I get Google reviews from ~1 in 5 customers for RDVC. Here's how: -- WHAT I DO - I run a subdomain straight to the Google form - I run a QR code straight to the Google form - I print the short URL and the QR code on a physical card that I physically put in each customer's hand as my final touch point - I commit fully to operational excellence so that I don't have to be afraid of what customers might say when I make it SO easy to leave a review; all my feedback so far is 5-stars -- STUFF I DON'T DO - I don't gate reviews with a fancy automation; that's illegal - I don't spam people with a transactional text / email sequence as their final touch point -- BENEFITS - 137 5-star reviews from ~660 jobs in my first 10 months of business - Review velocity pulls me near the top of Google maps most days across my whole territory - About as close to zero friction for the customer as possible - Automations can't break, since I don't use them - I print the cards on cardstock and cut them on my dining room table, so they're nearly zero cost -- This all came in handy when me and a few industry peers got attacked by fake reviews all in the span of a week. The reviews were copy-pasted from AI with phrasing in them indicating that they were fabricated, including one which began, almost verbatim, with: "Sure, here are 5 broadly applicable reviews about negative experiences with a dryer vent cleaner, which do not list a company name." Within hours, we all got contacted by an overseas "Reputation Management" company. I was able to contest the two that hit me by using my other reviews as evidence that the scenarios painted in the reviews (which implied I was a big company, thanks to their generic language) were fabricated, and Google took them down after an investigation.

The interesting thing about this boosting strategy I've been running is that it serves as an alternative to high-volume content publishment. Most brands slap together garbage content to flood the zone and get more impressions But since I'm permanently boosting my strongest pieces, and I have a few dozen decent videos for people to dive into, I'm noticing that publishing new content doesn't really help me grow faster, get more followers, or get more leads. There's still utility in posting regularly, but I'm finding that once a week seems to be plenty. That at least signals that I'm active. The only platform where posting new content seems to organically generate leads is Nextdoor. So, since it seems publishing MORE stuff doesn't make a big difference, that begs the question: what's the highest leverage thing I can do to propel further growth? And I've determined that SEO is probably the top of the list Many of the direct marketing strategies are just too costly by comparison So I'm planning to migrate my site from Carrd to GoHighLevel; ideally, I'd like to replace Jobber (my CRM) and Dialpad (my business phone) with GHL, too. GHL ranks better for performance, which should help, and it also enables me to build a real website, with multiple pages and a blog. This will be a big project, but it makes the most sense both in the short term and the long term; it's affordable in the present, and it will help me dethrone my competitors in the long term. I'll also need to start getting listed in directories, make some backlink referral deals, and maybe get some local press coverage. 2025 was all about Demand Generation. That system is in place. 2026 will be about Demand Capture.

I underestimated IG for a long time, but it's been one of the best places for me to build demand A few things I've learned: - The algorithm sucks, but you can force discovery with paid traffic - Stories are king; they're the lowest noise channel, and the people who check them, check them often - It's very common for people to connect with your brand without following, liking or commenting; pretty much all the visible metrics don't matter at all I've generated probably 400 jobs for RDVC through IG specifically, and my "biggest" video has 10 likes, and my account has less than 200 followers The game has changed significantly, and a lot of people still can't see it

I'm ten months into running Red's Dryer Vent Cleaning. I've spent nearly $20,000 in the Meta ads manager, reached nearly 500,000 people in Austin an average of 3 times (according to to Meta -- likely more if I count Google, website, and YouTube impressions), and personally completed ~700 jobs (plus another 100 or so from January thru April last year when I was working for someone else in the field instead of running my own business. I've crunched some numbers and determined there's likely an average of 5,000-7,000 jobs in my market each year, and since I've personally fulfilled about 800 of them, it's starting to look like I've somewhat eaten my own lunch. And so my strategy is shifting toward long term market presence and harvesting customers directly from competitors. I believe I've soaked up most of the "freely available" market desire from people who had not yet chosen a vendor. At this point, most of the residents in my market have at least heard of me; particularly if they are FB or IG users. Now, much of what will win new customers for me is out of my hands. I've positioned myself to be top of mind, but most people have likely had their vents cleaned within the last 2-3 years and simply aren't looking for service at the moment. So my strategy now is shifting from GETTING DISCOVERED to HOLDING MY REPUTATION and DEFENDING MY POSITION. I'm reducing total Meta ad spend to $10 a day; the platform is genuinely less of a performance acquisition channel and now functionally a fixed-cost billboard, so that's how I'll treat it. I might slowly reduce to $5 a day. The impressions and traffic are so cheap that even low spend like that still works. Content is still king; I'm going to keep experimenting with content ideas and formats. This will be high leverage and a key differentiator. I want to decrease my reliance on Meta by branching out across LinkedIn ads, YouTube ads, Google ads, maybe Reddit ads. I also want to get ahead of AI discovery. Print marketing / direct marketing is another area I'll experiment this year. I want to use mailers to hit as many homes in my territory as possible. I'm open to doorhangers. I'll be trialing church bulletins, and possibly even newspapers.

Quintessential Giant Slayer positioning https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTxVtcdj0xm/?igsh=MXg3ZzdyMHZjaGhxeA== LD is the perfect case study of what the Giant Slayer Method looks like at scale - Contrarian position - High friction on the front end disqualifies casual consumers and draws in superfans - ICP keeps buying, and their commitment evangelizes the product organically I buy LD almost every day when I'm out in the field I know I'm paying extra for essentially just clever marketing, but the brand makes me feel seen, so I'm happy to support it over cheaper competitors