home-services-tv-advertising-guide
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- # TV Ads for Home Service Businesses: HVAC, Plumbing & Contractor Guide
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- **SEO Description:** Learn how HVAC companies, plumbers, and contractors can use TV advertising to become the first call in their service area. Includes budget planning, seasonal strategies, and creative tips.
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- ---
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- When the AC breaks in July, homeowners don't comparison shop. They call the company they remember.
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- That's the power of TV advertising for home service businesses. HVAC companies, plumbers, electricians, roofers, and contractors have advertised on local TV for decades because it works. TV builds the name recognition that turns into phone calls when emergencies happen.
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- The difference today? You don't need a massive budget or a production crew. This guide covers how home service businesses can use streaming TV advertising to become the trusted name in their service area.
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- ## The Home Services TV Advertising Opportunity
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- Home services and TV advertising are a natural fit. Here's why.
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- **Trust is everything:**
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- Homeowners are inviting strangers into their homes to work on expensive, critical systems. They want to hire someone they trust. Seeing a business on TV builds that trust before the first phone call.
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- **Local targeting matches service areas:**
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- TV advertising can target specific geographic areas, matching exactly how home service businesses operate. Your plumbing company serves a 30-mile radius? Target that radius. No wasted spend on viewers outside your service area.
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- **Urgency drives decisions:**
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- When the furnace dies in January or a pipe bursts, homeowners need help now. They call whoever comes to mind first. TV advertising puts your company in that mental shortlist.
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- **Competing against national brands:**
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- Home Depot, Lowe's, and national franchises advertise constantly. Local TV presence helps independent contractors compete on visibility. Your ad runs on the same screens as the big brands.
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- <!-- IMAGE: home-services-opportunity -->
- **Placement:** After opportunity section
- **Type:** Concept illustration
- **Description:** Home services TV advertising opportunity visual
- **Prompt:** Create a clean infographic showing why TV advertising works for home service businesses.
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- Center: Large TV screen showing a contractor/technician waving.
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- Four benefit callouts around the TV:
- - Top: "Trust Building" with shield icon - "Viewers trust TV advertisers"
- - Right: "Local Targeting" with map pin icon - "Match your service area exactly"
- - Bottom: "Top of Mind" with brain icon - "First call when emergencies happen"
- - Left: "Compete with Nationals" with trophy icon - "Same visibility as big brands"
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- Style: Clean modern infographic, blue and orange accent colors (trade/contractor feel) on white background. Professional but approachable.
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- Format 16:9. All text clear and readable.
- **Filename:** home-services-opportunity.png
- <!-- /IMAGE -->
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- ## Understanding Your TV Advertising Options
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- Home service businesses have two main paths to TV advertising: traditional local cable and streaming TV (CTV).
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- **Local cable TV:**
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- Traditional TV ads that run on local cable channels. Still effective, especially for older demographics. Typically requires:
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- - Minimum commitments (often $1,000-5,000/month)
- - Production costs ($2,000-10,000 for a commercial)
- - Lead time for scheduling (weeks)
- - Less precise targeting (broad geographic zones)
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- **Streaming TV (CTV):**
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- Ads that run on streaming platforms like Roku, Hulu, Amazon Fire TV, and Peacock. Offers several advantages for home service businesses:
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- - Lower minimums (start at $50 with [platforms like Adwave](https://adwave.com/pricing/))
- - AI-generated creative (no production costs)
- - Precise geographic targeting (down to ZIP code)
- - Faster launch times (live within 24 hours)
- - Real-time performance tracking
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- **When to use each:**
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- Cable TV makes sense for larger home service companies with established budgets who want to reach older homeowners watching traditional channels.
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- Streaming TV works for any budget level and reaches the growing audience that has cut the cord. For most home service businesses starting with TV, streaming is the lower-risk entry point.
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- **The hybrid approach:**
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- Many successful home service companies run both. Cable reaches older homeowners, streaming reaches younger ones. The combination covers more of your potential customers.
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- ## Budget Planning for Home Service TV Ads
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- How much should an HVAC company or plumber spend on TV advertising? Start with your service area and goals.
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- **Budget by business size:**
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- <!-- TABLE: home-services-budget -->
- **Title:** Home Services TV Advertising Budget Guide
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- | Business Size | Monthly TV Budget | Strategy |
- |---------------|-------------------|----------|
- | Solo operator | $300-500 | Local awareness, slow build |
- | Small team (2-5) | $500-1,500 | Consistent presence, seasonal spikes |
- | Established company (5-15) | $1,500-5,000 | Market dominance, multi-channel |
- | Large operation (15+) | $5,000+ | Full coverage, brand campaigns |
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- <!-- /TABLE -->
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- **Percentage of revenue approach:**
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- Many home service businesses allocate 5-10% of revenue to marketing. TV might represent 20-30% of that marketing budget, depending on your goals and market.
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- For a plumbing company doing $500,000 in annual revenue:
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- - Total marketing budget: $25,000-50,000/year
- - TV advertising allocation: $5,000-15,000/year
- - Monthly TV budget: $400-1,250/month
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- **Seasonal budget adjustments:**
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- Home services have predictable busy seasons. Increase TV spend before and during peak demand:
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- - **HVAC:** Boost before summer (cooling) and winter (heating)
- - **Plumbing:** Steady year-round, slight increase before winter (frozen pipe season)
- - **Roofing:** Increase after storm seasons and in spring/fall
- - **Landscaping:** Heavy spring push, maintenance messaging in summer
- - **Pest control:** Increase in spring and early summer
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- ## Targeting Homeowners in Your Service Area
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- The foundation of home service TV advertising is reaching the right people in the right area.
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- **Geographic targeting:**
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- Define your service area precisely:
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- - **Address + radius:** Target 15, 20, or 30 miles around your location
- - **ZIP codes:** Select specific ZIP codes you serve well
- - **City or metro:** Broader targeting for larger operations
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- Be realistic about where you can profitably serve. Targeting too broadly wastes budget on homeowners you can't reach quickly.
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- **Demographic targeting:**
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- Layer demographic filters on top of geography:
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- - **Homeowners:** Essential, renters don't hire contractors
- - **Age:** 35+ typically makes household maintenance decisions
- - **Income:** Target income levels that match your service tier
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- **Behavioral targeting (where available):**
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- Some platforms allow targeting based on:
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- - Recent home purchase (new homeowners need services)
- - Home improvement intent
- - Previous service searches
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- **Targeting example for an HVAC company:**
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- - Geographic: 25-mile radius around main office
- - Demographic: Homeowners, age 35-65
- - Income: Household income $75,000+
- - Timing: Heavy rotation in May-June (pre-cooling season) and October-November (pre-heating season)
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- ## Creating Effective Home Service Commercials
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- Your commercial needs to accomplish one thing: make viewers remember your company when they need help.
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- **Essential elements:**
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- - **Company name and logo:** Prominent, repeated, memorable
- - **What you do:** Clear service description (HVAC, plumbing, electrical)
- - **Service area:** "Serving [City] and surrounding areas"
- - **Trust signals:** Years in business, licenses, guarantees, reviews
- - **Phone number or website:** One clear way to contact you
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- **Creative approaches that work:**
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- **The trustworthy technician:**
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- Feature real employees in uniform. Homeowners want to see who's coming into their home. Friendly, professional, approachable.
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- **The emergency response:**
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- Show the problem (broken AC, leaking pipe) and the relief of your solution. Create emotional connection with the stress homeowners feel.
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- **The local expert:**
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- Emphasize local ownership, community involvement, years serving the area. "Your neighbors trust us, you can too."
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- **The seasonal hook:**
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- Connect to current concerns: "Don't let your AC fail this summer" or "Is your furnace ready for winter?"
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- **What to avoid:**
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- - Generic stock footage that looks fake
- - Too much technical jargon
- - Complicated messages (keep it simple)
- - Weak calls to action
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- [Adwave's AI tools](https://adwave.com/how-it-works/) can create professional home service commercials from your website, pulling your branding, services, and contact information automatically.
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- <!-- IMAGE: creative-tips -->
- **Placement:** After creative section
- **Type:** Tips visual
- **Description:** Home service commercial creative tips
- **Prompt:** Create a clean infographic showing tips for effective home service TV commercials.
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- Title: "What Makes Home Service Ads Work" in bold at top.
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- Four tip boxes arranged in 2x2 grid:
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- Top left - "Show Real People":
- - Photo icon with person
- - "Feature your actual technicians"
- - "Build trust before the first call"
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- Top right - "Emphasize Local":
- - Map pin icon
- - "Mention your service area"
- - "'Serving [City] for 20 years'"
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- Bottom left - "Trust Signals":
- - Badge/shield icon
- - "Licensed, insured, guaranteed"
- - "Customer reviews"
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- Bottom right - "Clear CTA":
- - Phone icon
- - "One way to contact you"
- - "Easy to remember"
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- Style: Clean grid layout, blue and orange accents on white background. Simple iconography. Trade/contractor aesthetic.
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- Format 16:9. All text scannable.
- **Filename:** creative-tips.png
- <!-- /IMAGE -->
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- ## Seasonal Campaign Strategies
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- Home services are seasonal. Your TV advertising should be too.
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- **HVAC seasonal calendar:**
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- - **March-May:** "Is your AC ready for summer?" Push maintenance and tune-ups
- - **June-August:** Emergency repair messaging, replacement for old units
- - **September-November:** "Don't wait for the first freeze" Heating preparation
- - **December-February:** Emergency heating repair, system replacement
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- **Plumbing seasonal calendar:**
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- - **Year-round:** Maintain consistent presence, plumbing emergencies happen anytime
- - **November-February:** Frozen pipe prevention and emergency messaging
- - **Spring:** Outdoor plumbing, sprinkler systems
- - **Summer:** Water heater focus (high demand for hot water)
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- **Roofing seasonal calendar:**
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- - **Spring:** Post-winter damage inspection campaigns
- - **Summer:** New roof installations
- - **Fall:** Pre-winter preparation, gutter services
- - **After major storms:** Emergency response messaging (have campaigns ready to activate)
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- **Budget allocation by season:**
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- For a heating-focused HVAC company:
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- - October-February: 50% of annual TV budget
- - March-May: 25% of annual TV budget
- - June-September: 25% of annual TV budget
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- For an AC-focused company, flip those percentages.
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- ## Measuring Leads and Calls from TV
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- TV advertising is measurable. Here's how to track results for home service businesses.
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- **Call tracking:**
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- Use a dedicated phone number for TV advertising. When that number rings, you know TV drove the call. Tools like CallRail or simple Google Voice numbers work well.
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- **Website tracking:**
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- Add UTM parameters to your website URL in commercials, or use a vanity URL (YourCompanyTV.com) that redirects to your main site with tracking.
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- **Ask "How did you hear about us?":**
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- Train your team to ask every caller. Track responses in your CRM. "I saw you on TV" is valuable data.
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- **Branded search monitoring:**
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- Watch Google searches for your company name. Increases during TV campaigns indicate brand awareness lift.
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- **Lead source attribution:**
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- Tag leads by source in your CRM. Compare lead volume and quality during TV flights versus non-TV periods.
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- **What good results look like:**
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- - Phone calls increase 10-30% during TV campaigns
- - "Saw you on TV" mentions from callers
- - Branded search volume increases
- - Higher close rates (TV viewers often come in pre-sold)
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- With [Adwave's dashboard](https://adwave.com/features/), you can track impressions, see which channels your ads ran on, and monitor geographic reach in real-time.
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- ## Case Examples: Home Services Success
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- **HVAC company, Phoenix area:**
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- A family-owned HVAC company spent $1,200/month on streaming TV targeting homeowners within 20 miles. During summer peak, they increased to $2,000/month.
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- Results after one year:
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- - 35% increase in inbound calls
- - Multiple daily "I saw you on TV" mentions
- - Improved hiring (technicians wanted to work for the "company on TV")
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- **Plumbing company, suburban Chicago:**
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- A mid-size plumbing operation allocated $800/month to streaming TV, focusing on homeowners in specific high-value ZIP codes.
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- Results after 6 months:
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- - Became recognized as "the plumber on TV" in target area
- - Lead quality improved (callers were less price-sensitive)
- - Reduced spend on lead aggregator sites
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- **Roofing contractor, Texas:**
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- A roofing company maintained a $500/month baseline presence, with campaigns ready to scale up after major storms.
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- Results:
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- - Post-storm campaigns generated immediate call spikes
- - Year-round presence kept them top-of-mind
- - Outpaced competitors who only advertised reactively
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- <!-- IMAGE: case-examples -->
- **Placement:** After case examples section
- **Type:** Stats summary
- **Description:** Home services TV advertising results
- **Prompt:** Create a clean infographic showing home service TV advertising case results.
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- Title: "Home Services TV Results" in bold at top.
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- Three case boxes side by side:
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- Left - "HVAC - Phoenix":
- - AC/cooling icon
- - "$1,200-2,000/month"
- - "35% more inbound calls"
- - "Year-long campaign"
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- Center - "Plumbing - Chicago":
- - Pipe/wrench icon
- - "$800/month"
- - "Better lead quality"
- - "6-month campaign"
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- Right - "Roofing - Texas":
- - House/roof icon
- - "$500/month baseline"
- - "Storm response ready"
- - "Ongoing presence"
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- Bottom note: "Results vary by market, budget, and execution"
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- Style: Clean three-column comparison, professional colors on white background. Trade industry icons.
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- Format 16:9. Numbers prominent and readable.
- **Filename:** case-examples.png
- <!-- /IMAGE -->
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- ## Ready to Become the First Call?
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- Home service businesses thrive on being known and trusted in their service area. TV advertising builds both.
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- With [Adwave](https://adwave.com/industries/home-services/tv-advertising-home-services/), you can launch professional TV commercials targeting homeowners in your service area for as little as $50. No production crews, no massive minimums, no weeks of lead time.
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- Create a commercial featuring your team and services, target the ZIP codes you serve, and start building the name recognition that turns into phone calls.
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- When the AC breaks or the pipe bursts, be the company they call first.
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- [See how TV advertising works for home services](https://adwave.com/industries/home-services/tv-advertising-home-services/) or [create your first ad free](https://adwave.com/try-free/).
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