There will never be a shortage of burst pipes or leaky sinks. So you want your plumbing business to be the one everybody calls when they’re in a crisis. How do you make that happen? Investing in a good marketing strategy for your plumbing business is key. A successful plumbing marketing strategy brings in new customers and helps your business grow, among a heap of other benefits which we’ll dive into a little later on.
Why is Plumbing Marketing Important?
The way businesses market themselves has changed a lot in the past 15 years, with more traditional methods pushed aside to make way for a digital method. Why? The one place everyone goes to find information about a business now is the internet. In a study conducted by Blue Corona results showed that 80% of customers look up a business online before deciding who to choose. So for example, having a strong website is one of the most important pieces of a good marketing strategy. A good marketing strategy in turn drives brand awareness, increases word-of-mouth referrals in your local area and helps you grow a larger customer base.
There’s also no shortage of plumbing businesses offering the exact same services as you, while also trying to reach new customers and bring in revenue. Having an effective marketing strategy helps you stand out from your competition. For example, advertising offering specific promotions and services on your website that other plumbing businesses in the area don’t offer, is a great way to set yourself apart and show that you offer better service than the plumber down the road.
4 Benefits of Building a Plumbing Marketing Plan
We’ve touched upon a few of the benefits a good plumbing marketing plan can provide. But let’s take a closer look at some other benefits, including increased brand awareness, improved customer loyalty and increased revenue.
Increased brand awareness
Ever heard the saying no news is good news? This isn’t necessarily true when it comes to marketing your plumbing business. If no one is mentioning your business to others, then potential new customers might not even know you exist. And when it comes to marketing your plumbing business, getting others to know and talk about your brand is very important.
Big name brands we all know such as Disney, Netflix, Apple and many others, have all done a good job of making it easy for customers to recognize and identify their products by having a strong presence both online and in the real-world. Therefore, customers naturally think of these brands first when they want to purchase a particular good or service. You want the same thing for your brand and your business; you want to be top of mind and easily identifiable.
Focusing on digital platforms such as social media, registering through Google Business and having a company website all help you become more recognizable, plus build brand credibility and trust. In turn, you’ll attract more new customers and increase revenue.
Improved customer loyalty
You want customers to keep coming back to your business right? When building your plumbing marketing strategies make sure you’re thinking about how to keep customers coming back. One way to do this is through email marketing, whether it’s through sending tailored promotional offers or blog posts with hints and tips on how to keep your toilet from springing a leak, emailing customers regularly is the perfect way to keep your customers engaged and returning to your business.
Increased revenue
To grow your plumbing business you’ll always need revenue. It’s vital to bring in more money than you spend so that you make a profit and see a good Return on Investment (ROI). The same goes when it comes to your marketing plan. As the business saying goes, “you’ve got to spend money to make money”, and investing in advertising as a part of your plumbing contractor marketing strategy can help you do exactly that.
Putting money behind a good marketing strategy will help your profits soar, if it’s done right. One way is starting a pay-per-click (PPC) digital advertising strategy. Plumbing PPC marketing strategies could help you find new customers at a lower cost than traditional advertising.
Increased customer acquisition and retention
There are a lot of different forms of marketing you can look to when creating your plumbing marketing strategy. Whether it’s digital or traditional forms of marketing (like brochures, flyers or leaflets) any advertising you create helps get the word out about your business. Coupled with word-of-mouth marketing, digital advertising and promotional offers will keep your existing customers happy and encourage them to give you repeat business.
9 Proven Plumbing Marketing Ideas
There are so many different ways of marketing your plumbing business, especially in the digital age we live in. Traditional marketing methods are still a reliable way to market your business, but we’ll focus on the digital marketing tools you can use to build a solid plumbing company marketing plan. This includes email marketing, digital advertising (like PPC campaigns), developing a website and using social media.
Develop a strong brand with consistent messaging
Your brand identity is how people will recognize your business, so you want to make it stand out with an eye-catching look and clear messaging. Your business name, your logo, website, colors, uniforms and even how you talk and interact with customers online and in person all make up brand identity. Brand identity are all the visual components that make your brand, so with good brand identity your customers will know your logo and color scheme from just hearing your business name. A strong brand persona helps potential customers connect with your purpose and values, which makes them more likely to choose you when they need work done.
Once you’ve identified key pieces of your brand identity make sure you keep them consistent in future marketing collateral as this is how you build your brand recognition.
Use email marketing to stay in touch with customers
Nobody likes to be bombarded with multiple marketing emails a day from businesses. When you feel like you're being spammed, that ‘unsubscribe’ button at the very bottom of an email chain starts to look all the more inviting. The key to avoiding unsubscribes is to add helpful content to your emails that engages customers instead of only selling to them.
Think of helpful and more personal ways you can engage such as maintenance reminders, or information on what they can look out for to avoid any nasty accidents. You can also send promotional material offering seasonal and loyalty discounts, just be careful not to send them too often. In addition to email communication there are other options you can try such as SMS marketing. Keep it short and sweet and straight to the point. With the help of technology there are even ways in which you can link certain milestones for an on-going project to send notifications and updates to your customers.
This will build trust with your customers and also set a standard for what they come to expect from your business. Finally, it keeps your business name at the front of their minds if you’re consistent (but not annoying) with your email marketing strategy.
Create a professional, mobile friendly website
Gone are the days when everybody reaches for the phone book as their first port of call. Mobile phones are some of the most used and accessible technology around, research conducted by Google found that 80% of the population use smartphones. So, you want to create a mobile-friendly website that is easy to navigate and has all of your important business information. Website design that includes things such as your name, logo, contact details, location and services you offer as a bare minimum.
Once you’ve laid the groundwork you can then look into having an online booking system, customer reviews and even photos of your team for a more personal touch. This gives existing customers a place to reach you and invites potential customers searching for a service you offer, into the business.
Create valuable and insightful content
With the rise of social media apps such as TikTok, people love to watch short, snappy videos that pique their interest for a mere thirty seconds. Keep this in mind when you think about adding different types of content to your website. In other words, you don't need to create long, highly produced videos. With video marketing you can choose a topic that will interest customers and use your smartphone to create a quick video to post on your site. For example it could be a “how-to” guide to demonstrate the solution to a common plumbing issue.
For written content such as blogs, pick a topic that you can dive a little deeper into. For example, a “top ten common mistakes when installing a new toilet” article or “how to choose a plumbing contractor” piece. This engages your audience and builds credibility, so customers have more incentive to choose your business.
PPC ad campaigns
Once you have tackled your website design and have created some valuable content, pay-per-click advertising campaigns are a great way to find new customers. Plumbing PPC marketing tactics can be text, images, videos or any mix of all three. They can even be targeted to your local area. While setting up PPC campaigns can seem complex at first, there are a lot of resources to help, even some from Google themselves.
Utilize SEO
You want to drive as much traffic as possible to your website and that’s where SEO will help. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is all about ranking higher on search results pages such as Google. Whether you know a little about SEO and can update yourself, or you’re looking for an external source to help out, it’s important to optimize your website and any content for SEO purposes.
Search engines (like Google) decide which websites to show on a search engine results page (SERP) based on ever-changing algorithms. These formulas analyze your content (business name, domain name, various keywords, etc) to determine how well they match the specific terms people looking for plumbing services type into the search bar. The higher up on the SERP your website shows for a given term, the more likely you are to get a click and bring in new revenue.
Keyword research to understand what customers are searching for and using that to create engaging content that discusses topics your target audience will be interested in is one way to increase your SEO ranking.
Invest in a strong social media marketing strategy
Social media is everywhere. Whether you hate it, love it, or feel indifferent towards it, it’s almost inescapable in today's society. The best part about this form of marketing is that it’s free (providing you avoid paid advertisements). Take the time to build a business page on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media platform out there. It helps build your brand credibility and lets you shout about all the great things your plumbing business does.
Whether that’s new blog posts, a TikTok video with a quick tip, the latest deals and offers or even just to introduce yourself to prospective customers, the reach that social media has now means it’s one of the best forms of online marketing. In addition, you can chat to your customers directly and answer any queries they may have using each social platform’s messaging services. Provide customers with answers quickly, and they’re more likely to choose your business. Nobody likes waiting around to get their question answered!
Ask for online reviews and referrals
Encourage word-of-mouth business by asking happy customers to leave you an online review. You can even offer a small discount for reviewing your plumbing business. This builds brand awareness and credibility. Additionally, make it easy for them to give you a referral for more business by leaving a business card or even setting up a referral program for customers. For example, you could have a promotion encouraging customers to refer people they know by offering a discount for any work they need once they’ve successfully referred somebody else to your business. It encourages repeat business as well as bringing in new customers through the door. Check out our how to ask for referrals article for more tips.
Partner with other businesses or organizations in your community Teamwork makes the dream work. Chances are you’ve heard that in some form or another, and establishing partnerships in business is exactly that. By building bridges between you and other businesses in the industry you’re giving one another a leg up. For example, by partnering with local plumbing contractors they can recommend your business each time they have something come in which requires your services. You get the benefit of having additional business, and it builds upon the strength of your brand as customers are more likely to trust a recommendation from a reputable source. Plus, you barely have to lift a finger to get the work in the door.
Summary
If you’re looking to put together a solid marketing plan for your plumbing business, follow these eight tips. Make sure you’re thinking through how you want your business to grow and always stay one step ahead. That includes establishing your brand identity and its messaging, developing a professional website that customers can easily find, using social media to your advantage and taking a hold of networking opportunities that come your way. And if you’re struggling to find the time to market your business, read our top tips for field service marketing.
