Every few months, a new ad platform launches with a pitch that sounds like a gold rush. Get in early, grab the inventory before it gets expensive, be the first in your market. That pitch is now being made for ChatGPT ads, and it is worth slowing down before you move any budget.

Here is the current reality of ChatGPT advertising: there is no automated campaign buying, there are minimal targeting options, and there are no published performance benchmarks. No cost-per-click averages. No conversion rate data. No case studies showing what actually happened to a real advertiser's cost-per-lead.

For home service companies, your advertising budget is not a place to experiment with unproven channels. A plumbing company in Calgary or an HVAC contractor in Phoenix needs booked jobs, not impressions on a platform that cannot tell you whether those impressions turned into anything.

The proven channels still work. Google Local Service Ads deliver pay-per-lead pricing with real performance accountability. Google Search Ads, when managed correctly, produce consistent cost-per-lead numbers you can track to closed revenue. These are not exciting new things, but they work, and the data shows it.

ChatGPT ads may become a serious channel for local service businesses eventually. The product will mature, targeting will improve, and someone will publish real performance data. When that happens, it will be worth a test. Until then, wait and watch.

Do not let FOMO move your budget off channels that are producing into one that cannot tell you what you are getting.