Know why Your Plumbing Business Isn’t Getting Desired Number of Leads Despite Having a Great Website
Your plumbing website has been live for years now, but it doesn’t seem to generate the number of leads you desire. Your email and social media advertising campaigns are bringing in lots of traffic, but nobody is taking the next step of calling your business. So, what’s the issue?
As marketing strategists for trades and home service contractors, we have met many plumbing contractors struggling to grow their businesses. Some were larger plumbing companies with great websites, and some had simple websites. But no matter the size, they all had a similar problem. Their plumbing websites were driving prospects or clients away.
Plumbing websites are meant to generate leads, not just sit around and look pretty. Your site should be generating leads.
Do you feel your plumbing website isn’t generating as many leads or clients as it should?
Are you frustrated that you have to spend countless hours every week waiting for your phone to ring?
You may think that your plumbing website doesn’t obtain sufficient traffic to bring in the leads your company requires, but there is a high likelihood that you can skyrocket the number of leads your site generates, from the same traffic, by fixing these 10 problems.
When it comes to plumbing websites, it’s easy to say “good enough” about functionality and design. After all, “if it’s broken, why fix it?”. But becoming complacent with your plumbing company website is a risky mindset. If you are not continuously enhancing your webpages and appropriately updating trends change, you could be driving potential clients away in droves. Here are the ten blunders that make the prospects on your plumbing website cringe.
1. Outdated Plumbing Website Design
First impressions are important. If the initial impression your website offers is that it has not been updated for some months or years now, you are in for a rude shock. An outdated plumber website will cause new prospects your company is closing soon. Always work with a professional plumbing website designer to assist you in building your site with digital marketing best practices in mind.
2. Complicated or Confusing Navigation
Don’t provide your site visitors with too many options in the main navigation menu. Figure out what needs to be promoted and what can be done on the inside page. Lots of options appear not only sloppy but also confuses new site visitors. If your potential clients cannot easily find what they require, they are going to click off to other plumbing websites.
One of the numerous reasons your plumbing website or landing page requires a simple design is because a confusing or complicated layout can distract your prospects’ eyes from crucial information. Recent eye-tracking studies have shown a tendency to scan a site instead of going through each letter.
3. No Compelling Call to Actions (CTAs)
In sales and marketing, we always use the term “ABC” before closing. The equivalent to that in plumbing websites is to always include a call-to-action. Generally, your plumbing website offers a lot of information on the company’s service or product and later says, “for more details, contact us.”
That’s great, but your site visitors require direction. Your plumbing website needs to be more specific in telling them how to reach you, which needs to be easy.
A call-to-action in your plumbing website needs to be into two major forms. The initial is your call to action within the text of your website, and it should state for instance “To learn more about our custom plumbing repair offering, fill out our contact form or call us at 619-555-1312 for immediate assistance today”.
If you fail to give website visitors a clear direction on what you want them to do after landing on your site-in simple terms –a compelling call to action-they won’t stay on your website for long but will click off to another plumber’s website.
Be clear about what you want prospects or clients to do when they come to your plumbing website. Tell them “request a quote now” or “subscribe now if you want to gain more email newsletter subscribers.
4. Misaligned, Poor Quality, or Insufficient Content
Consumers go online to assist respond to their questions and make a decision to book a job with a local plumber. If your plumbing website doesn’t have a blog, client testimonials or service demos, etc., you can kick those client’s goodbye. Being helpful and transparent are important to establish trust with your leads and eventually their business. If your plumbing website only promotes your business and doesn’t contain content to educate your buyers, then they will go to another website that is committed to solving their problems or concerns.
You only have a few seconds to convert a potential lead into a client and even less time to create a great first impression. If the content doesn’t resonate with the visitor, either in content or tone, they won’t feel it was focused on them.
The impression created by vague content or poor grammar and spelling is even worse. Don’t allow poorly written content to drive away your high-value leads. When describing your plumbing service or product, show it as a solution to the challenges potential clients are facing.
Proofread and edit your content before publishing or hire a plumbing SEO content agency to do it for you. When your content resonates with prospects or clients, they will feel more engaged with your business and as a consequence, are likely to want to read more.
5. Your Plumbing Website is Not Responsive/Mobile-Friendly
Nowadays, people are spending more hours on their mobile devices than ever before to search for local service businesses like yours. If your plumbing website is not responsive on devices other than a desktop computer, then you are driving potential clients away.
Some prospective leads want to book jobs with your company, but they cannot since they are attempting to access a desktop site from a mobile device like a Smartphone. More and more clients and plumbers are utilizing their mobile devices to read the news, shop, and contact other service providers, and that implies your lead generation efforts should follow suit.
Instead of waiting for prospects to go away and access your plumbing website from their desktop computer, a mobile-friendly strategy will assist you to reach them and convert them, wherever they might be.
6. Your Plumbing Website Doesn’t Provide Anything to Potential Clients
How can you obtain leads if you don’t have anything valuable to provide your prospects?
Your plumber website should contain helpful (not salesy) resources, content, and provides that prospects are itching to put their hands on. Think of white papers, e-books, slide decks, consultations, guides, and more.
You want to have a variety of content that will appeal to prospects depending on where they are in their buying journey. For instance, a “getting started” guide works for a prospect who is still exploring all of their options, while a free consultation or demo is ideal for someone who is ready to book a job with your company.
7. Slow Loading Speeds
Modern browsers are becoming accustomed to fast-loading plumbing websites. This implies that you are testing your prospect’s patience when your website loads in more than three seconds. In most instances, they will click off to another plumber’s website instead of waiting for your website to load.
A recent study found that slow-loading websites can frustrate your prospects or clients. Having such a website can lower your search engine rankings, as Google considers page loading speed in their search engine algorithm.
Simply put, your plumbing website must load faster and cater to their great swift internet connections.
8. Unprofessional or Poor Photography
Your plumbing website, in many cases, is the initial impression a client obtains of your company. Yet many plumbers skimp on photography. Stock photos don’t work nowadays. If you are utilizing stock photos, you will be able to tell and make your site feel cheesy,
Using quality images (probably of your team performing some work) is an effective way to build a more emotional experience for your visitor, but ensure they are unique and of high quality and showcase your real business or plumbing services.
When it comes to designing your plumbing website, little is always preferred than more.
Although it can be tempting to hit your prospects or clients with everything at once and add interactive widgets, this can cause them to be overwhelmed by too much information. Consider your prospect or client each step of the way and build your website with an intention of offering the best user experience for them.
By taking the time to correct the flaws above, your website will begin to achieve higher levels of traffic and higher engagement levels across the board.
10. Crazy Scrolling and Pop-up Ads
If your plumbing website has tons of unnecessary pop-ups, scrolling that your prospects can’t scan or read your content, that is a great turn-off for modern browsers. Call to action is awesome, but spammy and annoying links will drive traffic to your rivals.
Improve Your Plumbing Website Design to Generate Leads Consistently Every Month on Autopilot
Getting new clients for your plumbing business requires many strategies, and almost all of them hinge on online interactions.
The most crucial digital marketing asset you have is your plumbing website. Your plumber website design should incorporate several best practices, such as the ones we have highlighted below. When you implement them, you can generate more conversions/leads.
Your Plumbing website should be responsive/mobile-friendly
Many people looking for plumbing services do so on their smartphones. In most instances, they require urgent help, so they utilize the most convenient tool. If clients find your plumbing business online and land on your website on their smartphone, they anticipate your site to load within three seconds and adapt to their device. Thus, it is important that your plumbing company site appear and display perfectly on mobile.
Your plumbing website should include social media links
New clients want evidence that your business is trustworthy and reputable. The effective way to showcase this is through social proof. That could include testimonials, customer service awards, reviews, and ratings. Ensure these things are prominently visible on your plumbing website so that potential clients can conduct due diligence and ensure that your plumbing company is legit.
Your Website should describe what you do and the clients you serve
While plumber services, in general, are the same, you want to be candid and clear about what you provide and who your ideal clients are. If you offer any specialized plumbing services, ensure that such pages are separate on your website, and this can improve your organic search greatly. Beyond services, you should not indicate if you work in the commercial or residential market or both.
Your Plumbing Website Should be easy to navigate
Don’t make it difficult for prospects to find what they require. Make sure your menu is easier to find and resonates with the hierarchy. If prospects land on your plumbing website and find it easy, they may connect with you faster.
Your Plumbing Website Should Have a Professional Design
Your website typically represents your company, so don’t go it alone. Work with a Professional plumbing website design agency that has experience in your industry. By so doing, you will get a website that works and looks well.
Invest in Your Plumbing Website, and It Will Give Back in form of Qualified Leads
Making these upgrades to your site user experience and navigation will require an investment of time, but every hour spent improving your website will save many hours wasted manually chasing leads.
There you have it, ten factors that could be driving prospects away from your plumbing website. If you don’t have the time to implement these changes to create a consistent sales funnel that will generate high-value leads every month, our web designers can help with that.
Website design ideas for plumbers that you need to know.
A great plumbing website is your ticket to generating more qualified leads, differentiating yourself from the competition, and growing your company. That said, creating a website for your plumbing business can be a huge challenge; it is kind of hard to design the best reflection of your business digitally.
Consider it as a “visual storefront” where your homepage is the front door. Think of your website homepage as an analogy to your home’s curb appeal. It is the initial thing many people notice when they visit your plumbing website, so you should wow them from the moment your page loads. You want your plumbing website to be visually appealing enough to invite them in, and a creative web design helps you achieve that.
But creating a great plumber website isn’t about aesthetics. You also want the homepage to convert. Like an inaccessible driveway and broken front door prevents potential clients from closing the sale. The same applies to your plumbing website.
Prospects won’t or can’t convert if you fail to offer them an incentive to do so, and don’t make converting as intuitive and easy as possible. The initial step in winning over more clients is to understand the important elements that you should go into designing your plumbing website.
What Makes a Good Plumbing Website?
Many plumbing contractors feel frustrated because they aren’t obtaining the number of leads they need. For others, the issue is much more critical: they aren’t obtaining the number of leads they want, and their plumbing company is in jeopardy.
If that sounds familiar, there is a higher likelihood that your plumbing company website has a role to do with it.
If your website lacks crucial information, is unprofessional, and is difficult to navigate, the prospect will likely click off to another plumber’s website.
Here is our list of plumbing website must-have design features to convert more browsers into paying clients:
1. User-Friendly and Responsive Design
The initial requirement of any professional web design is its user-friendliness. A user-friendly and responsive plumbing website design is vital to providing an excellent user experience. It will ensure that your prospects or clients are always happy and satisfied, converted into plumbing leads, and consequently, become your clients to obtain the same experience.
Here are a few tips to consider while designing a user-friendly and responsive plumbing website:
Make sure your site loads faster (typically within three seconds) and doesn’t have a lot of distractions such as pop-ups.
Keep it easy and seamless to navigate to help prospects or clients find what they require within a few clicks.
Declutter your web content and coy, but don’t make it overwhelming for potential clients.
Responsive site design makes your website easily accessible from multiple devices such as mobile, tablets, desktops, and laptops.
Consider your font size and style for easy navigation and readability.
2. Search Engine Visibility
More than 90% of online activity actually starts with typing in a search query in Google or Bing. Clients who type “plumber near me” into search engines are likely to click one of the results they found on the first page of Google search results.
Search engine optimization is a great way to generate more leads and bring in traffic for your plumbing business. With the assistance of local SEO services for plumbers, you can notice a rise in your lead generation efforts. By implementing SEO on your plumbing website, you can focus on keywords that can skyrocket your online visibility, generate more leads and get more traffic for your plumbing business.
Here are some tips that can help to make your plumbing website search engine friendly:
Optimize your plumber website with location-specific plumbing keywords to boost your online visibility.
Revamp your plumbing website hierarchy model and revise your internal linking structure to help Google or Bing understand the most crucial pages that should rank higher.
Design your webpages with proper URL structure, heading tags, metadata, image Alt text, title tags, and other elements.
Optimize your plumbing website structure, minimize crawl budget, create an XML sitemap, and implement Robots.txt.
3. Include a Professional Company Logo
A professional logo will help to distinguish your business from other plumbers and make your prospects easily recognize your plumbing business. It provides a great way to showcase your business’s mission, values, and vision.
A professional logo is an excellent way to create an impression on your target market’s needs concerning your seriousness towards building trust and can assist you with your branding efforts.
So, invest your money and time into your plumbing company logo and develop a great design. You can use an online logo maker or hire a plumbing website design agency out there.
Your branding includes your plumbing fonts, colors, and logo, and it helps clients easily recognize your business in a sea of other plumbers online.
4. Responsive Website Design
A client’s need for a plumbing service company can often be in an emergency situation. When homeowners have leaky pipes, they want to avoid the hassle and find a local plumber easily and quickly. Most searches start where it’s most convenient: on a smartphone.
Internet users have changed from using desktop computers to mobile devices over the last decade. Across the world, more than half of internet activity occurs on a tablet or phone. If your plumbing website doesn’t feel and look excellent on a mobile, Google is less likely to recommend it to future clients.
Even if a prospect can access your plumbing website on their phone, they have a slim chance of becoming a client if the site’s features aren’t mobile responsive. If a tablet or phone users cannot access the full content of your site at a faster and more convenient speed, they are likely to click off and find another plumbing site online.
To avoid prospects getting annoyed and going back to the search bar, you will require a mobile website with accessible design, implying that important elements like menus and buttons are easy to click and view. The display should be tweaked to the dimensions of different mobile devices, presenting the client with a clean site code that they can navigate seamlessly.
Tablet and phone users should also access your plumbing business content at a convenient speed. Regardless of what device they are using, faster loading times ensure that you don’t lose clients. As of 2019, Google indexes and ranks websites based on their mobile interface.
5. A Clear Call to Action (CTA)
Now that you have brought your prospects or clients to your website and assisted them to access it with ease, what do you want them to do next?
You no doubt want your clients to convert because that’s your primary goal. To achieve that, you should include a clear call-to-action at prominent places on your plumbing website so that prospects or clients understand what you want them to do next.
Another winning plumbing website design idea is to create a compelling call to action. Including a generic CTA such as ‘learn more, ‘Click here, ‘Sign UP,’ etc., can put clients off instantly, and they do provide the necessary step for prospects to take the next step.
Here are some tips you can use to improve your CTA to help generate more plumbing leads:
Be creative and unique while crafting your CTAs
Personalize your CTA by including words such as ‘You’, ‘Your” or ‘My” works perfectly
Keep your CTAs at the bottom of your content to help them take the desired action.
Add relevant icons in your CTAs to increase leads and CTR.
6. Faster Loading Speeds
If prospects or clients have to wait for over 3 seconds for pages to load on your plumbing website, there is a high likelihood that they will click off to another plumbing company website. According to Google, a plumbing website that loads within ten seconds increases consumer bounce rates by 123%.
The faster your plumbing website loads, the more clients will be encouraged to learn and stay about your plumbing service. A simple, sleek plumbing web design is crucial to minimizing your loading time. 80 % of loading is rendering to various elements of your plumbing website. If your site is full of complicated redirects, every activity on your website will take longer. Keeping your site mobile-friendly, simple, and clutter-free will help improve prospects or clients’ experience.
7. List Plumbing Services You Provide
Plumbing can be likened to an umbrella under which plumbers provide different types of plumbing services. If prospects can’t find the services they require, they will bounce off your plumbing website right at the initial second. Thus, it is crucial to design a unique section for the plumbing services that you offer.
So, make sure that you list your plumbing services on your site and discuss each service so that prospects who don’t know about them can familiarize themselves with them.
8. Show Your Competitive Difference
Could you figure out the features that make your plumbing services better than that of other plumbers? If yes, you need to communicate the same to your prospects and clients to convince them why your service is worth their money and time.
Your plumbing USP has to be displayed on your site’s “Why Us” section. You will have to comprehensively analyze your competitors, know what makes you different from them, and promote your unique abilities.
9. Strong Security
Customers are typically cautious about surrendering their personal information to service businesses like plumbers they aren’t familiar with, particularly online. Massive companies, including eBay and Adobe, hit the headlines when they experienced data breaches, leading to the public leaking of sensitive information. A plumber web design that keeps personal information hidden from the bad guys(hackers) is crucial to safeguard your customers.
Instead of using a URL starting with HTTP, a secure web address begins with HTTPS. The “S” denotes secure, implying that the details clients share on your page aren’t stored in plain text, which hackers can access easily.
10. Awards and Reviews
Another plumbing web design factor to consider that heavily impacts lead generation is adding reviews, testimonials, and social proof. They are the most trustable social proof from customers and industry leaders who have already used your plumbing services.
If your clients are pleased with your plumbing service, they will be glad to write a few lines for you. You can display these reviews, testimonials, and awards on your website for prospects to see and understand the quality of your plumbing services.
Don’t restrict yourself to obtaining reviews on your plumbing website only. Encourage your clients to review your plumbing services on Google My Business, social media, and anywhere on the internet where prospects can find them easily.
11. Add Original Videos and Photos
Adding authentic videos and photos to your plumbing website will boost your claim about your plumbing services. Here are some of the ways your plumbing company can leverage the photos and videos to your advantage:
Hire a professional photographer to take photos of your team on a project or record a video.
Post detailed DIY guides or videos on how to solve basic plumbing issues.
Commit a section of a whole page for video and image gallery for visitors to obtain a glimpse of your plumbing services
Designing such a section/page will improve confidence in your target audience to book jobs with your plumbing company
12. Make it Easy for Prospects to Request Plumbing Service
Your plumbing website should help prospective leads and customers schedule service appointments easily. Adding effective CTA buttons on your website, particularly in the services and contact section, will ensure that prospects don’t have to run around to booking appointments or service requests.
As a plumber, you need to find new ways to reach new clients and stay on top of mind for prospects or clients who need your plumbing services.
Unfortunately, an ordinary plumbing contractor has a difficult time coming up with plumber marketing ideas. In fact, some of the plumbers are too busy servicing clients and running their businesses to think about plumbing marketing ideas. Marketing is one of those things that you don’t realize you require until your business bank account runs dry.
But on top of managing a team and running your plumbing business, you also need to develop a clever way to market your plumbing services and get your company on potential clients’ radar.
Successful plumber marketing demands that you manage your offline and online reputation using a mix of conventional and online marketing channels.
While there is no one-size-fits-all plumbing marketing hack to help attract clients simultaneously, there are several marketing tactics and ideas to assist you in reaching the right potential client when they need your plumbing services.
Whether you are a novice in marketing or require some fresh perspective on how to advertise your plumbing company, this post is designed for you.
We have compiled 15 surefire tips to include your plumber marketing strategy to win more service appointments and grow your plumbing business.
Online Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Plumbing Business
1. Get a Professional & Responsive Plumbing Website
In most cases, when a homeowner requires a plumber, they need one fast. For many of your potential clients, that implies grabbing their smartphone and looking for nearby plumbing contractors online. So, it is extremely important that your plumbing website is mobile-friendly and displays correctly on mobile screens of all sizes.
Without a responsive plumbing website design, your prospects won’t be able to navigate or read your plumbing website-which implies they will leave and click on another Google search result instead.
Getting a well-designed plumbing website will no doubt help your plumbing marketing in multiple ways.
The first thing you should do as a plumbing business owner nowadays is to obtain an appealing website that will help attract more potential clients. Plumbers don’t have a website because of a lack of resources, knowledge, and cost.
The good news is that Blackstorm Design + Marketing team can design a professional, responsive website for your plumbing services. You should avoid putting inaccurate information on your plumbing websites like your email address, phone number, and location.
The secret here is to keep your plumbing website design clean, simple, and direct to the point so that potential clients can find your details easily. Here are the important elements to include in your plumbing website design:
A Professional logo and name
Your Unique selling point
Your correct phone number
List of plumbing services you can provide
A comprehensive contact information
Accreditation and awards
Testimonials/reviews from your clients
Photos of your crew performing some plumbing tasks
2. Claim, Verify, and Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
If you want to make it easy for potential clients to find more information about your plumbing company on the web, begin by claiming your Google My Business listing. Once Google verifies that you are the plumbing company owner, you can update and manage the information, photos, and contact details that appear on the search results pages.
Claiming, verifying, and optimizing your Google My Business profile can help potential clients find your plumbing services on Google. Your Google My Business listing gives browsers a snapshot of your services and business including service area, logo, client reviews, photos, and operating hours.
3. Submit to Local Directories
Plumbing being a local service company, your prospects are going to find your services via local business listings, and that’s why getting listed in online local directories is crucial. Conventional directories like Yellow Pages are slowly becoming obsolete.
Homeowners have changed the way they look for plumbing businesses; they depend more on trusted online directories. Adding your plumbing company to these online directories will establish trust and boost your chances of getting found by your customers.
To market your plumbing company, having a vibrant online presence is no doubt something you should incorporate into your plumber marketing strategy.
Search engines like Google are the initial place prospects or clients go to when they are in need of emergency plumbing services. Your aim is to make your plumbing business occupy the coveted first-page rankings every time a prospect searches for plumbing services.
Some of the most common online listing business directories are:
4. Make it Easy for Prospects or Clients to Find Your Plumbing Business Through Search Engine Optimization
What is the initial thing a homeowner does when they want to find a plumber near them? They turn to Google.
SEO is one of the most crucial parts of your plumbing marketing strategy. If your business ranks at the top of the Google search queries, you will obtain more plumbing clients. If you don’t have a good search engine results page visibility, you will lose tons of potential customers to your competitors.
So, how can your plumbing website rise to the top of organic search results? Here are a few plumbing SEO best practices that you can use in your plumbing website:
Optimize your site for the right kind of keywords: You need to know what plumbing keywords are crucial for your plumbing business (i.e., the search terms that your potential clients are typing into search engines like Bing or Google) and apply them to your plumbing website. For example, you could include a 24-hour plumber in Murfreesboro on your site instead of just a “plumbing contractor based in Murfreesboro”. If you concentrate on finding the right keywords and optimize your site for them, you will get great organic rankings on Google or Bing for keywords that are related to your plumbing business.
Incorporate Local Keywords: Plumbing is a local service business, so you need to ensure that your site is optimized for geo-specific keywords. Don’t just write 24-hour plumber services on your website’s homepage. Instead, write “Murfreesboro’s most reliable plumber services”. The more location-specific keywords you use, the better.
Optimize your Google My Business Listing: We have already tackled this, but let’s emphasize how crucial this is. Here is a quick illustration of how crucial your GMB listing can be for your plumbing SEO efforts. If your listing is correctly set up for your location, then you can show up in the near me searches like this one.
Improve Your Authority Online by obtaining backlinks from other reputable sites, blogging, and posting useful, informative plumbing content regularly.
Get Your Plumbing On-page SEO right: Besides posting great content for your plumbing business, you should also remember things like optimizing your meta tags, image alt tags, and page titles for the right plumbing keywords.
How do you identify the Right Keywords for Plumbing SEO?
To win the organic search results, you will need to understand which keywords are most crucial for your plumbing business. You are no doubt wondering how to achieve this, right?
There are tons of great SEO tools to help you do comprehensive keyword research for your plumbing company. These tools includeMoz,Ahrefs,Ubbersuggest, and Google Keyword Planner, to mention but a few. Make sure that you select keywords that have the correct user intent. For example, you don’t want to rank for online plumbing courses if that’s not what you provide.
5. Use Reputation Management to Get More Positive Reviews Online
Online reviews are a crucial part of your plumbing business.
If a prospect or client hasn’t used your plumbing services before, they will depend on online reviews to obtain an insight into partnering with your business. Reviews are a form of marketing for your plumbing business, so you must includeonline review management in your plumbing advertising strategy.
To get started with this plumber advertising plan, you will want to collect all the platforms where homeowners leave online reviews about your company. Such places include Angie’s List, Yelp, Google My Business, and more.
Once you have established these platforms, monitor the reviews that show up on these pages. Realistically, you don’t want to eliminate negative reviews. If you had a review profile with only five stars, people would be skeptical or suspicious about your plumbing business.
Web visitors expect to see both negative and positive reviews. They pay attention to what people say about your plumbing company, but they also want to see your reaction to negative reviews.
If you want to understand how to scale your plumbing company, focus on managing your online reputation.
Monitor online plumbing reviews on platforms such as Angie’s List and Google My Business. They respond to all these reviews, regardless of whether they are negative or positive.
When responding to reviews, always try to keep your answers professional. If someone leaves you an awesome positive review, then appreciate them for their feedback. In the case of a less-than-stellar review, try to solve the respondent’s problem and encourage them to contact your plumbing company for further assistance.
Online reputation management will assist you to market your plumbing services better to future clients. It helps show your plumbing business in a positive light and encourages more prospects to return to your team.
6. Use Paid Advertising to Market Your Plumbing Services Online
This is a kind of a plumber marketing model used to promote a plumbing service company online. Where you run paid ads on Google or Bing, and the advertiser (in this case, a plumbing company) pays a fee when a prospect clicks on that ad and finally visits your plumbing website.
Paid ads bring in huge traffic and boost the exposure of your company. The major benefit of this search engine marketing tactic (compared to conventional plumbing advertising strategies) is that you will only pay when a visitor clicks on the plumbing ad you run.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is one of the best forms of plumber marketing. PPC ads show up above the organic search results, above organic listings, and local plumbing SEO 3-packs. They are tagged with the phrase “ad” to show that it’s paid content.
PPC ads play a major role in helping plumbing contractors get more conversions, and ad clickers are more likely to schedule plumbing service appointments than organic visitors. If you have not included PPC ads as part of your plumbing marketing strategy, then you are missing a huge opportunity to scale your business.
This plumbing advertising idea begins with selecting the right keywords.
Right plumbing keywords make your ad show up in the relevant search results. Long-tail keywords, which contain more than three words, generate great results for your PPC ad since they drive leads interested in your plumbing services and cost less due to their low level of competition.
Once you have selected your keywords, you can go ahead and bid for the placing of your ad. You will be required to set a maximum bid, which is the amount that you want to spend when someone clicks on your ad. The amount is flexible and can be altered.
Your quality score and the maximum bid will play a huge role in your plumbing ad’s placement. Once your ad is placed, you will kickstart your campaign and begin getting leads interested in your plumbing services online.
One of the most effective plumbing marketing ideas for scaling your company online is PPC ads. These ads will assist you to show up in relevant search results before qualified leads. It is a great strategy for getting more quality leads for your plumbing company.
7. Understand the Modern Customer’s Journey to Market Your Plumbing Business Effectively Online
The conventional client journey has evolved dramatically over the years, with the internet changing the way customers purchase services or products. Plumbing brands should get into the minds of their clients to understand how to create awesome experiences for them. Understanding what your clients need and want from you can assist you in deciding which plumbing services to market, when and how to communicate, and the specific information to share to help them make informed decisions. A customer journey map organizes this process so that you can decide how to assist clients at every touchpoint.
The online client journey describes a consumer’s path throughout all services, brand, and business touchpoints that help in making decisions. This process is known as a journey because customers typically look at a plumbing service company or brand several times before deciding to take action.
Traditionally, the client’s journey was linear and was typically driven by your sales representative. Consumers entered at the top of the sales funnel and followed a linear, preset, predictable path before leaving at the bottom (after they have booked a job).
Courtesy of how easily accessible information is in this internet age, that’s not true anymore. The modern customer engages in a looping journey, full of turns and twists, as they follow a personalized path when outsourcing a local plumber.
The stages of the modern customer journey are synonymous to the old framework and operate like this:
Awareness
Consideration, along with the Discovery and Research Loop
Decision or Purchase
Post-purchase experience and the Loyalty Loop
Let us break down every phase with a real-world illustration. Pretend our client is James, a married, 40-year-old homeowner with two small kids.
It is 8:30 am, and James’s shower won’t switch on- Awareness
James takes his phone and uses voice search to search “shower not turning on”-Consideration
James skims through two blogs that show potential reasons why a shower won’t turn on-Consideration
James watches a Youtube video from a local plumbing business on repairing the shower valve- Consideration
James, finally he is better to leave it to a plumber and Googles “plumbing contractor near me”- Discovery and Research Loop
James realizes that he is getting late to work, so he quickly looks at the top three plumbing contractors on the search engine result pages and sees the one whose Youtube video he watched. He realizes that the company has a 4.8-star rating and an online booking feature, so he schedules an appointment online for an evening that day.
After his shower is repaired, James raves about the plumber on social media, and after he is prompted from an email, he leaves a review on Google My Business listing –Loyalty Loop.
James water pipes burst following a deep freeze that occurred later in the year. He saw an email newsletter from the plumber he hired to fix his shower. The email discusses what you need to do when pipes burst in your home, so he follows a shortened customer’s journey and requests for an appointment Online-Awareness, Consideration, decision/closing, and loyalty loop.
If you want more booked jobs, plumbing leads, and repeat clients, you need to connect with prospects or clients at every phase of the modern buyer’s journey.
8. Remind Clients About Your Plumbing Services with Email Marketing
If you want to expand your business, begin using plumber marketing strategies that help you to get new leads. One of the most effective plumbing marketing ideas for scaling your business is to develop a client referral strategy via email marketing.
Email marketing can be the most effective way to keep your company top-of-mind for clients who may require your plumbing services down the road.
To make this internet marketing plan work for your plumbing company, consider the specific calls to action (CTAs) or topics that will resonate with your target audience.
For example:
Remind clients of recommended/ required maintenance (such as tips on how to maintain a plumbing system)
Share helpful plumbing tips to boost your brand loyalty (e.g., signs of a broken water heater)
Provide seasonal reminders to assist clients in keeping their plumbing systems running smoothly (like simple ways to prevent a burst pipe in winter)
9. Use Social Media Advertising to Connect with Leads
Developing a social media advertising strategy is your best shot if you are searching for plumbing marketing ideas. Social media platforms are nowadays prevalent and get a lot of engagement from users. It is a great opportunity for your business to connect with your target audience and share helpful content.
To scale your plumbing company via social media, you must begin by selecting the right platforms. These social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. You can include a combination of these two platforms with your plumbing social media advertising strategy. You will want to select your networks depending on your target market and the social media platforms they frequent most.
Once you have chosen your platforms, you need to start posting content. The kind of content will depend on your network. Some platforms provide a variety of formats for content, while others are generally specific.
By investing your money and time into social media advertising, you can increase your trust among clients, build loyalty and increase brand awareness, get more leads and convert them into paying clients,
But what type of content can plumbers share on social media? Here are some of the things that you can post on social media:
Post DIY videos to help your clients out: Homeowners are likely to trust your plumbing business more because of your transparency. And still, there are several things that those homeowners can’t do on their own. When they have a huge plumbing emergency, it’s likely that they will call your plumbing business.
Offer Special coupons and deals just for your social media followers. Create special offers for your audience in exchange for your email. Emails are like gold for any plumbing business since they will contact that customer in the future.
Run Social Media Contests. Contests give your plumbing company to obtain a lot of exposure and improve their brand awareness.
Start increasing trust levels and establishing relationships with your clients so that they have you in mind whenever they are faced with a plumbing emergency. Create your social media marketing strategy right away, but if you don’t know where and how to start, schedule a free strategy session with one of the experts for assistance today.
10. It All Starts with Your Plumbing Brand
One of the strategies for building a plumbing business that outranks your competitors is to build a memorable brand. When you thought about building a successful plumbing company, you probably didn’t perceive yourself spending many hours in an attic sweating metal pipes and all analyzing ad traffic and a plumbing website.
But you probably understand more about internet marketing than you think. Whether you understand it or not, you have done some bit of plumber marketing already.
You have created a company name and plumbing logo design. You have spread the message of your new plumbing business to your family and friends. You have requested your existing clients for referrals.
Guess what? These are all conventional plumber marketing strategies.
To make the most out of your plumbing marketing efforts, we recommend that you start at the onset: your brand.
Your brand is more than just a catchy tagline and a memorable logo.
Your plumbing brand is the promise that you make to your clients, and it’s what differentiates you from other plumbers and the reasons that clients will hire you from all other dozen or so plumbing contractors that will show up when they type “plumber near me” into a Google search query.
When launching your plumbing company’s brand, consider the following important questions:
What unique offering or service do you bring to the market? What makes your plumbing company unique? What do you specialize in or do differently than everyone in your area? For example, “we provide around-the-clock emergency plumbing service in rural areas or have the fastest response time in our town.
Who is the ideal client your plumbing company is attempting to reach?
What are your plumbing company’s values, beliefs, and how do they reflect in your daily operations?
Use your responses to the three basic questions as the fundamentals for building your tagline.
For instance, if your plumbing business is dedicated to superior customer service and high-quality work, you could create a tagline like “Once a client, always a client.”
Offline Marketing Strategies for Plumbers
Apart from advertising your plumbing company online, which you should concentrate on more, there are various ways that you can create a buzz in the local area and get your target market’s attention, thereby growing your plumbing company:
11. Send Out Flyers or Postcards
Door flyers and mailed postcards can be a great way to spread the word of your new plumbing business spread to neighborhoods near you. In addition, this affordable form of plumber advertising strategy won’t break your bank account before you begin ranking in clients.
Direct mail marketing is an old-school strategy but a goodie. Done properly, this tried and proven advertising strategy can assist your plumbing company reaches tons of homeowners in your service area.
A recent study by a Canadian Post showed that more homeowners read direct mail than promotional email messages. Combining an eye-catching postcard with an attractive coupon and direct mail could earn a spot on a potential client’s fridge.
12. Offer Top-Level Customer Service
As a plumbing business owner, you understand how crucial it is to offer great customer service. But what you might have considered is that going over and above for your clients is an effective kind of plumber marketing.
Apart from training your crew to be patient and friendly with homeowners (particularly in difficult situations), you can do a few things to enhance your customer service. One secret is to follow up with clients after a project is completed to make sure that they are happy with the results.
To measure client satisfaction, you can send out an email survey asking clients to rate their experience with your plumbing business, so they can reward technicians who go out of their way to create awesome experiences.
Blackstorm Design + Marketing can assist you to send out automated emails to clients after a job to assist you to drive referrals and repeat business.
13. Sponsor Local Community Events
Like other home service contractors, Plumbers have a local element that other industries don’t have. Your target customer base is your neighborhood community, and existing, and potential clients reside in the area you service. So leverage local plumbing opportunities to boost awareness of your plumbing company as a brand and get your business out there as a go-to plumbing expert.
Some of the best ways to achieve this are to:
Sponsor local sporting events or teams, such as a high school football team or little league team
Sponsor local activities and events, like fundraisers, festivals, charities, and more
Obtain repeat or new plumbing leads with alternative marketing methods
Depending on the area you serve and your target demographic, blending offline and online marketing ideas may be the most efficient way to obtain repeat clients or new leads.
Here are some offline plumbing marketing strategies to consider for your plumbing company:
14. Van Wraps
Just like mobile billboards, van wraps can help to promote your plumbing company to new clients in your service areas as your technicians, or you drive from job to job.
15. Offer Special Discounts for Referrals
Homeowners who offer referrals are one of your valuable marketing resources. So, whenever a homeowner sends you client referrals, therefore, make an effort to show how much you appreciate their support. For example, you can send personalized thank you notes with special discounts for great referrals.
Frequently Asked Questions on Plumbing Marketing Ideas
How do you promote your plumbing business?
The best advertising channels for plumbing contractors start with digital marketing and include your plumbing website, search engine optimization, Google local service ads, email marketing, video marketing, and social media advertising.
How do you obtain clients for your plumbing company?
You can use some innovative strategies to get more leads for your plumbing business, including retargeting/remarketing ads, Facebook advertising, next door advertising, Google Ads, truck wrap, and more.
What is the best plumbing marketing strategy?
A good plumber advertising strategy is one that incorporates both offline and online marketing strategies to help you get more plumbing leads for your business.
Grow Your Plumbing Business with Blackstorm Design + Marketing Today
Finding clients for a local service business like plumbing can be daunting but not an impossible mission! These are just a few plumbing marketing ideas that can assist you to get started on both offline and online marketing. Remember that these ideas are as effective as people who make them, if you don’t remain consistent, there would be some other plumbing companies that would take your slot and your clients.
Nowadays, there are tons of internet marketing tools out there for people of all skills and backgrounds. Trying out different plumber marketing ideas will assist you to understand your company and your clients while learning all the important new skills.
If you begin marketing your plumbing company without a plan or marketing professional by your side, you might get overwhelmed. Don’t be afraid to handle over your reins to a plumbing marketing agency.
Ready to see how a vibrant plumbing marketing strategy can help grow your plumbing company?
Schedule a free discovery call to learn how our internet marketing services can help your plumbing company flourish today.
