These are the questions Ottawa trades owners ask us most, answered plainly. If yours isn't here, call, text or email and ask it directly; a short question usually gets a short answer the same day or the next business day.
Frequently asked questions
How much does marketing cost with Ottawa.Marketing?
Plans follow Trades.Agency pricing: Growth at $1,999 a month month-to-month or $1,499 billed annually, Elite at $3,999 or $2,999, and Enterprise at $7,999 or $5,999. Ad spend and any French copywriting are paid separately, and tax is added.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No. Every plan rolls month to month, and you can walk away with 30 days' notice. Choosing annual billing is up to you; it trims the monthly price.
How quickly will I see results?
Google Ads can produce calls within days of launch. Google Business Profile fixes often help within weeks. Competitive organic rankings usually take several months, and a year is a fair horizon for large gains.
We tried an agency before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
We can't promise it will be. What we can do is set a maximum cost per lead before spending, report on calls and booked jobs rather than clicks, keep every account in your name, and tell you when something isn't working. Bring your old reports and we'll show you what we'd change.
Who owns the website, domain and ad accounts?
You do. Your domain, website content, Google Business Profile and ad accounts are in your business's name. If you leave, they stay with you.
Do you write French ads and pages yourselves?
No. We plan the French campaigns, research French keywords and write detailed briefs, but we recommend a professional French copywriter or a certified translator writes or reviews the copy. Good French copy is a specialist skill.
Is a French campaign worth it for my business?
It depends on your wards, your trade and whether you can serve French-speaking customers. In the 2021 Census, 14.1% of Ottawa residents had French as their first official language, concentrated more in some wards than others. We test it as a separate campaign so the answer comes from your own numbers.
What reports will I get?
A monthly report in plain language: calls, texts and emails by source, cost per lead against your ceiling, booked jobs where you share them, and results split by language and ward cluster. Early on, we'll also flag what we changed and why.
Can you promise first place on Google?
No one honestly can. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. We work on the factors Google describes: relevance, distance and prominence.
Are you a contractor or a lead-selling service?
Neither. We don't install, repair or service anything, and we don't sell your leads to other companies. Every lead we generate goes to your business.
Can you help us expand into Gatineau?
We can plan the marketing and point you to the Quebec regulators, such as the RBQ for contractor licensing and the OQLF for French-language rules. Whether you may work there is a question for them or your lawyer.
Do you work only with HVAC companies?
No. This site is for every kind of Ottawa trade and home-service business. The case studies we publish happen to be results from our HVAC work, and we label them as exactly that.
How do we get started?
Call, text or email with your trade, the wards you serve and your biggest marketing problem. Eligible trades businesses get a free 30-minute first consultation.
Money and contracts
The two biggest worries are cost and being locked in. Plans start at $1,999 a month month-to-month, and you can leave with 30 days' notice. The full breakdown, including what sits outside the plan price such as ad spend and French copywriting, is on the pricing page.
A practical tip: before talking to any agency, work out your break-even cost per lead. Take your average job value, multiply by your gross margin, then by your close rate. That one number protects you from overpaying, whoever you hire.
French and bilingual campaigns
Most Ottawa owners ask whether French is worth the effort. Our honest answer is "test it". We run French as its own campaign with its own pages and tracking, so within a couple of months you can see its cost per lead next to English.
We're also upfront that we don't write French copy in-house. We recommend professional French copywriters or certified translators, and we brief them. The reasoning is explained on the bilingual campaigns page and in our French campaigns guide.
Ownership and past agencies
Many owners come to us after a bad experience: an agency that owned the website, held the ad account, or reported on clicks while the phone stayed quiet. Our rule is simple. Everything is in your name, from the domain to the ads, and reports are about calls and jobs.
If you've been burned before, bring your old reports to the first conversation. We'll go through them with you and point out what was missing, even if you decide not to hire us.
Timelines and expectations
Owners often ask how soon they'll know whether marketing is working. A fair rule of thumb: paid search tells you something within a few weeks, a rebuilt Google Business Profile within a month or two, and organic search over several months to a year.
That's why early reports focus on leading signs, such as calls from the profile, search terms that convert and cost per lead against your ceiling, before the bigger numbers settle. If something isn't moving after a fair test, we'll say so and change course rather than wait for the contract to run out. There isn't one to run out.
Reporting you can read in five minutes
Every monthly report answers four questions in plain words:
- How many people called, texted or emailed, and from which source?
- What did each lead cost, compared with the ceiling we agreed?
- How many became booked jobs, where you share that figure?
- What did we change this month, and what are we changing next?
For bilingual clients, each answer is split by English and French. For clients working several ward clusters, it's split by cluster too, so a strong area can't hide a weak one.
Working with your existing team
Many Ottawa trades already have someone handling the website, a nephew running social media or an office manager who answers reviews. That's fine. We'll work alongside them, take over only what you want us to, and make sure everyone knows who owns which task, so nothing falls between the cracks.
Coverage and what we don't do
We cover all 24 Ottawa wards and nearby towns where your crews already travel; see the areas page. We don't do the trade work, give legal or licensing advice, or decide whether you can work in Quebec. For that, we point you to the regulators and recommend you take proper advice.
Want to see the evidence behind our method first? The results page lists each published case study, named and linked.
Sources
- Statistics Canada: Census Profile 2021, Ottawa (CV) (2026-10-22)
- Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (2026-10-22)
- Trades.Agency: Pricing (2026-10-22)