Wrong Marketing Strategy (Sinks 70% of Companies)

Hunting vs farming: a business built on canvassing and buying leads is all 'hunting,' while SEO is 'farming' — it takes time and continuous geo-keyword pages to build, so it's right for a $5-10M company but rarely the fastest next step.

A pretty new website won't rank: core pages (service, about, galleries) only convert — organic traffic requires dedicated service-area and blog pages optimized for geo-keyword pairs (e.g. 'Marion roofing,' 'Marion siding').

Pay-per-click is the search 'cheat code' but competitive: expect a 60-90 day optimization window — early leads cost hundreds each and get cheaper (sub-$150) as it's tuned; no honest vendor guarantees it, and a tight lead-quality feedback loop is required.

Fit the budget to the geography: with a ~$3-5K/month PPC start, narrow the service area and pick one service rather than casting wide across all services and a whole metro (Level 10 charges $1,500 setup + $1,500/mo or 15% of spend).

Mine your identity for a marketing story: the owner's dual-seal-strip / six-nails / larger Atlas shingle spec (special-ordered from out of state) is a real, rare differentiator that's used in sales but never marketed.

Proof-driven hook: after an EF-tornado, the only house left with no missing shingles was one they'd roofed — drone footage plus the spec story becomes a powerful video, blog, and pre-appointment text sequence.

Frame the upgrade as nominal cost, huge upside: quantify the exact extra strips and ~$400-500 added cost, then present 'destroyed roof vs intact roof — which do you want?' to justify a higher price without a bidding war, leaning on the woman-owned, veteran-owned identity.