Everyone wants to know what the best form of marketing is for lights. I’ll break it down based on my data from running Google Ads for Christmas light installers and SEO for Christmas light installers across the USA since 2018.
Yes, you could do every channel, but usually there are constraints.
These constraints can be in the form of the population of your service area, your budget, and even your time.
The order I’d spend in, every time: Yard signs first. Then Google Ads, IF your area is big enough. Then Meta. Then SEO if your budget allows.
That “if your area is big enough” part is the piece almost nobody understands, so I’m going to spend some time on it below.
Lead intent by marketing channel
First, let’s break down the highest-intent leads to the lowest intent for online, so you know what to expect.
This is a rough estimate of how many leads can equate to the same number of jobs:
200 Facebook Leads = 100 Google Ads Leads = 80 Organic Leads.
When it comes to how many jobs, that can depend on your ability to close jobs.
Typically, businesses that do in-person quotes close as high as 30% of all leads (not quoted leads, as I know some guys that don’t work with me get tons of junk leads and have higher percentages for closed leads, but that is based on only the leads they talked to).
If you are only doing phone quotes, I have seen the averages in the 15-20% range (sometimes higher if you have a high answering rate). The lower end of ranges typically comes from businesses that only send quotes by email, do not call the customer, and do not have a follow-up sequence.
When it comes to cost, this means you should aim to get your Facebook leads at half the cost of Google Ads leads.
Google Ads for Christmas light installers
We usually see OUR clients get about 6-10 leads per 100k people in their service area. That number holds up best in markets between 750k and 2M people.
But here is the thing nobody tells you, and it’s the most important thing in this whole post:
In a small market, you cannot just spend more money on Google Ads.
It is not a budget problem. There is a hard ceiling on how many people are searching “Christmas light installation near me” in your town in a given season. Once you have shown your ad to all of them, there is nothing left to buy. Your spend flatlines whether you want it to or not.
I pulled every account I run to check this. Every single client in a service area around 500k not one hit 100. They spent between $2,500 and $4,000 and got somewhere between 47 and 81 leads, and then the ads simply had nowhere left to go.
Meanwhile, my clients in metros over 2M were routinely delivering 250+ leads at the SAME cost per lead. One Atlanta client spent $58k and pulled 1,115 leads without the cost per lead going up at all.
Same ads. Same setup. The only difference is how many people are searching.
Here’s roughly what to expect in ad spend and leads:
~500k people: about $2,500 to $4,000 in ad spend, 50 to 80 leads. That is the ceiling. Put the rest of your money into Meta.
~750k: about $5,000 to $6,500, roughly 85 to 115 leads. This size area is workable, but results can be tight.
750k to 1.5M: about $5,000 to $6,800, roughly 100 to 120 leads. This is the sweet spot where Google Ads is reliable.
1.5M to 3M: here you stop asking what the market will give you and start deciding how many leads you want. $5,000 to $6,500 gets you 95 to 110 leads. $7,500 to $9,000 gets you 160 to 195. Clients spending $12,000 to $15,000 in this range are pulling 260 to 290 leads, and their cost per lead is BETTER than our average, not worse: $45 to $52.
3M+: same story with even more room. $6,500 gets you around 110 leads. $9,000 to $10,000 puts you at 165 to 170. $11,000 to $12,000 lands 220 to 250.
One client targeted a portion of a metro that had 3M, spent $16,500, and got 292.
One client in a city of 6M spent $58,000 and pulled 1,115 leads, and the cost per lead never budged off $52 the entire time.
The thing to understand about markets above 1.5M: your lead count is a function of what you’re willing to spend, not what the market will hand you.
That is the exact opposite of a small market, and it’s why the same $10k does completely different things in Naples versus Phoenix.
One more thing on the small-market side: your cost per lead is not actually higher in a small town. It ran about $50-64 per lead last year almost everywhere I’ve looked. Market size doesn’t change what a lead costs. It changes how many exist.
That is why we ask for a service area over 750k before we run your ads. It is not us being picky. Below that, the math on management cost stops working for both of us, and you would be better served putting that money into Meta and aiming to get 200 leads with a FB ads manager.
We have had many clients switch from other google ads agencies and they ended up getting 2-3x more qualified leads with us so that is something to keep in mind when choosing an agency.
Meta and Facebook Ads for Christmas light installers
Facebook ads produce more volume in smaller cities because your budget can hit the same people over and over again more often and get you known, liked, and trusted.
This is exactly why Meta is the answer when Google runs out of room. Google is limited by how many people are actively searching. Meta is limited by how much you’re willing to spend to put yourself in front of everyone in your town. In a small market, that second thing is a much bigger number.
Google Ads and Facebook Ads vary a ton on results by who is running them. Your cost per lead could be 2-3x more depending on the agency. This also means your budget is depleted faster with less leads.
SEO for Christmas light installers
When it comes to organic leads, these typically produce the highest tickets. So revenue-wise, organic will have the best ROI.
We have found there is no correlation between a higher population of your area and higher leads. Smaller areas typically have less competition, rank faster and better, and end up getting more leads per 100k people than a larger area.
Most clients get the best results after 24+ months of continual SEO and have brand recognition in their area as well. But we still have seen clients get up to 78 organic leads in year 1 with a brand new site. (If you have had a site that has been around longer and have brand recognition in your area, you usually will see even better results)
That long runway is why SEO sits last on the priority list, not because it’s worse. It’s the best long-term play, it just won’t save this season.
Offline marketing for Christmas light installers
When it comes to offline marketing, yard signs are the highest ROI and you should always be putting them up no matter what other marketing channels you do. You can get signs for under $4 a piece with stakes and shipped to you. Keep in mind that sometimes signs blow away, are taken down by the city, or are stolen. So you will need to keep putting them back up to get the best results.
If you are going to do door hangers/flyers, or Every Door Direct Marketing (EDDM) postcards, the key here is to hit each house at least 3-4x leading up to November. Example: Sept 15, Oct 1, Oct 15, Nov 1. The more you remind people, the more they will end up trusting your services.
How to allocate your marketing budget
If you are budget-constrained, here is where I would spend my marketing dollars, working my way up:
$2k marketing budget
Get 500 Yard Signs. This is the best ROI of any marketing, and you should always start here.
$5k marketing budget
Yard Signs + Run Facebook Ads on your own at this level
$10k marketing budget
If you are in a city over 750k people: Yard Signs + Google Ads If you are in a city under 750k people: Yard Signs + Meta Ads
Google Ads have the highest intent, so that is why I would recommend them first if your area can support it. If you are under 750k, do not force it. You will hit the ceiling before you spend the budget and the rest of that money does nothing.
$20k marketing budget
If you are in a city over 750k people: Yard Signs + Google Ads + Meta Ads
If you are in a city under 750k people: Yard Signs + Meta Ads + SEO
$30k marketing budget
If you are in a city over 750k people: Yard Signs + Google Ads + Meta Ads + SEO
If you are in a city under 750k people: Yard Signs + Meta Ads + SEO
The short version: yard signs always. Google Ads if you have the people to support it. Meta to soak up whatever Google can’t spend. SEO once you can afford to think past this season.
For a broader seasonal framework, review our Christmas light marketing plan.
If you are not sure how many people are in your service area, look up your service area on Smappen.
If you want to book a call with me to see how we can help you out this season, book a call here.
