To make a living as a plumber, you will need a steady stream of work to make enough money. And one of the most effective ways to ensure customers find you is through an effective plumbing marketing strategy. A good marketing strategy can even help customers better understand the services you provide.
In this guide, we will be going over how your business can make a more dynamic and effective presence online. We will also be covering all of the aspects that are essential in digital marketing for plumbers. And by the end, we hope to answer the question, “how to grow a plumbing business?”
Plumber Marketing Fundamentals
Marketing a brand is where most businesses struggle. And chances are that you’re a good plumber, but are having a hard time getting jobs with all of the competition. But even if marketing looks scary on paper, that is not the case when applying these plumbing marketing ideas. The truth is that you might have already deployed these marketing tactics without realizing it.
Making a website, social media account, and an active presence online all seem like common sense right? Of course. You would do these things to promote your business. However, all of these measures that you just deployed are actually very good marketing strategies.
And when it comes to making an online presence, the best place to start is usually your brand. Your business, and its associated brand, can bring in clients and make your name more recognizable online. A good brand is also a promise to your customers about the service that they will receive.
You can start building your brand by creating a logo and a catchy tagline. Usually the name isn’t as important as the logo itself, so make sure you think of something good. But a brand obviously goes much further than that. It takes much more than just a logo and a catchphrase to bring customers in.
A few important questions that you can ask to help establish your brand includes:
What Is Unique About My Service?
Every good company or business has something that they do better than any other company. Even if you’re in a market where you offer the same service as everyone else, it is still possible for you to differentiate yourself. A unique selling point can also be something as simple as you offering plumbing services where others may not go.
So think of what you have to offer. If you come up with nothing, try to incorporate something to make yourself stand out. You could offer better customer service, or even cheaper prices to get the edge over your competitors.
Who Am I Trying To Reach?
Try to think about the ideal customer that you would want to work with. Or better yet, think of what customer would prefer your services the most. Now this may be a little confusing, given that plumbing isn’t specific to a specific demographic or group. So it goes without saying that your services aren’t for everyone.
However, if you’re looking for ways on how to grow a plumbing company, your marketing effort should have a specific person in mind. This ideal customer is who you will be advertising to. You can make groups according to age, price range, and even specific types of neighborhoods. These types of groups give your plumbing marketing efforts a direction to move in. And as your company starts to stabilize, you can target more people and have broader reach.
What Values Does Your Company Represent?
The plumbing job calls for a great deal of face to face contact with clients. Therefore, clients rarely ever want to work with someone who doesn’t resonate with their values or beliefs. So when deciding the right audience group, consider what you and them have in common.
You could believe in the same types of economic policies, or you might have similar thoughts on marriage and equality. These are all beliefs that can help people trust you more and make them more willing to hire you.
Plumbing Market Strategies to Address the Emergency Market
Now that you have the fundamentals for a good strategy down, it is time for you to consider some marketing strategies. These plumbing marketing ideas can be very effective in bringing in the audience you want, or convert traffic on your website. Here are a few ways that you can help:
Claim Your Google Business Listing
The first thing that almost every good marketing strategy for plumbers should do is to claim your Google Business Listing. Claiming your Google Business Listing will provide the best and most accurate information regarding your company. With this, you can also verify and edit your business information so that your results that are coming on the first page of the Google local list can allow customers in your surrounding area to easily find you with the right information.
Google listings are also important because most people in an emergency will go there first. So when they do, you want to be the company to show up first on their search results. All that you will need to set up a Google my business account is your company’s name, its address, and relevant contact info.
Build Your Plumbing Website
One of the best things that bring in new customers is a good website. Your website is a reflection of your brand online. So if you want to convince customers to engage in your services, you should make a convincing website. Of course, a “good website” doesn’t necessarily mean fancy animations and well written content.
The things that make a website good are functionality. Make the website easy to read and follow. Give contact information front and center on the website or make it easy to find. And make sure that your website functions properly on mobile phones. Even Google considers if a website can run on phones as a factor when ranking search results.
Of course, if you have some change to spare in your marketing budget, you should also consider optimizing your website. Make the website more appealing to the eyes through animations and graphics. Or you can add more content to your website to help improve your search ranking.
Gather and Manage Online Reviews
People will always look for a plumber who has experience in the field for their issues. But customers will also want to check on the experience of other clients to come to a proper conclusion. Putting out your customer testimonials and good reviews front and center is an excellent way to bring in customers.
The best thing about customer reviews is that it is a self sustaining cycle. As you continue to work, more people will give better reviews. And finally, these reviews will bring in more people who will continue the cycle forward.
Reviews are also a great place to get feedback on your services and see what it is you are missing. Check the three, two, and one star ratings that you got. Contact those individuals again and ask them what you did wrong or how you can improve. Most customers are willing to offer information, which could make for valuable lessons for your company.
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You could even ask your customers for a second chance to help change their mind. This type of effort can prove to be very beneficial for your company in the long run. Even if they refuse, it shows that you are willing to make the effort to satisfy them. In some cases, if you do a better job the second time around, they can change their rating and even offer a testimonial.
Use Call-Only Ads
One of the best things that you can have in your business is good customer service. Since you are a smaller service provider, the best thing that you can offer customers is a more personal experience. Using call-only ads or instant messaging on your website can help them feel like you’re listening.
Call-only ads are, simply put, the ads that redirect your clients to a phone number that they can call. This can be a very effective plumbing marketing idea, as it ensures customers in an emergency don’t have to jump through hoops.
Furthermore, these ads only work on smartphones and other mobile devices. So as soon as people see your ad, they can skip the formalities and talk to someone who can help them.
Set Up Your Plumbing Business Facebook Page
When working on your marketing campaign, you will also have to be working on your social media presence. Since that is where people spend most of their time, you need to be able to reach them there. A good place to start is usually Facebook, as that can help with more leads and generate more traffic to your website.
People will also often use Facebook to discuss service providers and good companies for specific tasks. When referring to a company, these groups will usually refer to their Facebook page for more information. From there, they can easily contact you and explain their situation.
An extension of Facebook is also a variety of other social media services. Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are all great places to build an audience. Even YouTube can prove to be a valuable place to grow an online presence, as you can make content catered to your audience.
Having a lively presence on social media can also be a good marketing strategy, as you connect better with your audience.
Try To Look For Work Requests
There are usually two types of clients looking for your services. One of them wants your services right now as an emergency, and the other might want to weigh their options and look for the best one. These types of customers only make their decisions when they have done the right amount of research.
These types of customers also usually have longer projects that pay considerably well. So to make sure that the client doesn’t find someone else, you want to put in a system that responds quickly. As soon as the customer finds your website or your social media page, they should be able to contact you. And they don’t necessarily have to call you, as a message will also suffice.
Using an email here is not a good idea, as these emails might go to your spam folder or might not give you a notification. Instead, you should allow your research based clients to make a work request from the website or social media page directly.
These work requests also give a good impression to your clients, as it shows that you care about their work. These work requests will also make it to your notifications without you missing it or the request going into a separate folder.
Create Expert Plumbing Content That Resonates With Your Audience
Customers looking for plumbers rarely know much about the craft themselves. They instead rely on you to help them make sense of the issue they have. So instead of trying to dryly sell your services to them, try to educate them and win their trust.
Better known as content marketing, this process of sharing information with the client can be very effective. It is also worth mentioning that you are not giving them the skills or technique needed to fix their issues. You’re just helping them better understand the issue they’re in and how they will get out of it.
People also usually trust people that are willing to educate them. This phenomenon can help you develop a trusting relationship with your clients. The content in question can be blogs or even short informational bursts of content on Instagram. Blogs tend to be a lot better, as they allow you to also integrate SEO marketing into your plumber advertising plan.
You Need To Be Patient
Digital marketing for plumbers usually involves a great deal of trial and error. But with time, you will eventually start to understand how it works, as your business continues to grow. And since it is more or less a constant struggle, you will be spending a lot of time trying to optimize your online presence. But with time, you can make your presence in the industry known.
Hello, My name is Shari & I am a writer for the ‘Outlook AppIns’ blog. I’m a CSIT graduate & I’ve been working in the IT industry for 3 years.