What to Look For in a Marketing Company for Contractors

A good contractor marketing company lets you own your website, domain and Google profile, explains what you get in writing, reports on calls and booked jobs instead of vanity numbers, follows Google’s review rules, and doesn’t lock you into a long contract. Ask the questions below before you sign anything, and walk if the answers are vague.

Marketing companies for contractors range from careful operators to people who sold you a package you don’t understand. You can tell them apart with a handful of plain questions. Ask them in writing, and keep the answers.

Who owns your website and domain?

This is the question that costs people the most when they get it wrong.

Ask:

• Whose name is the domain registered under?
• Who has the admin login to the website?
• If I leave, do I keep the site, the content and the photos? In what form?
• Who owns the Google Business Profile, analytics and ad accounts, and who is listed as owner?

You want the domain in your name or your business’s name and owner-level access on your profiles. If a company says they hold these “for convenience,” ask what the process is to hand them over and how long it takes. A site you can’t take with you is a rental.

What are the contract terms?

Ask	A good answer	A weak answer
How long is the term?	Clear and short, or month to month	“It’s standard” with no explanation
How do I cancel?	In writing, with a date	“Talk to your rep”
What happens to my site and accounts?	You keep them or get them handed over	“You’d start fresh”
Are there setup or exit fees?	Listed up front	Found in the fine print
What changes the price?	Spelled out	“Depends”

Read the contract yourself and ask questions about anything that is unclear. If a deal is only good “if you sign today,” treat that as information.

What exactly is included?

Vague packages are where results go missing. Ask for a plain list.

• Website: how many pages, who writes the copy, who takes or sources photos, how fast they make changes.
• Local search: Google profile setup and upkeep, categories, service areas, posts and photos.
• Reviews: how requests are sent and how you respond.
• Phone and text: what happens to calls you miss.
• Ads: if included, who pays Google, what you can see, and whose account it is.

Ask how long the build takes and what you need to provide. Then ask what is not included, since that’s where surprise invoices come from.

How do they report results?

You want to see jobs, not just activity.

1. Calls and forms by source, as best they can be tracked.
2. Booked estimates and, if you share the data, jobs won.
3. Reviews gained and how they were requested.
4. Cost per job, not only cost per lead. See cost per lead vs. cost per job.

Ask whether you get direct access to your accounts, not just a PDF. And ask how they track calls. Your own simple tracking helps too, covered in how to track where your calls come from.

How do they handle reviews?

Google has rules here, and a company that breaks them can put your profile at risk.

Ask:

• Do you ask every customer the same way, or only the happy ones?
• Do you offer anything in exchange for a review?
• Do you post, write or edit reviews for customers?
• Do you ask people to post from multiple accounts?

The right answers: yes to asking everyone, no to rewards, no to ghostwriting, and no to multiple accounts. Google prohibits fake engagement, paid or incentivized reviews, and selectively soliciting only positive reviews. If a company can’t explain how their review process stays inside those rules, that’s your answer.

What do they promise, and what can’t anyone promise?

Nobody outside Google controls rankings, and nobody controls who calls. Be skeptical of:

• A promised position on Google or a promised number of leads
• Results in a set number of days
• “Secret” methods they won’t explain
• Pressure to decide quickly
• Claims about other contractors with no way to verify them

Good companies talk about what they’ll do and how you’ll see progress. They don’t hand you a number they don’t control.

Who actually does the work, and how do you reach them?

Ask who builds the site, who answers your questions, and how long a typical request takes. Ask what a normal month looks like. If you can’t get a straight answer on who you’d talk to, you’re probably dealing with a sales team and a queue.

Can you copy and paste the questions?

Here is a short list to send by email before a call.

Hi [Name], before we talk, could you answer these in writing? 1. Who owns the domain, website and Google Business Profile, and what’s the process if I leave? 2. What is the contract term and cancellation process? 3. What exactly is included each month, and what costs extra? 4. What do you report, and do I get direct access to my accounts? 5. How do you request reviews, and how do you keep that within Google’s rules? 6. How long until the site is live, and what do you need from me?

A company that answers clearly and quickly is showing you how they’ll work with you later.

Fair disclosure: ask us the same questions

We’re a marketing company too, so hold us to the same list. What we can say is limited and plain: Builders Presence includes a website, missed-call text back, automatic Google review requests, one-click text campaigns for repeat work, local SEO and a local business phone line that rings your cell. It’s one flat monthly price, month to month, with no contract, and the site is built in 7 to 10 days. We don’t promise rankings, and there is a 15-minute demo call if you want to see it before deciding.

The pricing page and the FAQ have the details. For a sense of how much a contractor should put toward marketing in the first place, see how much a contractor should spend on marketing.

Common questions

Should I hire a marketing company or do my own marketing?

It depends on your time and your budget. If you can keep up a Google profile, ask for reviews and answer every call, you can do a lot yourself. A company makes sense when you’re short on time and the work can be handed off cleanly. Either way, you should still know where your calls come from.

How long should a marketing contract be?

There’s no single right length, but a long lock-in is worth questioning, especially one with no clear exit. Month-to-month terms let you leave if the work isn’t helping. If a longer term is on the table, read what happens to your site, accounts and data if you cancel, and ask what you get in return for the commitment.

What should a marketing company report to me?

Calls, form submissions, booked estimates and jobs won, tied back to where they came from where possible. Traffic and impressions can be useful context, but they aren’t the outcome. Ask for a plain monthly summary you can read in five minutes, and for access to the underlying accounts so you can check it yourself.

Can a marketing company promise first place on Google?

No one outside Google controls rankings, and Google doesn’t publish the full recipe. A company can improve your profile, site and reviews, which gives you a better chance, but a promise of a position is a warning sign. Ask what they will do and how they will show you progress instead.