About Too Hot to Handle
Too Hot To Handle is one of Geelong’s leading heating, cooling, and hot water specialists, with a reputation for honest advice, quality workmanship, and a no-fuss approach. With over ten years of experience, they’ve helped local families and businesses stay comfortable all year round with reliable, energy-efficient systems.
The business began in 2017 with a simple setup: a trailer hitched to a Commodore, and a commitment to high-quality work and positive team culture. Now they’ve grown into Geelong’s premier heating and cooling service provider, but it hasn’t been without its challenges.
While their service has always been rock-solid, their marketing wasn’t. Behind the scenes, they were struggling with digital campaigns that didn’t reflect who they were – or where they were headed.
The problem: a digital marketing nightmare
Before partnering with Pixeld, Too Hot To Handle had cycled through a string of marketing agencies – and not one had delivered what the business actually needed.
No plan, no progress
Across the board, communication was slow, the work was off-brand, and there was zero transparency. Matt, owner of Too Hot to Handle, frequently called the agencies for marketing updates, only to be brushed off with excuses and empty promises.
“There was no plan, no clarity, no strategy,” Matt says. “At one point, they were running ads for services we didn’t even offer.”
Instead of driving growth, marketing had become their biggest headache.
The low point
According to Matt, their experience with one agency reached a truly jaw-dropping low:
“The agency copy-pasted content straight from another company’s website, including the company name and phone number! We ended up getting a call from the company asking why we’d stolen their page.”
Marketing dollars out the window
Too Hot To Handle had the experience, the team, and the skills to lead the market. But their visibility was patchy, SEO was weak, and the campaigns were generic, failing to resonate with customers from Geelong and the Surf Coast. The business wasn’t showing up in local search when customers were actively looking.
Without a solid strategy, their marketing spend was being poured down the drain, and they were left feeling unsupported and uncertain about how to reach the next level of growth, until they turned to Pixeld.
The Pixeld solution
When Matt came into the Pixeld office, he was worried about losing Too Hot to Handle’s market share during the handover between marketing agencies. Despite his terrible experience with his previous agencies, the business was still getting leads from their Google Ads. Plus, the website had built up some authority over time.
Matt had a big team to keep busy and a strong foothold in the market. Losing momentum wasn’t an option. Would switching agencies mean temporarily shutting everything down and losing sales?
A seamless transition
A smooth handover was key. Before anything was switched off, the Pixeld team built a clear plan to keep the leads flowing. We created brand-new Google Ads campaigns, ready to launch the moment the old ones were paused.
This was just one of the benefits of Pixeld’s strategic, locally focused overhaul of Too Hot to Handle’s marketing that would dive deep into the brand and help it stand out.
A more personal approach
From day one, communication was different. The Pixeld team was responsive, engaged, and accessible. No long waits. No missed emails. And no more copy-and-paste jobs.
“I’m confident in what Pixeld are doing and that they’re taking us in the right direction,’ Matt says. ‘I don’t feel like I have to call up and check every few days like I did with other agencies.”
With clear communication came trust, and with trust came progress.
Enhancing local SEO
Pixeld zeroed in on local SEO, making sure Too Hot To Handle was showing up exactly where it needed to: in front of customers in Geelong and the Surf Coast.
That meant keyword research tailored to the area, cleaning up on-page SEO, improving site structure, and building location-specific content that customers actually searched for.
Website, ads, blog… even the business cards
The strategy wasn’t limited to one channel. Pixeld worked across the board to lift Too Hot To Handle’s brand presence:
- A site re-build to better match their personality and professionalism
- Targeted Google Ads campaigns with improved ROI
- Blog content designed to educate customers and drive organic traffic
Updated business cards and print assets to match the brand - A social media presence that boosts visibility and builds customer trust
- Dedicated 360-degree campaigns – including design for bus advertising, meta ads, social organic posts and landing page creation
The idea was to give Too Hot to Handle an online presence that brought more leads and actually reflected who they are: reliable, honest, and knowledgeable.
And Matt has nothing but praise for the Pixeld strategy: ‘Nathan, Megan, and Tony are always coming up with new ideas to push our marketing forward. They know where all the best spends are.’
The results
With Pixeld’s help, Too Hot to Handle turned their marketing around and transformed the way customers saw their brand.
- Stronger local SEO brought in more traffic – from relevant leads in Geelong
- Clearer strategy meant better use of budget and higher ROI
- Marketing performance became trackable and goal-driven
- Brand visibility skyrocketed, helping position them as the region’s go-to team
- They recently hit 1 million marketing impressions
Most importantly?
Pixeld helped Too Hot to Handle move closer to its goal of becoming the number one heating and cooling provider in the region.
In fact, their only critique of Pixeld is that our marketing has given them a few too many leads! Check out this text we got from Matt last year:
How it’s going
Today, Too Hot to Handle has grown into the highest-rated heating and cooling company in Geelong, receiving more than 270 five-star reviews on Google. With 22 staff onboard, they’ve completed over 1,000 installs, operating at around 50 per week. Their brand is instantly recognisable across Geelong and the Surf Coast, and their digital footprint is stronger than ever.
And they’ve come a long way since the trailer and Commodore setup. Matt says, ‘Between our utes and our vans, we’ve probably got about 16 or 17 vehicles now.’ You’ve probably even seen a couple driving around Geelong.
And at last, their marketing is no longer a headache. It’s a strength.
“Now we’re one of the biggest in Geelong,” said Matt. “And a huge reason for that is the marketing.”
Pixeld didn’t just deliver a band-aid solution – we delivered direction. By listening closely and focusing on local results, we helped Too Hot to Handle own their voice and lead their market.
If you want to know how Pixeld can do the same for your brand, book a free consultation and we’ll deliver a strategy tailored to your business.
Check out our other case studies for more Pixeld success stories.
