From Barter Deal to 50-Lead Months

Regen Tree Service had a strong local reputation but zero digital advertising presence. For a seasonal business depending on spring-to-fall bookings, relying solely on word-of-mouth left revenue unpredictable. The challenge: build a lead generation engine from scratch on a $500 to $1,000/month budget.

• Started with a barter deal (tree service work in exchange for setup and management fees) to prove the model with minimal risk on both sides
• Built a full-funnel architecture: Performance Max for awareness, Google Search for consideration, retargeting for conversion
• Implemented seasonal campaign management: scale up April to October, pause December to March so every dollar works during revenue months
• Refined targeting over three seasons based on which services and Calgary neighbourhoods converted best
• When it came time to transition from the barter agreement to a paid engagement after three months, the client asked us to pause campaigns instead. They were fully booked. We were happy to lose the revenue: long-term client success matters more than short-term billings.

• 1You don't need a big budget to start. Regen Tree began at $500/month and scaled to $1,000 as results proved out.
• 2Seasonal businesses need seasonal strategies. Concentrating spend during peak months means every dollar works harder.
• 3Performance Max works for local services. PMax's ability to reach users across Google's entire network is especially powerful for local service businesses.
• 4Growth compounds over multiple seasons. Season 1 was learning, Season 2 refined, Season 3 delivered nearly 8x the leads of Season 1.