Today we’d like to introduce you to Devon Hayes.
Hi Devon, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I took a pretty unconventional path to entrepreneurship. I grew up in the Lakewood/Green Mountain area and joined the U.S. Navy after high school because I wanted to travel and, honestly, I wasn’t convinced college was for me. I ended up in IT and communications aboard the USS Frank Cable in Guam, working with shipboard networks, satellite communications and secure systems. That experience taught me that I was capable of a lot more than I had given myself credit for.
After the Navy, I came home to Colorado, went to college and earned my degree in Business Administration from CU Denver with emphases in International Business and Marketing. From there, I went into the construction and engineering world, working for companies including Kiewit/Mass Electric, Krista Construction and Vertex Engineering. At Vertex, I became Marketing Director for highly technical construction, and engineering service lines, which gave me an unusual combination of industry knowledge and marketing experience.
Then I made what turned out to be a very useful career mistake: I left construction and engineering for a higher-paying job in finance. The money was better, but I was miserable. At the same time, my former boss reached out because they were struggling to find someone who really understood how to market such a complex business, and several people I worked with in finance began asking whether I could help them independently with their marketing.
That was the moment I realized I might actually be able to build something of my own. I started Elevation Marketing as a side business in 2013 and made the leap to doing it full time on January 1, 2014.
A few years later, Amanda Joyce and I began working together. She had her own agency and I had Elevation, and we quickly realized our strengths were incredibly complementary. Eventually we merged our businesses under the Elevation name, and that partnership completely changed the trajectory of the company.
Today, Elevation Marketing works primarily with established home service and construction businesses across the U.S. and Canada. We help them build long-term visibility, homeowner trust and measurable growth through SEO, AIEO, paid media, fractional CMO services, websites and digital strategy. A big part of our mission is still rooted in what I learned working around contractors early in my career: these are incredibly hardworking business owners, and they deserve marketing partners who are transparent, honest and actually looking out for the long-term health of their business.
We’ve grown a lot since the days when I was doing everything myself, but the goal hasn’t changed much. Amanda and I have always wanted Elevation to be the “good guys” in an industry where business owners are often sold things they don’t need or locked into assets they don’t own. I’m incredibly proud that we’ve built a team and a company where clients see us as an extension of their own business rather than just another vendor.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. One of the biggest challenges has been learning how to grow a service business without losing the quality, trust and personal connection that helped us build it in the first place.
In the early years, I wore every hat. As Elevation grew, the challenge shifted from doing the work myself to building a team, creating processes and learning how to lead people through constant change. Digital marketing evolves incredibly quickly, so we’re always balancing what has historically worked with new technology, changing search behavior and new ways consumers find and evaluate businesses.
Another challenge is that a lot of what we do is invisible. A client may see one line item on a proposal, while behind the scenes there are multiple people, systems and hours of work involved. Marketing results also aren’t always linear, so we’ve had to become very good at communicating what’s happening, being transparent when something isn’t working and being willing to change direction rather than defend a strategy just because it was our original plan.
And, like most business owners, we’ve made hiring mistakes, taken on clients who weren’t the right fit, tried things that didn’t work and had periods where growth exposed weaknesses in our systems. Those experiences have probably taught us more than the easy years ever could.
What I’m proud of is that Amanda and I have never been afraid to look honestly at the business and evolve. We’re constantly asking what needs to change, what we can do better and how we can create a healthier company for our team while delivering better results for our clients. I think the struggles have made us much more thoughtful business owners and much better marketers.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Elevation Marketing is a digital marketing agency built for established home service and construction businesses. We help companies build long-term visibility, homeowner trust, and measurable growth through SEO, paid media, content, website strategy and development, local search, and advanced search optimization.
What sets us apart is that we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all marketing or chasing vanity metrics. We look at the full picture of a client’s business, market, competition, goals, and existing assets before recommending a strategy. Sometimes that means SEO. Sometimes it means paid media. Sometimes the right answer is fixing the website, cleaning up tracking, strengthening the brand, or simply telling a business owner not to spend money on something yet.
We also put a huge emphasis on ownership and transparency. We want our clients to own their websites, content, analytics, images, and digital assets. We don’t believe in holding businesses hostage with proprietary systems or making performance look better than it really is. Our reporting is designed to show what’s actually happening, what’s working, what isn’t, and where we think the next opportunity is.
Today, a big part of our work is helping home service brands become easier to find, easier to trust, and easier to choose across an increasingly fragmented digital landscape. Search is no longer just ten blue links on Google. Homeowners are finding businesses through maps, paid ads, social platforms, AI tools, reviews, websites, and recommendations, so we focus on building brands that send consistent trust signals across the entire web.
I’m probably most proud of the relationships we’ve built. Many of our clients have been with us for years, and we’ve become the people they call when they have a marketing question, even when it falls outside the exact scope of our agreement. Amanda and I have always wanted Elevation to feel more like a teammate than a vendor. If our clients trust us enough to tell them the truth, challenge an idea, change course when something isn’t working, and genuinely advocate for their business, then we’re doing what we set out to do.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The best way to work with us is simply to start a conversation. We love connecting with home service and construction business owners who are trying to solve a marketing problem, improve visibility, strengthen their brand, or figure out what they should be doing next.
We’re also always open to collaborating with industry organizations, coaches, consultants, podcast hosts, and other professionals who serve the trades. Some of our best relationships have come from sharing ideas, comparing what we’re seeing in different markets, and helping each other solve problems.
Personally, I really enjoy conversations where I can be helpful, even if someone never becomes a client. If we can point a business owner in the right direction, uncover an issue, or help them make a smarter decision about their marketing, that’s a win.
The easiest way to connect with me is through Elevation Marketing or LinkedIn. I’m always happy to talk shop, share what we’re learning, and meet good people doing meaningful work in the home services and construction space.
Pricing:
- Our pricing page is probably best if it makes sense to share. https://elevmarketing.com/pricing/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://elevmarketing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevationdigitalmarketing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevmarketing
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevation-marketing-company/
- Twitter: https://x.com/elevation_mktg
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXiY8Q_v_ZtJ21S4l3LDVww
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevationmarketing
