In short
Trades businesses win on response speed and proximity, and their marketing should be built around those two things rather than around brand.
Across our documented work in the sector, the accounts that improved did so by narrowing: fewer service terms, tighter radius, and a landing page that answers the one question the caller has.
What the documented accounts show
| Business | Channel | Documented outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Construction company | Google Ads | 422 leads at $12 on a $500 monthly budget |
| Construction company (second) | Google Ads | Leads from 567 to 982 over six months |
| Roofing company | Google Ads | 42 phone calls across eighteen months |
| Roof and exterior cleaning | Google Ads | Cost per lead $172 to $61, leads 21 to 85 |
| Pest control | Google Ads | Leads up 70% on a $1,000 monthly budget |
| Dent repair | Google Ads | 185 leads held at $22 over nine months |
| Insulation services | Meta Ads | 87 leads, best acquisition cost $19.80 |
| Power washing | Meta Ads | Documented lead generation on a small budget |
| Tree care | Google Ads | 142 phone calls at a 2.26% click-through rate |
| Landscaping | SEO | Page-one rankings and a marked rise in calls |
Two things are notable reading these together. The budgets are small, mostly between $300 and $2,000 a month. And the winning metric is almost always a phone call rather than a form: in this sector the buyer wants to speak to someone, often today.
The pattern that repeats
- 01Narrow the service list before widening the radiusA roofer advertising roofing, siding, gutters and windows in one campaign is competing against specialists in each. The accounts here that improved did so partly by dropping services from the ad account, not from the business.
- 02Make the radius match the vanDrive time, not city name. Our power washing engagement is defined as within 35 miles of a single town, and that specificity is why a small budget reaches the whole of its market.
- 03Answer the callThe cheapest improvement available to most trades businesses is not in the ad account. It is picking up. A missed call on an emergency service query is a lead bought and thrown away.
Seasonality, and the thing nobody budgets for
Storm-driven trades have demand spikes they cannot forecast and should not try to. The dent repair engagement covers dings and hail damage in Dallas-Fort Worth, which is a category where a single storm changes a month. Holding a stable cost per conversion for nine months in that environment is the achievement, not any single month's volume.1
Our view is that seasonal trades should budget for the trough, not the peak. Peaks bring demand you do not have to buy; troughs are when advertising has to work, and an account switched off in the quiet months has to relearn every spring.
Sources
- Dent Repair Company: 185 leads held at $22 over nine months. Monastic Marketing case study. Read September 29, 2026.
- Roof and Exterior Cleaning: cost per lead from $172 to $61. Monastic Marketing case study. Read September 29, 2026.
- Pest Control Company: leads up 70%. Monastic Marketing case study. Read September 29, 2026.
- Insulation Service Company: 87 leads at a best cost of $19.80. Monastic Marketing case study. Read September 29, 2026.