Fractional CMO · Home Services

Marketing leadership built for the trades.

I'm Katie Smith. Since 2010, I've led marketing for plumbing, electrical, and HVAC companies across the Southeast — from family-owned shops to private equity-backed platforms. Now I bring that experience to your business, without the full-time executive price tag.

16+
Years in the Trades
3
Core Trades Served
MDFL
Southeast Footprint
2
Worlds: Family-Owned & PE
About Katie

I've sat in your seat — not just studied it.

Most marketing consultants have never dispatched a technician, staffed a call center, or sweated a slow shoulder season. I have. Since 2010, I've worked inside residential home service companies — plumbing, electrical, heating and air — doing the marketing and living the operations that make or break it.

I've built marketing engines for small, family-owned independents where every dollar had to book a job, and for private equity-backed organizations where growth targets, reporting, and integration set the pace. I know both worlds, and I know how differently they run.

My work has taken me across the Southeast — everywhere from Maryland down to Florida — through every season, market, and demand swing the region can throw at a home service business.

And because marketing in the trades never stops at marketing, neither does my experience. I've organized a call center, run recruiting, handled hiring and training, and built employee engagement programs. When your leads go up, I know what it takes for the rest of the business to catch them.

What I bring to the table

  • 16+ years marketing residential plumbing, electrical & HVAC
  • Fractional CMO leadership — strategy through execution
  • Call center organization and CSR performance
  • Recruiting, hiring & training for the trades
  • Employee engagement & retention programs
  • Experience with family-owned and PE-backed operators
  • Deep knowledge of Southeast markets, MD to FL
Services

Every way I help the trades win.

Marketing leadership is the core — but home service companies don't grow in silos. I work across the whole revenue engine.

Fractional CMO Leadership

Executive-level marketing strategy, budgeting, and accountability on a part-time basis. I set the plan, manage the vendors and agencies, and own the results — so you get a CMO's impact without a CMO's salary.

Demand & Lead Generation

Season-smart campaigns built for how the trades actually work — filling the board in shoulder season, capturing peak demand, and keeping cost per booked job honest across every channel.

Call Center & CSR Operations

Leads only matter if they get booked. I've organized a call center from the ground up — structure, scripting, training, and metrics that turn ringing phones into scheduled jobs.

Recruiting & Hiring

The hardest marketing problem in the trades isn't customers — it's technicians. I've run recruiting, hiring, and training programs that treat talent acquisition like the marketing challenge it is.

Employee Engagement

Retention is cheaper than recruiting. I build engagement programs that keep techs, CSRs, and office teams bought in — protecting the culture that family-owned shops are built on, even through growth.

Growth & PE Readiness

Having worked inside private equity-backed organizations, I know the KPIs, reporting discipline, and growth expectations that come with institutional ownership — whether you're already there or preparing for it.

Industries

Residential home services. Full stop.

I don't dabble across twenty industries. I've spent my entire career in the trades that keep homes running.

🔧

Plumbing

From drain calls to repipes — marketing that balances demand service volume with big-ticket project work.

Electrical

Building electrical brands that win the service call today and the panel upgrade, generator, and EV charger tomorrow.

❄️

Heating & Air

Seasonal demand is the whole game in HVAC. I plan marketing around it — replacement, service, and maintenance agreements.

Serving the Southeast — Maryland · Virginia · The Carolinas · Georgia · Florida — and beyond
Signature Work

Where I go beyond the playbook.

Two things you won't find on other consultants' service lists.

Award-Winning Community Events

I create community involvement programs and events for home service brands that have won industry recognition — the kind of local trust and press that ad budgets can't buy.

Full showcase coming soon

Reddit Marketing for the Trades

Paid Reddit advertising plus organic community building — a channel almost nobody in home services is using, where homeowners are already asking who to hire.

Full showcase coming soon

Who I Work With

Two worlds. One playbook that flexes for both.

Family-Owned & Independent Shops

You've built something real, and every marketing dollar comes out of your pocket. I bring big-company marketing discipline scaled to your budget — practical, accountable, and respectful of the name on the truck.

Private Equity-Backed Platforms

You have growth targets, a board deck, and a hold period. I've operated inside PE-backed home service organizations and speak the language — KPIs, integration, brand strategy across acquisitions, and marketing that scales.

How It Works

Fractional means flexible — not lightweight.

You get a seasoned marketing executive embedded in your business for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.

01

Discovery Call

We talk about your business, your market, and where growth is stuck. No pitch deck, no pressure — just a real conversation between people who know the trades.

02

Assessment & Plan

I dig into your marketing, call center, and growth engine, then deliver a clear-eyed assessment and a prioritized plan — what to fix first, what to stop paying for, and where the upside is.

03

Ongoing Leadership

I embed with your team on a fractional basis — leading strategy, managing execution, and owning the numbers. You get CMO-level accountability sized to your business.

Let's talk about your growth.

Book a no-pressure discovery call. Thirty minutes, straight talk, and you'll walk away with something useful whether we work together or not.

Schedule a Discovery Call
Prefer email? Reach me at ksmith@katiesmithconsults.com