Effective Marketing Ideas For Plumbing Companies (that really work)

Running a successful plumbing business can be challenging but marketing doesn‘t have to be. Let’s face it, there will never be a shortage of burst pipes or leaky baths. But there’s also plenty of other plumbers competing for those same jobs.

You want your business to be the one that everyone in your area calls on when they have plumbing problems. Having a strong marketing strategy for your plumbing business is a sure fire way to bring in new customers and help your business to grow.  

Keep reading to find out why plumbing marketing is so important and how to use technology for the benefit of your plumbing business.

Why Is A Strong Plumbing Website Important?

Business marketing has changed a great deal in the last 10 to 15 years with more traditional methods giving way to newer, digital marketing. This has evolved as more and more people use the internet.

In a recent survey, it was found that a stunning 80% of all customers search online for plumbers before deciding who to go with. That’s potentially 8 out of 10 people looking for a plumber in your area will search online.

Which means if you want to beat all of the other plumbers in your area chasing the same jobs, a strong website is essential. To stand any chance of coming out on top, you’ll need to have an effective marketing campaign.

You could offer promotions and services on your website that other local plumbers don’t offer. 

Tried & Tested Marketing Ideas For Plumbers

Here at Footsteps we have been helping plumbers find and keep more clients for many years and know a thing or two about marketing. You might be surviving using traditional marketing methods to advertise your plumbing business.

But if you really want your business to take off, you need a solid digital marketing plan. Below we’ve listed the best ways to increase your market share of plumbing customers and take your business to the next level.

Develop A Strong Brand

Your brand identity is how local people will recognise your business and help you to stand out above the competition. This means you’ll need an eye catching look and clear messaging.

The name of your business, your business logo, your website, your uniform, colours and even the way you talk to customers both online and in person are all part of your brand identity.

If you have a strong brand identity it will help customers and potential customers equate your brand with quality, reliability and value. Which will make them more likely to choose your company when they need any plumbing work done.

Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

Most people search for plumbers online using their mobile phones. So you need to make sure that your website is mobile friendly and loads quickly. If your website doesn’t load in a short time, customers will click away and go to a competitor with a faster loading website.

Make sure your website is easy to navigate and has all of your important information. This includes your business name, logo, contact details, services you offer and the area you cover.

You can also add customer reviews, photos of you and your team and even an online booking system. Remember, your website is the most valuable online asset for your plumbing business. Which is why it’s important that your website works properly on all platforms.

You can also add an email sign up bar to encourage people to sign up to your email list. Integrate call to action buttons all through your website to encourage people to contact your business and add a contact us form.

Make Social Media Work For Your Plumbing Business

With the increase of social media and apps like TikTok, Twitter (X), Instagram, LinkedIn as well as YouTube shorts, people enjoy watching short videos that keep them entertained for 30 seconds at a time.

You should make a range of short plumbing videos that can be used for video marketing. Choose a subject that will interest customers and use your smartphone to make a quick video.

You could do a short “How to” video for a certain area of plumbing that shows a quick and easy solution to a common plumbing issue.

Aside from video content, you should also create written content like a weekly or monthly blog. These can show more detailed information than your videos and should include titles along the lines of “avoid the following mistakes when installing a new bath” or even “how to choose a plumber”.

These articles will engage your audience and help you to build trust and credibility. Which will make customers in your area more likely to choose your company when they need any plumbing work.

When producing content for social media you should;

• Make content easy to read
  You don’t want to overwhelm readers before they even get started. Write using small paragraphs, use bullet point lists and sub headings to organise the pages and make them easy and enjoyable to read and understand. 
• Regularly publish content
  Publishing content on a regular basis gives you an online presence. This helps you to grow trust in your plumbing business and helps create more ways for people to find your business online.
• Use different types of content
  People are all different and not everyone likes to get information in the same way. To increase your chances of reaching potential customers, use different types of online content. Create videos, infographics and blogs to reach more people online.
• Use precise audience targeting
  The main advantage of social media ads is that it offers precise audience targeting. Be sure to target your preferred audience to get the most qualified leads.
• Make posts eye catching
  Social media posts need to be visually appealing and should reflect your plumbing business or specific service. Make it appealing enough that it stops people from scrolling and actually watch your video or read your post.
• Create custom landing pages
  Each social media post should be linked to a specific landing page to ensure the lead is kept interested, engaged and focused on that particular service.

Our social media team can help to promote your plumbing business to local leads as they scroll through social media. We can help you to create ads worth clicking for all social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram.

Concentrate On SEO For Your Plumbing Website

You need to drive as much traffic to your website as you possibly can and plumber SEO is a great way to do this. SEO, or search engine optimisation is all about getting your website to rank higher on search pages like Google.

You can optimise your website yourself if you have the time and know what you’re doing. Or you could leave it to us. We have been successfully optimising plumbers’ websites and helping them to get higher up search results on Google and other search engines for many years and have a proven track record.

Search engines like Google decide which websites show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) based on algorithms that are constantly changing. The formulas they use analyse the content of your website including your business name, domain name and various keywords to determine how closely they match with the terms people are using when searching for a plumber.

The higher up on the SERP your website appears for a specific term, the more likely you are to get a click and a new customer. To ensure you do well in the SERP you will need to do keyword research to find out exactly what potential customers are looking for.

You can then use that information to create content that discusses those topics which will get more people following your blogs and videos and ultimately increase your SEO rankings at the same time.

When optimising for SEO you should;

• Optimise for relevant keywords
  The keywords you target will help people find your listing on the SERP.
• Improve the load time of your website
  Use Google page Speed Insights to get an idea of how fast your website loads and identify ways to improve it.
• Optimise your tags
  Tags appear in search results when people search for a relevant term. You need to optimise your tags on all of your pages to make people click on your listing.
• Optimise your URLs
  Simple URLs help provide search engine crawlers with context. They also help users to recognise what services you provide. Always use your main keyword in your URL and use all lower case letters and hyphens to separate words.

At Footsteps we specialise in all things SEO and have a proven track record for generating search engine traffic to plumbing websites. You’re good at your job and we’re good at ours. Contact us today to find out just how we can help your online presence grow.

Use Plumbing PPC Marketing Ads

The trouble with ranking on Google is that it takes time. Meanwhile you’re sitting around waiting for jobs. So, once you have a decent website and some useful content, you can set up a pay per click (PPC) ad campaign.

This puts your company website at the top of any search engine results and although it says sponsored, it’s still a good way to get your brand out there in the forefront of customers’ minds. Not to mention a good way to bring in work while waiting for Google bots to crawl through your site.

You should use text, images, videos or a combination of all 3 which can be targeted to your local area. You will need to set a budget but remember, you only get charged when someone clicks on your ad. So you need to make the ad as specific as you can.

It’s no good running a PPC campaign for plumbing services in Bristol and getting people in Glasgow clicking on them (unless you fancy a long commute to work).

Make sure that you;

• List all the services you provide
  Be specific and list all of the services you provide to prevent time wasters and paying for irrelevant clicks
• Manage any reviews to give a positive impression
  Even bad reviews can be turned positive if you answer them correctly.
• Be clear of the area you cover
  You don’t want to advertise your services in an area that you don’t currently cover.
• Target long tailed keywords
  You should target keywords that are made up from 3 or more words. These are more specific and will have less competition and often produce more qualified traffic.
• Use a custom landing page
  Once someone clicks on your ad you want to keep them interested. By creating a custom landing page you’ll keep them engaged and focussed.
• Keep an eye on your bidding amount
  To maximise your ad budget, you will need to continually adjust your bid amount. Keep an eye on how your ads are performing and make adjustments where necessary to get the most from your ads.
• Create Engaging Ad Copy
  To get the best chance of gaining leads you need to create engaging and informative ad copy. Be sure to add your target keywords on the page as well as any helpful advice or information that will convince the person to click on your ad.

Here at Footsteps we can help you to create interesting and compelling ads that will put your plumbing business directly in front of potential customers. Everything from ad copy to the creation of custom landing pages, we will help you to create ads that will get clicks and generate new customers to your plumbing business.

Use Email Marketing To Stay Connected To Customers

You don’t want to bombard your customers with numerous marketing emails every day. That’s the fastest way to get them to unsubscribe from the email chain and people rarely phone a plumber because they got an email (they phone when they’ve got a problem and need it fixed which is usually by searching Google).

But the way to keep customers interested is to give them something of value every now and then. Think about ways you might be able to deliver helpful advice or add maintenance reminders and ways to avoid costly mistakes.

You can send promotional material like loyalty discounts or seasonal offers. Just make sure you’re not constantly sending emails. If done right, email marketing can build trust and keep your business at the front of customers’ minds when they next need a plumber.

Use Your Email Marketing To Create A Referral Program

A referral program is a great way to generate new plumbing leads. In this way you can get current customers to refer their friends, neighbours and family members to you in exchange for a reward.

The people who they refer are in need of a plumber and the person referring them knows your work and have probably already given you a glowing reference. You can offer an incentive for people to refer you like money off the next service you provide them with.

Be clear that the reward will only be offered if the new customer actually uses your services. You can set up an email sequence that helps push the referral program forward. 

It can send emails to both parties encouraging them to complete the actions they initiated.

We can help you to set up these referral emails and we’ll design and build the emails for you specifically designed for your plumbing business.

Publish Online Reviews

Once you’ve successfully completed plumbing work for a customer, ask them to give you an online review. If they’re slightly reluctant, you could offer a small discount if they’ll review your plumbing business online.

Always answer any reviews, start by thanking them for their review and even if the review is negative, be polite and try to solve the problem. This shows that you’re reasonable and able to resolve any problems. Which all adds to your trust levels.

Use Chatbots For Customer Service On Your Plumbing Website

We live in a fast world nowadays, people don’t want to wait until 9 am the following morning, they need solutions immediately. You need to do your best to facilitate the needs of your customers which is where chatbots come in.

Chatbots are automated conversation systems which can provide customer support 24 hours a day 7 days a week. They can offer real time help and assistance to customers and answer common questions.

Chatbots not only improve customer satisfaction in your business, they also free up your time. Which allows you more time to actually focus on the jobs you’re concentrating on.

Team Up With Other Businesses

It’s always a good idea to partner with other businesses like builders or contractors who will often need plumbing skills that you can provide with any projects they’re working on.

Not only do you get extra work, you also get recognised within the local building community and when plumbing work is needed, they’ll be more likely to call you.

Use Local Sponsorship

Once you’ve developed a brand and logo you can sponsor a local event or sports team. If there’s a local community event that’s looking for sponsors it can be a great way of getting your brand in front of the whole area.

This creates trust in your brand and helps people recognise your brand throughout the district. Plus it shows local community spirit which can be the decider when it comes to choosing between different plumbing companies.

Leaflet Drops

A great way to promote your plumbing business is to create a leaflet highlighting all of the services you provide. Add your contact details and all other relevant information and either do a deal with a local newspaper to deliver them to houses in your area or contact the Royal Mail to arrange local leaflet delivery.

If you’re unsure of how to set up a decent leaflet, we can do it all for you here at Footsteps.

Offer Virtual Consultations

You can meet with many more potential clients if you offer virtual consultations. They can show you on a video call exactly what they want or need and you can assess and give a fairly accurate estimate for the work that needs to be done.

Whereas you might be able to see 3 or 4 potential customers per day in person, you have the potential to double or even triple that number virtually. Especially if they live in the remotest part of your area. By meeting them virtually you can show them your knowledge and expertise as well as your professionalism and answer any questions they might have.

Don’t Let Plumbing Marketing Get You Down

We understand that your time is valuable and you can’t be in 2 places at once. If you’re a successful plumber and want to see your business grow and have a solid online presence, contact us today at Footsteps Design or call 01206 864441 and let us concentrate on the web design and marketing while you get on with the actual plumbing work.

You’ll see a great return on investment (ROI) if you invest in the digital marketing services we can supply here at Footsteps. So contact us today and let us take your plumbing business to the next level.

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