Tony Ricketts on Building a 7-Figure Agency, Niching Down, and the Future of Local Marketing

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Local Marketing Secrets

Danny Leibrandt

65 episodes

1 week ago

Looking to up your local marketing game? Welcome to Local Marketing Secrets, where we interview the top experts in local marketing every week and learn their secrets to marketing for local businesses. Hosted by Danny Leibrandt, Local Marketing Secrets is part of his mission to help local businesses with marketing. So, if you're a local business owner or marketer, this podcast is for you! We've had some of the biggest names in digital marketing, like Neil Patel, and the show will only get better! Tune in every Monday at 9am CST. All follows, reviews, and comments are much appreciated!

All content for Local Marketing Secrets is the property of Danny Leibrandt and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Entrepreneurship

Business,

Marketing

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Tony Ricketts on Building a 7-Figure Agency, Niching Down, and the Future of Local Marketing

Local Marketing Secrets

51 minutes 29 seconds

1 month ago

Tony Ricketts on Building a 7-Figure Agency, Niching Down, and the Future of Local Marketing

In this episode of Local Marketing Secrets, Danny Leibrandt sits down with Tony Ricketts—founder & CEO of LawnLine Marketing—to unpack how he grew one of the most recognized niche agencies in lawn & landscape. Over the past nine years, Tony has scaled LawnLine to serve 200+ companies and surpass $3M ARR, while spinning up two SaaS plays: Crystal Insights (AI call analysis) and AgencyTitan (an operating system for agency fulfillment and management).

Tony walks through the pivotal shift from generalist web-dev projects to a productized, systems-driven model—and why “best known beats best” when it comes to winning deals. He shares the playbook behind niching down, standing up repeatable programs, training sales for message consistency, pricing for value (with clear revenue-tiered programs), and building authority through conferences and vendor partnerships—including the seven-year path to becoming SiteOne’s recommended marketing partner. We also dig into the real bottleneck most service companies ignore: missed calls during business hours, and how AI-graded call data changes both marketing and operations.

We finish with what’s working now (Google Local Services still leading the pack), why solid SEO fundamentals naturally surface in AI answers, and a look ahead at ad inventory inside AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and more). Tony’s message to local operators: invest like an owner, not a bargain hunter; embrace AI or get left behind; and remember that your highest-ROI investment is often your time learning the new tools.

Find Tony on Facebook and LinkedIn by searching his name or companies. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Local Marketing Secrets and share it with a friend in home services.

Tony Ricketts, Founder of LawnLine Marketing:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonyrickettsfl

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyricketts

LawnLine Marketing: https://lawnline.marketing/

Danny Leibrandt, Founder of Pest Control SEO:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DannyLeibrandt

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/dannyleibrandt/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DannyLeibrandt

Website: https://dannyleibrandt.com

Pest Control SEO: https://pestcontrolseo.com/

Local Marketing Secrets Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LocalMarketingSecrets

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1TCL0LhZbsJS6mzanqnnT1?si=224075c9fbda42f5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/local-marketing-secrets/id1741176782

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0bb5254-5d6c-4940-8211-085157cc1239/local-marketing-secrets

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Tony Ricketts

06:34 The Importance of Niching Down

11:27 Strategies for Competing in a Crowded Market

17:01 Building Brand Recognition Through Industry Events

24:55 Introducing Crystal Insights: AI in Call Analysis

28:04 Leveraging AI for Enhanced Lead Analysis

40:06 The Future of Marketing: AI's Impact

47:27 Final Thoughts

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