A research-backed marketing system built specifically for fixitexperts.com — covering SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads, and Apple search Ads across both sides of your marketplace: Michigan homeowners and the contractors who serve them.
FIXIT is a Michigan-based home services marketplace with two iOS + Android apps connecting homeowners to verified local contractors — with upfront pricing, no phone calls, and (right now) zero lead fees for pros. That last bit is your sharpest weapon against Thumbtack and Angi.
Fixit Client app for homeowners + Fixit Experts app for contractors. Two funnels, two messages.
10 cities served — Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Dearborn, Flint, Sterling Heights, Canton, Troy, Livonia.
$0 lead fees for contractors (limited time) + upfront pricing for homeowners. Both sides have a reason to switch.
Web converts to app installs (iOS + Android). Apple Search Ads + Google Ads app campaigns must run.
The single biggest mistake most marketplace marketers make is mixing supply-side and demand-side audiences in the same campaign. We split everything from day one — different campaigns, different creatives, different keywords, different landing pages.
The home services category is not empty — but every incumbent has structural weaknesses we can attack on day one.
Paid ads are rented attention. SEO is owned attention — and for a hyperlocal home services marketplace, local SEO is the single highest-leverage long-term play. The good news: your /services/ and /locations/ pages are already structured correctly. The work now is depth, links, and Google Business Profiles.
You have 10 cities × 7+ services. That's 70+ legitimate landing pages (e.g. /plumbing-detroit, /hvac-canton). Each with unique copy, real local FAQs, embedded contractor count, and city-specific testimonials. This alone can dominate "plumber Detroit" searches.
Set up GBPs for each Michigan service area. Push contractors to claim profiles inside FIXIT. Map pack visibility = the #1 driver for "near me" searches and is harder for competitors to copy than blog content.
Two content tracks: (1) homeowner pain queries — "how much does it cost to fix a leaking faucet in Michigan", (2) contractor-acquisition queries — "best app for handyman jobs 2026". Target 8–12 articles/month minimum.
Local Michigan press (Detroit Free Press, MLive), trade association mentions, partnerships with home blogs. Plus App Store Optimization for both apps — title, subtitle, keywords, screenshots — which feeds back into Apple Search Ads cost.
Each cluster is a content bucket. Target the "money" keywords with landing pages, the long-tail with blog posts.
When someone Googles "emergency plumber Dearborn" at 11pm, that is not a person we want to lose. Google Search captures bottom-of-funnel demand better than any other paid channel. Our structure: 4 ruthlessly separated campaigns, exact-match heavy, mobile-first, with conversion tracking from install through booking.
Highest intent, highest CPC, highest conversion rate. "Emergency plumber near me", "24 hour electrician Detroit". Bid aggressively. Mobile call extensions. Run 24/7 but boost 7am–10am and 5pm–10pm.
"Handyman near me", "appliance repair Canton", "painter Ann Arbor". Lower intent than emergency, larger volume, cheaper clicks. Use as the workhorse for cost per install.
Tied to Firebase. Optimize for in-app booking event, not raw installs. Auto-targets Search, YouTube, Display, Play Store. The cheapest channel for sheer volume — let the algo work.
"Get handyman jobs", "Thumbtack alternative", "contractor leads no fee". Cheaper clicks, totally different message ("$0 lead fees"). Sends to /for-contractors landing page, not the homeowner home page.
Google catches people who already have a leak. Meta convinces people to keep FIXIT installed for when the leak happens — and convinces every Michigan contractor that they should ditch Thumbtack. Meta in 2026 is a creative war: the ad creative is the targeting. We need 5–10 fresh creatives per week, UGC-led, problem-focused.
50%+ of app discovery happens in the App Store search bar. ASA puts you at position #1 for "handyman near me" inside the App Store itself. We run two completely separate ASA accounts — one for Fixit Client, one for Fixit Experts — each with the four-campaign Apple-recommended structure.
Below is the current active budget allocation. Total: $2,000/month — running Google Ads and Meta Ads now. SEO and Apple Search Ads will be tested next month.
If you don't know your CAC and your LTV, you're not running marketing — you're gambling. These are the numbers I want to see in your dashboard within 30 days.
Strategy without sequencing is wishful thinking. Here's the exact order of operations for the first 90 days — what gets built when, and what we're measuring at each gate.
Install Firebase, Meta CAPI, ASA attribution, GA4. Define booking event. Audit current GBP listings. Rip baseline metrics so we know what "improvement" means.
High-intent campaigns first. Emergency + General Search on Google. Exact + Brand + Competitor on ASA (both apps). These pay back fastest — they fund the rest.
Launch Funnel A (homeowners) + Funnel B (contractors). Onboard 1 UGC creator for 8 videos / mo. Test 5 creative angles per audience. Kill losers fast.
Generate 70+ city × service pages with unique copy. Publish first 8 SEO articles. Schema markup everywhere. Submit to Search Console. Push GBP listings live.
Now that we have 30+ days of data, light up Google Performance Max, Meta retargeting funnels, and 1% lookalikes. Double budget on top 20% of keywords.
Top-performing channels get 50–100% budget increase. Expand from Detroit-metro to additional MI cities one at a time. Begin authority backlink outreach to local press.
I've seen every one of these mistakes kill a marketplace's marketing. Avoiding them is half the job.
One campaign, two intents = both perform badly. Always isolate funnels.
Cheap installs that never book = vanity. Optimize on the in-app booking event.
Pre-data, broad match torches budget on irrelevant queries. Exact + Phrase only for 30 days.
Homeowner traffic ≠ contractor traffic. Need separate LPs with separate hooks.
For app-first companies in the US, ASA is often the cheapest CPI channel. Most founders skip it.
Meta in 2026 is a creative war. You need 5–10 fresh creatives per week, not per quarter.
This plan is the architecture. The next step is execution: tracking setup, account builds, creative production, and the first 30 days of paid spend. Pick a start date and we go.
Let's Build →