Promotional Ideas for Plumbers | Plumber Marketing

Promotional & Advertising Ideas for Plumbing Companies

Some home improvement companies, like expensive kitchen remodelers, rely on radio and television ads, referrals from past clients, and more traditional advertising methods like door hangers to generate leads. When it comes to plumber marketing, the internet is where customers spend the majority of their time, so promoting your business needs to happen online.

Plumbers now have access to a variety of digital advertising channels to connect with local customers on the internet, like:

• Local Services ads – Be found at the very top of Google search results with plumber Local Services ads and increase leads at a lower cost.
• Pay per click (PPC) advertising – Plumber PPC advertising is a highly scalable and efficient way to generate leads in the short term and long term.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) – SEO for plumbers helps you rank on page one of search results for commonly searched keywords like “plumber near me” and “hot water heater installation.”

Below, we’ve outlined promotional ideas for plumbers to increase their online visibility and start generating more leads.

Have questions at the end? Give us a call or contact us online to learn more about how Blue Corona can help promote your plumbing business on the web. Our team specializes in providing the home service industry’s best digital marketing services and works with plumbers across the United States.

First: Be Clear on Your Plumber Marketing Strategy

Remember that in order to be successful in any plumber marketing strategy, you need to begin with the end in mind. Your goal is to get more customers and build a better digital presence. Start with the DNA of your brand:

• Who are you?
  • How long the company has been around?
  • What is its history?
  • What are your key values as a brand?
  • Are you family- or veteran- or female-owned?
  • Do you provide discounts to customers?
• What do you do?
  • What are your core competencies? Drain cleaning? Installing hot water heaters? Repairing sewer lines? All of the above?
  • Do you do offer unique services your competitors don’t, like sewer camera inspections or hydro jetting?
  • Do you shine in a particular area more so than your competitors? Highlight it.
  • Are you pricing for quantity or quality in the market?
• Where are you?
  • What’s your service area? Do you ever go outside of it?

Once you’ve articulated your brand and company more clearly, you can think about your customer.

Who is your typical customer?

Your typical customer isn’t just everyone who needs plumbing in your service area.

Using the exercise above in tandem with your existing customer data from your CRM (e.g. – ServiceTitan, FieldEdge, or 3C Connect), get a clear picture of what your current typical customer looks like: Average age, neighborhood, customer lifetime value, etc.

Armed with this knowledge, you can then start to put together a strategy of how to reach them with your promotions:

• For example, if your typical customers are in their 80s and don’t use the internet much, then a digital strategy wouldn’t be a priority, right?
• Whereas if that typical customer is a stay-at-home mom in her 40s who uses the internet multiple times an hour, a digital marketing strategy would be crucial.

Again, if you know what your ultimate goals are, the plumber marketing strategy starts to fall into place to match.

Second: Know Where to Start

You want to be easy to find and easy to reach for anyone who is looking for you on the internet.

Most homeowners aren’t going to start their search by googling the name of your business. They might type in “plumbers near me” or “plumbers (city name).”

So, where do you need to be found so that you show up when they search?

1. Claim your business on Google My Business
   1. This is free to do and will help you be more easily found in both standard and map searches (the “Local Pack”).
   2. Complete as much relevant information about your business as possible, including your hours of operation and contact details. Make sure to also upload some graphics, be it your logo or pictures of your team members.
   3. Collect and respond to reviews. Even if you haven’t claimed your business, people may already be leaving reviews (good and bad). If you don’t have a Google My Business account you can’t respond to them.
   4. This will aid in a way with your local search engine optimization (local SEO). We’ll come back to this in a bit.
   5. This lends authority and legitimacy to your business. If people see that the owner has taken the time to manage the online presence of the company, they will have more confidence that you can help them with their plumbing problems.
2. Build a better plumbing website
   1. Your website is oftentimes the first interaction a prospective customer has with your business. A plumbing website that is well designed not only looks beautiful, it also works for you by converting website visitors into verified leads. More on this to follow.
3. Clean up your NAP listings and directory profiles
   1. There are many online directories available to plumbers to promote their business on. Regardless of how many you choose to incorporate into your advertising campaigns, be sure your company name, address, and phone number (NAP) are accurate and 100% consistent across all of your online profiles. Read more in our Local SEO & NAP Consistency Guide.

Third: Promote Your Business Where It Matters Most…Your Website

Your website is the first stop many leads will come to before calling you or sending you an email. It needs to shine.

Homeowners may accept that plumbers use tried and true methods in their trade, but they don’t want to see a website from the 1990s that they don’t know how to navigate.

Here are some things you need to keep in mind to make sure your website encourages your leads to hire you and not your competitors.

• The best plumber websites are clean, polished, and professional. Remember our discussion about your brand’s DNA? Your website needs to tell customers:
  • Who you are.
  • What your services are.
  • Where you serve.
  • Your competitive differences.
• Make it easy to contact and do business with you.
  • Your phone number can be prominently displayed in the top right corner of the page.
  • Use a chatbot feature, like Blue Corona Chat, to convert more visitors into leads.
  • Include a link to your contact page in your website’s navigation to encourage more visitors to take action.
  • Add a contact form to every page of your website.
• Implement SEO best practices.
  • The content on your site will need to be helpful and related to keywords that people will use when searching for plumbing services.
• Highlight awards and accreditations you’ve received.
• Include photos of your business establishment and/or team.
  • People prefer to associate faces with a brand.
  • Before and after pictures of recently completed projects can also be helpful here.
• Have testimonials from customers and have a system to keep these updated and fresh.

Additional Types of Promotional Content for Plumbing Companies

Blogging

Blogging has been and continues to be one of the best ways to get organic traffic. Google favors fresh, quality, long-form content, so consistently posting articles about common plumbing issues, FAQs, and step-by-step “how-to” posts could generate hundreds of more organic visitors to your website each month.

Email Newsletters

Email marketing for plumbers is yet another way to get in front of new and existing customers. You can even repurpose some of your blog content to power your newsletter and combine your expertise with coupons and service discounts to increase leads.

YouTube

Many people don’t realize that YouTube is fundamentally a search engine, and the second largest in the world (after Google) at that. It’s free to upload as much content as you would like and educational “how-to” videos will build your authority and direct people to your website.

Customer Reviews & Testimonials

We’ve mentioned this already, but you need to remember that the happiest and angriest customers don’t need to be reminded to leave reviews, but the vast majority of customers do. Don’t be content with a high star rating, either. Ask them to share a few sentences as to why they are satisfied with your service and why they would recommend your plumbing company to other customers.

Other Promotional Channels for Plumbers

• Social media marketing for plumbers – Similar to plumber PPC advertising, but focused solely on particular social networks, like Nextdoor, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn (for commercial plumbers).
• Vehicle wraps – This isn’t online, of course, but vehicle wraps are a helpful rolling billboard that may have just the information someone needs that day.
• Customer service – If you demonstrate outstanding customer service to your existing clients, they will help you find new ones. You can also offer a customer referral program to reward your most vocal advocates.

What Plumber Marketing Activities Should I Avoid (Or at Least Not Worry About Immediately)?

• Pay per lead services. These are pricey and don’t give you truly qualified leads. You can learn more about them here.
• Direct mail. There is still a place for direct mail in your plumber marketing mix. It’s just not as successful as it used to be and is fairly expensive to purchase.

Feeling Overwhelmed? We Can Help!

Marketing your plumbing business is not a one-and-done activity. It’s an ongoing process that needs your full attention and engagement.

If that’s not something you have time for, or prefer to leave it to those of us who handle plumber marketing strategies full time, contact us online!