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Plumbing Advertising Ideas To Get More Customers

Plumbing Advertising Ideas To Get More Customers

March 17, 2021

Whether you’re just starting out or are already established in your community, it’s essential to continue to advertise your plumbing services so you can attract new and old customers alike. Below, we’ve outlined some of our favorite advertising ideas for plumbers that you can use to generate new ideas or improve on older strategies.

Local Plumbing Advertising Ideas

Local Events

There are plenty of local events and spaces you should be on the lookout for where you can advertise your plumbing business. Look into renting a room in the community center or town hall where you can host an informational session about common problems in the home, and how your business is perfect to handle those repairs. There could also be conferences and fundraising events where you can advertise to local businesses.

Make sure you have flyers or pamphlets that are clearly printed with your name and the name of your business, your contact information, and relevant information about your business and the services you offer, so the people you talk to have something to take home and refer back to when they need a plumber.

A fun plumbing advertising idea is to get a booth or table at a festival or street fair, and give balloons away to families. You can easily get custom balloons made with your business name and rent a helium tank for a few hours or a day. You’ll have the dual advantage of getting your brand name out there with ease and winning points with parents!

Nonprofits & PR

Donating your services to charities or nonprofits is another great idea to build your brand. Find out if there are any historic buildings in your area that are being restored, or offer your services to local nonprofits.

Not only will you be giving back to your community, but you’re putting your name there as well, and establishing yourself as a kind and giving business that people will want to work with. Plus, there’s the possibility that you can garner press coverage from local news stations and newspapers from your community involvement.

You might even be eligible for historic commission awards or non-profit honors. These can be displayed on your website as a testimony to your credibility and generosity as well as prove your credibility.

Partnerships

You can connect with other local businesses and establish partnerships that will help both of you get new customers.For example, you can connect with a local realtor and trade business cards.

When the realtor sells a new home, they can pass along your information to that homeowner so they have immediate and direct contact with someone should they need plumbing services. You can also reach out to other contractors in your area, and establish a network of local businesses that can refer customers to each other.

Radio

Radio is still a great way to get the word out about your business. If you’ve already spent money on your balloons and flyers for the local street fair, see if the local station is willing to do a trade. Radio stations are always looking for giveaways, so you can try offering a service for free in exchange for an advertising spot.

Get a 30 second advertising spot written, research the  City Data website to compile a list of radio stations in your area, and send it and your giveaway offer to all of the radio stations in your area—at least one of them is bound to say yes!

Grocery Stores

A final (and most expensive) advertising idea for plumbers lies in grocery stores. You can advertise on receipt tape at your local grocery store by going to https://www.rtn.net/. It can cost between $500 and $750 per store for a 4 week run on the store’s tape.

It can be a risk, as there are many people who don’t even take their receipts anymore or immediately throw them away once they get home, but it does offer the potential to reach new customers that you might not otherwise come in contact with.

You can also rent ad space on grocery carts at https://adcart.com/. This would run you about $325 per month, but is slightly less of a risk than receipt tape. Almost everyone that goes into a grocery store uses a cart, or at least sees them as they walk in, so it’s more likely that people will see your ad.

However, people can’t take the grocery carts home with them, so there is the risk of people forgetting your name, website, or phone number when they leave the store. You can avoid this by encouraging people to take a photo of the ad on the ad itself, or including a QR code that people can scan before they leave the grocery store.

Online Plumbing Marketing Ideas

If you want to get your plumbing business out to a larger audience and fast, then online marketing is the way to go for lead generation. Advertising your business digitally is the most up to date method, and will therefore likely reach more people than your flyers or recommendations and results will be easier to track. FieldPulse has a handy Digital Marketing Guide that you can refer to, and we’ll go into some specific plumbing advertising ideas you can launch quickly below. 

Local Service Ads

There are a few ways to go about advertising digitally on a local scale. When a customer turns toward the Internet to search for a plumber, they’re most likely going to go to Google first. You can ensure your business shows up higher or even first on the page of search results by signing up for Google Local Services.

When you sign up (at no cost) for the service, your business will go through a screening process that involves license verification and background checks in order to become “Google Guaranteed.” Once that happens, when a customer searches for “local plumbing business,” your business will show up in a specific Local Services list at the top of the search page.

This almost guarantees more business for you, and an easier and more direct way for new customers to find you.

Google Search Ads

Google offers another type of search based advertising that is also direct, but is more risky, can cost your business a pretty penny in order to be effective, and has a more involved sign-up process.

Google offers an ad that looks like a regular Google search result, but it is automatically pushed to the top of the search results page. Essentially, you tell Google how much you’re willing to pay to be in that first slot. Then, when a potential customer makes a search, your ad is entered into an auction and Google picks the ad that not only bids the most but is most relevant to the customer’s earth.

This is also referred to as Google Adwords or Pay Per Click, terms that you might have heard larger businesses throw around and praise repeatedly. While this method works well for larger businesses, it’s more of a risk for smaller ones because these ads and auctions need to be constantly monitored and updated in order to ensure their efficiency, and they cost a lot to keep up with. Large businesses have the means and the money to do it, but for smaller businesses, it probably shouldn’t be your first advertising choice.

Smaller towns, meanwhile, may provide cheaper options, like posting flyers outside or adding your business card somewhere visible while users check out.

Google My Business

Don’t let the above section discourage you! While Google Adwords might not be your best bet right now, there’s still another way besides Google Local Services that can get you boosted to the top of the search results page – FREE.

Setting up a Google business page is easy and fast; all you have to do is verify your business and its Google page, update your information to make sure your information is up to date and accurate, and you’re good to go! Once that’s done, you’re automatically added to Google’s database of businesses, which opens up the opportunity to get into the local Google 3-Pack.

The Google 3-Pack is the top three results that show up when someone searches for a local business. These results are location-dependent and largely use information users provide on Google Business pages. Verifying your business and its location is an important step and will maximize the effectiveness and the status of your spot in the Google 3-Pack. Again, it’s a free service, and all it depends on is your (free!) verified Google business page.

A few other tips to get to the top of the Google 3-Pack:

  • Properly categorize your business. Plumber should be your primary category, which Google favors. If you also do Kitchen & Bath Remodeling or HVAC, you can add them as secondary categories.
  • Write a good business description that lists some of your most important services users may be searching for.
  • Link your website
  • Add photos
  • Stay active by publishing offers, events, products, and services
  • Ask for Google reviews and respond to them. You can generate a link to request reviews here.
  • Add an appointment link so customers can schedule online or contact link
  • Add custom attributes, like Black-Owned, Veteran-Led, Women-Led, or COVID-19 precautions like: Staff Wear Masks or service options like Online Estimates.

Social Media

Creating a Facebook page or Instagram account for your business is another popular idea. Having a business account also opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to plumbing advertising ideas. You can run ads on Facebook for fairly cheap and have the opportunity to join Facebook groups, which are a conglomerate of Facebook pages that are under a specific subheading.

For example, you could find a local Facebook group where people buy and sell and advertise services and local events. You can join the group, and be connected not only with fellow business owners, but with local potential customers, who will turn to the group when they need a specific job done.

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