Carpentry and joineryInterior fit-outSite carpentryShopfitting

From word-of-mouth only to qualified commercial leads: £30,000 revenue added from £1,200 ad spend

Irwell Interiors & Joinery · Manchester

£30k: revenue generated
25x: return on ad spend
2: jobs won
8: qualified leads

The challenge

Never invested in paid media: the business relied entirely on word-of-mouth referrals despite a strong local reputation
Seasonal, unpredictable revenue: winter months were especially quiet
No reliable way to generate high-intent enquiries when referrals slowed
Needed qualified leads, not clicks: budget could not be wasted on people who were never going to become customers

Our approach

Foundations

One landing page per service (shopfitting, dry lining and partitioning, commercial joinery, site carpentry), each with project photos, accreditations (CSCS, CHAS/SafeContractor if held) and a short form
Call tracking on all phone enquiries
Qualifying form asking project type, approximate size, location and start date

Lead generation

Google Search as the backbone, with tightly themed campaigns per service on phrase and exact match terms such as 'shopfitting contractor [region]' or 'office partition installers'
Strong negative keyword list (DIY, jobs, courses, prices for materials, apprenticeships) so budget isn't wasted
Geo-fencing to a realistic travel radius from the workshop, with bid adjustments favouring commercial hubs where the larger contracts are

Qualifying enquiries

Ad copy states project types and minimum scope ('commercial fit-outs from £X'), deliberately screening out small or unsuitable enquiries
Form asks for project type, approximate size, location and start date
Phone calls tracked so offline enquiries are counted

Optimisation

Optimise for qualified leads, not clicks: feed back which enquiries became site surveys or quotes via offline conversion import, so smart bidding chases the leads that matter

Seasonal pacing

Push hardest in October to February. Commercial planning happens then and competition from busy rivals is lower Ease off: Reduce spend in peak months when word-of-mouth fills the diary

Key takeaways

Qualified leads beat clicks: stating project types and minimum scope in ads and forms screens out unsuitable enquiries
Two closed commercial jobs from eight qualified leads produced £30,000 in revenue
Negative keywords and geo-fencing protect a small budget
Feeding quote and survey outcomes back to Google teaches bidding to chase the leads that matter
Seasonal pacing fills the quiet winter months and eases off when referrals fill the diary

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