The problem with how this industry works
Local marketing splits into two camps, and both leave the owner holding the bag. Production companies sell beautiful video and disappear before anyone sees it. Agencies sell retainers and reports, running someone else's stock creative through the same playbook they sold the last client. The video people do not understand pipelines. The pipeline people cannot make anything worth watching. You end up paying two vendors who do not talk to each other, and the gap between them is where your leads die.
We built Bates Media to close that gap. The creative and the system live under one roof, built by the same people, pointed at the same number.
The Modern Media Growth System
Everything we do runs through one machine: TV advertising, rebuilt for the phone.
- Film. Commercial-grade vertical video, shot on your real jobs. Hook variants researched in your niche, a trust-building story for your brand, one clear offer.
- Launch. Meta campaigns tested weekly and scaled on what converts. The videos keep the cost per lead low.
- Follow up. A custom pipeline with AI texters written for each stage: answered in seconds, qualified, booked, nurtured for days. The system keeps the return high.
- Refresh. New creative every quarter, winners kept running, losers killed. The target is a 3 to 5x return on ad spend.
How we operate
- Selective on purpose. We work with high-value local businesses where the work films beautifully and every closed lead matters. If the fit is wrong, we say so on the first call.
- Builders, not account managers. The person who films your ads and the person who builds your pipeline are not separated by three layers of handoffs.
- Everything is measured. Cost per lead, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend. If a number cannot be shown, it does not get claimed.
- Reputation compounds. The same system that books your jobs asks for the review when the job closes. Revenue and reputation, one engine.
Behind it
Bates Media was started and is run by Jack Bates: a filmmaker turned developer and AI automation specialist who genuinely loves marketing businesses, building unique offers, and positioning companies in their market with creative video production. The filmmaking background is why the ads look like they cost money. The engineering background is why there is a system behind them instead of a spreadsheet: the AI engine inside every build has a name, WebGroove, and we built it.