Attracting new leads and earning the business of new customers for your business isn’t impossible, but knowing a few tricks of the trade when it comes to plumbing marketing will be incremental to your success.
What Is Plumbing Marketing and Why It Matters
As an owner of a plumbing business, you should know that establishing your plumbing company is merely the first step. You will also need to find ways to get a steady flow of customers and keep them loyal to your company for the business to succeed. And this is where plumbing marketing will come into play.
Plumbing marketing refers to any action you or your company take to promote your services. While traditional home service marketing remains effective, companies nowadays prefer digital marketing because of its broad reach, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and many other positive factors.
Here are a few reasons plumbing marketing matters even for small businesses or independent contractors:
1. Learn more about your customers.
Digital marketing relies heavily on solid market research. Effective digital marketing strategies will help your plumbing company learn more about customer preferences to target your ideal customers better. It can also help you identify business aspects you need to improve to satisfy your customers.
2. Find more potential customers.
Also, keep in mind that plumbing is a very competitive market. Your customers are mostly limited to those local to (probably within a thirty to fifty-mile radius) your business location. This is why you have to be extremely focused to get more leads.
3. Boost your reputation.
Aside from spreading the word about your plumbing business and its services, digital marketing strategies also help boost your reputation and strengthen your brand. This is especially true if you build up your Google Business Profile and gather enough positive customer reviews. With such positive feedback, you can start taking advantage of word-of-mouth marketing, too.
4. Position your brand as an industry expert.
In addition, consumers today tend to look to the internet to find answers to their everyday questions and challenges. And this creates a significant need for investing in online marketing to position your brand as an expert and expand your plumbing business as well.
15 Plumbing Marketing Ideas and Strategies to Drive Conversions
Owners of plumbing companies face many struggles and challenges when marketing their plumbing business. For example, one of these challenges is a tight budget. Another challenge is measuring your ROI. Research by LeadPages and Infusionsoft reveals that 47 percent of small business owners, such as plumbing company owners, handle marketing efforts and initiatives on their own.
Small business owners struggle to track their ROI to understand whether or not their marketing initiatives are effective. The good news is that creating a marketing plan for your plumbing company will help alleviate some of your marketing challenges.
You can use these plumber marketing ideas and strategies to grow your plumbing business.
1. Use local SEO.
Note that when it comes to search engine rankings, all businesses strive to be at the top. However, did you know that because of Google’s personalized algorithm, most of the top search results (for service-related online searches) are businesses listed on Google Maps?
Local SEO involves optimizing your business website with relevant keywords to increase your visibility in various search engine results pages. It is no secret that optimizing your company website is crucial for any plumber’s marketing strategy.
Note that you can easily optimize your plumbing business website by:
- Optimizing your site’s content for local search
- Claiming as well as optimizing your Google Business Profile
- Optimizing the metadata of your web pages (such as meta descriptions and title tags) and heading tags for local search
And to ensure your spot in the local search results, the content on your plumbing website must be specific to your customer service region and always show your name, phone, and address.
2. Leverage local social media.
There is no doubt that social media marketing is growing in terms of its role in how your business interacts with its customer base. This is why you have to leverage the immense power and sway of local social media to increase your HVAC and plumbing business’s reach while improving the overall performance of your digital marketing campaign.
Posting informative articles on Facebook, tips on Twitter, and videos on YouTube on how to fix common plumbing issues and problems are excellent examples of leveraging social media effectively.
Did you know that of all the different social media platforms, Facebook boasts the highest number of users and the most conversion-friendly features? Also, note that Facebook is free and simple to set up.
In addition to Facebook, make sure that you set up your profiles on these social media platforms:
- YouTube
- Google Business Profile
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- Instagram
3. Invest in local advertising.
One of the most significant factors that hold a plumbing company back from dominating its local area is poor customer awareness. Consider local advertising if you have room in your internet marketing budget.
By considering the different plumbing business advertising options you have and how you can use them to your advantage, you can start to get ahead of your competitors. For instance, you can distribute flyers, sponsor local contests, or even host community events.
You can also run paid local ads on various online platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. You will pay a small fee whenever a potential customer clicks on your ad or the platform’s CPM (cost per impression) rate. To make your advertising efforts even more effective, run location-targeted ads so your ads appear only in the city or region where your business is.
Compared to other marketing channels and marketing services, paid advertising helps bring more traffic to your business page or company website, increases exposure for your plumbing business, and brings more plumbing leads.
You may also leverage Google Local Services ads. These ads are usually exclusive to service providers operating locally, such as plumbers, electricians, and contractors.
4. Use email marketing.
You should know that email marketing is an excellent way to keep in touch with all your existing customers and nurture plumbing leads. One of the best things about email marketing is that it is relatively simple. This is why it should be a crucial part of your online marketing campaign.
These are some of the best email marketing tips to grow your plumbing company:
- Think before sending an email: Is it compelling? Is the content suitable for your audience? Will the recipient care? Note that once you begin sending irrelevant or boring content, you may lose your audience or even get reported as spam.
- Be contextual: It’s important to send content that has relevance to your local customers. If you are close to the holiday season, you should send something related to the holidays.
- Optimize for mobile: This is important because most people now use their smartphones to open their emails. Leads and customers aren’t likely to wait around for your email’s images to load.
5. Make your plumbing site mobile-friendly.
Some of your prospective customers are probably searching for a plumbing company on the internet using their phones or tablets. Hence, it is ideal to make your plumbing website mobile-friendly.
It is important to note that websites are not automatically “responsive,” which is a term that means a website is optimized for viewing on mobile devices. Fortunately, many website creation tools let you make responsive websites in minutes.
There are many other practices for making a website mobile-friendly, including the following:
- Hosting videos on third-party websites, such as YouTube and Wistia
- Reducing the file size of images on the website through image compression
- Making the buttons large enough to hit with a thumb
- Using large and readable font
- Using a clean, simple website design
6. Optimize your Google Business Profile.
Your plumbing company is likely a local business, and typically, customers search for local contractors. This is why you should leverage Google Business Profile as part of your plumbing marketing plan.
Google Business Profile (GBP), previously known as Google My Business (GMB), is a tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google. It can help you increase your website’s search visibility. It means that when someone uses Google Search or Map to look for something relevant to your plumbing business, they are likely to find your website.
If you want to make the most out of your GBP, you will also need to spend time and effort optimizing your account. Here are a few ways to do that:
- Ensure your name, address, and phone number are consistent anywhere your business appears online.
- Write helpful information about your services, service areas, and the mission of your business in the Business Description.
- Upload a profile photo, cover photo, and other relevant images.
- Respond to reviews promptly and politely.
Podium’s Google Business Profile ROI Calculator can show you how your GBP is doing and how you can make the most out of it.
7. Get positive customer reviews.
No matter your home service niche, customer reviews are a great tool for marketing your business. It can also help you build trust with your customer base.
Over 90% of consumers say online reviews have affected their purchase decision. It means the more positive reviews your plumbing business has, the more likely you’ll attract new clients.
Unfortunately, not all your plumbing customers will share their experience and feedback on your site or any other review websites. But 77% of consumers say they are willing to leave a review if a business asks. So sometimes, you have to ask to receive the reviews your business needs.
This is where Podium Reviews will come in handy. This solution features AI-powered tools that allow you to request and easily collect customer reviews. If you want to collect more reviews for your plumbing company on your Google Business Profile, you can use Podium to generate a free Google review link you can send to your customers via text or email.
By sending a review link, you make the process of leaving reviews easier for customers.
8. Use SMS marketing.
SMS marketing may seem intrusive and dated, but it is very powerful, efficient, and effective.
Text messages have a 98% open rate, which is way higher than the 20% average open rate of email. It means your target audience sees your message even if they delete it immediately. And a well-crafted SMS campaign can generate over 100% ROI.
In addition to high ROI, sending promotional materials and content via text is easy. Podium Text has 500 ready-to-use texting templates you can use if you don’t have the time to write from scratch. The templates, along with other features of the tool, make it possible to spend only a few minutes instead of weeks building a campaign.
It is important to note that you have to get permission from your customers to use their contact information to send them promotional text messages. You can get permission by including opt-in options for SMS marketing on your website, store, and wherever your customers interact with you.
9. Create video and disruptive content.
Your potential and existing customers surely want to learn more about your business and your plumbing and HVAC services before they trust you to handle their plumbing system.
Creating and posting videos of your team fixing plumbing problems, answering frequently asked questions, or showcasing new products and services is a great way to let your customers get to know your company and the people behind it.
When it comes to video marketing, YouTube is an excellent platform. When creating content, don’t be afraid to experiment or stand out. Find a type of content that gets people talking and thinking about your business. It’s what marketers refer to as disruptive content.
10. Implement lead nurturing tactics.
Not all individuals who seem interested in your services will pay for it. Sometimes, they need a little encouragement or push to hire your plumbing services. This is where lead nurturing will come handy. Companies that implement effective lead nurturing strategies make 50% more sales at a lesser cost than those who do not nurture leads.
Lead nurturing refers to the process of building relationships with your leads or potential customers with the intent of turning them into paying customers. It goes hand in hand with lead generation.
There are many ways to nurture your potential customers, and here are some of them:
- Offer information relevant to their needs.
- Support your customers in any way they need.
- Make their interaction with your business as seamless and delightful as possible.
11. Optimize your website.
Website optimization refers to the process of using innovative strategies, tools, and experiments to boost the website’s performance, increase website traffic and lead conversion, and ultimately increase revenue.
Making your website mobile-friendly and applying principles of good SEO and web design are just some of the ways to optimize your website. If you’ve already done all that, consider adding a chatbot to your site’s most popular pages, like Podium Webchat.
Web chat can do wonders for your website and your business. It allows customers to chat with your business in real-time when they visit your website. They don’t have to get your number and call. You can also set up your web chat to answer basic questions, so your potential customers can get the answers they need even if you’re not around. It’s a great conversation starter, too.
Nearly 80% of business owners say that adding a live chat widget on their website helped increase customer loyalty, sales, and revenue.
12. Create high-quality blog content.
Content marketing is still important in 2023. And a blog is just one of the forms of content you can use in this type of marketing.
If you’re going to create blog content, don’t write a post just for the sake of having content on your website. Each month, there are 70 million new blog posts published. If you want to get noticed, create content that your target audience will find valuable.
13. Leverage word-of-mouth marketing.
Many marketers in every niche will agree that word-of-mouth marketing remains the most effective form of marketing strategy. People are more likely to believe recommendations from individuals they trust, rather than words from an advertisement or the business itself.
On top of that, word-of-mouth marketing is extremely cost-effective compared to traditional and digital marketing.
But how can you start with this type of marketing? How can you get people to talk about your plumbing services and recommend them to their peers?
Here are a few ways to get started with word-of-mouth marketing:
- Start a referral program.
- Encourage customers to share reviews and experiences on social media.
- Collaborate with influences.
- Share customer testimonials on your website, social media pages, and other platforms.
- Join events like conferences and trade shows.
14. Use pay-per-click advertising.
Pay-per-click is another marketing tactic you should try to include in your home service marketing mix. With PPC, you will need to pay a fee every time someone clicks your advertisement.
There are many places you can place your ads, including search engine results pages and social media platforms. The process of running a PPC campaign varies depending on where you want to place your ads. If you prefer to run your ads on Google, the process will involve bidding on commonly searched keywords. So it might not be for those with a limited budget for marketing. But if you have extra resources, PPC can be a great way to get more customers. It’s also best to get an expert in this field.
15. Get on local listings and directories.
Plumbing businesses typically have local homeowners and businesses as their target market. So it just makes sense to get listed in an online business directory like Yelp. Customers typically go to these local listings and directories because they make it easier to find and compare contractors.
Here’s a bonus marketing idea in this list: try alternative marketing methods, like giving away fridge magnets or stickers, writing your business information on a van wrap, and delivering flyers or postcards. Also, make sure to have your plumbing business card always ready.
Take Your Plumbing Business to the Podium
As the owner of a plumbing company, you should make the most of these online marketing strategies and ideas to grow your plumbing business and increase customer satisfaction.
While finding customers for home service businesses such as plumbing can be challenging, it is not impossible! You have many marketing tools and strategies at your disposal to market your plumbing services and see your business take off! If money is tight, you can use the above Podium products as they are free.
Plumbing Marketing FAQs
How do I advertise my plumbing services?
There are many types of marketing strategies you can use to advertise your plumbing services. It includes the following:
- Local social media ads
- PPC
- Word-of-mouth marketing
- SMS marketing
- Google Business Profile
- Directory listings
Is plumbing a growing industry?
Yes, plumbing is indeed a growing industry. In 2021, there were over a hundred thousand plumbing businesses and over half a million jobs in the industry. Revenue reached over a hundred billion during that year, and this growth is expected to continue for the years to come.
How much profit should a plumbing company make?
The average profit margin for plumbing companies is between 20% to 30%. However, this can still change depending on the nature of the work your business takes on. For example, the Gross Profit (GP) range for domestic maintenance plumbing is between 40% to 45%.
