Meet Melanie Ivanova: Turning Data, Creativity & Strategy Into Better Leads

At 99 Calls, lead generation is about more than getting the phone to ring. Behind every campaign is a team looking at the details: Google Ads performance, lead quality, landing pages, branding, search behavior, budgets, territories, and the data that tells us what to do next.

In this edition of our Meet the Team series, we sat down with Melanie Ivanova, Lead Specialist & Web Experience Manager at 99 Calls, to talk about what makes home service marketing work, why trust matters online, and why contractors should pay attention to quality over sheer lead volume.

Melanie's approach comes down to something simple: every business is different. Two contractors can offer the same service in the same general market and still need completely different Google Ads strategies.

Q: What strategies can help multi-location service businesses grow?

MELANIE:
Break the business down into individual locations rather than treating every location as one giant market.

Each location should have the opportunity to build its own strong organic presence while still being connected to the larger brand. This allows a company to establish visibility in each individual market and capture customers searching locally.

For a multi-location contractor, think local first. Each market has its own customers, competition, search demand, and opportunities.

Q: What makes someone click one company's ad instead of another?

MELANIE:
Credibility plays a huge role.

A potential customer may see your Google Ad, but that ad is often only the beginning. They may also look for your Google Business Profile, reviews, website, Yelp listing, or other signs that your company is established.

This is especially important for home service businesses.

You're asking someone to invite a contractor they have never met into their home. Customers want to feel comfortable with the company before they make that call. A strong, consistent online presence helps establish that trust.

Q: What makes a Google Ads landing page convert?

MELANIE:
Everything needs to match.

The customer's search, the keyword being targeted, the ad they see, and the landing page they reach should tell the same story.

If someone searches for deck painting and clicks an ad only to land on a page focused on garage floor painting, you have created unnecessary friction. The visitor now has to search your website to figure out whether you even provide the service they need.

Most people aren't going to work that hard.

A strong landing page should make the next step obvious. It should include relevant imagery, the service the customer searched for, credibility factors such as reviews, and a clear reason to contact the business.

Q: Why does branding matter for lead generation?

MELANIE:
Branding creates familiarity.

Think about the major brands you recognize before you even read their names. Colors, logos, fonts, and visual styles become associated with the company.

Small businesses can benefit from that same principle.

Consistent branding across your website, advertising, emails, and other marketing helps customers recognize your business. Over time, that familiarity can contribute to trust and communicate what kind of company you are before a customer ever speaks with you.

Q: What landing page mistake can quietly waste a contractor's Google Ads budget?

MELANIE:
Sending paid traffic to pages that don't match what people searched for.

Keyword relevance and landing page experience are components of Google Ads Quality Score. A poorly matched page can also create a much more immediate problem: people click the ad, arrive on the website, don't find what they expected, and leave.

You're still paying for the click.

When traffic is reaching the website without converting, the campaign team needs to investigate the entire path. That includes the keywords being targeted, the message in the ad, and what the customer sees after clicking.

Q: What should contractors evaluate before deciding their Google Ads aren't working?

MELANIE:
Start with the data. One of the biggest mistakes is focusing exclusively on the number of leads.

More leads sound great, but 200 poor inquiries that produce no jobs aren't particularly useful. A smaller number of qualified leads that consistently turn into paying customers can produce a much stronger return.

Ask better questions:

• How many leads are qualified?
• Which leads turned into estimates?
• Which estimates became jobs?
• Which services are producing the best opportunities?
• What is the actual return on the advertising investment?

If lead volume decreases after optimization but the remaining leads close at a higher rate, the business may actually be in a stronger position.

Q: How can contractors help 99 Calls attract more of the leads they actually want?

MELANIE:
Talk to us. Google Ads management should be a fluid process. Early in a campaign, feedback is especially valuable. Tell us which calls you loved. Tell us which jobs you want more of. And tell us which inquiries weren't a good fit.

That feedback gives the team information that can be used to refine keywords, add negative keywords, adjust targeting, and continue shaping the campaign around the individual business.

No two companies are exactly alike, even when they provide the same service in the same market. Communication helps us understand those differences and optimize accordingly.

Q: Why is tracking so important?

MELANIE:
Because if you don't track it, you don't know. Data may not be the glamorous part of marketing, but it is essential. A contractor should be able to look at individual leads and identify what happened:

• Great lead, closed the job.
• Good lead, customer wasn't ready yet.
• Poor lead, wrong service.
• Qualified opportunity, lost on price.
• Type of job we want more often.

Without that information, marketing decisions can quickly become assumptions. Melanie points to targeting only wealthy ZIP codes as an example. It may sound logical on the surface, but without performance data supporting the decision, a contractor could eliminate areas containing valuable customers.

Q: What marketing decision is too important to leave to chance?

MELANIE:
Assuming you can do everything yourself. Contractors are experts in their trades. A plumber knows plumbing. A roofer knows roofing. An electrician knows electrical systems. Digital marketing has become its own specialty.

Simply having a website and Google Business Profile doesn't automatically create a strong online presence. Websites, local visibility, reviews, advertising, content, tracking, and conversion strategy all have to work together.

The internet has changed dramatically, and businesses need an online presence built for the way customers search today.

The Takeaway From Melanie

If there's one theme that runs through Melanie's approach to lead generation, it's pay attention to what the data and your customers are telling you.

Build credibility. Keep your branding consistent. Make your landing pages relevant. Track your leads. Communicate with your marketing team. Give campaigns the information they need to improve.

And don't assume that what works for the contractor down the street will automatically work for you.

Your business has its own goals, territory, customers, budget, and definition of a great lead.

That's exactly why your marketing strategy should be built around your business.