For a small home service company, marketing isn’t optional. It’s one of the hardest and most important parts of staying in business.
Google dominates local service searches today. Whether someone needs a plumber, electrician, HVAC technician, landscaper, or tree service, there’s a good chance their search starts online.
The problem is that competing on Google costs money, sometimes a lot of it.
Our tree company spends roughly $3,000–$5,000 per month on Google advertising, and the return isn’t always great. Larger home service companies can spend far more. Many of them have entire marketing departments, outside agencies, sophisticated websites, and advertising budgets that a small locally owned company simply can’t match.
That’s why platforms like Nextdoor have historically been so valuable to businesses like ours.
Small businesses need multiple ways to reach customers
Most small home service companies don’t have massive advertising budgets. We piece together customers from many different places.
We put our phone number on our trucks. We put out yard signs. We knock on doors. We ask customers for referrals. We work on our Google presence. We advertise. And, for years, many of us have participated in neighborhood conversations on Nextdoor.
These are all different “marketing channels”, although plenty of small business owners probably don’t even use that term. We’re busy running crews, fixing equipment, answering phones, sending estimates, and actually doing the work.
Nextdoor was particularly useful because it connected local businesses with people at the exact moment they needed help.
A homeowner might post:
“Can anyone recommend someone to remove a tree in my backyard?”
A small local tree company could see that post, respond, and potentially have someone there to provide an estimate very quickly.
That was good for us, but I would argue it was also good for the homeowner.
Nextdoor’s changes alter that relationship
Nextdoor has recently changed how businesses can interact with these types of opportunities. Business owners have reported restrictions on responding directly to neighbors seeking services, with some of those opportunities instead being routed through paid products.
There has already been pushback from small business owners asking Nextdoor to reconsider the new restrictions.
I understand Nextdoor’s side of this. Nextdoor is a business. It has employees, investors, technology costs, and shareholders, and it has to generate revenue. Advertising and paid business products are an obvious way to do that.
But there is an unintended consequence:
The more you make businesses pay simply to participate in conversations where someone is actively looking for their services, the more you favor companies with the largest marketing budgets.
And those aren’t necessarily the best companies for the homeowner.
They’re simply the companies that can afford to be everywhere.
The bigger companies already have an enormous advantage
This isn’t unique to tree service.
Look at plumbing, HVAC, electrical work, roofing, landscaping, pest control, or almost any other home service industry.
Increasingly, large regional and national companies, including companies backed by private equity, have the capital to dominate digital advertising.
They can spend heavily on Google Ads. They can hire SEO agencies. They can buy leads. They can advertise across multiple platforms simultaneously.
A five person or ten person locally owned company can’t play that game at the same scale.
Platforms such as Nextdoor historically offered something different: a genuinely local marketplace where reputation, responsiveness, and neighbor recommendations could sometimes matter more than advertising budgets.
That’s what makes these changes disappointing.
Local doesn’t automatically mean better, but it’s worth looking
I’m not suggesting that every small company is better than every large company. There are excellent large home service companies and bad small ones.
Customers should still check reviews, insurance, experience, reputation, and whether a company is qualified to perform the work.
But I do think homeowners should make an effort to find genuinely local companies.
When you search Google, don’t automatically assume that the first company you see is the best company. Often, you’re seeing the company that is best at marketing, or the company willing and able to spend the most money acquiring your business.
Scroll a little farther.
Ask your neighbors.
Look at the trucks working in your neighborhood.
Look at yard signs.
Read reviews.
Find out who actually owns the company.
And when possible, give a good local business an opportunity to earn your business.
That’s the kind of company we’re trying to build
We’re a locally owned tree company. We’re small, and that’s intentional.
We employ local people, buy equipment locally, work in the same neighborhoods where we live, and depend heavily on our reputation.
We’re also not the only good local tree company around.
If we’re too busy to take your job, I’m happy to recommend another local tree company that I trust. I’d rather see the work go to another good local operator than pretend we’re the only company capable of doing it.
Small businesses will continue adapting. We’ll use Google. We’ll put out yard signs. We’ll ask for referrals. We’ll knock on doors. We’ll put our numbers on our trucks. We’ll advertise on Nextdoor when it makes financial sense. And we’ll probably invent a few more ways to get our names in front of customers.
That’s what small businesses do.
But Nextdoor’s recent changes are a good reminder of something bigger:
When you’re hiring someone to work on your home, take an extra few minutes to look beyond whoever paid the most to get in front of you.
There may be a great locally owned company right down the street.
MTM Tree Services LLC is an owner / operator led tree service team in Charlotte NC. Text or call 704-965-3589 for a free quote. Licensed & insured. Certified arborist on staff.
