No matter how much experience you have, marketing is essential for growing your business. Use these 25 plumbing marketing ideas to increase revenue.

No matter how much plumbing experience you have, you need to market your business to make sure you have enough customers. Many plumbing contractors avoid marketing because they think it's too difficult or too expensive, but there are many things you can do to promote your business without overspending. Try these 25 plumbing marketing ideas to increase your revenue.

CraftJack helps contractors grow their businesses. Contact us today to get high-quality leads delivered right to your phone.

Why Is Marketing Important for Your Plumbing Business?

Marketing is a critical aspect of business operations because it makes people aware of what you offer. If you don't do any marketing, many people in your community won't know your business exists. Marketing also gives you more control over your company's reputation and makes it easier to build professional relationships.

What Are Customers Looking for in a Plumbing Business?

When someone has a plumbing problem, they need expert help to address it. Therefore, customers are looking for plumbing knowledge and experience. It's also important for prospects to feel you're a trustworthy person who treats everyone with kindness and respect. You don't have to spend hours on the phone every day, but you do need to answer people's questions and provide as much information as possible to help them feel comfortable hiring you.

25 Plumbing Marketing Ideas to Drive Success

1. Refresh Your Website

If your website is just a single page with your company's name and telephone number on it, now is a good time to update it. At minimum, a plumbing contractor's website should include the following pages:

• About: The About page provides a quick overview of your business, such as when you started it and what plumbing credentials you have. It should make potential customers feel comfortable contacting you for an estimate.
• Services: Providing a list of services is a great way to reassure potential customers that you can help them with their plumbing issues.
• Contact: Offer multiple contact methods, such as phone and email, to make it easy for people to get in touch with you.
• Testimonials: Your website should have as many trust signals as possible, including testimonials. A trust signal tells visitors your business is trustworthy, making it more likely they'll hire you.

2. Send Out Press Releases

A press release is a short news story that you send to members of the media. Journalists use these releases to identify newsworthy topics that could be a good fit for newspapers, magazines, or television programs. You can use press releases to launch a new service, educate consumers about important plumbing topics, or announce that a new employee has joined your team.

If you want a media outlet to give you free publicity, your press release must be relevant to its target audience. For example, if you're launching a new plumbing service in Miami, it doesn't make sense to send the press release to a newspaper in Colorado. You need to choose media outlets carefully and tailor each release according to their needs.

3. Create a Referral Program

In a survey conducted by Nielsen Media Group, 88% of respondents indicated that they trust personal recommendations more than any other marketing channel. That's why every plumbing contractor should have a referral program — a program designed to reward customers for sending more business your way. Once you launch your program, here's how you can make it easier for happy customers to provide referrals:

• Add a "Refer a Friend" button to every page of your website.
• Give each customer several business cards. Every time someone wants to provide a referral, they can give out one of the cards instead of having to worry about remembering your phone number or website address.
• Create a referral template for employees to use when they talk to customers on the phone.

4. Record Video Testimonials

When you publish a video testimonial, potential customers get to see the reviewer's facial expressions and body language. If past customers are truly satisfied with your services, that will come across in each video, putting prospects at ease and making it more likely that they'll trust the recommendation. Make your videos more effective by choosing an appropriate setting and ensuring you have the right lighting. It's also helpful to send reviewers a list of questions ahead of time so they don't have to think up answers on the fly.

5. Partner with Other Contractors

Networking has many benefits, such as the opportunity to share your insights and learn from experienced business owners. As an added bonus, good professional relationships can help you land more jobs. The key is to network with contractors who aren't in direct competition with your business.

For example, a general contractor is a good contact to have, as they can hire you to do plumbing work on new builds. It may also be beneficial to network with home inspectors and real estate appraisers, as they can let you know if their customers need to make plumbing updates as part of the home sales process.

6. Sponsor a Giveaway

If you just launched your business and don't have past customers to provide referrals or testimonials, consider sponsoring a giveaway. You can advertise the promotion in your local newspaper and on social media, bringing positive attention to your company. To make the giveaway a success, offer a valuable prize, such as a new shower or a voucher for one free plumbing repair valued at $500 or less.

7. Use Direct Mail

Direct mail involves using the postal service to send advertising materials to potential customers. You may think of direct mail as junk mail, but these materials have a good return on investment — 29%, according to the University of Utah. That means direct mail produces an average of $1.29 in revenue for every $1 spent.

Another benefit of using direct mail is that it allows you to connect with people in your service area. Digital marketing is effective, but there's no guarantee people in your neighborhood will ever see your website. Direct mail allows you to connect with these consumers by sending mail right to their homes.

8. Produce a Commercial

This is a little more expensive than other plumbing marketing ideas, but it can be extremely effective, especially if you do a little research ahead of time. The cost to air a commercial depends on several factors, such as how long it is and what time of day you want it to air. For example, it costs a lot less to air an ad in the middle of the night than it does to air one when people are watching TV after dinner.

You also need to account for the cost of producing the commercial. If you don't have any production experience, it's best to work with a media agency or local broadcast company. This costs more, but it also ensures your commercial has high production values and positions your business in a positive light.

9. Build an Email List

Email marketing makes it easier to connect with prospects and customers. Once you have someone's email address, you can send them a message every time you want to announce a new service, run a special promotion, or share other news about your business. This type of marketing is highly effective, returning an average of $42 for every $1 spent. When you send an email, make sure it has an interesting subject line and content that's relevant to your audience.

10. Start a Blog

When you think of a blog, do you think of an online journal where people share their opinions about everything from the best brand of peanut butter to the best action movie of all time? Personal blogs are popular, but they're completely separate from business blogs. A business blog is a website or web page that gets updated regularly, making it easier for business owners to connect with their audiences.

Blogging has several benefits for plumbing businesses:

• You have complete control over the content, ensuring your message doesn't get distorted.
• When you publish high-quality blog posts, you can attract links from other websites, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
• Once you write a blog post, you can repurpose the content in several ways, reducing the amount of time you have to spend on marketing. For example, you can turn one blog post into a set of video scripts.
• High-quality blog posts build confidence in your expertise, making consumers more likely to trust you.

11. Take Advantage of Automation

Automated tools make it much easier to promote your business, ensuring you don't have to give up paid plumbing work to focus on marketing. For example, you can use a website chatbot to provide basic customer service, eliminating the need to hire a full-time receptionist. You can even use mobile apps to screen leads, send marketing emails, and perform other important tasks.

12. Ask for Online Reviews

Like testimonials, online reviews act as a trust signal. They tell readers that other people have used your services and had a positive experience, making potential customers more likely to contact you for a quote. Reviews have several benefits:

• They're unbiased. When someone visits your website, they know everything they read is coming from your perspective. Customer reviews are different. A satisfied customer has no stake in your business, so prospects are likely to give their words a little more weight.
• Reviews portray your business in a positive way. Good reviews mention things like response times and work quality, making it easier for consumers to assess your services and determine if your company is the right fit for their needs.
• Online reviews make it easier to rank for local keywords, which are search terms residents use to find plumbing services. For example, if a customer searches for "plumbing services in Pittsburgh," an online review is likely to show up near the top of the search results. This makes it easier to drive traffic to your website.

13. Establish a Social Media Presence

Social media isn't just for games and memes. It's a powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. Social media is especially helpful for plumbing contractors, as it costs nothing to set up a profile and start posting content. One of the major benefits of using social media is that you can communicate directly with people in your target audience. For example, consumers can comment on your posts or send you direct messages.

If you're not on social media yet, set up profiles on Facebook and Twitter. A good profile has your company name, phone number, email address, and website URL. Provide as much information as possible about your business, such as how much experience you have and a list of services you offer. Once you have your accounts up and running, post to them regularly. Posting daily is beneficial, but if your schedule is packed, try to post at least a few times per week.

14. Share Videos

Many plumbing marketing ideas focus on producing written content, such as blog posts and articles. That's a good start but consider adding video to your content marketing plan. Not everyone has time to sit down and read a 1,000-word blog post about plumbing, but they may be willing to watch short videos. Video marketing is also helpful for driving traffic to your website.

Every video should provide tips that are relevant to people in your service area. For example, if your business operates in New England, consider creating a video on how to prevent pipes from freezing during those cold New England winters. Follow these tips to produce videos that cast your business in a positive light:

• Slow down. You may know everything there is to know about plumbing, but you're creating these videos for laypeople. If you speak too quickly or use a lot of jargon, you may lose viewers.
• Tell a story. Although the ultimate goal is to land a new customer, people don't want to feel like they're watching an over-the-top infomercial. Spend most of the video providing helpful information instead of trying to make a sale.
• Prepare a script ahead of time. Your videos should position you as a polished professional, so it's important to plan what you're going to say.
• Stick to one topic per video. If you try to cover multiple topics, viewers may get confused or stop watching before they've gotten to the most important information.
• Work with a professional. Unless you have video production experience, work with a videographer. A pro knows just how to shoot a video that makes you look good and builds trust with potential customers.

15. Host a Workshop

If you've ever been to Lowe's or Home Depot on a weekend, you may have seen customers learning how to build birdhouses or choose the right plants for their gardens. Home improvement centers don't hold these classes out of the goodness of their hearts; they hope people will sign up and then spend money on all the supplies they need to complete their projects at home.

That's why you should consider hosting a workshop in your community. A workshop is a great way to show off your expertise and build relationships with potential customers in your service area. Focus on teaching participants how to do basic maintenance and avoid plumbing problems; if someone needs to do a major plumbing project, they can hire you afterward.

16. Survey Your Customers

When you think of plumbing marketing ideas, you probably think about connecting with people who've never heard of your business. That's just one aspect of marketing, however. Marketing is also about staying in touch with existing customers and ensuring your company meets their needs. Therefore, customer surveys are an important part of a good marketing strategy.

Every time you finish a job, you should send the customer a survey to determine if they're satisfied. You can even solicit suggestions to help you improve your business. When you create a survey, be careful not to include too many questions. Many people are willing to answer four or five questions about their experience, but they may not have time to read and respond to 15 or 20 questions.

17. Attend Trade Shows

Attending trade shows is a great way to learn about industry trends and get a preview of new products designed for contractors. Another benefit of going to these events is that you get to network with other home service professionals. You may meet general contractors, carpenters, roofers, electricians, and other contractors who live in your area and would be happy to give you referrals.

18. Optimize for the Search Engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of techniques used to make your web pages appear at the top of the search engine results. The better your rankings, the more likely potential customers will find your website, visit it, and learn more about the services you offer. To use SEO as part of your marketing strategy, make sure you follow these principles:

• Publish high-quality content that's relevant to your audience.
• Make sure your pages load quickly. This helps with SEO, and it also prevents visitors from leaving your site.
• Keep mobile users in mind. Your website should look just as good on a smartphone or tablet as it does on a laptop or desktop computer.
• Use relevant keywords, such as "Philadelphia plumbing service," "furnace installation in San Francisco," and "water heater repair in Los Angeles." These keywords help search engines determine if your content is relevant to a user's query.
• Make it easy to navigate your website. Visitors should be able to find what they need with just one or two clicks.

19. Join a Networking Group

You don't have to go out of town to reap the benefits of professional networking. Many communities have a chamber of commerce, a chapter of Business Networking International, or some other group dedicated to helping members build professional relationships. Every time you attend a meeting, make sure you have plenty of business cards with you.

It's also helpful to practice an elevator pitch before you go. An elevator pitch is a 30-second introduction that includes just one or two key points. Your pitch should communicate who you are, what you do, and what you want to get out of the networking event.

20. Create a Subscription Package

Furnace installation, water heater repair, and other one-off jobs are a good source of revenue, but they're not necessarily the best way to build a thriving business. After all, once you install a furnace, the customer may not need plumbing services again for several months or even years. Subscription packages are a great way to improve your cash flow, as they ensure you have extra revenue coming in each month.

21. Apply for Awards

Make sure you apply for any business awards offered by media outlets or nonprofit organizations in your community. If you're nominated, there's a good chance you'll be featured in at least one article about the awards. Winners may even qualify for free advertising or other perks. Best of all, it costs nothing to submit your company's name.

22. Run Google Ads

No matter how good your website is, there's no guarantee a consumer will find it when they're looking for plumbing services in your area. If you run a pay-per-click advertising campaign, however, your website will show up in the sponsored advertiser’s section at the top of the search results. Many people click whatever's closest to the top of the page, so PPC advertising can help you drive traffic to your website and convert more of your visitors into paying customers.

23. Create a Google Business Profile

Google isn't the only search engine available, but it's the most popular one. If you want to increase your visibility, make sure you have a Google Business Profile. This profile should contain your company name and contact information, along with a description of your services. When local residents use Google to search for plumbing services, they'll see your Google Business Profile, even if they don't see your website right away.

24. Publish Helpful Content

Content marketing is about more than just writing blog posts and publishing them on your website. To attract more visitors and increase your search engine rankings, consider publishing the following types of content:

• Top 10 lists
• Buying guides
• How-to articles
• Product comparisons
• Checklists
• Tip sheets
• Case studies

25. Advertise in the Local Paper

It costs a lot of money to advertise in a national publication, but local advertising rates are much more reasonable. In some cases, it's also more effective to advertise locally. If you run a local plumbing business, you don't need people 3,000 miles away to know about your services — you just need to reach consumers in your community. The cost of an advertisement depends on the newspaper's circulation, so if you live in a small town, it may cost much less than you think to advertise your plumbing business.

Get High-Quality Plumbing Leads

CraftJack provides high-quality leads for home service professionals, taking the guesswork out of marketing. Contact us today to find out how you can get prescreened plumbing leads right from your phone.