The Challenge

Kencor Elevator is an independent elevator installation, service, and maintenance company serving Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. They do everything the national elevator companies do — construction, modernization, repair, testing, inspections — but without the brand recognition that comes with being a household name.

That’s the core challenge for any independent trades or service company competing against larger players: you may be better, faster, and more responsive, but you’re invisible online unless your digital marketing is working. When Marketing Practicality came on board in 2014, Kencor’s Google Ads account was generating leads — but inefficiently. Cost per lead peaked at $41.80 in 2018, and the conversion rate in the early years of the campaign sat under 5% — meaning fewer than 5 out of every 100 visitors who clicked an ad became a lead.

The elevator business is also distinctly B2B in its sales cycle. A building manager searching for elevator maintenance isn’t making an impulse decision — they’re evaluating vendors, comparing service agreements, and thinking about long-term maintenance contracts. The marketing had to attract the right companies, not just any clicks. For a deeper look at how these principles apply to trades marketing, see our HVAC Google Ads deep-dive.

Why This Case Study Matters for Trades Companies

Elevator installation and service shares more DNA with HVAC, plumbing, and roofing than it might appear:

• Emergency response is a core service — a stuck elevator in a commercial building is the functional equivalent of a burst pipe or a failed HVAC unit in August. Speed of response is a purchase driver.
• The work is high-ticket and relationship-driven — service contracts and maintenance agreements create long customer lifetime value, just like commercial HVAC or plumbing relationships.
• Local and regional search dominates — “elevator company near me” and “elevator repair Philadelphia” follow the same pattern as “HVAC repair Cherry Hill” or “plumber Wilmington DE.”
• Competition is a mix of national giants and local independents — exactly the landscape most trades companies navigate every day.

The principles that drove Kencor’s results over 12 years apply directly to any trades business: better keyword targeting, tighter geographic focus, messaging that speaks to the buyer’s actual situation, and consistent optimization that compounds over time.

The Approach

The Kencor campaign was rebuilt around a cleaner understanding of who was actually searching and what they needed to see before picking up the phone.

• Service-specific campaigns — Rather than one broad “elevator company” campaign, the account was structured around specific service needs: repair, maintenance contracts, new installation, modernization, and testing. Each search type has a different buyer with a different urgency level and a different decision timeline.
• Geography-matched targeting — Kencor serves a defined four-state footprint. The campaign was built to reflect that coverage precisely — not too broad to waste budget on out-of-territory clicks, not so narrow as to miss searchers across the service area. Local keyword variants by city and county kept cost-per-click down while maintaining relevance.
• B2B-appropriate messaging — Ad copy was written for facilities managers, building owners, and property management companies — not residential homeowners. “Fast elevator repair for commercial buildings” and “24/7 emergency elevator service” speak to the buyer who matters. Generic elevator ads speak to no one.
• Continuous refinement over the long term — The account has been actively managed since 2014. The conversion rate improvement from 4.0% to 18.9% didn’t happen in a single campaign change. It happened through years of negative keyword additions, bid adjustments, ad copy testing, and landing page alignment that accumulated into a fundamentally better-performing account.

The Results: 12 Years of Data

From 32 leads in 2015 to 305 leads in 2025 — while spending less. The conversion rate improvement tells the deeper story: the same click that once converted 4 times out of 100 now converts nearly 19 times out of 100. The campaign isn’t just cheaper — it’s fundamentally more efficient at turning searchers into inquiries.

Kencor Elevator — Annual Campaign Performance

† 2015 partial year — campaign launched April 2014.   ‡ January 1 – September 17, 2026 (YTD). Green = campaign record. Gold = campaign high.

What These Numbers Actually Mean

The headline CPL number — peak $41.80 down to $14.85 — understates what actually changed. The more important shift is in conversion rate: from 4.0% in 2015 to 18.9% in 2025. Kencor is now getting nearly five times as many leads from the same quality of traffic. The campaign isn’t just cheaper — it’s fundamentally more efficient at turning searchers into inquiries.

The spend story is equally instructive. In 2016, Kencor spent $4,849 to get 187 leads. In 2025, they spent $4,531 — less money — and got 305 leads. That’s the compounding effect of 12 years of consistent management: better keyword hygiene, smarter bidding, tighter geographic targeting, and ad copy that speaks directly to the companies that actually hire elevator contractors.

The total picture: 2,395 legitimate phone calls and form submissions over 12 years, at an average of $23.28 per lead. For a business where a single service contract can be worth tens of thousands of dollars, that math works.

By the Numbers: Early Campaign vs. Today

The clicks-down, conversions-up story deserves attention. In 2016: 5,184 clicks, 187 leads. In 2025: 1,613 clicks, 305 leads. Kencor is spending less, attracting less raw traffic, and converting dramatically more of it. That’s what a well-optimized account looks like — not more volume, better volume.

The Transferable Principles: What This Means for Trades Companies

Whether you run an HVAC company, a plumbing operation, a roofing business, or any skilled trade — the same dynamics apply:

• High-ticket services justify the investment. When a single job is worth $5,000 to $50,000, a $15 cost per lead isn’t a cost — it’s a return. The math works across every skilled trade.
• Emergency intent is the highest-value search. “Elevator stuck,” “emergency HVAC repair,” and “burst pipe plumber” share the same psychology: the buyer needs someone now and price is secondary. Capturing that intent efficiently is the whole game.
• Efficiency beats volume. The Kencor account generates fewer clicks today than it did in 2016 — and significantly more leads. Better targeting, better ad copy, and better landing pages convert the right traffic at a fraction of the cost of buying more clicks.
• Consistency compounds. The accounts that perform best after a decade aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones that have been actively managed — negative keywords added, bids adjusted, ad copy refreshed — month after month, year after year.
• Don’t go dark in slow seasons. Kencor maintained its campaign through the COVID slowdown in 2020. When demand returned in 2021, they were positioned to capture it immediately. Trades companies that pause advertising during slow periods often miss the recovery entirely.