How to split a marketing budget between BC regions

Step 1: Work out what an enquiry is worth

You need three numbers:

• Average job value: total revenue from a service divided by the number of jobs.
• Gross margin: revenue minus direct costs (labour, materials, subcontractors), as a percentage.
• Close rate: the share of qualified enquiries that become booked jobs.

The value of one qualified enquiry is: average job value × gross margin × close rate.

Example for a Lower Mainland bathroom renovator:

• Average job value: $18,000
• Gross margin: 30%, or $5,400 per job
• Close rate: 25%

Value per enquiry: $5,400 × 0.25 = $1,350.

Example for a Prince George plumber's service calls:

• Average job value: $550
• Gross margin: 45%, or about $248 per job
• Close rate: 70%

Value per enquiry: about $173.

These two businesses could both run "Google Ads", but they can afford very different costs per lead.

Step 2: Set a ceiling on cost per lead

You do not want to spend the whole value of an enquiry acquiring it. A common approach is to aim for a cost per lead of no more than a third of its value, leaving room for overheads and profit.

• Renovator: about $450 per lead at most.
• Plumber: about $58 per lead at most.

If a region cannot produce leads under that ceiling after a fair test, it is not a good place to spend paid-media money, however large its population.

Step 3: Count all the costs

When you work out cost per lead or cost per booked job, include everything:

• Ad spend.
• Agency or management fees.
• Call-tracking or software costs.
• Your own or your office staff's time, if significant.

A campaign that looks cheap on ad spend alone may be expensive once fees are included. That matters when you compare regions, because a smaller region may need nearly as much management as a large one.

Step 4: Split the budget for a test

Suppose a Fraser Valley landscaping company has $4,000 a month for marketing, including management fees, and serves both the eastern Lower Mainland and the Okanagan through a second crew.

A sensible starting split:

After three months, the owner looks at the results:

With an average gross margin per job of, say, $1,500, both regions are profitable. The Okanagan is cheaper per job, so if the second crew has capacity, shifting a few hundred dollars a month from the Lower Mainland ads to the Okanagan is likely to produce more jobs for the same total spend.

Step 5: Adjust by capacity, not just cost

Cheap jobs you cannot schedule are worthless. Before moving money towards a region, check:

• Crew capacity: can the crew there take more work?
• Response times: will more enquiries slow your replies?
• Seasonality: is the region about to enter its busy or quiet season? Our seasonal calendar explains how timing differs between coast and Interior.

The right allocation is the one that fills your crews with the most profitable work, not the one with the lowest cost per lead in isolation.

Step 6: Decide what goes to SEO versus ads

Paid ads produce quick, measurable results, but stop when the money stops. Local SEO and profile work take months but keep working.

A practical rule for many BC trades:

• New region: lean on ads at first, while SEO and reviews build.
• Established region with good rankings: reduce ad spend gradually, keeping campaigns for high-value and urgent services.
• Thin markets such as small Kootenay or northern towns: invest mostly in profile, reviews and a few strong pages; ads only for urgent jobs.

Our local SEO service and Google Ads by region service are designed to work together on this basis.

Step 7: Know when to stop

Stop spending in a region when:

• Cost per booked job stays above your ceiling after a fair test.
• Crews cannot serve the region reliably.
• The work there is consistently lower-margin than elsewhere.

Stopping is a decision, not a failure. Money moved to a better region usually earns more.

Common budgeting mistakes

1. Splitting by population. The Lower Mainland has the most people, but also the most competitors.
2. Ignoring fees. Always include management costs when you compare channels or regions.
3. Judging too early. One month of data in a small town is noise.
4. Counting leads, not jobs. A region with cheap leads and a poor close rate may cost more per job.
5. Forgetting the phone. Missed calls waste paid clicks in every region.

A one-page budget worksheet

For each region you serve, write down:

1. Average job value for your main service there.
2. Gross margin percentage.
3. Close rate.
4. Value per enquiry (1 × 2 × 3).
5. Ceiling on cost per lead (about a third of 4).
6. Last quarter's total marketing cost for the region.
7. Last quarter's qualified enquiries and booked jobs.
8. Cost per booked job (6 ÷ booked jobs).

Compare line 8 across regions and move money towards the lowest cost per booked job where you have capacity.

Where to go from here

The pricing page shows our plan fees so you can include them in the maths. If you would like help running these numbers, our strategy service starts with a free 30-minute conversation for eligible trades businesses, or see the areas hub for notes on each part of the province.