Wondering how Townsquare Interactive measures up against CraftJack? Though Townsquare Interactive focuses on creating digital marketing campaigns for small businesses and CraftJack is one of many lead generation companies that aggregates and sells leads to their members, there are some similarities—and differences. For example, one builds a solid online presence designed to funnel exclusive leads to their clients, while the other offers a membership that gives service providers access to non-exclusive leads they (and three of their competitors) can bid on.
Keep reading to learn if Townsquare Interactive or CraftJack would work better for your business and decide who comes out on top of the Townsquare Interactive vs. CraftJack showdown.
1. Quality of Leads You Receive
CraftJack
As with most lead generation companies, even though CraftJack requires you to pay for every lead you receive, there’s no guarantee leads from CraftJack will turn into a job for you. For one, that lead might decide to go with one of your competitors (leads from CraftJack are shared with up to four service providers). For another, they just might not be a good lead—despite CraftJack’s automated phone screening.
Price shoppers, tire kickers and other people who aren’t ready to commit will often request work on CraftJack and from other lead generation companies because they’re curious or testing the waters. When CraftJack sells you unqualified leads like that, it costs your business time and money. So, even though CraftJack has a refund/credit process, they’re both expensive and annoying.
- Tire kickers, price shoppers and even your competitors can request work.
- You pay for every lead, no matter the quality (you can request a lead credit if CraftJack can verify it was unqualified).
Townsquare Interactive
Unlike lead generation companies, Townsquare Interactive weeds out bad leads by changing how they find you. While CraftJack can only target their users, Townsquare Interactive targets everyone who uses search engines like Google.
How? By building websites for businesses and implementing a solid search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that moves them to the top of page one of Google. That way, when homeowners in your area search for the services you provide, your website will be one of the top results on Google. Being near the top of page one means clicks, and clicks mean potential customers are viewing your website.
When those potential customers submit a form or contact you, it’s because they’re sure they want to work with you.
- You receive exclusive leads at no additional cost.
- Customers contact you directly through your website when they’re ready to get started.
Verdict: Townsquare Interactive vs. CraftJack
If you’re comfortable taking a chance on leads from CraftJack that might not turn into customers, even after you pay for them, CraftJack and other lead generation companies could be a viable option.
But if you’d rather receive exclusive leads from people in your location who are ready to pay for your services now, go with Townsquare Interactive.
2. Price of Leads You Receive
CraftJack
On CraftJack, lead pricing fluctuates—sometimes drastically—depending on the market, the size of the job and how many service providers are available. The same is true for most lead generation companies. Because of these constant changes in lead pricing, it’s important to have a flexible budget and some extra cash to cover unexpected costs because you must pay for the leads you receive, even if they don’t end up hiring you.
- Prices for leads from CraftJack vary by task and service area.
- You pay for all leads from CraftJack, including the ones that don’t turn into jobs.
Townsquare Interactive
At Townsquare Interactive, your cost is the same every month—unless you want to add additional digital marketing tools to your campaign. You pay the same amount on the same day every month, so you always know what’s going on with your marketing budget. So, when you have an extra good month and end up with more leads than you were expecting, don’t worry. You don’t have to pay extra.
- Cost doesn’t fluctuate.
- Lead volume does not affect what you pay.
- Pay on the same day each month.
Verdict: Townsquare Interactive vs. CraftJack
If you have extra money in your budget to pay for leads from CraftJack that may or may not end up hiring you, go with CraftJack or a variety of other lead generation companies.
If you’re budget-conscious and want to know exactly what you’re paying every month, no matter how many leads you get, go with Townsquare Interactive.
3. Your Competition
CraftJack
By nature, lead generation companies like CraftJack are home to you and your competitors. They’re designed to work for the consumer and pit businesses and service providers against each other, often coming down to who will do the job for the least amount of money.
After a work request is submitted, it is sold to up to four service providers, so you better hope you’re the first one to get the lead on the phone.
- Leads go to you and up to three of your competitors.
- Comes down to who can contact the lead the fasted and do the job for the least amount of money.
Townsquare Interactive
When you use Townsquare Interactive, you don’t have to share your leads. Leads that are submitted through your website are delivered directly to your inbox—and no one else’s. It’s exclusive to you. That means you can take the time to speak to your potential customer and learn more about the job they have in mind before throwing out your bottom-line price.
- Leads submitted through your website are exclusive to you.
- No trying to outbid your competitors to win the lead.
- No time crunch or race to contact the customer first.
Verdict: Townsquare Interactive vs. CraftJack
Because of CraftJack’s competitive nature, it’s really only suitable for businesses and contractors that can operate consistently with a low profit margin. If you feel you can outbid your competitors fast, getting leads from CraftJack and other lead generation companies could work for you.
If you’d be more comfortable receiving exclusive leads through your website, Townsquare Interactive could be the best option.
4. Value of Service
CraftJack
When you sign up with CraftJack and other lead generation companies, you get a profile on their website and access to their leads.
- You get a CraftJack profile.
Townsquare Interactive
You’re paying for a comprehensive digital marketing campaign—not leads. Those are free and exclusive to you. With Townsquare Interactive, you can personalize your business’s marketing campaign to include a variety of digital marketing tools that create lasting online authority for your business and move you closer to the top of page one of Google organically, where you’re most likely to get clicks and traffic to your site. With Townsquare Interactive, you can get:
- A professional website designed to convert customers.
- Easy-to-follow navigation
- Call-to-action and click-to-call buttons
- Highly visible phone number
- Forms delivered directly to your inbox
- Search engine optimization to get you to page one of Google.
- Keywords specific to your industry and location
- Social media marketing to place your ads on your ideal customers’ feeds.
- Social media producers regularly verify and update your business info
- Post relevant and engaging content 2x/week
- Reputation monitoring that tracks multiple review websites.
- Get an alert for every new review and rating
- Tips and advice for responding to both positive and negative reviews
- Business tools so you can interact with your customers faster and easier.
- Schedule appointments
- Send invoices
- Collect payments online
Verdict: Townsquare Interactive vs. CraftJack
A digital marketing campaign with Townsquare Interactive provides more value than a profile that lets you access non-exclusive leads for a price. If you want more bang for your buck, the winner should be clear.
The Final Verdict
Before we get to the verdict, it’s important to note that CraftJack is owned by IAC and is a division of Angi Inc., formerly known as ANGI Homeservices. This is the same company that owns and operates both Angi and HomeAdvisor, so proceed with caution.
Now, on to the final verdict:
While the right choice will vary from business to business, you’re more likely to get the results you want with a comprehensive digital marketing campaign than you are from costly and inconsistent lead generation companies.
If you want to grow your business, give it a solid foundation. A professionally designed website and search engine optimization are digital marketing must-haves for consistent and lasting success. Going this route instead of paying for leads is simply the best way to grow your business organically.
Want to give it a shot? Fill out the form to learn more!