The challenge
Waterloo Turf started as a small, family-owned turf installation company in Austin. The product was never the problem. They installed high-quality, eco-friendly turf built for Texas yards, and their customers loved the results.
Getting noticed was the problem. Austin is a crowded, competitive market. Bigger turf companies with bigger budgets owned the top of Google, and Waterloo’s marketing budget was limited. Homeowners ready to buy turf were searching every day, and most of them never saw Waterloo.
The owners knew what they wanted: more leads, more installs, and eventually a market beyond Austin. They didn’t know where to start. They had also been burned by agencies before, so they weren’t looking for another company that would burn through their budget and send a monthly report. They needed a partner who would treat every ad dollar like their own.
What we did
With a limited budget, every dollar had to go toward homeowners who were ready to buy. We built the campaign around three things.
1. Targeting the searches that turn into installs. We built the campaign around the searches Austin homeowners actually use when they’re ready for a quote, like “turf installation Austin.” We also went through the search terms one by one to find the ones that were expensive and eating up the budget without producing leads, and we cut them. That second step mattered as much as the first. With a small budget, a few expensive keywords can use up the whole month before the good searches get a chance.
2. Ads that sounded like Waterloo. Austin homeowners care about local businesses and about sustainability, so the ads led with Waterloo’s local roots and eco-friendly turf. We also built them around Waterloo’s own slogan, “Get Your Saturdays Back.” Every turf ad promises a green lawn. Waterloo’s promise was the weekend you get back when you stop mowing, and that set them apart from every other ad on the page.
3. Putting the budget where it worked. We used smart bidding to put more of the budget behind the keywords most likely to become booked installs, and we adjusted bids as the data came in. The point wasn’t to spend more. It was to spend the same budget on better searches.
Then we qualified the leads. Once lead volume picked up, Waterloo’s team had a new problem: more quote requests than they could personally follow up on. We built automation to qualify incoming leads before handing them off, so Waterloo’s time went to homeowners who were ready to buy.
The results
Within the first ~90 days:
- Qualified leads tripled. More homeowners and businesses were requesting quotes.
- Cost per click dropped 42%. The same budget brought in more clicks.
- The conversion rate rose 23%. More of those clicks became real quote requests and booked installs.
From Austin to San Antonio to a franchise
The Austin results gave Waterloo the confidence to grow. They expanded into San Antonio, and we launched the same Google Ads approach in the new market. It worked there too. We also added Google Local Services Ads, the “Google Guaranteed” listings at the very top of search results, to increase lead volume.
That growth helped set the stage for Waterloo’s next step: launching a franchise with locations across Texas. A franchise takes a lot more than good ads. It takes a strong product, a great team and a model that works. What Google Ads gave Waterloo was a steady, predictable flow of qualified leads, the kind of foundation that makes it possible to open a second market and then a third.
What other turf companies can take from this
Waterloo’s approach works for any turf installer trying to grow without a giant budget.
- Target local searches from people ready to buy. “Turf installation [your city]” is worth far more than broad searches like “artificial grass.”
- Cut the expensive keywords that don’t produce leads. On a smaller budget, what you stop paying for matters as much as what you target.
- Make your ads sound like you. If you have a slogan, a story or local roots, put them in your ads. “Get Your Saturdays Back” did more for Waterloo than any generic headline would have.
- Plan for success. When leads triple, follow-up becomes the bottleneck. Have a way to qualify and respond to leads quickly before you scale up.
