I looked at how people across Greater London, Kent and Surrey search for smart-home, home-cinema and automation services. There is paid demand here, but it is also a competitive market. The opportunity is not simply to run ads. It is to prove whether DPP can acquire the right projects profitably, then scale only where the economics justify it.
DPP operates in a category where a single project can be worth several thousand pounds, but London-wide demand is already contested by established smart-home and AV specialists. That makes disciplined acquisition more important than simply chasing more traffic.
The market is not empty. DPP would be entering active auctions against established operators, so success depends on project value, lead quality and acquisition discipline.
The wider catchment creates enough demand to support a meaningful test, but it also raises the standard required to compete. The goal is not maximum reach; it is profitable reach.
Search results change by user, auction, device and time. The opportunity here is not based on DPP being invisible. It is based on the commercial value of capturing a controlled share of high-intent demand.
The first job is to create a hierarchy based on intent, competition and project economics. I would start with the services most likely to produce serious enquiries, learn what a qualified project costs, and only widen investment once the numbers support it.
Capture people already looking for an installer or integrated system. This gives us the cleanest first read on whether DPP can turn active demand into credible project conversations.
Starting focus: 40%Project value can grow quickly when lighting, AV, climate, security and networking sit inside one brief. I would scale this harder only after lead quality proves the economics.
Starting focus: 35%Commercially attractive and highly visual. Search can capture existing intent while Meta and retargeting become more useful later for showcasing completed work and staying visible through a longer buying cycle.
Starting focus: 25%“Start with the demand most likely to turn into serious projects. Keep the first test tight. Scale only when the commercial return earns the right.”
Google Search is the opening identified here because it captures existing intent. It does not need to be the whole strategy. Once we know which project types convert and what an acquired customer is worth, Meta and visual retargeting can showcase completed installations, build familiarity and stay in front of prospects during a longer consideration cycle.
The principle stays the same across channels: budget follows profitable work, not platform activity.
I have hidden the media variables DPP should not need to estimate. The £1,000 monthly media budget is fixed, while the underlying acquisition assumptions scale from the same CPC and conversion logic used in the original model. The editable inputs below are the business numbers DPP is more likely to know: project value, margin and how often a genuine enquiry becomes work.
Calculation: the selected scenario sets a working level of qualified enquiry volume. Enquiries × your close rate = projects; projects × average project value = revenue; gross margin gives gross profit. Net contribution then subtracts the fixed £1,000/month media spend, the £600/month base fee and the 8% success fee.
The model is not there to look clever. It is there to make the decision rules visible.
We can tolerate a higher acquisition cost and expand into more competitive search themes or wider paid media sooner.
We keep the test narrower, protect efficiency and prioritise the clearest commercial-intent searches until the economics improve.
We do not solve it by buying more clicks. We cut query waste, tighten qualification and move budget toward the project types producing credible conversations.
The base fee covers strategy, campaign management, tracking, optimisation and reporting. The success-based element means part of our return rises only when paid media creates project revenue.
plus an 8% success fee on paid-media-driven project value.
Media spend is paid directly to the advertising platform. The £1,000 monthly media budget is treated as the fixed starting investment. The success fee is included in the commercial model, so the net contribution shown above reflects all three costs: media, management and the 8% success fee.
Agency capability. Direct specialist relationship.
I personally handle the marketing science, strategy and account rather than passing it through layers of an agency.
If the opportunity looks interesting, the useful conversation is not “should we run some ads?”. It is what your average projects are actually worth, what gross margin you protect, how many qualified enquiries become work and how much additional capacity you actually want to fill.
