking trucks, for getting packouts done on time and getting quick deliveries when we need it. Their free pro membership is going to give better pricing is free shipping for orders over $99 and you get access to a team of world class experts that know plumbing, hydronics and H vac like the back of their hands. Like these guys are incredible. As a savings to our audience. They offered 20% off your first order if you use the code owned20o w n e d 20. So click the link below or go to wesupplytrades.com owned and operated to find out a little bit more.

[Ethan Wright]

And I think you were saying that you know, on average you're hoping right now, like when you're talking about a day to day leads, it's what, 50, 50 from paid and organic at this point?

[John Wilson]

Yeah, well it depends on the team. So okay, like plumbing is 35 of our leads are bought, H vac is like 5%, electric's 50 or 60. Gotcha. Drains is 40. 50.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

So it depends on the team. Like H Vac is almost all organic. We basically don't advertise for H Vac at all. It's kind of, it seems pointless. You know this is like going to sound ridiculous, but it seems pointless to advertise for H Vac like that's the point of.

[Ethan Wright]

Because you're showing up and.

[John Wilson]

Well that's the point of memberships. But like if, like if I, if I'm advertising for H Vac, I'm either going to blow 100% of the budget in the day because it's 95 degrees or no one's looking for the service at all because it's 50.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

So like, it. Yeah, it's kind of odd.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

Yeah. And I mean, and it definitely helps when you have or an organic presence there too, because when people are searching for it, like they are finding you, it can be a little different if you feel, you know, buried or whatever. But, yeah, beneath competitors.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

We market for sales leads.

[Ethan Wright]

Yes.

[John Wilson]

For the CAs, but for service. Like, we don't see any value in marketing at all.

[Ethan Wright]

And so, yeah, you've got what you're like direct advertising, but then also like, you know, the aggregator partners you have or the lead partners you have. A lot of people. I think this is also common. A lot of people, when they start, they rely so heavily on the, on these lead partners, the Angie thumbtacks, you know, modernize whatever it might be. And, you know, it's speed, the lead. It's like, be the best and, and get there and like, win the business and it's more competitive. And so they go, gosh, I can't wait for the day that I never use them again.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And usually you people do hit a point where, okay, finally I can do my own ppc or else lsa, they're way less of consideration. But then it's funny.

[John Wilson]

Tommy Mello talks about how he's using Angie's. I know, like, leads are, Leads are exactly like, this is it and this is the game.

[Ethan Wright]

And it, and it. And it becomes like, as you start to max out the channels that you, like, early on dreamed of. I can't wait till I get my own leads from these channels. You're like, well, crap, I need more leads. And where can you find them? Yeah, those lead partners. And again, it's like managing the expectations there of like, how often do we win them? How often do they close things like that. But it's, it's just always funny because.

[John Wilson]

You know, well, I remember seeing that. I remember saying that, like, oh, we don't need this anymore.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

And like, here I am twice the size as when I said that.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

And I'm like, I'm using the hell out of these things.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And that, you know, we, at the workshop that, that we were just doing.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

People were surprised to hear that.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And a lot of people who are like, I feel like I just escaped that, you know, personal hell that I felt like I was in. Now, it's, it's, it's way different when your business is not solely providing on them.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And when it's like, okay, now I'm supplementing their part of the strategy, you know, maybe I turn, turn them on and off as needed. But that like lead capture is still such a big allocation of most people's budgets. Now again, you hear about some businesses that scale to a decent size.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And it's, you know, they just own a, they own a suburb. They own a, they own a neighborhood. And it's all through branding. They, they, you know, they sponsor all the little league teams. They've got, you know, at the high school football stadium, they've got their sign up at the local church. Like they're in the bulletin or the, whatever. It's just way harder to actually expand out.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yes.

[Ethan Wright]

With that type of allocation, typically now there's always people who break the mold or whatever. But for most people listening, you know, whether you're currently like at that million dollar budget or you're aspiring to one day, I can't wait till I have a million dollars a year to spend.

[John Wilson]

I was really excited for 2 million and I was super disappointed when we got here because I was like, I, I remember thinking, I was like, oh my God, we're going to be doing sports teams. We're going to be doing. It's like, no, we're buy. Which is buying more. Yeah, we're buying a lot more leads.

[Ethan Wright]

But it makes, it makes sense. It's, it's, you know, dance with a girl that brought you here. Like there comes a time where you add things that you didn't before, but still like the majority of growth was, has been driven through this channel.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And until it is proven that it does not.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

Why would I all of a sudden make some massive change?

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

So I think it's just a good perspective, setting conversation for people that are aspiring to hit that budget. One day of, hey, the place I'm in right now is actually not, it's not bad. It's not inherently bad that I'm spending so much on lead generation constantly. Because as you scale, that's a way to continue to scale. You can start to look at it differently. You can add different things. But again, it's all it was. It's so eye opening to hear you at the spot you're going to spot you're at and you're like, yeah, as the president, as the owner of this company, like number one thing I usually am focusing on is making sure that we get leads. Everything else takes care of itself at this point. Like it's built the processes of whatever.

[John Wilson]

Else Board's full, the system works.

[Ethan Wright]

And that's.

[John Wilson]

The board's not full, the system doesn't work.

[Ethan Wright]

Yep, exactly.

[John Wilson]

Let's break down that million. Okay, so on a million bucks, let's say like 70 is demand, capture 30 is demand generation. So we've got 700,000 to play with. To me, that's like, pretty straightforward.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

We're going to be doing, I'd say, fundamentals. So lsa, maybe some PPC in there, depending on your market things, reviews, SEO.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Like, to me, that's how I would imagine that demand.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Capture.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And then maybe again, depending on markets supplementing with the different lead partners and whatnot in there too.

[John Wilson]

But I see I have like, maybe I.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Maybe. Yeah.

[John Wilson]

You know, we, 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 100 grand a month.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Really? Oh, yeah, yeah.

[John Wilson]

Like, hey, if PPC works, like, I have a friend in Chicago, ppc, like LSA stopped working for them the way it worked for us.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Great. No problem. They ran PPC up to $90,000 a month.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

They've since backed down a little bit and they've added a little bit of other stuff in there. I think it's still 60.

[Ethan Wright]

Well, and, and that's actually, you know, the interesting conversation of like, the allocation within the allocation is on the paid side of what that spend that 70% goes to paid. What you're saying is, is what we see where there's. There's still somewhat of a mix, but like the majority of that someone's budget.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Wilson]

Goes with the big winner.

[Ethan Wright]

Exactly. Because it wins. Like, there are some markets where, you know, you hear it's like, PPC doesn't work here. It never works here.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Great.

[Ethan Wright]

Well, there's another channel. Markets where it works really well and people get it dialed in and that's where the majority of their budget goes. And so that's obviously industry location dependent. But the principle still looks the same. The people who are scaling beat the horse till it's dead. They find the right channel of paid ads and go for it.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

And then, yeah, the. Obviously having a healthy budget for, for SEO, you know, again, organically, they're great. They're. They vetted you more. They're more likely to close. They're more likely to use your service, they're less likely to shop around.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

At a million bucks, we got to be investing in website. We got to be investing in gmb, like, in a big way. Like to me that should be like, you know, 40,000 a year. Like it should be a lot. We said this a couple episodes ago, but we spend 4,000 to 8,000amonth right now on our GMB is like that's a lot of freaking money. I don't even know what we spend on SEO every month, but we get $300,000 a month of attributed sales through our website. So like it matters and it works. And like over the past 10 years that number just keeps going and going and going. So yeah, worth the investment. Big demand capture.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yep.

[John Wilson]

On the demand generation. So that's going to be like radio, tv, billboards, some social.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

Facebook ads can kind of fit in there.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah. Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Like my quick take TV is the cheapest way to reach the largest amount of people. Like still is really easy fact to Google.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

So like at 20 grand a month, 25 grand a month. Like yeah. TV. What's kind of fun about TV is you can find out what your competitors are paying. So TV and radio, it's public data. You can find out who the big spenders are and almost exactly what they're spending. So 25,000amonth in some markets, you might be the largest spender in that market on TV and it might not even be close. Yeah, most of our competitors are spending 6 to 8,000amonth on TV.

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[John Wilson]

So even if we came in at 15, like you're double. Yeah, we'd be double. Double the placement. So Yeah, I mean 20, 25 grand would go really far on TV and then yeah, I don't really recommend billboards except unless it's like paired with TV or like a really big broad strategy. Radio. I think Tony said this at the workshop, but like radio is great for recruitment. We're probably going to have to change how we think about radio. Because I do think that's like totally right.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

And then social, if you can do social really well, it's really unique, it's really creative. If you're doing something different, pop, pop off, like go for it and you can spend all 20 grand on that. If you're doing something amazing, if you're posting like, hey, we can clean your furnace today.

[Ethan Wright]

The winter freeze, it's on its way.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[John Wilson]

Nobody gives a. I don't, I don't give a. When I see that on our own socials, I'm like, all right. Like I don't, I wouldn't even click on this.

[Ethan Wright]

And, and even at that point, um, usually when people are in you. We talked about this yesterday. It's either.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

Invest in social just enough to keep it alive.

[John Wilson]

Slightly active.

[Ethan Wright]

Yeah. It's like, okay, that's where it is. Like just kind of.

[John Wilson]

Or develop an in house content studio. Which that's what we did. Like that's two full time people. We have a long video producer, we have a short video producer. Like, but that's a big investment. Yes, it's a big investment.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

For sure. Another one that, I mean at this, at this size you've got some sort of marketing manager, marketing team, things like that. But another thing that we see people do really well is if you have a really good strategy around Facebook groups as well.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yeah.

[Ethan Wright]

That's almost like this hybrid between like Facebook ads and organic guerrilla marketing. But like having, you know, most people, most businesses in a Facebook group just kind of go, hey, buy, buy now. Like 50% off by now. But what we see is some people do a really good job of like telling their story.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

Yes.

[Ethan Wright]

Like ingraining themselves in the community. That, that can go a long way. And so that's just another like awesome way that a lot of people aren't actually attacking the branding side as well.

[Service Scalers Team Member]

So.

[Ethan Wright]

But as a whole that million dollar budget, like it looks a, looks really similar.

[John Wilson]

So boring. Yeah, it's really similar to when it was 200,000. It's just more. It's just more. We're going to buy more leads. We're going to put more into our demand generation. It's just more. If people want to get a hold of you, how can they find you?

[Ethan Wright]

Yeah, we [e-mail] or you can find us on X LinkedIn at the same. Just service killers.

[John Wilson]

Awesome. Make sure you like and submit.