Welcome to the very first episode of the Home Service Marketing Pros podcast. This show is all about cutting through the noise and making online marketing simple for home service professionals.
If you’re an electrician, plumber, HVAC contractor, carpet cleaner, or any other service-based business owner, this podcast is for you. Our goal is simple: help you get more leads, more calls, and more booked jobs without the guesswork.
In this first episode, we want to introduce ourselves, share a bit of our background, and dive into one of the most common questions we hear from service business owners:
Should you be marketing on Google or social media?
Who We Are (And Why You Should Listen)
Joe Burnich – Big West Marketing
I’m Joe Burnich, owner of Big West Marketing. I’ve been working with home service businesses since 2009, but before that, I actually owned a service business myself.
Back in 2009, I started a carpet cleaning and restoration company from scratch in Missoula, Montana. Like a lot of service business owners, I had no idea what I was doing when it came to marketing. I tried everything to make the phone ring: newspaper ads, directories, and eventually… Google.
At the time, very few local service businesses were investing in their websites or SEO. I went all in on learning how to build and rank a website on Google, often waking up at 4 a.m. to teach myself. It worked. My phone started ringing nonstop.
That experience led me to help other carpet cleaners around the country, which eventually turned into a full-time marketing business. In 2014, I sold my carpet cleaning company and focused entirely on marketing. Today, Big West Marketing works with electricians, HVAC companies, plumbers, and cleaning businesses across the country, helping them grow through web design and SEO.
Mike Mancini – Mancini Digital
Mike Mancini runs a Google Ads agency that focuses exclusively on home service companies throughout North America.
Mike has been building websites and working online since the late 1990s. Before starting his agency, he owned an e-commerce company that sold t-shirts to customers in over 90 countries. He ran that business for seven years before selling it in 2013.
He also has firsthand experience running a home service business. While in college, Mike owned a landscaping company that grew to as many as 14 employees at its peak. That background gives him a deep understanding of what it actually takes to run, staff, and grow a service business.
Since 2013, Mike has focused solely on Google Ads for home service companies, helping them generate high-quality leads and track real results.
Google vs Social Media: Pick a Side
One of the most common questions we get during consultations is:
“Do you do social media marketing?”
“Can you run Facebook or Instagram ads for my business?”
The short answer is no. And there’s a reason for that.
Social Media Marketing vs Paid Ads
First, let’s clarify something. When most service business owners say “social media marketing,” they usually mean anything outside of Google. That could be posting on Facebook, running Facebook ads, Instagram ads, TikTok, or managing social accounts.
For home service businesses, posting on social media and running social ads usually delivers a poor return on investment compared to Google.
The Problem With Social Media for Service Businesses
Here’s why social media struggles for most home service companies:
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Low visibility: Organic social posts are shown to only about 2–3% of your followers.
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Wrong audience: Most followers are friends, family, or people outside your service area.
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Low intent: People are on social media to scroll, not to hire a plumber or electrician.
Even when social ads are set up correctly, you’re still interrupting people who are not actively looking for your services.
Compare that to Google.
Google Is High Intent
When someone searches:
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“Electrician near me”
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“Emergency plumber”
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“Furnace repair”
They already have a problem and they need help now.
The sale is already 90% done. They’re simply deciding who to call.
That’s the difference between intent-based marketing (Google) and interruption-based marketing (social media).
We’ve Tested This (A Lot)
This isn’t theory. We’ve tested social media ads extensively.
After spending over $50,000 testing Facebook ads for home service companies, we found that:
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Out of 100 leads generated, clients could only contact about 15%.
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Phone numbers were often wrong.
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Emails went unanswered.
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Leads weren’t motivated.
People will sign up for almost anything on social media if it’s free. That doesn’t mean they actually want to hire you.
On Google, the motivation is already there.
When Social Media Can Work
There are exceptions.
Social media can work better for:
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Highly visual services (landscaping, outdoor kitchens, design-build projects)
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Long sales cycles
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High-ticket projects ($30,000 to $500,000+)
In these cases, social media can be useful for retargeting and branding, keeping your business in front of prospects over time.
But for high-intent, urgent services like:
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Electrical
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Plumbing
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HVAC
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Cleaning
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Restoration
Google consistently delivers better quality leads and better ROI.
Not Every Business Should Market the Same Way
One of the biggest mistakes we see is blanket advice like:
“Every small business needs to be on social media.”
That’s simply not true.
Restaurants, breweries, and entertainment businesses can thrive on social platforms. Home service businesses are different. Your marketing needs to match your industry and customer behavior.
What’s Coming Next
This first episode was meant to set the stage. In future episodes, we’ll get much more tactical, including:
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SEO strategies for specific service industries
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Google Ads best practices
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Tracking and measuring ROI correctly
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Common mistakes that waste marketing dollars
We’ll also dedicate an entire episode to tracking, because if you don’t know where your leads and revenue are coming from, you’re guessing.
Want to Talk?
We both offer free consultations.
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Joe Burnich – Big West Marketing
Web design and SEO for home service businesses
Visit bigwestmarketing.com and book a free consultation -
Mike Mancini – Mancini Digital
Google Ads for home service companies
Visit mancinidigital.com
You can also find us on YouTube by searching:
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Joe Burnich
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Mike Mancini
Thanks for listening (and reading). We’ll see you in the next episode of Home Service Marketing Pros.
