We live in a digital age. Being a skilled and committed plumber may have been enough to run a successful plumbing business in the past, but today, using digital marketing strategies is essential to staying competitive and profitable as a plumber.
However, if you are like many plumbers, digital marketing is probably not your top priority. You have many responsibilities on your plate each day, so advertising your business may fall to the backburner.
93% of consumers, including those needing a plumber, will call a plumbing company after doing a search online, so your online presence is crucial to attracting potential customers and increasing the profitability of your plumbing business.¹
Implementing marketing strategies and systems may not be as challenging as you think. We present 13 digital marketing tips for plumbers who are looking for higher returns. Read on to learn more about digital marketing your plumbing business.
What Is Digital Marketing for Plumbers?
Digital marketing is a form of advertising that focuses on increasing brand awareness, bringing in leads, and boosting profits through online-based digital technologies. This marketing approach uses search engines, social media, email, mobile communication, and websites.
In the plumbing industry, your business can use digital marketing to:
- Reach new customers
- Advertise your services
- Improve customer retention
- Make your company stand out from the other local plumbers in your area
All of these strategies work together to increase your returns and grow your business profits.
Why Are Plumbers Investing in Digital Marketing Tools?
As a local plumber, convincing customers to schedule your services probably isn’t the primary way you want to spend your business day. Like most local plumbing companies, your biggest challenge is how to make your business stand out from the dozens of other competitors in your area.
Investing in digital marketing tools is an effective way to stay competitive within your industry and convince customers to hire you over other plumbers. Using the right combination of marketing strategies and automation tools will let you reach the broadest customer base. With those leads it generates, it also helps you attract both new and returning customers.
13 Digital Marketing Tips for Plumbers Who Want to Increase Their Customer Base
1. Create a High-Quality Website
Your website is one of the first faces of your company that new customers see. Today, many consumers Google the type of business they are looking for, such as “plumbers near me,” then browse each business’s website until they find one that suits their needs. They are even more likely to click through to the websites of the top plumbers listed on the search returns page.
Creating a superior website is essential if you want to stand out when a prospective customer does a Google search. Your website should be:
- Professional in design
- Visually appealing and uncluttered
- Information-rich about you and your plumbing services
- Easy to navigate
- Secure
- Well-optimized with ways to get the searcher to provide you information
9 out of 10 people check online reviews before choosing a business
Weave helps you easily collect and monitor reviews on Google and Facebook. These reviews can be some of the best marketing for your business.
Schedule Demo2. Watch Video Tutorials for Digital Marketing Software
If you’re a knowledgeable, experienced plumber, you probably are not also an expert digital marketer. Digital marketing may seem way outside your wheelhouse.
You can familiarize yourself with relevant digital marketing strategies by watching video tutorials for marketing software. YouTube videos are free resources that you can use to enhance your digital marketing presence without needing to hire an agency.
You can find a wide variety of videos on YouTube and other platforms that will give you step-by-step tutorials about how to implement specific marketing practices for your plumbing business.
3. Consider Budget-Friendly Solutions
One way to maximize returns on your digital marketing investment is to search for more affordable marketing solutions, to begin with. The less money you have to pay for a digital marketing strategy, the higher returns you will receive when that strategy begins boosting your business.
How can you choose a digital marketing plan that fits your budget? Look for all-in-one marketing platforms that give you control over all aspects of your business’s online presence. If possible, try to avoid getting locked into long contracts. Instead, look for software solutions like Weave that provide flexible month-to-month subscriptions and no-hassle cancellations.
4. Use Digital Scheduling
To maximize your returns, use software that helps you focus on plumbing by automating the intensive person-to-person tasks like scheduling, writing emails, sending follow-up reminders, and so on. One way to encourage more people to hire you is to allow customers to schedule their appointments on your website.
Online scheduling software makes it easy to implement online scheduling on your plumbing website. The software allows potential customers to:
- View your available appointment times
- Provide information about their plumbing needs
- Schedule an appointment without speaking to a technician or an office manager
This digital scheduling solution also sends customers reminders about upcoming appointments and allows them to change their appointment times right from their phones.
5. Opt for Automated Marketing Processes Wherever Possible
Working with a digital marketing agency for all of your marketing needs can get expensive fast. One way to cut down your marketing costs is to use automated processes wherever possible.
Look for automatic or semi-automatic digital marketing solutions that take the manual labor out of advertising. A few of these include:
- Online scheduling
- Online review management
- Email marketing
- Auto texts
Using these automated solutions instead of hiring an agency can save you a lot of money.
6. Create a Social Media Presence
Social media is a central tool of communication for most people today. If your business is not using social media to connect with potential customers and market your brand, you are missing out on a sizable outlet for connecting with your target audience.
We recommend creating a Facebook and LinkedIn page for your company at the bare minimum and posting content that reflects your brand and informs viewers of your services. Using Youtube to create How-To videos, which you can embed on your website, can also help.
7. Capitalize on Positive Customer Reviews
Customer reviews go a long way in marketing your brand and convincing potential customers of your reliability. Most people read customer reviews when deciding what products to buy or local service companies to hire, and consumers are likely to spend 31% more on companies with excellent reviews. Positive customer reviews are an easy and free way to market your plumbing business.
Online reputation management systems make it easy to manage your customer reviews and invite customers to rate your services after a plumbing appointment. You can receive notifications every time a customer leaves a review of your business on any site and send automated texts and email reminders inviting recent customers to leave a review.
8. Tailor Strategies to Your Desired Customer Demographics
Knowing the demographics of the customers you want can help you tailor your marketing efforts toward them. However, it can be challenging to keep track of demographic data on your own, especially with all of the plumbing tasks you must complete each day.
Digital marketing software makes it easy to keep track of your customer demographics by generating valuable analytics. Viewing this personalized demographic information can help you tailor your business strategy to reach a broader demographic and appeal to your desired customer types.
9. Personalize Your Digital Communication
Communicating with customers outside of their appointment time demonstrates your commitment to their satisfaction. However, if you are like many business owners, you have little time to message your customers individually.
Digital marketing and scheduling software takes the hard work out of communicating with customers by automating it for you. Send automatic personalized texts to customers to remind them about upcoming appointments or give any other information necessary to optimize their experiences.
10. Create Engaging Content That Encourages Site Visitors to Act
Developing and posting fresh web content is one of the most critical aspects of digital marketing. Even if your website is great when you launch it, potential and current customers want to see fresh, engaging, and helpful content. Such content marketing efforts will also help you rank higher on Google’s organic search returns.
Consider what you can include on your website that will encourage customers to act. The more you can get them to interact with your site, the more contact information you can gather and then use for follow-up appeals.
11. Implement Digital Retention Strategies
Turning one-time customers into repeat customers is an effective way to increase the profits of your plumbing business. Focus on retention in your digital marketing strategy by sending automatic texts to customers who have not scheduled with you in a while.
These remind the former customers that you’re still there, thinking of them, and perhaps sending them a discount code or other reward for getting in touch with you or visiting your site. You can customize these texts to recommend plumbing maintenance appointments or just check in to see if they have any needs. Reaching out to customers you have not heard from in a while can improve retention.
12. Use Email Marketing Strategies
Developing email campaigns to reach former and ongoing customers is another way to engage them through personalized communication. Email marketing solutions streamline the email creation process, allowing you to use templates and import images to craft emails quickly and efficiently.
13. Take Advantage of an All-in-One Automation System
The most effective way to maximize returns on your digital marketing strategy is to use affordable, innovative solutions from Weave marketing software. We offer several different marketing products to help your plumbing business attract new customers and retain former ones. Weave will increase your profits without any hard work from you.
How to Easily Manage Your Digital Marketing Campaign Without Paying an Agency
Weave’s all-in-one digital marketing and reputation management platform allows you to easily craft and maintain a marketing strategy for your plumbing business. Our automated system is easy to set up and easy to use, so you won’t have to shell out big bucks to a marketing firm again. Schedule your demo to see for yourself.
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