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Plumber Digital Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Leads, Sales & Booked Jobs
We’re Giving Away Our Plumber Marketing Playbook
“My phone isn’t ringing.”
Sound familiar? Yet there are more than 315,000 searches a month for “plumber” in the United States, according to Google’s keyword planner. Conservatively speaking, that’s just shy of 4 million searches a year from people looking for a plumber, and that doesn’t even include any related searches like, “plumber near me,” “24/7 plumbing company,” or others.
“I need more leads.”
It’s a line we’ve heard thousands of times from prospective customers here at Blue Corona, where, to put it simply, we help plumbers generate more business from their digital marketing campaigns.
This guide is meant to weed out the crap and give you a proven playbook to create a successful plumber marketing plan.
From hyper-targeted plumbing SEO marketing to PPC for plumbers, social media marketing, directory listings, email marketing, and more, we’ve got you covered.
Have questions at the end? Our plumber marketing consultants are ready to answer anything you throw at us… all you have to do is call!
Let’s go.
Internet Marketing for Plumbers… Where to Start?
This year, plumber marketing plans must include more digital marketing strategies than ever before, and it can be difficult to know which ones will have the most significant impact on your business. Some digital marketing services our plumbers use to successfully market their business include:
- Website Design
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Pay Per Click (PPC)
- Social Media Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Email Marketing
Start with your website.
Make Your Plumbing Website Fast, Frictionless, and Mobile-Friendly
Your website is usually the first interaction people have with your company, and it should serve as your 24/7 online sales representative. However, it’s not enough to simply have a website. It needs to be:
- Fast: Plumbing customers expect your website to load in under three seconds.
- Frictionless: Customers should be able to get what they need from your website in one click and one second. That means clear navigation, helpful shortcuts, and content that anticipates their needs.
- Mobile-friendly: 64% of online searches for plumbing services happen on a mobile device. Years ago, a plumbing company could get by without a click-to-call button on their home page, now it’s standard—meaning you need to have a mobile-first mindset.
It also needs to be properly coded for SEO, which means adding metadata like schema markup language, optimized images, and title and meta tags.
4 Easy Ways to Make Your Website Better
- Make it mobile-friendly, or at least responsive
- Add click-to-call or chat features
- Ask your webmaster to install plumber schema
- Check your mobile website speed here, and give the results to your webmaster to fix
If you’re a plumber without a website, learn more about websites for plumbers.
Invest in SEO for Plumbers
One of the best ways to get plumbing leads is through Search Engine Optimization and Local SEO
If you’re reading this you’re probably a plumber looking for useful tips to enhance your website performance. The first priority after creating a lead-generating website is making it visible online with SEO (search engine optimization), which is the process of making your web pages show up higher in the search results page.
SEO for plumbers should be your top priority after building your website because:
- 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and 47% of people click on one of the first three listings in the search results page (Source)
- SEO is a long-term marketing investment and takes time to see results
- Competitors already invest in SEO, so they have a head start on you
- Competition on search engines for plumbers is high, so getting started now positions your company the best on search results in the future
In a study released by Google, four out of five consumers use search engines to find local information.
As a result, ranking on the first page of Google as a plumber for your most important keywords can be the difference between a customer in need calling you and calling your competitor.
3 Quick Ways to Improve Your Plumbing SEO Results
- Claim and optimize your Google My Business page
- Optimize your website content for your local service area
- Get reviews on Google My Business and other online platforms
Invest in Pay Per Click Advertising for Immediate Plumbing Leads
Wondering how to get plumbing leads NOW?
Pay per click advertising (PPC) allows plumbers anywhere to immediately be found on the first page of Google, delivering quick results in the process.
The two biggest benefits of PPC advertising are:
- Controlled visibility and;
- Relevance
Traditional plumber marketing interrupts people. Pay per click advertising puts your message or ad in front of people proactively searching for your services.
There are different types of PPC ads, and if you want the best marketing for plumbers you should take advantage of (if the program is available in your area yet) Google’s Local Services ad program.
Local Services Ads for Plumbers Occupy the most coveted real estate on google
Local Services ads are pay per lead (meaning you only pay when someone calls you) and show up at the very top of the search results page on Google:
Here’s how they work:
- Your company enrolls in the Local Services program and signs up to become a verified, Google-Guaranteed plumber
- Your company (including ownership and all plumbers on staff) undergo a rigorous vetting process by Google.
- Your company gets approved to be part of Local Services and can set up your company profile
- You create your ads and set your campaigns live
- You receive leads from Local Services via phone
One thing that makes Local Services ads for plumbers better than most other pay per lead platforms is that with Local Services, you only pay for verified leads and Google will refund you for any unqualified leads generated by your campaigns.
Our plumbing clients receive verified leads at an average cost per lead of $20–$30.
Use Local SEO to Dominate Your Market
Take a Hyper-Targeted Approach to Plumber Digital Marketing
The Google local pack appears in the top spot in 93% of searches with local intent, according to HubSpot, which means when homeowners and businesses are looking for a plumber close to them, the Google local pack will show up almost every time. For example:
Local SEO is the process of optimizing your website to maximize your search visibility.
As part of your plumber digital marketing campaign, you can optimize your website by:
- Claiming and optimizing your Google My Business page
- Optimizing heading tags on every web page (H1s, H2s, etc.) for local search
- Optimizing metadata (title tags, meta descriptions) for local search
- Adding business schema markup to your website
- Claiming and optimizing your business’s online directory profiles
- Optimizing your website content for local search
How to Optimize Your Plumbing Company’s Google My Business Profile
- Post regularly
- Make sure all business locations accounted for with connected GMB pages
- Have a consistent NAP (name-address-phone number)
- Have a large number of 4- and 5-star reviews
- Add your business’s categories
- Add your business’s description
- Add (and keep updated) your hours of operation
- If you offer online booking, add the “booking button” feature
Email Marketing for Plumbers: Stay In Touch with Customers & Unclosed Prospects
Email Marketing for Plumbers Nurtures Unclosed Prospects & Keeps You In Touch With Previous Customers
Wondering how to get plumbing customers? Well—have you tried tapping your existing customer base?
Staying in front of prospects and existing customers should be a top priority for plumbers, making email marketing an integral part of your plumber digital marketing campaign.
Incorporating email marketing into your plumbing marketing plan can:
- Keep you in touch with your customers
- Generate more sales by including specials, coupons, and rebates
- Improve your brand awareness
Incorporate Video Marketing Into Your Plumber Digital Marketing Campaign
Video Marketing for Plumbers Boosts SEO & Establishes You as THE AUTHORITY In Your Community
One-third of online activity is spent watching video, and home service companies are taking note.
Every plumbing contractor should invest in at least one video for their website, and if you have the means, invest in a video marketing campaign.
As part of your plumber digital marketing strategy, video marketing can:
- Increase engagement with your website
- Give your brand a personality
- Convey your competitive differentiators to website visitors
Video Marketing Tips for Plumbers
- Keep your videos under two minutes – Videos under two minutes get more engagement with visitors and the longer your video is, the fewer people will watch it.
- Put videos on service pages – Video on landing pages can increase conversions (phone calls, web form submissions) by 80% or more. What’s even better is that websites with video have a 2.1% higher conversion rate than those without video.
- Add videos wherever relevant – Having a video on a landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on page 1 of search rankings.
- Use videos on blogs – Blog posts with videos attract three times as many inbound links as posts without video, further enhancing the SEO value of your plumbing company’s website.
Take Advantage of Social Media for Plumbers
Engage With More Plumbing Customers and Differentiate your Brand
Whether you like it or not, social media is growing at a rapid pace and playing an increasingly important role in how businesses interact with customers.
Social media allows you to expand the reach of your company and improves the overall performance of your plumber digital marketing campaign.
Setup your social media profiles on these platforms:
- YouTube
- Google My Business
- Nextdoor
Incorporate social media into your business operations:
- Website footer
- Marketing materials
- Brochures
- Business cards
- Email signatures
Get More Online Reviews to Increase Plumbing Contracts
Separate Your Business from Other Plumbers with 5-star reviews
Want to get more plumbing contracts? Invest in generating and promoting 5-star reviews—84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Additionally, 54% of people will visit the website after reading positive reviews, making reviews the new word-of-mouth referrals.
In fact, I’ll wager that if you seek out SEO services, one of the steps you’ll probably take is to search for “plumber SEO agency reviews” or something similar.
Your customers aren’t any different—they want to know whoever comes to fix their pipes is trustworthy.
Think about it—who do you think customers are going to call in a high-stress situation like a broken toilet or a burst pipe? A plumber with an aggregate review rating of 2.1 stars with 5 reviews or the plumbing company with a 5.0-star rating and 150 reviews?
Not to mention, if your company is found in Google’s local pack with two of your biggest competitors, you want your company to stand out above the rest.
Learn 10 ways to get more Google reviews here »
Use a Review Platform to Generate More Online Reviews
Don’t have the time to email each and every customer for a review? Use a review platform to quickly ask your customers for a 5-star review. We recommend our clients use Review Us Now.
Still Wondering How to Grow a Plumbing Business? Let Our Plumber Marketing Experts Help!
Here at Blue Corona, we help plumbers grow their business and yield measurable results from their digital marketing campaigns. In fact, we like to say we’re plumbing marketing experts!
Contact us today to learn more about our plumber marketing solutions and how you can grow your online presence.
About The Author: Brandon is Blue Corona's Sr. Director of Marketing and host of BlueTube, the home services podcast powered by Blue Corona. With more than a decade of marketing experience, Brandon leads the charge on Blue Corona's growth strategies and works closely with our partner organizations like ServiceTitan and Nexstar. When he's not analyzing marketing data, you can find Brandon enjoying the outdoors with his wife and two daughters (or if he's lucky, on the golf course).
View more blogs by Brandon Doyle
The information on this website is for informational purposes only; it is deemed accurate but not guaranteed. It does not constitute professional advice. All information is subject to change at any time without notice. Contact us for complete details.
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