Automated gate enquiries from the driveways worth quoting for.

Gates are one of the strongest categories for local social advertising, for a straightforward reason: the audience is physically identifiable. A homeowner needs a driveway, and usually pillars or a wall, before an automated gate is even possible. That's a much narrower, wealthier group than “homeowners”, and the properties tend to sit in recognisable pockets of a county.

The purchase is emotional as well as practical. Security is the stated reason — deliveries, dogs, children, a van on the drive — but the finished look of the entrance is usually what tips someone into enquiring. Video works unusually well here. A ten-second clip of a gate sliding open smoothly outperforms almost any written advert.

Job value is the other reason this category suits paid advertising. Between the gate itself, automation, safety edges, an intercom and any groundworks, a completed installation can be several thousand pounds. One won job can comfortably justify a month of sensible ad spend — which is not true of every trade.

The complication is scope. “Automate my existing wooden gates” and “design, supply and fit new sliding gates with an intercom and card reader” arrive through the same advert unless you ask the right questions. So we ask them upfront.