Hibu is a digital marketing platform built for local service businesses — think HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and home services companies. They build websites, manage Google Ads and social media campaigns, handle local SEO, and create online directory listings. If you've worked with Hibu, you know the pitch: more visibility, more leads, more business.
FollowFire does something completely different: it converts the leads you're already generating by responding within 60 seconds and following up automatically. It doesn't run ad campaigns. It doesn't manage your website. It makes sure that when a lead arrives — from a Hibu campaign, organic search, or any other source — you respond before your competitor does.
These tools operate at completely different stages of the funnel. Understanding which part of your funnel is losing the most revenue determines which problem to solve first.
What Hibu Does
Hibu's core offering is top-of-funnel digital marketing for local businesses:
- Website design and hosting
- Search engine optimization (local SEO)
- Google Ads and pay-per-click campaign management
- Social media advertising (Facebook, Instagram)
- Online directory listings and review management
- Retargeting and display advertising
Hibu is well-suited for contractors who need a professional online presence or who want to scale lead volume through paid and organic channels. Their managed service model means a lot of the marketing work is handled for you — which is appealing for owner-operators who don't want to manage ad accounts themselves.
What Hibu doesn't do: respond to the leads they generate on your behalf. When a homeowner clicks a Hibu-managed ad and fills out your contact form, Hibu's job is done. The lead lands in your inbox. What happens next is entirely up to you.
What FollowFire Does
FollowFire picks up exactly where Hibu leaves off. The moment a lead hits your inbox — from a Hibu campaign, a Google organic result, a referral, or a missed call — FollowFire sends a personalized text message within 60 seconds.
Then it runs a 3-touch follow-up sequence automatically: an immediate text, a follow-up 20 minutes later if there's no reply, and a Day 3 check-in for leads that go cold. The goal is to make sure every lead you're paying to generate actually becomes a booked job — not a missed opportunity.
FollowFire also handles missed calls with automatic text-back: "Hey, we just missed your call — what can we help you with?" sent within 60 seconds of a missed ring. For contractors who are on jobs all day, this alone recovers multiple bookings per week.
The Core Problem: Generating Leads vs. Closing Them
Here's the uncomfortable math that most marketing platforms don't talk about: the average local service business responds to inbound leads within 47 hours. Research shows that 78% of jobs go to the first company that responds. If you're spending $500–$2,000/month on Hibu campaigns to generate leads, but responding to those leads 12–24 hours later, you're losing a significant percentage of the revenue those campaigns were supposed to generate.
This isn't a Hibu problem — it's a universal problem with any top-of-funnel marketing spend. The traffic comes in. The leads fill out the form. And then they wait. And while they wait, they fill out the next competitor's form too.
FollowFire solves the conversion side. It's the mechanism that makes sure your Hibu campaigns — or any other lead source — actually produce booked jobs at the rate the ad spend deserves.
FollowFire vs Hibu: Direct Comparison
| Feature | FollowFire | Hibu |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Convert inbound leads into booked jobs | Generate leads via digital marketing |
| Lead response time | Under 60 seconds (automated) | Not applicable — doesn't respond to leads |
| Follow-up automation | 3-touch SMS sequence (auto) | None |
| Missed call text-back | Yes — 60-second auto text | No |
| Website creation | No | Yes (managed) |
| SEO management | No | Yes (local SEO) |
| Paid ads management | No | Yes (Google + social) |
| Directory listings | No | Yes |
| Pricing | $49/month flat | $200–$1,500+/month (varies by services) |
| Setup time | 5 minutes | Weeks (onboarding + campaign setup) |
| Contract required | No — cancel anytime | Often yes — annual contracts common |
| Works with existing lead sources | Yes — any form, ad, or missed call | Only for Hibu-generated leads |
The Sequencing Problem
Here's a scenario that plays out constantly for contractors using Hibu or similar marketing services:
You invest $800/month in Hibu campaigns. The campaigns generate 30 inbound leads per month. Your team responds to about half of them within the day — the other half sit overnight or over the weekend. You convert maybe 40% of the leads you respond to, and 15% of the ones you respond to slowly.
That's roughly 9 jobs per month from 30 leads — a 30% overall conversion rate. At $500 average job value, that's $4,500/month from $800 in ad spend. Not bad on the surface.
But with FollowFire responding to all 30 leads within 60 seconds, conversion jumps toward 55–60%. That's 16–18 jobs per month from the same 30 leads — without spending a dollar more on ads. At $500 average, that's $8,000–$9,000/month. Same $800 Hibu spend, nearly double the revenue.
This is why conversion comes before generation. Fix what happens after the lead arrives before spending more to generate additional leads.
When Hibu Makes Sense
Hibu is a good fit for contractors who:
- Don't have a professional website or need a full redesign
- Want a managed, hands-off approach to digital marketing
- Need to scale lead volume in a specific geographic market
- Don't have internal marketing expertise or time to manage campaigns
If your pipeline is genuinely empty and you need more leads first, Hibu can help fill it. But if you're already generating leads and not converting them at the rate you should be, more leads just means more wasted opportunity.
The Right Stack for Most Contractors
The contractors seeing the best results in competitive markets typically run this combination:
- FollowFire first: Install it before you invest heavily in lead generation. Establish a baseline conversion rate of 55%+ on inbound leads. This is the foundation — the infrastructure that makes every marketing dollar worth more.
- Hibu or equivalent for lead gen: Once you know you're converting leads effectively, scale the top of funnel. Every additional lead from a Hibu campaign now has a 55%+ chance of becoming a booking instead of a 30% chance.
- FSM platform for operations: ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or equivalent handles dispatch, invoicing, and job management after the booking is confirmed.
FollowFire at $49/month + Hibu at $500–$1,500/month = a full acquisition and conversion stack that most contractors couldn't build independently. But start with FollowFire. The ROI is immediate and the setup is 5 minutes.
Bottom Line
Hibu and FollowFire solve different problems. Hibu drives traffic and generates leads. FollowFire converts those leads into booked jobs — within 60 seconds, automatically, 24/7. You need both to maximize revenue from your marketing spend.
But if you're choosing one to start with, start with FollowFire. Fix the conversion first. Turn the leads you're already generating into jobs. Then scale the lead volume with confidence.
30-day free trial. 5-minute setup. No contract. The next lead that hits your inbox deserves a 60-second response — and FollowFire makes sure they get one.