For plumbers
Marketing for plumbers, by someone who did the job for 15 years.
Plumber marketing that is three things, not a package: a website worth landing on, being found on Google, and ads when you need work now. I was a plumber for 15 years before this, including 10 running my own business, so you will not spend the first call explaining your trade to me.
In short
What does marketing for a plumbing company actually involve?
Three things, usually in this order: a website that makes someone ring you, getting that website found on Google when people nearby search, and paid ads if you need work before the rest builds. Most plumbing companies need one or two of them, not all three at once.
Where to start
Three things a plumbing company can spend money on.
You almost certainly do not need all three at once, and I will tell you which one to do first based on how soon you need the work.
- SEO for plumbersShowing up when someone nearby searches for a plumber, in the map and the results underneath the ads. Usually the best long-term money a plumbing company spends.
- Google Ads for plumbersStraight to the top from the day it goes live. The fastest way to fill a quiet week, and the easiest way to waste money if it is set up badly.
- Web design for plumbersA site that tells someone in seconds that you do the job they need, in the area they live, and makes ringing you one tap.
Which one first
It depends entirely on where you are right now.
Plumbing marketing goes wrong most often by doing the right thing at the wrong time. Find yourself below, and that is roughly what I would tell you on the phone.
- You have just gone out on your own
- The website, and nothing else yet. Everything else points at it, and you need somewhere to send the people already ringing you before you start paying to find new ones.
- The diary has gone quiet this month
- Google Ads. It is the only one of the three that can put you in front of people this week. Turn it off again when you are full.
- You are busy but the work is wrong
- Search, aimed deliberately. Pages built for the jobs you want rather than the ones that happen to find you. This is slow, and it is the one that changes what your business looks like in a year.
- You are moving into a new area
- Ads first, search underneath it. Word of mouth does not travel with the van, so you are starting from nothing in that suburb and ads cover the gap while the rest catches up.
- You are steady and just want to stay that way
- Search, quietly, month after month. Nothing dramatic. The point is that the quiet month never arrives in the first place.
Nobody needs all three at once, and plenty of plumbing companies are sold all three at once. If one of these is obviously you, start there and leave the rest until it has had a chance to work.
Why it helps that I did the job
Four things I don’t have to be told.
- Quoting is not the same as selling
- You are not closing a deal on the phone, you are giving someone a number and hoping they pick you. Everything on your website either makes that decision easier or gets in the way.
- Two completely different customers
- Somebody with water coming through a ceiling behaves nothing like somebody pricing up a bathroom for next autumn. One wants a phone number in three seconds, the other wants reassurance and time. A plumbing website has to serve both without confusing either.
- Being busy is not the same as being profitable
- More calls is easy. More of the work you actually want is the harder job, and it is the one worth paying for. If the marketing brings you nothing but jobs you hate, it has failed.
- The quiet weeks arrive without warning
- Work rarely tails off gradually. It stops. Knowing which lever you can pull that week, and which one takes three months, is most of what I am for.
Absolute legend to deal with! Makes things super easy, is honest, efficient and has helped us achieve everything he ever said he could! Don't look past Stu!!!
The honest bit
Marketing will not fix a business that isn’t answering the phone.
If quotes take a fortnight to go out, or calls go to voicemail all afternoon, more enquiries will not help. They will just give you more chances to lose someone.
I would rather say that on the first call than take your money and watch it change nothing. Sometimes the most useful thing I can tell a plumbing company is to sort the answering out first.
Questions
Things plumbers ask me.
What is digital marketing for a plumbing company?
Digital marketing for plumbers is the three things that put you in front of somebody searching: a website worth landing on, being found on Google without paying for the click, and paid ads when you need work sooner than search can deliver it. Everything else is a version of one of those three.
Do I need all of this, or can I start with one thing?
Start with one. Almost everyone should start with the website, because the other two send people to it and a site that gives them no reason to ring wastes both. After that it depends on how soon you need work: ads if it is now, search if you can wait a few months.
How is this different to any other marketing company?
I spent 15 years in plumbing, 10 of them running my own plumbing business in the UK, so I am not learning your trade from a briefing document. You also deal with me directly. There is no account manager and nobody junior doing the work behind the scenes.
I already get plenty of work from word of mouth. Why bother?
Word of mouth is the best work you will get, and nothing here replaces it. The problem is that it is not a tap you can turn up when a month goes quiet, and it does not follow you if you move into a new area. This is for the gaps word of mouth leaves.
Do you only work with plumbers?
No. Most of my clients are trade and local service businesses of some kind, and the work is broadly the same. Plumbing is just the one I did myself, so it is the one where I understand what you are actually dealing with rather than taking your word for it.
Do you work outside New Zealand?
Yes. I am based near Christchurch and work with businesses in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Pricing is quoted in your own currency.
Am I tied into anything?
No lock-in. Websites are a one-off with a fixed price agreed before anything starts. Monthly work is month to month, so you stay because it is bringing work in rather than because of something you signed.
Let’s talk
Tell me what your plumbing business needs.
What you do, where you work, and what is not happening that should be. You will get a straight answer about what I would do first, usually within one business day.