The fundamental difference
Door knocking is interruption. Nobody was looking for you. You are creating awareness and, occasionally, need. It works for services people do not think to search for until prompted, and for visible problems a canvasser can point at.
Digital ads are capture. Someone is already searching. You are competing to be the one they choose. It works when demand exists and can be identified.
A business with no existing demand cannot fix that with search ads, because nobody is searching. A business with plenty of demand it is failing to capture does not need canvassers.
What door knocking is genuinely good at
- Visible, storm-driven or seasonal work. Roofing after hail, fencing after wind, tree work after storms. The need is obvious from the street and the homeowner may not have acted yet.
- Neighbourhood clustering. Once you are working on a street, the neighbours can see it, and the marginal cost of the next job is very low.
- Services people do not search for. Pest prevention, gutter guards, lawn programmes.
- Markets where trust is local. A person at the door who knows the area can outperform an anonymous advertisement.
The economics work when the crew is already in the area and the average job value is high enough to absorb a low conversion rate.
What door knocking costs
- Labour, which is the main cost and is often understated
- Very low conversion — a fraction of a percent of doors in many trades
- Local rules on solicitation, which vary by municipality and by neighbourhood association, and are worth confirming before you start
- Reputational risk if it is done badly or too aggressively
- Difficulty scaling without a lot of management
What digital ads are good at
- Reaching people at the moment of need. Someone searching "emergency plumber" is a different prospect from someone answering a door.
- Measurability. You can know what a customer cost.
- Speed. Enquiries within days of switching on.
- Targeting by geography and by intent, tightly.
What digital ads cost
- Click prices set by competition, which in some trades are high
- Wasted spend if targeting and landing pages are wrong
- A learning period before performance settles
- Ongoing management, which is a real cost whether you pay someone or do it yourself
How to choose
Ask whether people are already searching for what you sell. Search volume data answers this in minutes.
Demand exists and you are not capturing it — digital ads, and fix the site's conversion first.
Demand does not exist until prompted — canvassing, or another interruption channel.
Storm or seasonal event just happened — both, and canvassing is faster.
Small budget, need customers this month — digital ads on high-intent terms, tightly targeted.
The honest answer for most local businesses
Digital ads suit most established service businesses better, because demand usually exists and is measurable. Canvassing suits specific trades in specific circumstances, and the businesses that do it well treat it as a route-based operational activity rather than a marketing campaign.
Both are worse than the cheapest channel available to almost everyone: past customers and referrals, which cost time rather than money and convert at rates neither of these approaches gets close to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the real difference?
Door knocking is interruption — it creates awareness where none existed. Digital ads are capture — they compete for demand that already exists. Which fits depends on whether people are already searching for what you sell.
When does door knocking work?
For visible storm-driven or seasonal work, for neighbourhood clustering once a crew is already on a street, for services nobody thinks to search for, and in markets where a local face outperforms an anonymous ad.
What does canvassing really cost?
Labour above all, plus very low conversion rates, local solicitation rules that vary by municipality and neighbourhood association, reputational risk if done aggressively, and difficulty scaling without management.
How do I decide between them?
Check whether search volume exists for what you sell. If demand exists and you are not capturing it, use ads and fix conversion first. If demand only exists once prompted, canvass. After a storm, both.
Is there a better option than either?
For most local businesses, yes — past customers and referrals. They cost time rather than money and convert at rates neither canvassing nor advertising approaches.