Running a plumbing business has its unique challenges.
Unlike other industries that can target a specific audience or rely on seasonal upticks, you need to reach two distinct markets all year round:
- The panicked customer with a burst pipe or other emergency who needs to find a nearby plumber ASAP
- The routine maintenance or install customer, who takes their time to research and compare plumbing companies to find the best fit for their project
Customers are the actual people who keep your plumbing business running. If there are no phone calls, there would be no use of your expertise. You won’t make any money and run out of business. Therefore, it is important to maintain a constant flow of customers. In fact, the more customers you get, the more your business can grow.
Here are some basic marketing strategies to help your plumbing business win more customers
Get a Professional Logo
Something that is often overlooked. It’s a big part of your brand identity (what people will see). A good logo is memorable, differentiates you from everyone else, and fosters brand loyalty. Your logo needs to be:
- Bold
- Unique
- Identify what you do
Social Media Marketing
Many plumbing businesses that have been in existence since a long time rely on referrals and offline advertisement for getting more clients. But the human behavior is changing. No one calls their neighbors or go over to their house and ask about a good plumber. Instead, they look online. They search for plumbers in their locality, check online reviews and then hire. That increases the importance of effective online presence.
To tap those large set of customers who are currently hanging out on the internet and looking for plumbers, you need to make sure you’re visible to these people.
Here are some tips..
Facebook Marketing
Make sure your info is up to date and we recommend making your page a “service” page that way you can add a services tab with pricing for customers. Posts should include a photo and create a storybook of work completed, schedule your posts often (not only) around 6-9pm for further reach and as much as possible reply to all messages and comments.
As with all socials, Facebook is free to start but does cost time. We understand that posting on your business’ Facebook is the last thing you want to do some days when you’ve just finished your last job, that’s why we suggest scheduling your posts when you have some downtime during the day. The most active times on Facebook generally are between 7-10 when most people are done for the day, hit them with your update around this time.
Customers will be looking…
Often when making a big decision a customer will call on a recommendation but still check your social media (likely Facebook, being most popular for homeowners) to see previous work. Take quality pictures of your jobs, more the merrier, to post on Facebook this makes you look busy and shows off the quality service you provide. If a potential customer visits your page and you haven’t posted in a month they may go to someone who has.
Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
If you don’t utilize your Google My Business listing, you are missing out on by far the easiest and cheapest way to generate more leads.
How to optimize it?
It’s really quite simple.. Sign into your GMB account, go through every single tab, and fill out every bit of information that it asks for. This includes your:
- Company description
- Business hours
- Services offered
- Service areas
This also includes updating some items regularly including responding to reviews, photos, posts, offers and holiday hours.
Let your customers sell for you!
Customers are likely to recommend you if you provide a good service, leave a cleaned space or if you exceeded their expectations. This isn’t fresh news but make their recommendation easy by leaving your business card, contact details or any marketing material you have at every job or quote you pursue.
Take pictures of jobs and post them on your social media. If you’re on Facebook make a “Boiler Installs” photo gallery so your potential customer can easily find what they want to see. You may not get many likes and shares on these photos, but 60% of customers check social media before making a purchase. So the people who you want looking at the photos, probably are.
Gets Tons of Reviews!
Reviews are important. Really important. Customers want to know they can trust you before calling you. If you haven’t noticed, the business with the most reviews typically is one of the largest companies in your area.
Now it’s important to ask every customer you can for reviews and get them as often as possible, and don’t forget another important piece is responding to each and every review.
Tools like Google My Business actually use that as a ranking factor so it can help increase your exposure which of course, helps increase how much work you can get.
Physical advertising
You should keep the same message that you portray with online marketing as you do with physical advertising. Often potential customers will check you out online before making a call or buying a service.
Leaflets, cheap and can be effective. Get some simple leaflets showing your service, what you offer at what price and post it through the neighbours of the jobs your working at.
Create A Professional Website
It is 2020. If you don’t have a beautiful looking plumbing website there is something wrong.
Having a mobile friendly website is crucial to getting new customers and marketing your plumbing business. At the end of the day, no matter where someone hears about your business, whether that be TV, radio, Leaflets, Google, Facebook, or just a friend, they will eventually end up at your website.
Having a website for your plumbing business would not only increase your visibility among customers but also make you more reliable.
If you are looking for different tools for website hosting check out our Business Success Platform for Plumbers
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Ok, you have a beautiful website, but people have to find it for it to be worth anything. This is where SEO comes in.
This is a great digital marketing strategy for plumbers; it involves the process of optimizing your plumbing website to show up higher in Google search results for big revenue generating search terms like “plumbers near me”, or “tankless water heaters”.
As you may know, the higher your website shows up in Google searches, the more likely you will get those people searching to visit your website.
Get a reliable CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Tool
Finally, get a CRM tool. Your CRM tool will be your Plumbing Software where clients can book your services with them. It will streamline your scheduling and payment solutions which make running a business easier. It demonstrates your customers that you are a professional business that values customer experience.
In choosing the right software, you should consider pricing, features and more. The following aspects make great software for plumbing professionals.
- A user-friendly design and easy-to-learn setup
- A customizable platform that can be tailored to fit your business needs
- Ability to use in office (desktop) and out in the field (mobile/tablet)
- Reliable customer service
- Online booking – allows customers to book you directly online
- Scheduling and dispatching – assign jobs to your techs and notify them when a scheduled job is coming up
- Employee GPS tracking – see where your techs are located
- Automated marketing – follow up with customers after jobs to build a loyal customer base
- Invoicing and payment – using technology to generate invoices and allow credit card payment
- Reporting dashboard – the ability to see your plumbing company’s performance data online
- Seamless integration with your accounting software
Get Expert Help & Training
We are Libabun Business Services Agency. Our Plumber Business Success Platform provides Automated Leads, Appointments, Quotes, Sales and Follow Ups.
Get a website that’s optimised to your growth goals. Complete accounting and bookkeeping service, pay the minimum amount of tax needed. Spare yourself from hours of admin and hassle, yet guaranteed to make you more money and profit! Align all these business activities under one service.
Book a fifteen minute call with us!
We guarantee delivering profitable results through our Business Success Platform: 4 Services from 1 Supplier:
- Business CRM System Setup and Management. You get your own dedicated ‘CRM Liberator’ who is your CRM assistant, advisor and trainer. As a result, your CRM Liberator will set-up your Business CRM system that is tailored to your needs;
- Website Setup and Optimisation. Our team will set-up and manage all your website needs to grow your business. You get your own dedicated ‘Website Liberator’ who will set-up and manage your website, including any amendments for you;
- Social Media Management. We will set-up all your Business Social Media Pages and manage your campaigns and posts for you. Your assigned ‘Social Media Liberator’ will also start collecting Social Media Reviews for increased Social Proof to generate good quality leads. Consequently the quality and number of leads will dramatically improve;
- Complete Accounting and Bookkeeping Service. We meet all your Accounting and Bookkeeping needs. You will get a dedicated ‘Accountant and Bookkeeper Liberators’. We will conduct all your accounting data entry every week and send you monthly financial reports. In summary, all Accounting annual and Tax returns are fully taken care of and aligned to your goals.
We provide a business success platform service for plumbers that offer fantastic business results. This includes a plumber’s business CRM website design and optimisation, social media campaign management, and complete accounting and bookkeeping services.