Success Isn’t An Accident
Learn About The Team That Makes It Happen
We Don't Sell Marketing -
We Sell Results Built on a Strategy That Actually Works
Most marketing agencies talk a big game about “brand awareness” and “going viral.” We talk about cost per lead, conversion rates, and revenue growth. Why? Because we started Cut Throat Marketing the same way you started your business – from scratch, with no safety net, betting everything that hard work and actual results would win out over flashy promises and corporate bullshit.
We’re not here to impress you with awards on mahogany walls or fancy offices. We’re here because we cracked the code on something that matters: generating quality leads for home services businesses at 30-50% below industry average cost. And we did it by obsessing over one thing most agencies ignore – the psychology of how homeowners actually choose contractors.
Built By People Who Understand What It Takes To Build Something
Cut Throat Marketing started the way most small businesses do – with one person, one skill, and a whole lot of uncertainty about whether it would work.
Cynthia Giles didn’t start as a marketer. She started as a nurse who ended up spending more time with databases than patients during the healthcare industry’s transition from paper to electronic records. Over the years, she wore every hat imaginable – teaching legacy staff new systems, serving as director of compliance, and building user interfaces for medical data. The constant was solving problems that nobody else wanted to tackle.
Through a network built at the Columbia and Irmo Chambers of Commerce and a web development course, Cut Throat’s earliest days were spent creating websites for local businesses. But it became clear fast: websites weren’t design projects. They were marketing projects. And most businesses were getting terrible results because nobody understood the psychology behind why people actually click, call, or convert.
By 2018, Geoffrey Giles, Cynthia’s husband and partner, started helping with projects. By 2019, the business had grown enough that he left his career in information technology to work at Cut Throat full-time. What began as websites for Chamber friends evolved into a full-scale marketing agency with one clear mission: help home services businesses dominate their local markets.
Today, Cut Throat Marketing does one thing exceptionally well: We generate leads for trades businesses at costs that make other agencies look incompetent. We do it by leveraging a framework that most marketers have never heard of – the 8-micro-yes series – and we do it so well that we literally tell our competitors exactly how we do it because we’re that confident they can’t execute it like we can.
Why We're Different And How That Actually Matters To Your Bottom Line
We Only Work With Home Services Businesses
No restaurants. No lawyers. No online stores. No “influencers.” Just trades.
While other agencies are chasing whatever industry will write them a check, we’ve spent years becoming the absolute best at one thing: making the phone ring for plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians, roofers, pest control, and other home service trades.
What specialization actually means for you:
We know that emergency calls at 10 PM are worth 3x more than routine maintenance calls at 10 AM
We understand seasonal patterns and when to push cooling, heating, or maintenance plans
We track what matters – phone calls and form submissions, not “engagement” or “impressions”
We’ve made the expensive mistakes on our dime, not yours
When you work with generalists, you’re teaching them your industry while paying full price. When you work with us, you’re leveraging years of trade-specific expertise from day one.
We Built Our Success On a Framework Nobody Else Uses
Here’s what separates us from every other agency: We don’t guess. We don’t follow trends. We leverage a proven psychological framework called the 8-micro-yes series that guides prospects from “just looking” to “calling now.”
This isn’t theory – it’s our competitive advantage:
Our landing pages convert 10-15% of visitors into leads while industry average is 4-5%
Our Google Ads convert at 18% on average while competitors celebrate 6%
Our cost per lead runs 30-50% below industry average
Our clients see these results consistently, not occasionally
We’re so confident in this approach that we literally publish our entire strategy on our website. Why? Because knowing the framework and executing it flawlessly are two completely different things. Our competitors can read everything we do and they still can’t match our results.
You Own Everything, Always
Most agencies hold your business hostage. They own your domain, control your Google Ads account, and lock you into contracts because they know you can’t leave without starting over.
That’s bullshit, and we don’t operate that way:
Month-to-month contracts – Stay because we deliver results, not because you’re trapped
Full ownership – Your domain, your ads account, your website, your data. All in your name with full admin access
Complete transparency – See every dollar spent, every lead generated, every result tracked
No penalties – Cancel anytime without fees or hostage negotiations
We earn your business every single month by making your phone ring and keeping your cost per lead below what you’d pay anyone else.
Exclusive Territories Mean We're Never Competing Against Ourselves
When you partner with Cut Throat Marketing, we shut the door on every other business in your trade within your service area. No two plumbers in the same market. No competing HVAC companies bidding against each other.
Why this matters to your bottom line:
Your ad costs stay lower because we’re not driving up your own bids
Every strategy is custom for your market, not recycled from competitors
Your data stays private – winning keywords, customer insights, successful campaigns
Our only goal is beating your competition, not juggling multiple clients who should be fighting each other
Most agencies will take anyone with a credit card. We’d rather have one successful client per trade per market than ten mediocre ones cannibalizing each other’s results.
US-Based Team That Actually Answers
When something breaks at 4 PM on Friday and you’ve got jobs scheduled tomorrow, you can’t wait 48 hours for a support ticket response from someone reading a script overseas.
What real support looks like:
Call us and talk to actual humans in Columbia, South Carolina
No offshore call centers, no runaround, no language barriers
Strategic directors who own your results and answer their phones
Same-day emergency support when you need it
We’re a small team that gives a damn about whether your marketing works when you need it to. That’s the difference between us and the enterprise agencies with 500 clients and zero accountability.
Recognition From People Who Know What They're Talking About
We don’t need to brag – our clients’ results speak louder than any award. But since prospects want to know whether we’re legitimate, here’s the proof:
Cloudways Gold Partner Agency
Top-tier hosting partner status for technical excellence
SC Best in Business 2024 (Bronze)
Best Ad Agency/PR/Marketing Firm AND Best Web Development Company from Charleston, Greenville, and Columbia Business Monthly magazines
Irmo Chamber of Commerce
Best new business in 2017, and the only award that we think actually matters – Order of the Okra in 2020. The Order of the Okra award is an award given to the person who is awarded by vote of the past board members of the chamber who has done the most to help the Irmo SC business community.
Clutch.co Top Agency (2021-2023)
Ranked as top SEO company, Digital Marketing Agency, Web Design firm, and PPC agency for three consecutive years
CIO Review Top 10 SEO Firm (2020)
Recognized nationally for search engine optimization expertise
Awards are nice. Results are better. Our clients stick with us because their phones ring more and their cost per lead drops, not because we have plaques on the wall.
Meet Your Team (The People Who Actually Do The Work)
Cynthia Giles
CEO (President)
The founder who turned a chamber of commerce network and a web development course into one of the best home services marketing agencies in the country. Cynthia’s background in healthcare IT and database management gave her an unusual advantage: she understands systems, processes, and how to make technology actually work for small businesses instead of against them.
Geoffrey Giles
Vice President
Left a career in information technology management to bet on Cut Throat full time in 2019. Geoffrey brings technical depth and strategic thinking that keeps campaigns running smoothly while clients focus on running their businesses. His background ensures nothing breaks, nothing gets missed, and clients always know exactly what’s happening with their marketing.
Tayla Cameron
Chief Operating Officer
Keeps the entire operation running smoothly behind the scenes. Tayla oversees Local SEO and leads software development within the Ninja Inbox, ensuring strategy and infrastructure work together seamlessly. She keeps projects on track, deadlines met, and clients get the attention their businesses deserve. Operations isn’t glamorous, but it’s what separates agencies that deliver from agencies that disappoint.
Kaela Cameron
PPC Specialist
Manages pay-per-click campaigns that generate immediate leads while building long-term performance data. Kaela focuses on results that matter—qualified phone calls, efficient cost per lead, and campaigns that scale profitably over time. Clicks don’t impress her; sustainable ROI does.
Alisha Chavis
Digital Marketing Assistant
Drives custom website development from build through launch, handling the details that keep projects clean, functional, and on schedule. Structure, usability, and execution aren’t accidents—they’re the result of Alisha owning the work that turns plans into finished websites. She keeps builds aligned with the larger marketing strategy and ensures websites don’t just get completed—they get done right.
Kat Benson
Jr. Web Developer
Builds the custom, conversion-optimized websites that turn visitors into leads at rates that shock clients coming from template-based sites. Fast load times, mobile-first design, and psychology-driven layouts aren’t accidents – they’re Kat’s specialty.
Christina Higgins
Local SEO Coordinator
Dominates Google Maps and local search results for clients who need to own their geographic markets. Christina knows that showing up first when homeowners search “near me” is worth more than ranking nationally for generic terms nobody searches.
Brooke Farwell
Content Editor
Protects quality, accuracy, and performance across live client assets. She proofreads and edits content to maintain brand standards, audits live websites to catch issues before they become problems, and ensures pages stay current, functional, and glitch-free. Deadlines don’t slip and details don’t get missed because she keeps content tasks on track and moving forward. It’s precision work—but it’s what keeps campaigns polished, compliant, and dependable at scale.
Kim
Media Tech
Works directly with local clients to capture real photos of their jobs in action. These visuals aren’t staged or generic—they reflect the actual work being done and the businesses behind it. It’s hands-on, on-site work, but it’s what gives local marketing authenticity, credibility, and trust.
Joshua Cameron
Analytics Analyst
Compiles audits, pulls performance data, and reviews results to uncover what’s working and what isn’t. Josh turns raw numbers into clear insights that guide strategy, track overall performance, and support smarter decisions across campaigns. It’s analytical, behind-the-scenes work—but it’s what keeps strategy grounded in reality, not guesswork.
Sarah Chace
Personal Tech Assistant
Supports the systems and infrastructure that keep the agency running. Sarah works directly with leadership to manage technical tasks across servers, software, domains, email systems, and internal tools. From troubleshooting issues and maintaining configurations to researching solutions and documenting processes, she helps keep workflows stable, efficient, and scalable. It’s problem-solving, behind-the-scenes work—but it’s what allows the team to move fast without breaking things.
Our Process
Success isn’t random. It’s systematic. Here’s how we consistently deliver results that other agencies call “lucky”:
Step 1 – Learn Your Business
We don’t tell you what your marketing should look like. We learn about your business, your market, your competitors, and your goals. Then we build a strategy that fits.
Step 2 – Research What Actually Works
Data drives decisions. We analyze your industry, study your competitors, and identify exactly what gives you an edge in your specific market.
Step 3 – Design for Psychology First
Every page is designed around the 8-micro-yes framework before a single word is written. Design isn’t about looking pretty – it’s about guiding prospects toward calling you.
Step 4 – Optimize for Conversion
Your website exists to turn visitors into leads. Every element, every word, every button is placed intentionally to maximize conversions – not to win design awards.
Step 5 – Build Everything Custom
No templates. No recycled copy. No stock photos. Every website is custom-built for your business, your market, and your customers.
Step 6 – Execute Across Every Channel
We don’t pick one tactic and pray. We attack from every angle that generates leads – PPC, LSAs, SEO, Google Business Profile, automation, reputation management. Whatever works.
Step 7 – Measure What Matters
We track phone calls, form submissions, cost per lead, and actual revenue impact. No vanity metrics. No fluff reports. Just clear data on what’s working and what needs adjustment.
Step 8 – Adjust and Improve
Marketing isn’t “set it and forget it.” We continuously optimize based on real performance data, doubling down on what works and cutting what doesn’t.
The power of having a process: We deliver reproducible results. This isn’t guesswork or reinventing the wheel for every client. It’s a refined system that works consistently because we’ve spent years perfecting it.
Stop Wondering If Better Marketing Exists – Schedule Your Free Consultation
You didn’t build your business by hoping things would work out. You built it through hard work, smart decisions, and refusing to give up when things got tough.
Your marketing should come from people who think the same way.
We’re not going to promise overnight success or guaranteed rankings. We’re going to show you exactly what’s broken in your current marketing, what’s possible in your market, and what it takes to dominate your competition.
Here’s what happens in your free consultation:
Honest assessment of your current marketing (we’ll tell you what’s salvageable and what needs to burn)
Market intelligence showing exactly where you stand versus competitors
Custom strategy outlining the specific campaigns and timeline for your market
Clear pricing with expected ROI based on real data from similar businesses
Actionable advice you can implement immediately, whether you hire us or not
No sales pitch. No pressure. No bullshit. Just straight answers from people who understand what it takes to build something from nothing.
See exactly where you’re losing leads and what it’s costing you
Quick questions? Get quick answers from our team
P.S. – We’re not the biggest agency. We’re not the flashiest. But we’re damn good at one thing: making home services businesses’ phones ring with qualified leads at costs that make other agencies look incompetent. If that’s what you need, let’s talk.
