Marketing genius Perry Marshall discovered something that changed how I think about tree service marketing forever.

He calls it the "Tactical Triangle" - and it breaks down every business transaction into exactly three components.

An example:

Traffic: People who could hire you (“homeowners,” “property managers,” etc.)

Conversion: Reasons they actually do hire you (“24-hr response,” “ISA certified,” “24/7 availability”)

Economics: How much money you make when they do (“target profit per job,” “allowable CPL.”)

The triangle is fractal. It can apply to different parts of your business, not just marketing.

But every marketing challenge your tree service faces fits into one of these three buckets.

Here's what most tree services miss: They think linearly. Get traffic → convert traffic → make money. But successful tree services think backwards.

Start with Economics: What's the most valuable thing you can sell? Storm damage cleanup? Ongoing maintenance contracts? Complete property management?

Then Conversion: What would make someone choose YOU for that high-value work? Your certifications? Response time? Insurance relationships?

Finally Traffic: Where do those specific high-value customers hang out? Insurance adjusters? Property managers? Wealthy neighborhoods?

The magic happens when all three work together: Better economics lets you pay more for traffic. Better conversion means you need less traffic to hit your goals. Better traffic makes conversion easier because you're talking to the right people.

Perry Marshall's insight: Small improvements in each area create massive results. The triangle is "fractal" - meaning even within your Google ads (traffic), you still need the right people seeing the ad (traffic), compelling copy (conversion), and profitable bid strategy (economics).

The 80/20 rule sits at the center because 20% of your efforts in each area will drive 80% of your results.

Before you spend another dollar on marketing, answer this: What's your most profitable service?

Is it emergency storm work at premium rates? Annual maintenance contracts? Complete tree health management for high-end properties?

Once you know your highest-value offering, work backwards:

Economics: Calculate exactly how much profit you make from your best customers. This determines how much you can afford to spend acquiring similar customers.

Conversion: Identify why your best customers chose you over competitors. Use those same reasons in your marketing messaging.

Traffic: Find more people who match your best customer profile. If your most profitable clients are insurance adjusters, stop advertising to homeowners looking for cheap trimming.

Most tree services do this completely backwards - they get random traffic, try to convert everyone, then wonder why their economics don't work.

→ Perry Marshall's fractal insight - The triangle exists at every level of your marketing. Your Google ad needs traffic (impressions), conversion (clicks), and economics (profitable bids). Your estimate process needs traffic (qualified leads), conversion (closing rate), and economics (profitable pricing).

→ 80/20 focus finder - In your last 20 customers, which 4 were most profitable? What do they have in common? That's your target traffic profile.

I'm tired of tree service owners who throw money at random marketing tactics and hope something works.

They'll boost a Facebook post for $50, run some Google ads for a week, maybe try direct mail once, then complain "marketing doesn't work for tree services."

That's gambling, not marketing.

The tactical triangle forces you to think systematically. Every dollar you spend on traffic should be based on solid conversion data and clear economics.

But most tree services skip the foundation work. They don't know their lifetime customer value. They haven't identified their best conversion messages. They've never calculated their maximum allowable cost per lead. (We have a calculator for that, by the way)

So they end up competing on price with every other tree service because they don't understand the other two sides of the triangle.

Perry Marshall puts 80/20 at the center of his triangle for a reason. Most of your results come from a small fraction of your efforts. But you'll never find that high-impact 20% if you're randomly trying everything instead of systematically improving traffic, conversion, and economics.

Want us to look at your marketing and show you how to get an extra 3-5 jobs per week? Book a $100 consult. Refundable if it's not worth 10x that - All you have to do is ask.

Written by Jacob Hastings
Head of Growth & Client Strategy at Growth Ring Media