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Shrewsbury, MA · Painting company · Local campaign

Winter cabinet refinishing when exterior painting stops

Emma Sullivan made social posts and ran Meta ads for Alder & Finch Painting Co., a painting company in Shrewsbury, MA (Oct 13 – Dec 19, 2025): 39 color consults and 12 winter kitchens booked.

Client
Alder & Finch Painting Co.Painting company
Where
Shrewsbury, MAHolden, Grafton, and North Grafton
When
Oct 13 – Dec 19, 2025
Services
Social posts, Meta ads

Results

Oct 13 – Dec 19, 2025

  • 13,600People reached by the ad and posts
  • 524Clicks through to the color consult form
  • 39Color consults booked
  • $392Meta ad spend, $10.05 per consult
  • 214Saves of the before-and-after post
  • 12Kitchens booked for January to March

The brief

Exterior painting stops in central Massachusetts by early November, and Alder & Finch used to lay off two of its five painters until April. The owner wanted indoor cabinet work booked for November through March instead: homeowners in the towns around Worcester with solid 1990s oak kitchens. The limits: no “like new” promises, a careful process that takes four to five days per kitchen, and room for about two kitchens a week.

Goal
Keep the crew busy from November to March with indoor cabinet work after exterior season ends.
Who and where
Homeowners in Holden, Shrewsbury and Grafton with solid 1990s oak cabinets.

What the client gave me

Before and after photos from three cabinet jobs, the spray setup in the shop, the owner’s process written on the back of an estimate, and the question that stalled most of last winter’s calls: can we still use the kitchen?

A 1994 oak kitchen in Shrewsbury at the estimate, gone orange after thirty years of finish.
A 1994 oak kitchen in Shrewsbury at the estimate, gone orange after thirty years of finish.
Doors drying on racks in the shop, the part of the job homeowners never see.
Doors drying on racks in the shop, the part of the job homeowners never see.

What I made

A before-and-after, a plain explanation of the process, an answer to “can we still use the kitchen?” and a free color consult, posted from October.

  1. Refinish, don’t replace
    Refinish, don’t replaceTheir before and after were shot from different corners. I matched them from one angle and dropped the filter they had put on the after.Caption Many 1990s oak cabinets are solid wood that only looks dated. A before-and-after from the same angle shows what a new finish can do.
  2. What cabinet refinishing includes
    What cabinet refinishing includesThe process from the back of the estimate, cut to three steps. It explains the price before anyone has to ask.Caption Explains the prep homeowners never see, which is where a good finish comes from. It also explains the price before anyone asks.
  3. You can still use your kitchen
    You can still use your kitchenAnswered last winter’s question with a photo: the kitchen mid-job, taped up, coffee maker still in use.Caption Answers the question that stalls the decision. Showing the kitchen mid-job, still in use, makes the disruption feel manageable.
  4. Winter cabinet booking is open
    Winter cabinet booking is openBooking opened in October, when exterior season ends, with a free color consult at the kitchen table as the first step.Caption Posted in October as exterior season ends. The free color consult is an easy first step for a homeowner who’s been thinking about it.

How it went out

Where it ran

  • Alder & Finch’s Facebook page and Instagram
  • Nextdoor in Shrewsbury, Holden and Grafton
  • Google Business Profile
  • Email to past exterior customers
  1. Oct 13“Refinish, don’t replace” on Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor and Google
  2. Oct 15Meta ad starts with the before-and-after, $6 a day
  3. Oct 27Email to 300 past exterior customers: winter cabinet booking is open
  4. Nov 3“What cabinet refinishing includes” in the same places
  5. Nov 17“You can still use your kitchen” as the ad
  6. Dec 19Ad ends, with January to March booked
Best ad: Refinish, don’t replace

Meta ads

Audience
Adults 35 to 65 in Shrewsbury, Holden and Grafton (01545, 01520, 01519, 01536)
Budget
$400 planned, $392 spent
Dates
Oct 15 – Dec 19

The before-and-after carried the ad: half the audience has that orange oak in their own kitchen. From Nov 17 the still-use-your-kitchen post ran instead. It got fewer clicks ($0.83 against $0.69) but more consults per click, because it answered the question that had been stalling people.

What happened

The email to past exterior customers did better than anything else: 14 of the 39 consults came from people who already trusted the crew with their house. The before-and-after was saved 214 times. November is what didn’t work. Almost nobody wanted a taped-up kitchen before Thanksgiving, so most consults booked that month pushed their jobs to January. Of 39 consults, 12 booked kitchens between January and March, enough to keep all five painters working through the winter.

What I’d do next

Open winter booking at the end of September and say plainly that jobs start after the holidays. Email past customers first, before any ad. And shoot every cabinet job from the same corner before and after, so the next before-and-after needs no fixing.

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Availability updated Oct 12, 2026.

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