When you’re trying to grow your plumbing business, we all know there’s one major thing that constantly gets in the way. Where do all the clients come from? There is no doubt that great service adds gallons of gas to your sales machine’s tank. But it’s never going to be the whole game for you. Advertising your business will help you bring in the leads you need to grow your business. Here are 5 battle-tested plumbing advertising ideas:
5 Battle-Tested Plumbing Advertising Ideas to Grow Your Business
You have to market and advertise your business to really move the needle. But there’s not just one way to do this, and you have to do it intelligently. If you don’t go in with a strategy, you are going to waste a ton of money and shrink your business instead of growing it. So here are 5 plumbing advertising techniques that will get you more business.
Avatar
Before you do anything, you have to lock in your client avatar. An avatar refers to your ideal target customer. This means figuring out exactly who they are, where they are, and what groups they belong to. Once that is decided, then you can nail down specific offerings based on what your plumbing business can offer.
The avatar has everything to do with the people you serve and little to do with you. It’s all about locking in on what makes your avatar tick, what they need, and how you can help. You’ll come out of this work with a set of wants, needs, and pain points that will lead you to know if they need water treatment, drain cleaning, instant hot water, leaking fixtures wasting water, etc. And then you can serve them. To learn more about becoming a successful plumbing company that focuses on serving customers beyond quick fixes, call us today.
To come up with your avatar get a piece of paper and write out 4 columns. In the first column, write down the broad demographics of the avatar (where they live, age, gender). The second column, give them a name and write about their lifestyle (i.e. Bob, lives in Baltimore, works 9-5, has 3 kids, is married, is a homeowner, etc). In the third column write his values and attitudes. This means what he cares about in life and which businesses he chooses to work with. The fourth column is fears and problems. What keeps him up at night? What matters most in his life that has a big effect on him? What problems does he often face?
Now that you know what makes your ideal customer tick, it’s time to figure out which advertising strategies to use to find them.
Google Ads
Google ads can be very powerful for service-based businesses. Typically when you are trying to decide where to put the majority of your advertising dollars you ask a simple question. Do my customers usually come to me? Or do I usually have to go to them?
When it comes to plumbing, most people tend to hire plumbers when they have a plumbing problem. The average person doesn’t even think about a plumber until something starts leaking. So, that means my customers often come to me as a plumber. Which makes Google ads generally a better option than Facebook.
Why? Because when someone realizes they have a plumbing problem what’s the first thing they do? They Google it. And if you run the ads correctly, you can show up high in search results in your local area, you can make a lot of money.
Here are a few Google ads tips: be sure to use specific relevant keywords you know your avatar will use when searching Google for a plumber or plumbing services. Businesses can waste a lot of money by using catchall keywords. Be sure to take advantage of ad extensions such as call extensions where customers can click to dial your business directly. Do your keyword research with the Google keyword planner and opt for exact match keywords over broad match keywords. Lastly, be sure to track calls. Google has a code that you can put on your website to track phone calls to your business. Tracking will help you see which keywords are working best.
Facebook Ads
Service-based businesses like plumbing shops are generally better off with Google ads but not always. The Facebook algorithm is getting so intelligent these days that it can often find the right people even when they aren’t looking for you.
A few years ago there’s no way Facebook ads would be able to find people that needed a plumber. But now, things have changed and based on your behaviors, homeowner status, activities, interests, etc., Facebook can be effective as well. What makes it more difficult than Google, however, is you have to make sure the images and language you use are very effective and convincing. Afterall, people are not searching for you, and you have to find ways to stop them from scrolling. Bright and colorful images, empathetic images and copy, etc. will help with this. Don’t make the mistake of throwing up a business card or a flyer image for your ad and expect it to pull in customers. Come up with an offer, give free advice, and help people fall in love with your business through content.
Content
What’s one of the most important things people look for in a plumber? Someone they can trust. And there is no better way to build trust and authority than creating content about plumbing that helps people in their daily lives. That means making videos, writing blogs, and doing stuff on social media. Give people value, help them fix common plumbing problems, show that you care.
In addition, be sure to gather positive reviews and testimonials. It’s important that people hear from previous customers to establish trust. Testimonial videos can be a great way to show potential customers why they should choose your business over another.
When you make the effort to give value to people, you become the go-to source. It also builds community. And those things lead directly to more clients.
Messaging
Without good messaging in your advertising, you’re dead in the water. The biggest mistake that plumbing businesses make trying to talk to potential customers is making it all about them. When you are advertising, all your messaging needs to be centered on the people you want to talk to, not you and your features and benefits. Go back to your avatar and their pain points and problems. What keeps them up at night? How can you provide them excellent service to fill those gaps?
All your advertising copy needs to revolve around the customer, not you. That’s the biggest mistake we see businesses make. Let it sink in that the sales process is much more about them than it is about you.
There are many more ways to advertise your plumbing business. Be sure to network, build relationships and more. The more buzz you create about your business the better. If you dig into these plumbing advertising ideas, and master them, I have no doubt your plumbing business will start to grow in ways you never imagined. Do the work, and it will pay off.
