How To Market A Plumbing Business: 20 Key Questions

Feeling like your marketing efforts are just money down the drain?

You’re not alone.

Many plumbing companies find themselves in a constant battle to stay ahead of the competition and struggling to find marketing tactics that drive revenue.

It’s time to stop chasing tactics and start building a plumbing marketing strategy tailored to your needs.

In this article, our team examines how to market a plumbing business including 20 key questions about how to think about marketing your plumbing business.

For a plumbing company to succeed, the quality of your plumbing services and customer service must be exceptional. There’s thousands of quality plumbers throughout the plumbing industry, though.

How does a good plumbing business achieve greatness?

Just like planning a complex plumbing system, growing a plumbing business requires expertise and strategy.

Instead of actively seeking magical marketing tactics, your plumbing brand can use data to build a sustainable digital marketing strategy.

When you can measure the results of every marketing effort, plumbers earn more effective results and avoid the common pitfalls that plague conventional advertising.

Performance marketing for a plumbing company encompasses both digital marketing and offline tactics.

The overall strategy focuses on measurable results and outcomes, specifically tailored for your plumbing company.

There is a cost to acquire new customers. Performance marketers at Valve+Meter figure out what kind of profit is made due to each campaign.

Unlike traditional marketing and advertising methods where costs are incurred upfront without predictable returns, performance marketing relies on research and data to build strategies based on measurable results.

By understanding the source of quality plumbing leads and closed deals, you can repeat and scale the most effective campaigns.

A New Perspective On Plumbing Marketing

When marketing your plumbing company using this approach, you can reach potential customers more effectively and achieve an optimal return on marketing spend.

The goal is not to reduce your marketing budget. In fact, you should have an unlimited budget for marketing that works.

Data-driven plumbing marketing lets you analyze results, refine strategies, and scale what works – maximizing your reach and market share.

Key components of marketing a plumbing company include:

1. Data-Driven Approach: Approaching market research to choose marketing channels and plan campaigns.
2. Targeted Advertising: Reaching potential customers who reside in your service area ensures that marketing efforts are focused on the most relevant audience.
3. Cost-Effectiveness: By investing only in marketing strategies that generate plumbing leads and drive revenue, you reduce wasted advertising spend.
4. Performance Tracking: Utilizing analytics and tracking tools to monitor the performance of marketing campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimize strategies and increase market share.
5. Continuous Optimization: Studying campaign performance, monitoring search algorithm updates, adjusting targeting parameters, and improving strategies helps to earn stronger results and maximize efficiency.

How To Use Math Before Marketing

Your digital marketing strategy should conduct market research and competitor analysis, but how do you utilize this data to create more effective campaigns?

At Valve+Meter, we call our research and data-driven approach Math-Before-Marketing. Our plumbing marketing strategists and subject matter experts delve into your business and your competitors to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in your marketplace.

The internet is packed with digital marketing tools and techniques. Math Before Marketing prioritizes the online marketing best suited to your goals.

Website audits are an essential step in assessing your current situation. They help you evaluate the effectiveness of your online presence, ensuring that your plumbing website is user-friendly, visually appealing, and optimized for conversions.

Similarly, SEO audits allow you to analyze your website’s search engine performance and identify areas where you can improve your rankings and attract more organic traffic through online directories, citations, and link building.

Lastly, data audits are vital for understanding your business’s performance metrics and aligning your customer relationship management (CRM) with the most effective plumbing marketing ideas.

By analyzing data such as website traffic, conversion rates, and customer engagement, you can gain a clear picture of your marketing efforts’ effectiveness and make informed decisions moving forward.

This approach to digital marketing for plumbers drives measurable results, increases visibility, and ultimately grows your business by attracting more customers seeking plumbing services.

In this in-depth article, we offer insights on what to consider when marketing your plumbing services and how to use a performance-first mindset.

The first three questions are foundational for understanding performance marketing. We then delve into tactical planning, execution, and analysis to help your plumbing company reach prospective customers and maintain strong engagement with existing ones.

1. How Do I Get Leads For My Plumbing Business?

This question keeps many small business owners up at night.

There are endless marketing ideas to generate leads for plumbers. Each new digital advertising platform promises something more, but before you spend a dime on plumbing marketing, there’s a more important question:

2. Who Is My Ideal Customer?

Every successful marketing campaign begins by defining your ideal customer. When you look at your existing customers and the potential customers within your service area, you can build your online marketing around them.

Local businesses shouldn’t lump all prospective customers into a single category, but in a crowded marketplace, existing plumbing customers chose your business.

By gathering data on your audience’s demographics, behavior, and pain points, you can tailor your marketing efforts to delight more customers.

For example:

• Value: You can target plumbing customers looking to save money.
• Quality: Some homeowners and entire neighborhoods want a premium experience.
• Fast: In many home services, such as emergency plumbing, speed and responsiveness is rewarded.

There are dozens of different ways to reach new customers, so it is vital to understand who you serve and design the appropriate advertising. This targeted approach ensures that your message resonates with the right people, increasing the likelihood of converting leads into loyal customers.

3. Why Am I The Plumber Of Choice?

If you know who your target audience is, then you can build your plumbing marketing around your unique value proposition.

There may be larger plumbing companies or cheaper options in your service area. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Use what makes you special to appeal to new plumbing leads.

Returning to one of the previous examples:

• Quality: If your plumbing service is the highest quality, then your plumbing website design and content, Google Local Services Ads, and branding should reflect this.

That does not mean that you can just change your plumbing slogan or logo design and expect better close rates.

Understanding your current position allows you to set realistic goals and tailor your marketing strategies to address specific areas for improvement. These steps help you formulate your go-to-market strategies.

Setting Clear Goals for Your Plumbing Marketing Strategy

When you consider these three questions, your perspective changes. Plumbing marketing is not an expense to generate leads for your sales team.

When you develop a performance marketing mindset, your go-to-market planning and goal setting are aligned with your core business strategy.

Now you are ready to ask hard questions and build your marketing campaign.

Confronting these questions sets clear, achievable goals for your marketing strategy. These objectives will guide your efforts initially and help you measure growth over time.

Let’s ask tough questions and clearly distinguish between marketing tactics and a comprehensive strategy for generating leads and revenue.

In this section, we’ll explore ways to boost both your paid advertising and organic search visibility on Google. Additionally, we’ll discuss how social media, online reviews, and your overall online reputation can effectively attract new customers.

Please Note: This article asks some technical questions that not every plumber or plumbing business owner may be ready to consider. For a higher level, consider our DIY friendly article on how Valve+Meter revolutionizes your plumbing marketing budget

Plumber Website Design And Development

A well-designed website ensures visitors can quickly find the plumbing services they need. This ease of use builds trust, increases the likelihood of converting visitors into paying clients, and ultimately drives business growth.

Your plumbing website serves as the cornerstone of your plumbing marketing and a vital lead generation tool.

Consider these questions to evaluate your website:

4. Is Your Plumbing Website Easy To Navigate And Optimized For Mobile Viewing?

When someone has a plumbing emergency, they grab the nearest device. Digital marketing efforts must focus on mobile devices. 63% of all Google searches occur from smartphones or tablets.

Mobile responsiveness means that all features of your website function flawlessly, including:

• Mobile Menus: Difficult mobile menus frustrate users, leading them to abandon your website before exploring your services.
• Content: If text is too small, images don’t load quickly, or the layout is awkward on small screens, users won’t bother scrolling and you’ll miss out on leads.
• Forms: Difficult or overly long mobile forms lead to frustration and often cause users to give up before submitting, meaning you’ll miss out on valuable leads.
• Chat: Live chat can be a powerful lead generation tool, but a poorly designed mobile chat interface will drive users away instead of engaging them.

5. Do You Have Dedicated Web Pages For All Of Your Plumbing Services?

Potential customers who arrive on your website need to quickly find the plumbing services they need. This involves more than listing all the services you offer.

To gain relevance and visibility in Google search, you must have a web page dedicated to the plumbing service.

This is a key ranking factor for search engines. Google, Bing, and other search engines crawl your website to learn what you offer and who you serve.

If your website is missing web pages, you are missing opportunities.

On each page, you also need prominent contact information. When contact forms, chat, and phone numbers are one-click away, conversion rates improve.

6. Have You Incorporated Customer Testimonials On Your Website?

Building trust with potential clients is crucial for any plumbing business, and incorporating online reviews on your website is an effective way to achieve this.

When you collect customer reviews on your site you add the digital form of word-of-mouth marketing.

Testimonials act as social proof, reassuring visitors that your services are reliable and of high quality. In fact, statistics show 92% of consumers hesitate to buy when there are no customer reviews.

By showcasing positive feedback from satisfied customers, you can alleviate any concerns and increase the likelihood of converting website visitors into clients.

Search Engine Optimization

Great website content, structure, and SEO management helps attract customers through Google search results.

For plumbers, local SEO aims to attract the attention of potential leads within your service area. Your website, Google Business Profile, link building, and presence in online directories all improve your visibility in organic search results.

7. Are You Using The Right Plumbing Keywords?

Think of search engine optimization (SEO) as an ongoing conversation with Google, Bing, and other search engines. The more details and context you provide about your plumbing business, the better these search crawlers can understand and categorize your website.

To reach new customers, you must use the most relevant keywords for each web page. You also need to create more web pages to expand the conversation.

It’s important to identify the terms and phrases that potential customers are using to search for plumbing services.

By incorporating plumbing keywords into your website content and in regular posts on social media and Google Business Profile, you can increase your visibility in search engine results and ensure that you’re reaching the people who are most likely to need your services.

8. Is Your Content Relevant And Valuable To Your Potential Customers?

Keywords help to improve your relevance in Google search, but your organic marketing strategies must be engaging to real people, not just algorithms.

Great content marketing for plumbers addresses the questions that your target audience has and provides clear evidence that your plumbing company has the expertise to help.

By offering content like blogs, videos, and DIY guides on your plumbing site, you can build trust with your audience and establish your business as a reliable source in the plumbing industry.

This high-quality content attracts the attention of search engines, engages visitors, and converts leads into paying customers.

9. Are You Regularly Updating Your Website To Improve Visibility And Relevance?

Local SEO for plumbers is fiercely contested. Search algorithms are constantly evolving. Consumer behaviors change quickly.

The best plumbing marketing ideas are adaptable and versatile.

Monitoring your organic rankings and visibility in Map Pack and plumbing directories helps you maintain and grow your website.

Local SEO is an investment in the long-term health of your business. Content that performs well in Google search can generate plumbing leads and endless revenue. Constant vigilance fortifies your strengths and capitalize on opportunities where competitors are weak.

Google Local Services Ads

Appearing at the very top of Google Search results, Local Services Ads (LSA) can significantly benefit your business online.

To maximize your visibility and achieve the best return on marketing spend for LSAs, plumbers need to understand the setup, management, and ranking factors of this pay-per-lead ad platform.

Advertising is not a win at all costs scenario. A well-rounded marketing strategy targets how to grow profitably.

10. Are You Targeting The Right Audience?

Ensure that the service area and job types selected within your Local Services Ads (LSA) accurately reflect the customers you aim to reach.

Incorrect settings can lead to overpaying for leads and unnecessary ad spend.

Certain searches are congested with many plumbers bidding for the same services in cities and neighborhoods. Studying your rating in LSA can help you choose the geographic areas and services you are most likely to win.

11. How Are You Strengthening Your Review Profile?

Actively seek and respond to positive customer reviews, positive or negative. Reviews are a critical factor in LSA rankings.

A key component of effective LSA management is consistently earning feedback from happy customers. Reminding your plumbers to ask for a review is not a strategy. Investing in tools and review management captures reviews, responds to all, and strengthens your LSA rating.

12. What Is Your Response Time?

When it comes to Local Services Ads, responding quickly to leads is absolutely essential. Think of it this way: potential customers are seeking immediate solutions when searching for a plumber online. Fail to answer calls or respond to leads and your ad ranking is directly impacted.

Set clear expectations and accurate hours. Inform customers of your availability on your LSA profile and website (e.g., “We respond to most inquiries within 30 minutes”).

Use email or phone alerts to notify the right people in your support team when leads come in. Consider automated messages or chatbots for initial engagement.

13. Is Your Bidding Strategy Optimized?

Consistently monitoring your cost-per-lead (CPL) is crucial for a successful LSA campaign. It’s all about finding the sweet spot between visibility and profitability – a balance that may shift throughout the year and based on competition.

Use data to adjust to market dynamics. Higher demand for plumbers might necessitate a more aggressive bidding strategy.

While LSA offers high-intent leads, it’s wise to explore other advertising options for a well-rounded marketing approach.

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads can be a good choice to target broader searches not as directly tied to immediate need.

Pay-Per-Click Ads

Google ads and social media advertising can dramatically influence your plumbing business’s online presence and lead acquisition.

Efficient PPC use requires smart targeting and continuous optimization.

Where LSAs exclusively target high-intent consumers at the bottom of the funnel, PPC ads can reach a broader audience. For plumbing services like bathroom remodeling and maintenance of equipment, PPC attracts and nurtures leads for your business.

14. Are Your Ads Targeted To Reach Specific Audiences On Search Engines And Social Media?

Meticulous targeting is essential for effective PPC campaigns.

Don’t be misled by search volume alone – successful PPC focuses on your specific profit centers.

For example, if remodeling is a strong revenue stream for your plumbing business, then design landing pages around those services and tailor your demographic and geographic filters for that audience.

While clicks are good, they must translate into profitable jobs. If your PPC leads aren’t converting, it’s time to re-evaluate your campaigns.

15. Where Are Visitors Landing When They Click An Ad?

The landing page experience is pivotal in converting clicks into clients. Most web pages on your site are designed for organic SEO. While there should be a clear call to action on every page of your website, unique PPC landing pages can prove valuable.

A landing page for PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads is a specialized web page that visitors are directed to after clicking on an ad. The primary goal of a landing page is to convert visitors into leads or customers by encouraging them to take a specific action, such as filling out a contact form or making a purchase.

16. Are Your Landing Pages Designed To Convert?

Landing pages don’t need to rank in search engines. In fact, they don’t need to be indexed.

Short, clear, and concise messaging helps visitors learn, trust, and convert.

Key features include:

• Clear and Concise Headings: The messaging on the landing page should closely match the ad content to maintain consistency. This alignment reassures visitors that they’ve landed on the right page and reinforces the message that drew them in.
• Simplified Design: The layout of the landing page should be clean and focused, with a design that supports the conversion goal. Avoid unnecessary navigation links or elements that might distract visitors from the conversion action.
• Relevant and Engaging Content: Typically the content on your home page and primary service pages speak broadly and informatively. A landing page can speak more directly and utilize persuasive language.
• Strong Call-to-Action (CTA): A powerful and visible CTA button or link is crucial. But a call-to-action describes the design and content too.

17. How Are You Testing Ad Copy And Landing Page Performance?

When was the last time you updated your landing page for emergency plumbing services?

Testing ad copy and landing page performance through methods like A/B testing is essential for identifying the most effective elements that drive higher conversions and increase revenue.

By experimenting with different versions of ad copy and landing pages, marketers can understand what resonates best with their target audience, leading to more effective campaigns.

This continuous improvement not only enhances the user experience but also optimizes marketing spend by focusing resources on strategies that deliver the best results.

Google Business Profile

Beyond your website and paid advertising, directories and social media platforms are increasingly valuable real estate for plumbers.

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is often the first point of contact for people searching on Google. This includes referrals and repeat customers who search your brand by name.

Local pack results capture nearly a third of search engine clicks, highlighting their marketing potential. The quality and thoroughness of your GBP has a direct influence on LSA and organic results in the Local Pack. 

18. Is Your Google Business Profile Your New Home Page?

Declaring your Google Business Profile (GBP) as your new homepage might seem bold, but it’s a perspective strongly supported by marketers who specialize in local search and understand local intent.

Your GBP’s visibility and relevance in map pack results have an immense impact on how potential customers find and interact with your business.

When optimized and managed continuously, your GBP becomes an invaluable tool for:

• Online Reviews: Nearly all internet users read and trust online reviews as much as word of mouth referrals.
• Direct Leads: Your GBP offers consumers looking for plumbing services quick access to your contact information including phone, messaging, reviews, and bookings – driving direct calls or website visits.
• SEO Boost: Optimized GBP listings contribute to stronger overall SEO performance, boosting both paid and organic search visibility.

19. Does Your Landing Page Link To Your GBP?

Your Google Business Profile links to your homepage. Adding a link from your homepage to your GBP enhances the user experience and reinforces your business’s local relevance to search engines.

This contributes to stronger rankings in both organic search results and the Map Pack.

• Improved NAP Consistency: Ensuring your business’s Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are identical across your landing page and GBP is a fundamental aspect of local SEO. Inconsistent information confuses search engines and hurts your rankings.

20. How Does Your Website’s Internal Links Connect To Your GBP?

Strong internal linking structure shows search engines your website and GBP are interconnected, indicating a legitimate and well-maintained online presence.

Search engines crawl websites and consider internal linking patterns. Links from relevant website pages to your GBP can subtly reinforce your local presence and expertise.

Implementing a comprehensive marketing strategy helps capture more local traffic to your website, GBP, and local directories.

For plumbing businesses looking to achieve sustainable growth you can reach past customers by applying our data-driven approach to social media, email marketing, and referral programs.

A multi-channel holistic view of your marketing efforts, ensures that all your tactics work together towards a common goal.

By integrating digital marketing for plumbers, you can create a seamless experience for your customers, no matter how they choose to interact with your business. Whether it’s through your website, social media, or traditional advertising, a well-rounded strategy ensures that your plumbing business stays top-of-mind for your target audience.

Fostering Customer Relationships

Building strong, long-term relationships with customers is crucial for any successful plumbing business. Consistent excellent service and open communication increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and referrals.

By leveraging data to measure the effectiveness of your marketing, you can identify successful strategies, optimize them for greater reach, and drive further growth.

Measuring and Adjusting Your Marketing Efforts

While these questions largely consider marketing tactics, Math Before Marketing is grounded in tracking the performance of your marketing campaigns to understand their effectiveness. Data identifies areas of strength and the most effective ways to improve your online visibility.

This ongoing process of measurement and adjustment helps ensure that your marketing efforts continue to drive results and contribute to the sustainable growth of your plumbing business.