In the pre-internet times, plumbing marketing was straightforward – make business cards, take out an ad in the yellow pages, and profit. Plumbers of that bygone era could also rely on word of mouth to reach new customers.
Today, all of that will take you so far and you’ll pretty much be swept apart by your competitors who already started promoting their business online.
If you want to take your plumbing marketing to the next level but don’t know where to start, look no further. Here are some digital marketing basics guaranteed to put you on the path to success!
1. Build a Brand
While you might assume a plumbing business doesn’t require any ‘’flash’’, the opposite is true. To impress and attract the modern customer, you need to build a brand.
Start by creating a strong visual presence. This includes an eye-catching logo, easy-to-read font (anything but Comic Sans), and a pleasing color scheme.
Once you have all the necessary visual elements, put them to good use in all your plumbing marketing efforts from now on. By doing so, your new customers will have an easier time remembering who you are since they can easily set you apart from other plumbing companies in your area.
Pro tip:
Establish an even stronger brand by using your visual elements in real life. For example, print your logo on your uniforms, your vehicles, etc.
2. Work on Your Website
A website is the heart of all your online marketing operations. It’s one of the most powerful tools you can use to attract new customers – if you do it right.
Here are the basics:
1. Present Valuable Information
For starters, your website has to contain all the necessary information, presented logically. We suggest showing your visitors the following information:
1. Your business name and logo (the look of your website should be consistent with your other marketing materials)
2. Your contact information and a contact form
4. Areas you cover
5. Customer testimonials/before and after photos
6. Information on what makes your business different from your competitors
2. Optimize It for Mobile
Our bet is you’re reading this article on your mobile device. Your potential customers are doing the same. In fact,
more than 92% of users browse the internet on their smartphones.
Since you should meet your audience where they are, you need to optimize your website for mobile. This means your site has to look and perform consistently across devices with different screen sizes.
If you fail to do this, your prospects will quickly leave your website if they’re frustrated with its subpar performance on smartphones. They’ll simply click on the next site in their search results and choose one of your rivals since their site is easier to navigate.
3. Optimize it For Search Engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website to increase its ranking in search engine results. It’s one of the best things you can do to increase your organic traffic during your plumbing marketing journey.
When looking for a plumber (or any local service), most people will simply do it online. Their first stop is usually Google (or Bing if they love rooting for the underdog) where they’ll use a search term such as ‘’plumbers near me’’ or ‘’fix water leak’’.
Next, the search engine algorithm will present them with the results most relevant to the keyword they used that matches their location. The user will typically check out the results on the first page, or more precisely, the first few websites that pop up.
With SEO, you can put your website where users are most likely to see it.
Start by using the relevant keyword in your website’s content. For instance, if you’re situated in Fort Lauderdale, you can use something along the lines of ‘’water leak repair Fort Lauderdale’’. You can then use the variations on that keyword in your landing pages, blogs, meta descriptions, meta tags, headings, and subheadings.
3. Leverage Paid Ads
No one said a plumbing marketing strategy will be free, but thankfully, it’s much cheaper than traditional advertising channels. What’s more important is that it’s more effective, since you’ll be able to put your business in front of people who need what you have to offer.
This is even more true for people who are searching for emergency plumbing services because they might not necessarily have the time to browse through multiple results.
We recommend the following options:
These ads show up above organic search results, offering a great way to capture the attention of those in need of urgent plumbing services. As the name suggests, you only pay a fee when someone clicks on your ad.
2. Local Services Ads
By going through a strict screening process, you can
become Google Guaranteed, which allows you to run Local Services Ads. These ads show up even higher than the regular search ads, and since you’ll receive a Google Guaranteed badge, it will make your business look more trustworthy.
Additionally, you’ll be paying for the ad only if a customer contacts you, which is even better than paying per click.
4. Create Engaging Content On Your Website
By creating and posting engaging and helpful content on your website, you can easily build authority with your target audience. Furthermore, you can use it to increase your organic traffic and promote your services in a much more natural way.
You can also use these blog articles to target relevant keywords in the plumbing industry. For instance, you can use a keyword such as ‘’unclog a toilet’’ and write an article around that. That way, you kill two birds with one stone: you’re helping someone, but you’re also promoting your website and increasing its search engine ranking.
Remember that consistency is key. Establish a regular content schedule since search engine algorithms give a slight boost in rankings to websites that are regularly updated.
Pro tip:
Don’t go overboard with the keywords, introduce them naturally into the text.
5. Establish a Strong Social Media Presence
While most of your plumbing marketing activities revolve around your website,
social media is another place you can use to reach a wider audience.
Create your social media accounts and include all the information about your business, employees, photos of successful jobs, etc.
Most businesses have a social media presence but they have no idea what they should post. Simple – share content relevant to your business. For example, you can post DIY videos that everyone will appreciate and even share your website articles.
Since posts that contain images perform better, you also can post before-and-after images to demonstrate just how amazing your employees are.
Another great way to leverage social media to its full potential is using it to inform a wider audience of special deals on your services. You can use paid ads to target your perfect demographic (neighborhood, income, age) to reach new customers faster.
Getting The Basics Out of The Way
The basics of plumbing marketing aren’t that complicated and by doing the bare minimum, you can certainly expect new customers.
To take things further and grow your plumbing company beyond your wildest dreams, you should increase your marketing budget. Since your plumbing marketing efforts will exponentially increase in complexity at that point, you need to make the most out of every marketing dollar.
The best way to do so is by working with a full-service digital marketing agency, such as
Oamii.
We offer more than just the basics and by working with us, you’ll be receiving extensive marketing expertise we accumulated over the years. Our team can help you unlock the full potential of different plumbing marketing channels that may well help you become a number one plumbing company in your respective area and beyond.
Call
561-228-4111 or fill out our
online contact form and take that next step toward growth!
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