Digital Marketing for Plumbers: 8 Strategies to Grow Your Business

“I want to be busier, wealthier, and happier with the state of my business.” Does this sound about right?

The good news is that potential customers are out there. In the United States, there are 9.8M search queries related to “plumber” each month. In Atlanta, GA (where our digital marketing agency is based), this number is 1.7k. The trick to improving the status of your business, then, is understanding how to reach your customers.

That’s where this guide can help. Today our world is more connected than ever. With the right digital strategy, you can see more of those searches for “plumber near me” lead to your business.

This step-by-step guide for internet marketing for plumbers covers everything from building your brand from the ground up, to creating an automated marketing machine that never sleeps. Note that your business may not require every step to be successful. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of finding the right tactic(s) that fulfill your personal business goals.

Step 1: Refine Your Brand

When we think of branding, many of us think of a logo. The truth is that branding is much more than a logo – branding is the impression someone is left with any time they engage with your business.

What does this mean? In essence, branding is twofold. It’s the story your business tells, and it’s your business’s ability to deliver on that promise.

Human beings are story-telling machines. We use stories to make sense of our lives, make decisions, and communicate our needs. A recent global study shows that consumers are 5x more likely to champion purpose-driven companies. Another way to say this is people are far more likely to use your services if you have a compelling story to tell.

You might be thinking, “I’m a plumber. Where’s the story there?” A valuable resource to begin this discovery is Seth Godin’s Marketing Checklist. Answering these questions can help you understand who your audience is and what story you want to tell them. If you want personalized branding advice from experts who understand your business, reach out to Hughes Media today.

Step 2: Optimize Your Plumbing Company Website

Your website is your most valuable digital asset. Digital marketing tactics are designed to get people to your website. Why do we want to lead customers to our websites? For several reasons. We want them to understand our services. Like we discussed in Step 1, we want to provide a distinct brand impression. But most importantly, we want to provide a direct line of communication so that customers can utilize your service.

Because your website is your most valuable digital asset, it’s worthwhile to invest in a marketing and development partner who can create an optimal experience. We offer a helpful questionnaire to uncover what your web project might require. If you’re interested in optimizing your website, we’d love to help get you started.

Step 3: Personalize Your Marketing Content

We’re living in the golden age of digital content. Every day we encounter opportunities to engage with brands via social, email, and other mediums. But what differentiates spammy, throw-away content from content that might improve our lives? The answer is personalization.

After you’ve completed steps one and two, the next step is creating strategic personalized marketing assets. These can be leveraged on your website, as well as in email, social media, and physical print collateral. The right marketing partner can help you identify your key target audience(s) and create evergreen content that speaks directly to their needs.

Don’t know where to start? Drop us a line in the “contact us” tab above, and we’ll give our best advice on creating quality content for plumbers.

Step 4: Implement SEO Best Practices

Plumber SEO (search engine optimization) helps ensure that your content, products, and services are discoverable online. There are many tactics wrapped up under the umbrella term “SEO,” including keyword research and implementation, website optimization, backlinking, local SEO, content creation, and reputation management.

You may have invested in SEO before but never really saw it work. Internet marketing for plumbers is most successful when the strategy is well-informed by research, data, and insights. Find out how we helped a plumbing company like yours use SEO to increase its conversion rate by 650%.

Step 5: Explore Pay-Per-Click Advertising

So far, we’ve covered fundamental, long-term marketing tactics. Now we are entering the paid advertising realm.

First, what is pay-per-click advertising?

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an online advertising model in which an advertiser pays a publisher every time an advertisement link is “clicked” on. The pay-per-click model is offered primarily by search engines (e.g., Google) and social networks (e.g., Facebook).

As a certified Google Partner agency, we understand how to win with PPC. Learn how working with a Google Partner can help convert your website visitors into qualified leads.

Step 6: Amplify Your Social Media Presence

You might be thinking, does digital marketing for plumbing need to include social media? The short answer is absolutely.

The average person spends two hours and 24 minutes on social media each day. Good marketing is all about delivering messaging to the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Social media is certainly the “right place” for the average customer.

Still, maintaining social media may be overwhelming. You might not want to spend your time within these platforms. Or, you may not know how to begin creating or implementing a social media strategy.

We offer some digestible first steps for creating a social media strategy. If you have further questions, let’s chat about how we can amplify your social messaging and reach.

Step 7: Leverage Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to nurture your contacts. In the last two steps, we covered pay-per-click advertising and social media, both of which can be fabulous ways to generate leads. Once you have your clientele’s email addresses, the next step is to continue engagement via email marketing.

The trick with email marketing is to provide valuable content. Too many of us receive spammy, marketing emails that go right into the junk folder. The right email strategy can ensure that your email programs deliver true value. If you’ve followed the steps above and have solid branding, quality content, and quality leads, you’re ready to leverage email marketing.

Step 8: Launch Marketing Automation

Congratulations, you have reached the final step. At this point, you have stellar content that’s utilized across channels, and your marketing efforts are mature enough to automate.

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation refers to technologies that automate marketing processes to enhance efficiencies to attract, convert, and close prospects. Marketing automation allows you to target customers with automated messages across email, web, and social. It also allows you to maximize efficiency by eliminating repetitive tasks.

Hughes Media has experience with various marketing automation software, as well as the strategy prowess to help you create an always-on marketing machine. Allow us to help you use marketing automation for lead generation, nurturing, and scoring, as well as measuring overall return on investment. Remember that the best marketing automation programs are designed to grow with you.

Digital Marketing for Plumbing Doesn’t Need to Be Complicated

This guide covers the basics for creating an effective marketing plan for your plumbing business. If these eight steps seem like too much to take on yourself, know that quality, expert assistance is available.

Hughes Media has been helping clients like you since 2000, and our average client has been with us for eight years. We invite you to get to know more about us. If our services seem like a good fit, go ahead and hit the “contact us” tab in the upper righthand corner. We’d love to hear from you.