What is the cheapest way to advertise a home service business in South Florida?

The cheapest channel is rarely the cheapest customer. Referrals cost the least, but for paid options a low-cost print ad with a tracked phone number lets you measure cost per call and compare it with search and lead marketplaces. Household Referral ads start at $150 per issue.

Is print advertising still worth it for local businesses?

For home services it often is, because homeowners keep a monthly home magazine on the counter and call when a need comes up. The only way to be sure is to give each ad its own tracked number and measure the calls.

Pricing

How Much Does Local Advertising Cost for a Home Service Business in South Florida?

By Household Referral MagazineOctober 24, 20266 min read

Stop comparing the price of the ad

A $150 ad that brings in two jobs is a better buy than a $1,500 campaign that brings in one. Business owners often compare ad prices side by side, but the price tag only tells you what you spend. It says nothing about what you get back.

A more useful comparison is cost per customer: total ad spend divided by the number of new paying customers it produced. To calculate it you need two numbers, what you spent and how many callers actually became jobs.

The common local advertising options

Most South Florida contractors, agents and service companies split their budget across a handful of channels. Each one prices differently, which is why comparing them is confusing.

Print and direct mail: a fixed price per placement, with your ad reaching homes on a set route whether or not anyone responds.
Paid search and map ads: you pay per click, and clicks in competitive trades such as roofing, AC and plumbing can be expensive in a market this crowded.
Lead marketplaces: you pay per lead, often shared with several competitors who are all calling the same homeowner.
Social media ads: low cost to start, but results depend heavily on creative and targeting.
Referral and word of mouth: nearly free, but hard to scale on demand.

What a print ad costs with Household Referral

Household Referral Magazine is mailed free by USPS to 10,000 homes per edition across the tri-county area. Ads start at $150 per issue, and larger placements cost more. You can see every placement and price on the advertising page.

There are two ways to pay. Flat-rate pricing is a set fee per issue. Pay-per-call pricing lowers the up-front cost and adds a fee only for qualified calls, meaning a new caller who stays on the line for 45 seconds or more. Repeat callers, spam and wrong numbers are never billed.

A simple way to work out your break-even

Work backwards from what a customer is worth to you. If an average job earns you $2,400 in revenue and you close one in four calls, each call is worth about $600 to you before costs. An ad that produces a steady flow of calls at a fraction of that number is working.

These figures are examples only. Use your own average job value and close rate, since they vary widely between a handyman, a roofer and a mortgage broker.