November Marketing Review — 2025-10-28

Client: ^[1]
Meeting type: Monthly marketing review
Source: Fathom recording

Attendees:
- AHS: Gina Richardson, Bob Stigsell, Brady (brady@madisonasbestos.com)
- Asymmetric: Sebastian Gant, Karly Oykhman, Mark Hope, Avokerie Onorimuo, Paul Buniel

Overview

Monthly review covering November social content, PPC performance and budget adjustments, a rescheduled video project, training email campaign strategy, and two new tool discussions (website chat, mass texting). Closed with approval of a $250 one-time Domain Rating boost.

Key Decisions

Social Posts — November Revisions

Vermiculite Post

• Graphic: Replace fiberglass insulation image with an attic vermiculite photo (avoid wall images — wall remediation is difficult and not a service AHS promotes).
• Copy:
• Change "could contain asbestos" → "In Wisconsin, vermiculite contains asbestos."
• Replace "testing" with "inspection" or "evaluation" (AHS does not perform asbestos testing).
• Add mention of potential rebate/refund available to homeowners.

Safety Training Post

• Graphic: Replace outdoor photo with an indoor classroom setting.
• Copy: Localize — "right here in Madison" or "Dane County."

Asbestos Services Post

• Graphic: Replace sharps/disposal container image (conveys needles and pathogens) with an asbestos-specific image such as a labeled asbestos disposal bag.
• Copy: Refine service area → "serving homeowners and contractors in Madison and Southern Wisconsin" or "Dane County and surrounding areas."

Thanksgiving Review Post

• Copy: Remove employee first name ("Julian") — replace with "our foreman" or "the crew."
• Link: Add direct link to Google Reviews.

PPC Performance & Strategy

Current Performance

• PMAX: ~30 lead forms submitted.
• Display: 7 conversions — 2 asbestos calls, 5 mold calls, 2 email contacts.
• Lead Paint: New campaign at $5/day; only 2 clicks so far due to low competition in the auction. Expected to grow slowly.
• Microsoft Ads: $72 spent over 30 days, 2 conversions — effective supplemental channel; will continue running.

Sebastian noted AHS's Google Ads account is among the stronger performers in Asymmetric's portfolio.

Budget Adjustment

Gina flagged increased public discussion around asbestos (driven by a politically adjacent news story about building demolition). The team agreed to capitalize on elevated search interest without engaging the political angle.

• Action: Restore asbestos campaign daily budget to $20/day (from $15). The $5 previously moved to lead paint remains there; the $5 increase is net new.

Video Project

• Status: Rescheduled. Homeowner (the shoot location) needed to confirm a new date.
• Sebastian: Will resend videographer availability to Gina immediately after the meeting.
• Gina: Will confirm a new date with the homeowner and relay to Sebastian.
• Billing: Asymmetric will cover the upfront videographer fee; AHS will receive a bill from Mark Hope.

Email Marketing — Training Campaigns

Problem

The initial email blast for the November 19 Madison training yielded zero registrations despite a reasonably high open rate. Contributing factors:
- Email list of 1,067 contacts has a ~30% bounce rate (~300 bounced addresses) — list is significantly outdated.
- AHS is no longer using MailChimp (previously ~$75/month); Asymmetric is handling sends as part of the retainer.

Upcoming Training Dates

Plan

• Asymmetric (Sebastian + Chris) to draft and send a new urgent email campaign by end of week, prioritizing the Nov 19 event.
• Dec 11–12 Kalahari training to be included in the same send.
• Sebastian to locate the Dec 11–12 Google Forms registration link; if missing, request from Gina.
• Strategy: three rounds of awareness emails is the target cadence going forward.

List Growth

• Gina suggested pulling school maintenance contacts from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) website.
• Sebastian to research feasibility and incorporate into list-building efforts alongside the next campaign draft.

New Tools — Research Items

Website Chat Feature

• Goal: Floating icon (bottom corner) for live chat — not an intrusive pop-up.
• Previous setup: Facebook Messenger integration, but high spam volume made it unreliable.
• Options to evaluate: RingCentral (already in use for VOIP), HubSpot (free tier), paid options (~$99/month).
• Key requirement: Any AI-assisted answers must be vetted for accuracy. Asbestos regulations vary by state (e.g., vermiculite is legally considered asbestos in Wisconsin but may not be elsewhere), and misinformation is a real risk.
• Status: Research ongoing. Classified as a want, not a need.

Mass Texting

• Goal: Promote trainings and events (e.g., NARI Home Show, Jan 24–25).
• Current constraint: MarketSharp texting is nearly at monthly capacity — already used heavily for operational appointment reminders.
• Options to evaluate: MarketSharp add-on capacity, RingCentral (currently limited to 10 texts at a time), external mass texting platform.
• Compliance note: All marketing texts must include an opt-in/opt-out mechanism.
• Status: Research ongoing. Classified as a want, not a need.

Domain Rating (DR) Boost

• What it is: A one-time backlink-building service to raise AHS's website Domain Rating (Ahrefs scale) to DR 30.
• Why it matters: Domain Rating is a key signal Google uses when ranking organic search results. Higher DR supports all ongoing SEO efforts. The scale is exponential — each point gained at higher levels carries more weight.
• Cost: $250 one-time fee.
• Guarantee: DR maintained at or above 30 for 12 months; if it drops below 30, the provider will restore it.
• Timeline: Backlink work begins immediately; expect the DR to reflect the change within ~30 days.
• Decision: Approved. Sebastian to notify Mark Hope to initiate the service.
• Follow-up: Sebastian will report on DR movement and correlating organic traffic changes at a future review.

Action Items

Selected Transcript Excerpts

On vermiculite copy accuracy:

Gina Richardson: "In the state of Wisconsin, vermiculite contains asbestos, period. So the 'could be' and 'should be' stuff — we would have to get rid of that."

On the sharps container graphic:

Bob Stigsell: "To me it conveys viruses and needles, and we're talking about asbestos."
Gina Richardson: "There should be like even a garbage bag, but it should say like asbestos on it... literally, they're thrown away in garbage bags. They're special bags, but that's what they are."

On the PPC budget increase rationale:

Gina Richardson: "Since people are talking about asbestos, let's get them more with asbestos, is what I'm saying."
Bob Stigsell: "I don't want to get involved with anything political for us, for sure."

On the email list quality:

Gina Richardson: "There's 1,067 emails in this database. Of those, nearly 300 bounced."

On AI chat accuracy concerns:

Gina Richardson: "There's so much misinformation out there in the world about asbestos... I wouldn't do it without the questions being questions that I get all the time and then me writing the answer."

On the DR boost:

Bob Stigsell: "$250 — if you think it's something we should do, we will do it."
Sebastian Gant: "Yeah, we recommend it 100%."