Can marketing make a company that’s not good, look good?
“Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.” – Jerry Della Femina
The first few years – it’s a fight of becoming a really good company vs. amplifying that as much as you need to grow.
Most agencies will take your money as soon as you’re willing to give it to them, Hook Agency is a little bit different – we want it to make sense in the P+L first.
TL;DR – The Hard Truth About Hiring a Marketing Agency
- Marketing agencies don’t create winners—they accelerate them. If you’re already on track to success, a great agency can shave years off your journey to $10M. If you’re struggling, no agency will save you. (“Good marketing makes a bad product fail faster.” – David Ogilvy)
- Own your marketing before outsourcing. The best businesses take full responsibility for their lead generation before hiring outside help. (Extreme Ownership – Jocko Willink)
- Diversify your lead sources. Relying on one marketing agency for all your leads is dangerous. Have at least five sources: referrals, organic search, paid ads, social media, and branding. (“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” – Warren Buffett)
- Before hiring an agency, exhaust the basics: Crank on reviews, make videos, dominate referrals, and invest in jobsite branding. (“The best marketing strategy ever: Care.” – Gary Vaynerchuk)
- Be the general contractor of your marketing. Take inspiration from Joseph Hughes and Contractor Dynamics—home service businesses should control their marketing, not blindly outsource and hope for the best.
- Marketing isn’t magic—it’s fuel. If your sales process is broken, your service is mediocre, or your customer experience sucks, no amount of marketing will fix that. (“Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.” – Jerry Della Femina)
Quick stats that relate to why you should be a GOOD company before you market
- 76% of consumers look at online reviews before hiring a home services provider (BrightLocal). If your reviews suck, marketing won’t save you—you need a strong reputation before scaling your marketing efforts.
- 70% of home service leads come from word-of-mouth and referrals (Small Business Trends). Before spending thousands on ads, businesses should focus on referrals, jobsite branding, and customer experience—the foundations of sustainable lead generation.
- Contractors who respond to leads within five minutes are 21 times more likely to close the deal (Harvard Business Review). Great marketing can bring in leads, but if your sales process is slow or broken, you’ll lose them.
The Hard Truth: You Can’t Pay Your Way to Success (At First)
One of the biggest mistakes home service businesses make is thinking they can throw money at marketing and magically make lead generation “go away.” But here’s the reality: from $0 to $1M, your marketing should be something you personally own, obsess over, and grind through. Before you hire a marketing agency, you need to put in the blood, sweat, and tears.
I know this firsthand. When I started Hook Agency, my marketing budget was simple: buying lunch. Every weekday for the first month, I took someone out to eat—someone who could refer me business. I asked them directly if they could send me leads, and in return, I figured out how I could send them leads. It was direct. It was uncomfortable. And it worked.
But too many home service companies want to skip this part. They want to pay an agency to “fix” their lead flow when they haven’t even done the foundational work themselves. If that’s your mindset, you’re setting yourself up to blame your fifth agency when leads still aren’t coming in.
Become the General Contractor of Your Marketing
Look at Joseph Hughes (of 5 Mile Famous fame). The guy doesn’t sit back and hope his marketing works—he OWNS it. His company, Contractor Dynamics, teaches roofers how to be the general contractor of their marketing. That means:
- Understanding the core mechanics of lead generation.
- Taking responsibility instead of blaming agencies.
- Building a referral engine before dumping money into ads.
Home service businesses should follow his example. Learn from Contractor Dynamics. Take control before expecting someone else to make marketing work for you.
What to Do Before Hiring an Agency
If you’re under $1M in revenue, here’s your marketing plan:
- Run cheaper marketing options – Get a basic website, but don’t go overboard. A fancy $20K site won’t save you.
- Crank on reviews – Get every customer to leave a Google review. This builds long-term credibility.
- Make videos – Start shooting videos on your phone. Post them to social, YouTube, and your website.
- Dominate referrals – Take out key referral partners for lunch, give them business first, and make it easy for them to refer you.
- Invest in jobsite branding – Yard signs, truck wraps, t-shirts. Be SEEN.
- Hit social media hard – Share before-and-afters, testimonials, and job site updates.
When to Hire a Marketing Agency
An agency makes sense when:
- You’ve proven that your marketing efforts generate leads, and now you need help scaling.
- You’re consistently closing deals from inbound sources and want to pour gas on the fire.
- You’ve maximized the cheaper options and need an expert to optimize paid ads, SEO, or content marketing.
But if you haven’t put in the work yet, hiring an agency won’t fix the problem. Marketing isn’t something you outsource and forget about—it’s something you own and direct, even when an agency is involved.
A Marketing Agency Shouldn’t Make or Break You
A marketing agency shouldn’t determine whether your business wins or loses—it should just help you win faster.
The best agencies chop a few years off your path to $10M, but they can’t create success where there’s none to be had.
If you’re already going to win, the right agency can accelerate your growth.
But if your sales process is broken, your service is mediocre, or your customer experience sucks, no agency can fix that for you.
Don’t Be Dependent—Diversify Your Lead Gen
You don’t want to be dependent on a marketing company. A winning business has five or more lead generation sources—referrals, organic search, paid ads, social media, and branding (truck wraps, jobsite signs, etc.). No single agency should be responsible for all of them.
Once you’re past $10M, that’s when you start hiring specialists. Hook Agency can dominate Google for you. A traditional media buyer can handle radio and TV. A social media agency can keep your brand visible. But at no point should your entire business be riding on one marketing provider.
Take Extreme Ownership
If you’re not willing to get scrappy with your marketing early on, you’re going to struggle.
Period.
You can’t just “pay to make it go away” when you’re starting out.
- Take extreme ownership.
- Learn to sell.
- Build your brand.
Then, when the time is right, a marketing agency can amplify what you’ve already built.
But until then? Get to work. No one is going to do it for you.
