Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

You're Tracking Your Ad Spend Wrong (Here’s What to Do Instead)

Mar 26, 2026

Tony Castelucci, founder of Wanamaker Advertising who blends traditional and video-driven marketing for home service companies. He explains why last-click and cost-per-lead mislead operators. Short takes on attributing TV, radio, and digital; demand capture versus demand creation; and practical tracking tactics like timestamps, tracking numbers, and CRM tie-ins.

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INSIGHT

Last Click Hides Upstream Marketing

Last-click attribution routinely gives Google disproportionate credit for leads.
Many callers search the brand after seeing a TV, radio, truck or billboard, so the visible click is often the final step, not the true origin.

ANECDOTE

Client Turned Off Branded PPC And Survived

John told of a friend spending $50–60k/month on PPC that turned off branded search and still retained volume after investigating upstream triggers.
The audit revealed other stimuli (brand ads/creative) were driving the branded searches the PPC had been buying.

ADVICE

Always Pair Capture With Creation

Track both demand capture (PPC, LSA, SEO) and demand creation (TV, radio, billboards) because they work together to lower CPL and increase conversion quality.
Benchmark pre-channel metrics (CPL, CPS, conversion rates) so you can measure true lift when you add scale.

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Is your home service marketing actually working — or is Google getting all the credit? In this episode John Wilson and returning guest Tony Castelucci (Wanamaker Advertising) explain why cost‑per‑lead (CPL) often misleads, how attribution and demand generation are changing in 2026, and practical steps to measure true marketing ROI for plumbing, electrical, and HVAC businesses.

They unpack why cost per lead is often the wrong metric, how demand capture and demand creation work together, and what operators need to track if they want to scale profitably instead of just chasing cheap leads.

What we cover:

Why last-click attribution gives too much credit to Google
Why cost per lead is one of the most misleading metrics in marketing
The difference between demand capture vs demand creation
Why branded traffic and direct traffic are often your best leads
How to use timestamps, call data, and CRM reporting to measure true marketing ROI

If you're spending more on marketing but still struggling to understand what’s truly driving booked jobs and profitable growth, this episode is for you.

Host: John Wilson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/

Guest: Tony Castelucci (Wanamaker)
[https://wantmore-leads.com]

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💼 Extra Special Thanks to Service Scalers!

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John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC

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