As the owner of a plumbing business, keeping a steady stream of new business is vital for your growth. To achieve this, you need a robust plumber marketing strategy focused on generating leads and converting them into customers.
In this guide, we'll walk through eight of the best marketing strategies for plumbers, with resources and guidance on how to execute them for your business.
1. Use plumber marketing to reach your local audience
When it comes to marketing for a plumbing business, often the best strategies focus on attracting local attention and building trust within your community.
Business cards, billboards, radio spots, and ads on benches and buses are traditional ways to build your reputation as a local business. You can also try sponsoring local sports teams or events to get your name out there and show your support for the community.
By showing that you are a trusted local business, you can build credibility with potential customers, and your name recognition in the community will soon have leads ringing your phone when they’re in need of a plumber. Plus, oftentimes the return on your investment is much higher than in other marketing channels.
2. Optimize your Google Business Profile to target your local community online
Don’t think of your local audience and your digital audiences as two separate entities. People who live near your plumber business are also using search engines when searching for a plumber.
This is why optimizing your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) page is so vital; it affects how your business appears in these kinds of searches. The more thoroughly you’ve filled out your Business Profile, the more leads you’ll receive through this high-traffic plumber marketing channel.
You can follow our guide to optimizing your Google listing. And once it’s all set up, be sure to set up tracking for your profile, so you can compare local search to your other marketing channels.
3. Create a website that makes it easy for customers to convert
Your website may be the most powerful plumber marketing tool in your arsenal—but only if you’re using it appropriately to attract and convert leads. Think of it as the front door to your business.
When it comes to creating a website that brings in new business, there are a few key elements to keep in mind:
- Ensure your website is easy to navigate, loads quickly, and is mobile-friendly
- Place prominent calls to action that encourage customers to contact you, book an appointment, or request a quote
- Keep your website content fresh and relevant by publishing blog posts or articles related to plumbing services and creating pages that target local customers
- Create useful and engaging content, so you can build trust with potential customers and encourage them to choose your business over your competitors
And above all else, your website must be easy to find. Our guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) outlines the methods you can use to make your website appear in more search results.
4. Use lead tracking to improve ROI and trim your marketing spend
If you’re going to invest time, energy, and budget in marketing, then you need a system in place that helps you monitor your efforts.
For plumbing businesses that want to run offline and online campaigns simultaneously, call tracking and form tracking are the ideal solutions to analyze all your marketing results in one place.
CallRail assigns unique phone numbers for each of your ads and also tracks unique form submissions on your website. Finally, the platform connects to your other marketing tools, so you can pull everything together in a single dashboard.
From there, you can identify which marketing channels are most effective, and optimize your spending accordingly.
5. Ensure customer satisfaction at the end of every completed job
Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing for your plumbing business. But if you want your customers to spread the good word about your services, you need to go above and beyond to ensure your customers are consistently left satisfied.
To achieve this, you need a system in place for addressing any issues that may arise during a project. This means being responsive to customer concerns and addressing them in a timely and professional manner. It's also important to follow up with customers after a job is completed to ensure that they are happy with the results.
Look for ways to add that special touch to your customer service, whether this means giving out surprise discounts or referral offers, providing additional training to your service team, or simply sending thank-you notes showing appreciation for your customers’ business.
6. Connect your communication systems to prevent leads slipping through the cracks
If you’re already managing a busy and growing customer base, you probably don’t have time to check communications with your clients on multiple different channels, every single day. Especially once you follow the tips in this article and start seeing more leads pouring in.
Fortunately, there are platforms like CallRail’s Lead Center that pull all of your communications into one centralized place, making it easy to track, manage, and analyze calls, texts, and emails within a single platform. With such a system, you’ll be able to respond to inquiries quickly and efficiently, regardless of where they come in.
Learn more about Lead Center here.
7. Encourage customers to leave reviews to build your brand's reputation
In today's digital age, online reviews are critical for building a business's reputation. Positive reviews can help businesses attract new customers and stand out from their competitors. To build a strong online presence, plumber businesses need to have a process for encouraging customers to leave reviews (without crossing any ethical boundaries).
Your business can send a follow-up email or text message thanking the customer for their business and asking them to leave an honest review. It's essential though to make the process as simple and straightforward as possible, such as by providing a direct link to the business's review page or Google listing.
If you receive a negative customer review, it’s best to address it, and to do so calmly, quickly, and positively. Take a moment to look into the issue internally, and respond to the customer appropriately. If need be, find a way to make it up to the customer. They may remove or edit their review, but even if not, your fast and professional response will reflect positively on you as a business and reduce the damage of the bad review.
8. Use Conversation Intelligence to gain a better understanding of your customers’ needs
Conversation Intelligence is a tool that uses AI to record and analyze customer conversations, tapping into deep insights about customer needs and desires. Using this technology, plumbers can identify trends and patterns in their customer conversations, then use that information to make informed decisions about how to improve their services and customer experience.
Using Conversation Intelligence can also help plumbers identify potential issues before they escalate. For example, if multiple customers are complaining about the same issue, you can take proactive steps to address it before it becomes a more significant problem.
Taking Action: Level-Up Your plumber marketing with CallRail
There are so many different ways to market your plumbing business. The key is to strategize, experiment, and analyze to drive as many leads as possible while keeping your spend under control.
CallRail is the ideal tool for achieving this goal. With our industry-leading call tracking, form tracking, and conversation intelligence tools, along with home service-specific software integrations that bring together all of your marketing efforts, you’ll maximize your marketing ROI and take your business to new heights.
