Clerics of Marketing

Ep 37 - Prioritize and Delegate to Survive 2026

Ep 36 - The Premium Pricing Blueprint for Electricians

Today’s episode starts with some classic office banter and a little Dungeons & Dragons energy, then we get right down to business. Adam and Brian pick up where yesterday left off and talk about the real question every electrical contractor is facing heading into 2026: how do you price your work to hit a true 30 percent net profit margin without feeling guilty or scared the phones will stop ringing?
 
They break down the two kinds of customers in every market. The “Walmart experience” crowd wants cheap, fast, and bare minimum, and they will drain your time and margins. The “Nordstrom experience” crowd wants safety, certainty, professionalism, and a job done right the first time. Those are the people you want more of, and your pricing and presentation should attract them before they ever call.
 
You’ll hear three practical moves to make premium pricing make sense:
Build a premium brand image first, then charge premium. Not the other way around. Your website, Google profile, socials, photos, and overall “digital uniform” need to look like the Cadillac you say you are.
Stop doing free estimates. Charge for them, and roll it into the job when they approve it.
Use “good, better, best” pricing. Give three options, put your ideal job in the middle, and add a higher premium option on top. Now they are comparing your choices, not shopping you against every other electrician in town.
 
They also dig into the white glove details that make people pay more happily. Clear communication, tech bios and photos before arrival, booties in the house, walk-through explanations focused on safety, and treating the home like it matters.
 
Challenge for the week: on your next service call, offer three options instead of one price and watch what happens. Even if they pick the lowest, you just repositioned yourself as a pro who offers solutions, not a laborer who dumps a number on the table.
 
Short, practical, and meant to get you paid what you’re actually worth.

Ep 35 - The Master of One Strategy for 2026

Adam’s fired up this morning — fresh snow, no wind, and a big vision for how electricians can win in 2026. In this episode, he lays out what he calls the “Master of One” strategy: stop trying to be everything to everyone, and start becoming the obvious specialist for one high-value problem.
 
He breaks down why being a generalist is one of the most expensive ways to run an electrical business — more inventory, more chaos, more price shoppers, and way more stress for the same paycheck. When you’re the “electrician for anybody,” you become a commodity… and commodities fight on price.
 
Then Adam walks you through a simple but powerful exercise to find your lane: the Red & Green Pen Test.
Green pen (your joy zone): the jobs with high margins, smooth crews, grateful customers, and zero price arguing.
Red pen (your tuition zone): the jobs that cost you money, time, or sanity.
 
From there, you identify which green jobs line up with 2026 trends like electrification (EV chargers, heat pumps, generators), aging grid/panel upgrades, and smart home + security. Next, you define the who behind those jobs — your real avatar — because the money isn’t in the task, it’s in the people buying it.
 
Finally, Adam challenges you to put up a “velvet rope” in your business: pick your specialty, update your website and profiles to scream it, and start referring the low-margin headache work out. Specialists get paid for knowledge. Generalists get paid for time.
 
If you want 2026 to be the year you stop selling hours and start selling expertise, this one’s for you.

Ep 34 - Preparing for Annual Review

It’s freezing out, and Adam uses that bitter-cold Minnesota morning as a gut-check for business owners heading into 2026: are you about to have a “cold start,” or are you gearing up with a system worth fighting for?
 
In this solo year-end episode, Adam walks through a practical, no-fluff annual review framework built for electricians, HVAC, plumbing, and MEP contractors. He breaks down what to actually evaluate before you start setting next year’s goals: revenue vs. real profit, COGS vs. operating expenses, team structure, leadership gaps, customer loyalty (including how to use Net Promoter Score), unfinished initiatives, and how market shifts should change your strategy.
 
He also shares what The Marketing Clerics are doing behind the scenes—refining their niche, doubling down on trades, and using AI (especially Gemini) to build sharper content systems like his “viral thread writer” that helps contractors turn ideas into scroll-stopping posts with real takeaways.
 
The takeaway is simple: don’t sprint into 2026 blind. Look back clearly, learn honestly, pick a North Star metric, build OKRs that support it, and match your resources to the plan. If you want a stronger, warmer start to the new year, this episode is your blueprint.

Ep 33 - 2026 Services Beta Release

In this lo-fi episode, hear a raw, uncut, unedited recording of Adam going over the 2026 Service Program for The Marketing Clerics and how it is going to make a splash in 2026 for the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC spaces! 

Ep 32 - AI Cloning, Is It Ready For Primetime?

Adam jumps on solo the day before Thanksgiving with a wild sentence: “I cloned myself yesterday.” Yep. He’s been testing AI avatar tools that let you record one high-quality video of yourself, then spit out new short-form videos with your face and voice reading fresh scripts. Sounds awesome in theory. In practice? The cheap tool he tried feels stiff and fake, basically the same video over and over with different lip movement. So he’s scrapping it and hunting for better options.
 
But this episode isn’t just “AI is cool.” It’s a real behind-the-scenes look at why The Marketing Clerics are experimenting with avatar video in the first place. Adam talks about staying on the cutting edge without falling for hype, why half the AI promises floating around online are straight up nonsense, and how testing tools firsthand helps protect clients from wasted time and money.
 
He also lays out the bigger vision: a future where business owners can do a one-time studio recording, train a high-quality AI clone, and then get authentic 30–90 second talking-head videos produced in their brand voice at a fraction of the cost. Educational clips, fun community content, niche authority videos… all with the owner’s face, without the owner having to film nonstop.
 
Short episode, but packed with honest takes, practical marketing thinking, and a little ADHD Dadpreneur flavor. Happy Thanksgiving Eve, y’all.

Ep 31 - How to Multiply Your Online Presence With Jobsite Stories

In this one, Adam and Brian get into a super practical marketing habit most contractors know they should do… but rarely do consistently: capturing job-site photos and stories that actually help you get more work. The usual advice is “take before and after pics,” but that’s too vague to be useful. So the guys break it down into specific shots and simple systems your techs can follow without needing to be “marketing people.”
 
You’ll hear exactly what to photograph (including the “rat’s nest money shot”), why those messy-before moments are marketing gold, and how to turn basic job-site images into content that builds trust fast. They also share a ridiculously easy method for getting techs to record quick voice memos after a job — then using AI to turn those notes into Google Business Profile updates, social posts, blog content, and case studies.
 
The conversation goes deeper into “hyper-local, hyper-specific” marketing in the AI search era: naming neighborhoods, calling out common local issues, and even tagging brands you install (Generators, EV chargers, Starlink, etc.) so you show up when homeowners search for that exact solution.
 
If you want your crew to help create content without slowing down jobs, and you want your marketing to start showing up in AI and zero-click search results, this episode gives you a simple playbook to steal.

Ep 30 - What the Heck is CAC?!

In this episode Adam breaks down one of the most misunderstood numbers in the trades. Customer acquisition cost. Also called CAC. If you’ve ever wondered how much you should be spending to get a new customer or whether your marketing dollars are actually paying off this conversation will clear it up fast.
 
Adam explains what CAC really measures and why it’s not the same as cost per lead. He walks through the full formula in plain English and breaks down every category that should be included. Marketing spend. Sales labor. Software. Content. Overhead. He also explains the biggest mistakes contractors make when trying to calculate CAC and why most undercount their true costs without realizing it.
 
You’ll hear practical examples including a full walkthrough of a sample CAC calculator with real numbers so you can see how the math works in real life. Adam also covers what a healthy CAC looks like for home service businesses how the number changes based on the market you’re in and why your average ticket and lifetime value matter more than anything.
 
Finally he shares how to calculate CAC by marketing channel so you can see which platforms are actually profitable and which ones are burning cash. Google Ads Meta Ads SEO referrals print and more.
 
If you want clarity on scaling your business spending more confidently and knowing where your best customers come from this episode gives you the blueprint.

Ep 29 - How Can I Tell My Marketing Is Working?

In this episode of The Clerics of Marketing, Adam and Brian tackle one of the biggest questions every contractor wrestles with. Is my marketing working. They break down why busy seasons can fool you, why slow seasons can scare you, and why neither one actually tells you the truth about your marketing performance.
 
The guys dig into the real indicators that matter. Steady traffic growth, rising map pack visibility, consistent review velocity, better branded search, cleaner call handling, and whether your website is actually converting the people who find you. They lay out simple metrics you can start tracking today, and explain the difference between leading indicators that show where things are headed and lagging indicators that reveal what already happened.
 
You’ll also learn how to spot red flags with any marketing company. Are they transparent with real data. Do they explain things clearly. Are they improving your owned assets. Are they asking you for stories, photos, and real content. Or are they acting like a vending machine that spits out AI posts and stock photos.
 
Adam and Brian close with a simple four step checkup any home service business can use when growth stalls. From your GBP activity to your call handling to your ads and website, they show you how to diagnose what’s actually broken instead of guessing by gut feeling.
 
If you want clarity on what good marketing really looks like and how to know if you’re moving in the right direction, this episode gives you a clean, practical roadmap you can apply today.

Ep 28 - Why AI Can't Replace a Marketing Partner

In this episode of The Clerics of Marketing, Adam and Brian kick things off with a hilarious parenting story involving a stunt-happy five year old, a broken baby gate, and an intense scavenger hunt that ends with some gentle psychological warfare. From there, they jump straight into a real conversation about AI and the rising trend of contractors trying to replace an entire marketing department with a twenty dollar subscription.
 
Adam shares a story from a contractor group about someone who almost paid a consultant to build complex automations before discovering that another AI tool could knock it out in a few hours. That sparks a deeper discussion on why AI is powerful but not a full replacement for strategy, local market understanding, or real human experience. The guys break down the trap of set it and forget it marketing, show how AI defaults to generic suggestions with no nuance, and demonstrate the difference between asking an AI for ideas and actually giving it direction, context, and expertise.
 
You’ll hear examples of how The Marketing Clerics uses AI as a tool, not a department. They walk through real use cases for contractors including research, persona development, content repurposing, simplifying complex explanations, building templates, and speeding up communication. Adam even shares one of his custom agents that takes a single analogy and explodes it into dozens of social post concepts and talking head prompts.
 
Adam and Brian also break down when you should never rely on AI: strategy, brand voice, ideation, images of your team, or anything that requires real understanding of homeowners. The message is simple. AI should amplify your expertise, not pretend to have it.
 
If you’ve ever wondered how to use AI the right way in your contracting business without losing your authenticity or sabotaging your brand, this episode gives you a practical roadmap with plenty of laughs along the way. Tune in for real talk, real tactics, and a reminder that automation will never replace your experience in the field. Subscribers get new weekday episodes at 7 a.m.