Like any small business professionals, plumbers are always looking for new customers and jobs. After all, keeping your plumbing business healthy is what pays the bills. However, plumber marketing has changed dramatically in the last several years, moving from traditional print ads and TV commercials to digital marketing.
What is Digital Marketing for Plumbers?
Digital marketing is building a website and then driving traffic to your site from search engines and paid ads. Since most people search for plumbers online, it’s crucial to have an online presence for them to find. Having an informative website is like having a business card or brochure for your company. Your website establishes your authenticity and puts information about your business at searchers’ fingertips.
What are the Benefits for My Plumbing Business?
Plumbers gain several benefits by marketing online. Working with a marketing agency for plumbers that specializes in the plumbing industry and small businesses will give you the most benefits, including:
• Online presence supporting your company’s authenticity
• An easy way for customers to find you when they have plumbing issues
• A way to qualify new customers before you speak to them
• An effective way to answer frequently asked questions typical for new customers
• Increased credibility
• Social proof
• Cost-effective marketing
• Staying ahead of the competition
• Driving new customers to you from search engines
Authenticity
It’s normal for people to be cautious when searching for a new vendor that will need to enter their home to work. Plumbers are often needed in a crisis when a sink is backed up in the kitchen or a toilet needs to be replaced. Having an informative website will ease concerns and help build trust.
Local SEO
In order for searchers to find your plumbing business, you need to be easy to find. When someone searches for “plumbers near me,” you want them to find you, not your competitor. A digital marketing expert uses local search engine optimization (Local SEO) techniques to establish your company as a preferred vendor in your local area.
Qualified Prospects
Having qualified prospects means you are ahead of the game before you ever speak with a new customer. If someone reaches you through your website, they have already searched for a local plumber on Google. They can learn more about your plumbing business before they decide to contact you.
Another benefit is that they can contact you outside of business hours by email or chat through your website. Since they’re probably already frustrated with their plumbing problem, making it easy to contact you is a big help.
FAQ
Posting frequently asked questions FAQ) on your website helps to further qualify customers and let them know they’ve come to the right plumber. Plumbers have a list of questions that new customers typically ask them. Questions like “how long will this take?” or “do you have experience with this manufacturer?” You can generate a list of FAQs with answers linked to further information on your website. Doing this gives your plumbing company more credibility before you even know people interested in your service.
Credibility
The more ways you can build trust with a new client or further trust with an existing customer, the better it is for your customer relationship. No matter how much a customer needs a plumber, for new construction or home repair, credibility makes your job easier. After all, you will need to tell them what you have to do to fix their plumbing problems and how much it will cost them. If you have established credibility and trust, this interaction will be a lot easier.
Social Proof
Social proof is another way to build trust with new customers. For a service industry like plumbing, customer reviews are the gold standard for social proof. According to Bright Local, 87% of potential customers read online reviews for local businesses before contacting them.
This shows the importance of good reviews on your website or social media. Reviews also help you find unsatisfied customers, so you can resolve issues. You can post the negative review with a follow-up describing what you did to solve the problem. This social proof provides new customers with the confidence to hire you.
Cost-Effective Marketing
Digital marketing is cost-effective, especially when compared to traditional print and media marketing. With digital marketing, you can target your plumber marketing to a specific demographic. Focusing your marketing on a target demographic improves your return on investment (ROI). And you can further refine your target market by analyzing the metrics for each campaign. Once you determine the most successful campaign, you can duplicate it and scale it up to reach more people.
With digital marketing, there are lower costs than traditional marketing because you don’t need to print or produce a finished product other than the graphics and text for online ads.
Competition
Like most small businesses, your plumbing business has local competitors for the same market. By using digital marketing methods, you can stay ahead of the competition. You can also follow your competition to see which keywords, messages, and graphics work for them. You can easily run an A/B test to see which type of message nets you the best customers for your plumbing niche.
Digital marketing doesn’t require the long lead time of traditional marketing. You don’t have to wait for a time slot or print run to start marketing. Your plumber marketing can run 24/7 giving people the opportunity to interact with your company when it is a good time for them.
Search Engines
Search engines are the most popular way people look for information on mobile or desktop devices. Knowing how to create content that is helpful to real people and also signals the search engine to match the correct queries takes time, knowledge, and skill.
Since you are in the plumbing business, you should be using your expertise for plumbing jobs. Working with a digital marketing agency that understands the plumbing industry and the needs of a small business will give you the best results.
Your plumber marketing agency will help you with:
• Building and maintaining a website
• Using SEO to drive business
• Getting the social proof you need
• Creating content to best answer FAQ
• Engaging with customers on social media
• Qualifying customers before they contact you
