CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA • PPC MANAGEMENT

Concord PPC Campaigns Built to Turn Clicks Into Customers

More phone calls and booked work from Google search, and now from AI search too.

Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Meta campaigns for Concord service businesses, engineered around the only metric that pays back: revenue per booked lead, not click volume.

Latest case study below: +76% Google Ads conversions on a 2.29% spend increase.

Smiling contractor in his work truck holding up his iPhone showing an incoming call from "Website Lead". Proof that the PPC campaign is generating booked work
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SERVICE-BUSINESS CASE STUDY

How a 78-year-old Gulf Coast glass company drove 76% more Google Ads conversions on a 2.29% spend increase.

Concord service businesses run in a Cabarrus County auction sitting on the Charlotte metro’s northeast edge, where Charlotte-adjacent buyer money, NASCAR-driven hospitality demand at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and a fast-growing residential population share the same keyword sets. The Dixie Glass campaign shows what disciplined PPC management does to that math.

Dixie Glass, a third-generation Mississippi Gulf Coast glass company in business since 1946, came to Lithium with Google Ads campaigns that were spending without producing tracked conversions. We rebuilt the campaigns around proper conversion tracking, tightened the keyword and match-type strategy, deployed dedicated landing pages, and wired CallRail through to GA4. Over twelve months, on only a 2.29 percent ad spend increase, Google Ads conversions climbed 76 percent and the campaign conversion rate landed at 15.57 percent.

DIXIE GLASS — GOOGLE ADS REBUILD

Mississippi Gulf Coast • Since 1946
Dixie Glass fleet. A Lithium Marketing service-business case study client
Dixie Glass logo
Dixie Glass Google Ads conversions growth chart: +76% more Google Ads conversions on a 2.29% ad spend increase after the Lithium rebuild
WHY LITHIUM FOR CONCORD PPC

Three things Concord PPC programs miss that we don't.

Concord sits inside the Charlotte metro auction, so broad geos bleed budget south.

A Concord service business bidding the same keyword as a Charlotte competitor pays Charlotte auction prices to chase Cabarrus County buyers. We tighten geo-targeting to Concord, Kannapolis, and the immediate Cabarrus County footprint first, then layer Harrisburg and Mount Pleasant only when the math supports it. The result is a campaign that stops bleeding south toward Charlotte and University City.

Concord buyers respond to Cabarrus County and Speedway-aware ad copy.

Concord residents identify with Cabarrus County and the Speedway region rather than the broader Charlotte metro brand. Ad copy that names Concord Mills, the Speedway, or Downtown Concord outperforms generic Charlotte headlines on Quality Score. We pin those geo modifiers in headlines and segment ad groups by buyer pool.

Concord PPC math closes on cost per booked lead, not impressions.

Charlotte metro impression-share looks good and means nothing if the phone is not ringing. We report leading indicators weekly during launch, then leads, cost per lead, and revenue every month against your CRM. The strategy call is built around what actually closed, not what served.

Strategic comparison of traditional PPC agencies vs Lithium Marketing across conversion tracking, landing pages, bid management, reporting and attribution, and strategy ownership

Ranking for queries that do not convert

In Concord, where Bay Area business-services CPCs run $7 to $12, every wasted click is a measurable dollar lost. Lithium’s PPC programs are built around the cost-per-lead math first, click volume second.

Technical debt blocking growth

Service-business buyers prefer to tap a phone number rather than navigate a menu to find one. A site missing a click-to-call link in the hero, and a sticky mobile bar that keeps it within thumb reach during scroll, loses the calls you paid to earn through ads.

Generic content that says nothing local

A PPC campaign without proper conversion tracking, dedicated landing pages, and negative-keyword discipline is invisible in your CRM dashboard. The clicks may be there, the impressions may be there, but the booked work is flat. That is where most of the Concord ad spend silently leaks.

No measurement tied to revenue

Buyers decide whether to keep scrolling in about five seconds. A site that shows no reviews, no project photos, no service-area clarity, and no trust signal in the hero loses every time to a competitor who placed a single five-star rating in the right spot.

WHAT'S INCLUDED IN EVERY CONCORD PPC RETAINER

Eight things we ship inside every Concord PPC retainer, not as upsells.

A Concord PPC program needs every line item in this list working together. Sitting on the Charlotte metro edge means a single mistargeted broad-match keyword pulls Charlotte clicks at higher-CPC rates, and an untuned campaign loses real money every week.

Conversion tracking, properly wired

GA4 events on every form and click-to-call. CallRail call tracking with call quality scoring. Server-side conversion imports for Google Ads. Offline-conversion imports from your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, GoHighLevel). The algorithm cannot optimize toward leads it cannot see.

Dedicated landing pages per intent

Landing pages built for the buyer behind the keyword, not the home page. Single offer above the fold, tap-to-call thumb-zone-friendly, one form, one CTA, and a load time under 2.5 seconds on a mid-tier Concord mobile network. Every high-intent keyword cluster gets its own page.

Keyword strategy + match-type discipline

Keywords mapped to buyer intent (research, comparison, decision) and tied to estimated revenue per lead. Match-type discipline that prevents broad-match drift from eating budget on the wrong queries. Monthly negative-keyword review from the search-terms report.

Ad copy + Responsive Search Ads

Ad copy that names the actual service, not “quality work.” Responsive Search Ads with the maximum asset count, manual headline pinning where intent demands it, sitelinks tuned to Concord buyer language, and structured asset extensions. Every variant tagged for A/B analysis.

Geo-targeting + audience layering

Geo-targeting at the suburb level, not the metro level. Bid modifiers tuned to your actual conversion data across the neighborhoods you serve. Audience layering with in-market segments, remarketing pools, and customer-match uploads from your CRM. The right click, the right place, the right time, at the right bid.

Bid management + remarketing

Manual control on high-intent keywords, Google’s tCPA and tROAS automation where the data supports it. Remarketing audiences segmented by funnel stage, with display, YouTube, and Discovery campaigns layered on top of search for Concord buyers who clicked but did not convert. The full funnel, not just the first click.

Reporting tied to revenue, not vanity

Looker Studio dashboard updating daily on impressions, clicks, conversions, conversion rate, and ROAS by campaign and ad group. Call quality scored and reviewed monthly. Monthly written report ties everything back to leads delivered, cost per lead, and revenue. The same numbers Lithium uses internally to manage your program.

Optimization cadence that pays back

Daily monitoring during the first 30 days, weekly after that. Bid adjustments, ad copy rotations, and budget reallocations happen on real data: search-terms reports, conversion data by ad group, landing-page conversion rate, device and audience performance. Every change is logged and tied to a measurable outcome.

CONCORD SERVICE BUSINESSES WE RUN PPC FOR

The verticals where our Concord PPC playbook turns clicks into customers most reliably.

Concord’s economy splits between the NASCAR and motorsports cluster anchored by Charlotte Motor Speedway and the surrounding race-team shops, the manufacturing base that supports the Charlotte metro’s industrial corridor, the healthcare gravity centered on Atrium Health Cabarrus, the retail and hospitality demand pulled by Concord Mills, and the home-services and trades demand from a fast-growing Cabarrus County residential population. These are the verticals where our PPC programs deliver the most consistent cost-per-lead math.

Home services

HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing trades in Concord run hard against Carolina summers that punish AC compressors, hurricane-spawned storm seasons that drive roofing demand across the Charlotte metro, and the fast suburban residential growth that constantly creates new service customers. We build emergency-intent call-only campaigns, geo-target Concord plus Kannapolis, Harrisburg, and Mount Pleasant, and run tap-to-call landing pages that load fast on mid-tier mobile networks. Cost per lead typically lands $60 to $130 once optimized.

Dental and medical practices

Independent dental and medical practices in Concord operate in the orbit of Atrium Health Cabarrus and the broader Atrium Health network that pulls patients across the Charlotte metro. Northeast Medical Center and the Carolinas HealthCare expansion across Cabarrus County drive additional volume. We run procedure-specific ad groups, insurance-friendly landing pages that name carriers accepted, and conversion tracking through the booking platform.

Contractors and construction

Concord contractors and builders work a mix of new-build production homes in the Harrisburg and Highland Creek subdivisions, kitchen and bath updates in the established neighborhoods near Downtown Concord, custom builds in the southern Cabarrus County footprint, and motorsports-shop tenant build-outs around the Speedway. We run project-type ad groups, image and YouTube creative shot at real Cabarrus County jobsites, and quote-form landing pages with realistic price-range expectations.

Legal and professional services

Concord attorneys handle family law, personal injury along the I-85 corridor, criminal defense, estate planning, and the business-formation and workers’ compensation work that orbits the motorsports and manufacturing base. We run practice-area campaigns tied to real buyer intent, write ad copy that meets North Carolina State Bar advertising rules, and tie consultation-booking landing pages to CallRail so the high-CPC legal click traces to a booked call.

Hospitality and restaurants

Concord’s restaurant scene clusters around Downtown Concord on Union Street, the Concord Mills strip, and the chain-heavy I-85 corridor near the Speedway. NASCAR race weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway drive surge windows that untuned campaigns miss. We build event-driven scheduling tied to the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series calendar, OpenTable conversion tracking where it applies, and geo-fenced ad groups around the Speedway and Concord Mills on race weekends.

Auto services

Auto repair, body shops, detailing, and fleet maintenance in Concord handle a customer base of Charlotte-metro commuters running I-85 and US-29, NASCAR-adjacent specialty service for race teams and motorsports vendors, and the standard Cabarrus County resident service. We run emergency-intent call-only campaigns, OEM-targeted ad groups, parts-and-labor landing pages, and dynamic call extensions during shop hours. Motorsports-specialty shops justify their own dedicated ad groups and landing pages.

Specialty retail

Concord’s specialty retail concentrates around Concord Mills (one of North Carolina’s largest tourist-draw retail destinations), Downtown Concord on Union Street, and the chain-heavy I-85 strip. We run Google Shopping campaigns with product feeds, local-inventory ads, store-visit conversion tracking, and remarketing audiences segmented by product category. Concord Mills tourist traffic justifies a separate audience layer. Performance Max handles awareness; manual search captures the high-intent decision.

B2B services

Concord’s B2B service economy is heavy on motorsports-services tied to the NASCAR race-shop cluster (Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Yates, and the broader race-team supply base), manufacturing-services tied to the Cabarrus County industrial corridor, healthcare-services vendors around Atrium Health Cabarrus, and the construction-services vendors riding the Charlotte metro growth. Sales cycles run long and account-based. We run LinkedIn-paired Google Ads campaigns, gated-content lead-gen funnels, and long-cycle attribution wired through HubSpot or Salesforce. Cost per qualified opportunity matters more than cost per first-touch click.

OUR PROCESS

From audit to optimized campaigns, with weekly check-ins through the first month.

Profitable PPC is a compounding system, not a one-time launch. The Lithium process starts with an audit and conversion-tracking rebuild, then ships campaign optimizations on a weekly cadence with monthly reporting that ties impressions to booked work.

01

Audit and strategy

Week 1

We pull your Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, GA4, CallRail, and CRM data and audit your current campaigns against impression share, conversion rate, quality score, and search-terms waste. We map your service mix, real Concord buyer journeys, and revenue per lead. You receive an audit deliverable in week one with priorities ranked by impact.

02

Conversion infrastructure

Week 2

Before we touch ad copy, we wire conversion tracking properly. GA4 events on every form and click-to-call, CallRail through to Google Ads, server-side conversion imports, and offline-conversion imports from your CRM. The algorithm cannot optimize toward leads it cannot see, so this gets done first or everything else compounds slower.

03

Campaign build

Week 2–3

Ad groups structured by buyer intent, ad copy with the maximum Responsive Search Ads asset count, dedicated landing pages built for each high-intent keyword cluster, geo-targeting at the suburb level (tuned to the neighborhoods you actually serve), and a baseline negative-keyword list. Every campaign launches with a 30-day optimization plan already mapped.

04

Launch and learning phase

Week 3–6

We build your Concord campaigns from the ground up: ad groups by intent, ad copy with the maximum Responsive Search Ads asset count, sitelinks tuned to Concord buyer language, geo-targeting at the suburb level, and dedicated landing pages for the highest-intent keywords. Every campaign launches with a baseline negative-keyword list and a 30-day optimization plan already mapped.

05

Ongoing optimization

Week 6–7

Daily monitoring during the first 30 days, weekly after that. We optimize on search-terms reports, conversion data by ad group, landing-page conversion rate, device and audience performance, and quality score drift. Bid adjustments, ad copy rotations, and budget reallocations happen on real data, not gut feel. Every change is logged and tied to a measurable outcome.

06

Measurement and monthly iteration

Post-launch

Monthly written report tied to leads, cost per lead, and revenue from paid search. Strategy call with DJ Van Zanten to set the next month’s priorities. The strategy adjusts every thirty days based on what is actually moving the phone in Concord. Not what looks good on a vanity chart.

LITHIUM VS. DIY VS. TYPICAL PPC AGENCY

What a Concord service-business owner actually gets, by PPC approach.

Capability
DIY PPC Tools
Typical PPC Agency
Lithium Marketing
Day-to-day operator
DIY PPC Tools:
You, alongside running the business
Typical PPC Agency:
Junior account manager
Lithium Marketing:
Senior strategist, co-founder oversight
Conversion tracking depth
DIY PPC Tools:
Default Google Ads only
Typical PPC Agency:
Set at launch, rarely audited
Lithium Marketing:
GA4 + CallRail + server-side + CRM imports
Dedicated landing pages
DIY PPC Tools:
Home page used as landing
Typical PPC Agency:
Templated, rarely tested
Lithium Marketing:
One per intent, conversion-rate tested
Negative-keyword discipline
DIY PPC Tools:
Set once, forgotten
Typical PPC Agency:
Reviewed quarterly
Lithium Marketing:
Monthly search-terms review
Call tracking + call quality scoring
DIY PPC Tools:
Google Ads call extension only
Typical PPC Agency:
CallRail set up, rarely scored
Lithium Marketing:
CallRail through GA4, scored monthly
Cross-channel coverage
DIY PPC Tools:
Google Ads only
Typical PPC Agency:
Google + Meta sometimes
Lithium Marketing:
Google + Microsoft + Meta + LinkedIn
Bid management approach
DIY PPC Tools:
Set-and-forget tCPA
Typical PPC Agency:
Mostly automated
Lithium Marketing:
Manual on high-intent + automated where data supports
Monitoring cadence (first 30 days)
DIY PPC Tools:
When you remember
Typical PPC Agency:
Weekly check-ins
Lithium Marketing:
Daily during the learning phase
Reporting tied to revenue
DIY PPC Tools:
Google Ads dashboard only
Typical PPC Agency:
PDF with impressions and clicks
Lithium Marketing:
Looker Studio + monthly leads, CPL, ROAS
Strategy call ownership
DIY PPC Tools:
N/A. No strategist
Typical PPC Agency:
Quarterly review with AM
Lithium Marketing:
Monthly call with DJ Van Zanten, co-founder
CONCORD PPC PRICING

Transparent pricing. Management starts at $500/month, separate from your ad spend.

Typical Concord service businesses run $500 to $1,500 per month in management on top of $2,000 to $5,000 in monthly ad spend. Pricing scales with monthly ad spend, channel count (Google, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn), and how much landing-page production work the campaign needs. You will see the math on the first call. No haggling, no hidden upsells.

REAL CLIENTS, REAL OUTCOMES

Service businesses Lithium runs PPC for.

Daniel Busby

Willard Power Vac

“Lithium Marketing has been amazing for our business. They have greatly increased our web traffic and helped us land hundreds of jobs.”

Drake Snodgrass

Drake’s 7 Dees

“Cost per lead is down, lead quality is up, and the monthly reports actually mean something. Lithium runs our Google Ads like they own the business.”

Marc Rickabaugh

Rickabaugh Construction

“Working with Lithium Marketing has been awesome.”

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Concord PPC, straight answers.

A properly built Concord campaign starts producing tracked conversions within the first week of launch. The first 30 days are a learning phase where the algorithm calibrates on real Cabarrus County data and we filter the Charlotte and University City spillover out of the search-terms report. Cost per lead typically stabilizes by month two and improves through month three as negatives tighten and landing pages get conversion-rate-tested. We report weekly during the first month, monthly after that.

Concord CPCs sit below Charlotte proper but above national averages, with trades running $4 to $9 and legal pushing $20 to $50 on personal injury and family law. The Charlotte metro’s growth and the NASCAR-adjacent specialty verticals create unusual auction dynamics. PPC works in Concord when the campaign architecture isolates Cabarrus County from the broader Charlotte auction. Properly run Concord campaigns deliver cost per leads under $120 in trades and under $250 in legal.

Management starts at $500 per month, separate from your ad spend. Typical Concord service businesses run $500 to $1,200 per month in management on top of $1,500 to $4,000 in monthly ad spend. The Cabarrus County market does not need full Charlotte ad budgets to produce real lead flow but sits in a more expensive auction than most secondary markets. The number depends on monthly ad spend, channel count, and how much landing-page production work the campaign needs.

No reputable PPC agency guarantees a specific cost per lead, because both the auction and your offer move it. Concord especially varies by season and event, with NASCAR race weekends driving hospitality demand, Carolina summers driving HVAC, and hurricane season driving roofing intent. What we guarantee is the work: conversion tracking shipped properly, dedicated landing pages per intent, monthly negative-keyword review, weekly bid optimization, and reporting tied to revenue per lead.

Quality Score is Google’s estimate of how relevant your ad and landing page are to the keyword. It directly affects your cost per click and ad position. We optimize Quality Score on three vectors: expected click-through rate (better ad copy, headline pinning where intent demands it), ad relevance (tight ad-group themes, one core keyword set per ad group), and landing-page experience (dedicated pages per intent, fast mobile load, message-match with the ad). A 7+ Quality Score on high-volume keywords often saves Concord clients 30 to 50 percent on cost per click compared to a 4 or 5.

Three layers. Leading indicators: impressions, clicks, click-through rate, Quality Score, and search impression share in the Concord auction (which splits cleanly from Charlotte when the geo is built right). Mid-funnel: conversion rate by ad group, conversion rate by landing page, and call quality scoring on every CallRail-recorded inbound. Revenue: leads delivered, cost per lead, ROAS, and revenue attributed to paid via offline conversion imports from your CRM. The dashboard updates daily and the written report ships monthly with a strategy call.

Daily campaign monitoring during the first 30 days (weekly after), bid and budget optimization, ongoing ad copy and creative testing, landing-page conversion-rate optimization, monthly negative-keyword review tuned to filter Charlotte and University City leakage, audience segmentation refinement (including the NASCAR-race-weekend layer), call quality scoring, monthly reporting tied to leads and revenue, and a strategy call with DJ Van Zanten. Concord retainers above the base tier include landing-page production and CRM offline-conversion wiring.

Yes. PPC is the fastest channel for a new Concord business because it does not depend on review history, which takes years to accrue against entrenched Cabarrus County competitors. A new business with a real offer, a clean landing page, and proper conversion tracking can produce tracked leads within the first week. We typically pair an aggressive PPC launch with a measured SEO build over the next six months so the blended cost per lead drops as earned visibility compounds.

MEET THE CO-FOUNDER

Your Concord PPC strategy call is run by DJ Van Zanten, not handed to a junior account manager.

DJ Van Zanten joined Lithium as co-founder in 2018 and leads the strategic side of every client partnership. His approach is real-talk consulting: map out a simple, actionable plan, identify the revenue opportunities that matter most, and translate the technical work into business outcomes you can measure. Behind DJ on every Concord PPC program, co-founder Kurt Schell directs the technical and content execution, drawing on more than twenty years of SEO, PPC, and conversion-rate work. The strategy call you book is the actual call you take, with the person who will be calling the shots on what to prioritize, what to ignore, and how to measure progress.

Get a free 30-minute Concord PPC audit.

On the call we look at your current Concord PPC campaigns against impression share, conversion tracking depth, search-terms waste (Charlotte leakage is the usual culprit), landing-page conversion rate, race-weekend dayparting fit, and the actual cost per lead your CRM is recording. You leave with a specific 30-day plan, whether or not you decide to work with us. There is no slide deck and no sales pitch.

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