Troy Barnes from the Netflix series “Community” discovered he had untaught plumbing skills and contemplated whether he should pursue that area, or dive into the world of air conditioning.
Even if you haven’t seen “Community,” chances are you are probably like Troy and know quite a bit about plumbing, aside from the stereotypical plunger-to-toilet issue. But can you say the same about your plumber marketing skills? Have you tried marketing your plumbing business?
This article will discuss how you can market your plumbing business. You have the skills to start a digital marketing campaign, but just need a little push to get it out in the open for others to see.
Table of Contents
Plumber Marketing
Where Do I Start?
This is a shared question by every plumber who is trying to generate more business. Online, or digital, marketing is the best answer to your question. Unlike plumber internet marketing, offline marketing typically requires you to go door-to-door, which isn’t ideal in a digitally-driven world.
The best plumber marketing strategies for all stages of the business include the following:
- Claiming your Google Business listing
- Creating a plumbing website that converts
- Setting up a Facebook page
- Gathering and managing online reviews
- Using call-only ads
- Creating expert plumbing content
- Getting more leads with work requests
- Using customer service as a marketing tool
Claim Your Google My Business Listing
So, according to the list provided, you should start by creating a Google My Business listing, so people are able to find you online, see your services, and contact you. All you need is a company name, address, and contact info.
But, you need to develop your brand identity even before you create a Google Business listing. Yes, “brand identity” is not on this list, but this list also assumes that you have thoroughly differentiated yourself from the others plumbers in your area and have a cohesive feel around your plumbing business.
Build Your Plumbing Website
You’ve claimed your business listing. Now, let’s move onto building a website. Hiring a web development consultant or web developer may be in your best interest. UX/UI professionals make your website aesthetically pleasing to your potential customers while strategizing how they navigate and their behavioral process behind your website’s navigation.
You want to keep your web page clean and simple, so people are easily able to find the info they are looking for. This plumbing marketing strategy builds your credibility and visibility, so you can get more leads. (Also, the cleanliness and simplicity of your site indirectly tells potential customers that your services are of the same caliber.)
Some essential elements of your website include a professional name and logo, your unique selling point, phone number, locations you serve, service list, an easy way to request work, and awards, accreditations and any testimonials.
Set Up Your Social Media
There are a number of social media platforms you can use to promote your brand, and each has its own benefit. Social media marketing helps your plumbing business because it further grows your brand awareness and online presence by spreading the word about your services and mission; it increases your traffic; and it acts as a form of self-promotion.
Of all the social media platforms, Facebook reaches the most number of people. Therefore, it is the best platform to use to initiate your plumber marketing strategy on social media. Because Instagram and Pinterest are largely image-based, they may not be the best to reach your audience because photo content will be uninteresting and unvaried.
Manage Online Reviews
Your plumber marketing strategy is largely dependent on your customers and their experience with your services. People look at reviews and take lower star ratings into consideration. Manage online reviews by initiating the right tone immediately.
When responding to a negative review, do not make it a public war. Instead, be polite and try to put a positive spin on the situation, whether it’s offering a refund or a simple acknowledgment of their dissatisfaction. How you respond can hurt or help your reputation.
The timeliness of your responses also sends the message of how much you care about your customers. Be sure to address problems or accept praise within a 24- to 48-hour period.
Use Call-Only Ads
Digital advertising allows you to advertise your plumbing services to the world via paid promotional content. Purchasing ads is a great plumber marketing strategy because it is targeted. You are not wasting money to show ads to people who are not interested in buying your products.
Specifically for your business, call-only ad campaigns may be the best option because people want to speak to a real person for pipe issues. acknowledgment Call-only ads show up on people’s phones and offer direct click-to-call functionality.
Custom Content with SEO
Aside from helping your customers, your goal is also to educate them. Content helps to market your plumbing services because it increases interest in your services and your online presence. Content doesn’t have to be confined to just blogs. It also includes social media content.
With content marketing, you want to utilize keywords that are relevant to your plumbing business, so your website appears higher on Google searches and other search engines. Local SEO is one of the most important digital marketing strategies for generating plumbing leads. This combines content marketing and SEO tactics.
Plumbing Company Marketing
Marketing a plumbing company isn’t that different from marketing your personal plumbing business. A company should utilize SEO, a website, social media and reviews to help with the marketing strategy. However, because a plumbing company is larger, there are other factors that come into play.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
PPC advertising is most effective when you have a good business and can pay for your campaign. You can either buy traffic via PPC or bid on keywords. In order to determine if PPC advertising is worth it, you need to know your numbers.
For example, if you own a company and are willing to pay $200 per sale, and your conversion rate is 50%, you should pay $100 for a lead. This type of advertising can be pricey, and that is why it is typically reserved for a plumbing business model, but they are effective with getting clicks.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a cost-effective plumber internet marketing tool that will reach your intended customers. Your audience has already bought into your business, so give them what they want! Sending a newsletter helps your business to regularly be on their minds. The following list ensures you will create an effective plumber marketing email campaign:
- Make sure the email subject line should be between 25-50 characters
- Write a compelling subject line that gives the readers an idea what is ahead
- Research spam filtering words, so your emails are always seen
- Segment your body and copy to keep it fresh
- Research data privacy rules
Video Marketing
If you want your traffic to grow substantially, invest in video marketing for your plumbing business. Cisco predicted that video will comprise nearly 82% of internet traffic in 2021, so follow the curve.
Recruitment marketing for plumbers
A plumbing company that wants to continue to grow needs to recruit and hire. A Pew Research Center article stated that approximately 90% of people looked for jobs online. As a result, your company needs to have a profile for job seekers in addition to effective keywords that gets your website noticed by people.
Plumbing Marketing Ideas
You have all of the plumber marketing tactics to accelerate your business. Now, all you want to know is how to create marketing ideas from these tactics. These marketing ideas can be anything from a simple referral program to expansive partnerships.
Customer Referral Program
This simple idea is an incredibly effective marketing technique as it leverages your current loyal customers to bring in new customers. People will reference you to their friends if you have excellent customer service and actively encourage them to refer with an attached incentive.
Community Involvement
Engagement in your community lets your customers know that you care and have a moral backbone. No one person is actively looking for your services on a daily basis. However, your involvement in larger projects will give them a reason to choose you over your competitors when they do need a plumber to help them.
Local Business Card Shares
Share your business cards with other local businesses (of course, non-competitor businesses.) These companies can act as partners to help spread your name and services further.
Giveaways and Contests
Having a giveaway is a great plumber marketing idea because they take a low amount of capital and have high ROI (return on investment).
Local Citations
Citation building is an important aspect of digital marketing for plumbers. By building local citations, you get your business’s contact information online for others to see, and the number of local citations you have dictates how well your website ranks in local search results. Submit up-to-date business listings to trusted local directories.
Host a Social Media Contest
A contest is a fun way to connect to your audience. Leverage your partnerships to help with a prize, or offer a discounted plumbing service to the winner. A branded hashtag for your social media contest will help you stand out even more.
Market Your Plumbing Services with SEO Design Chicago
SEO Design Chicago is a Chicago-based content marketing agency that grows your web presence, increases leads, redesigns your website and offers digital marketing expertise. Whether you are just starting out on your plumber marketing journey or are several years in, we will make you stand out from your competition. SEO Design Chicago provides digital marketing services specifically for plumbers! Call us today for help marketing your plumbing business.
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