Let's TalkLet's TalkA security company is valued on the monitoring it keeps, not the systems it installs. Customers are choosing who to trust with the keys to their home or business - after years of door-to-door pressure selling and DIY kits that promise to make professionals unnecessary. Security company marketing has to earn that trust and keep it.
Give us access to your ad accounts, Google Business Profile and a few months of installs with their monitoring outcomes. We come back with where your monitored accounts really came from, how much enquiry was DIY research, job seekers or the wrong kind of security, which offers bring customers who stay and what we would change first. You get a recorded walkthrough; there is no call to sit through.
Four failures we see repeatedly in this vertical, and what each one actually costs.
The FTC warns homeowners about door-to-door security sellers who claim to have taken over the customer's existing account and press them to buy new equipment and sign new contracts on the spot. Customers who have met that tactic, or read about it, approach every security company warily. A business whose marketing looks like pressure - countdown offers, free equipment with a long contract in small print - is judged by the industry's worst habits.
Self-install systems sold online have taught many homeowners to expect cheap hardware and optional monitoring. Professional installation, proper system design, professional monitoring and local service are worth paying for, but only if the marketing explains why. Companies that compete on hardware price against online retailers lose; those that sell design, response and service win the customers who value them.
Many security companies measure marketing on installs, but the business is valued on the monitoring and service revenue it keeps. Offers that win installs with heavy discounts can bring customers who cancel at the first opportunity. Without tracking which sources produce accounts that stay, marketing optimises for the wrong number.
A family after a burglary, a new homeowner wanting cameras and a smart lock, a shop owner needing access control and a landlord securing several properties buy differently and value different things. One generic 'security solutions' message speaks to none of them, and lets low-value enquiries crowd out the commercial and monitored work that pays best.
Business outcomes rather than dashboard metrics. None of these is a guaranteed number - where we do guarantee something, it is written into the offer above.
The real deliverables, not a list written to make a proposal look thicker.
Not the general agency pitch. The reasons that only apply to this kind of business.
Customers have been warned about high-pressure security sales, so we build marketing that is visibly different: clear prices and contract terms, no countdown offers, named local technicians, your licence details where they apply and an explanation of the right to cancel. The calm, transparent company is the one cautious homeowners and business owners choose.
Professional design, proper installation, monitoring and local service are worth paying for when they are explained. We build pages and campaigns that compare honestly - what a self-install kit does well, where professional monitoring and response matter - so customers choose you for the right reasons and stay for them.
We trace each source to installs and to accounts that are still monitored months later, and report on both. Offers and channels that bring customers who cancel are cut back; those that bring long-term accounts get the budget. Marketing is finally judged on the number the business is actually worth.
Monitored accounts traced to their sources, with retention.
DIY research, guard services and job searches filtered out.
Licensing, technicians, monitoring and contract terms.
Homes, smart homes, businesses and landlords apart.
Upgrades and added services for current customers.
Cost per install and per account still monitored.
The parts of this that come from having run it in this industry before rather than from running it well in general.
Many states license alarm companies. In Texas, for example, the Private Security rules require a licensee's advertisements, business cards included, to show the company name, address and licence number. Showing licensing clearly answers the first question the FTC tells consumers to ask.
In 2014 the FTC settled charges with a national home security company over endorsements by paid spokespeople presented as independent experts. Any reviews, testimonials or partner content in your marketing must be genuine, with any material connection disclosed.
Google's current US list of Local Services Ads categories includes home security. Where available, they charge per lead and show a Google Verified badge for businesses that pass Google's checks - useful in a trade where trust decides the sale.
Customers already monitored often want cameras, smart locks or coverage for a second property. Useful, occasional messages about upgrades grow revenue per account and strengthen the relationship that keeps them from cancelling.
None of our case studies is a security company. The nearest is a skincare brand where the value was in customers who came back - a 41% repeat rate, with email producing 22% of revenue, alongside 8.4x ROAS and $1.1M in revenue. A security company is valued the same way: on customers who stay, renew and add to their service, not on the first sale.
Read the full case studyBy being transparent where pressure sellers are not. Show clear prices and contract terms, name your technicians, display licence details where they apply and explain the right to cancel. The FTC tells consumers to ask for identification and licence numbers and to be wary of anyone claiming to have taken over their account - so make it obvious you welcome those questions.
Not on hardware price. Explain honestly what a self-install kit does well and where professional design, installation, monitoring and local service make a difference - correct sensor placement, reliable monitoring, someone to call when something fails. Customers who choose you for those reasons are also the ones most likely to keep their monitoring.
Carefully. Free or heavily discounted equipment tied to a long monitoring contract attracts customers, but if the contract terms are buried, it also attracts complaints and cancellations, and it looks like the tactics customers have been warned about. If you make the offer, state the contract length, monthly cost and cancellation terms clearly in the ad and on the page.
It depends on the state, and sometimes the city. Texas, for example, licenses alarm companies through its Private Security programme, and its rules require advertisements - business cards included - to show the company name, address and licence number. Check the rules where you work, and show licence details clearly wherever they apply.
For sales made in the customer's home, it can. The FTC says the Cooling-Off Rule gives buyers three business days to cancel a contract signed at home or anywhere other than the seller's permanent place of business, even if the system has already been installed. Make sure the notice is given and present it as part of a no-pressure approach.
Track each enquiry to installs and to accounts still monitored months later, with their monthly value. Cost per install on its own misleads, because discount-driven installs often cancel. Cost per retained monitored account by source shows which marketing builds the value of the business.
Yes. Business owners and property managers want access control, cameras, monitoring and reliable service across sites, and they decide on reliability and support rather than on a home-style offer. A separate page, campaign and contact route keeps their enquiries apart and lets you judge commercial work on its own results.
Yes, if they are genuine and fairly represent customers' experience. The FTC has acted against a national home security company over endorsements by paid spokespeople presented as independent experts. Never present paid or connected endorsers as independent, disclose any material connection and never edit a review's meaning.
Google's current US list of Local Services Ads categories includes home security, so many security companies can, though availability varies by area. They charge per lead rather than per click, and businesses that pass Google's checks show a Google Verified badge. Compare them with search campaigns on cost per retained account.
With occasional, useful messages about upgrades that genuinely help - cameras, smart locks, a second property, an ageing panel that needs replacing - and prompt, reliable service when something goes wrong. Existing customers are the cheapest growth a security company has, and good service is what stops them cancelling.
This page is the business. These are the individual pieces of it, each written for how that discipline actually behaves in this industry.
Written for owners weighing this up, whether or not they work with us.
This is one part of a bigger service. Here is the whole of it, and the closest neighbours.
No pitch deck, no discovery call you have to sit through. Tell us the situation and we will tell you whether we can help.