If you own a plumbing company, you know the importance of high-quality leads. Qualified leads turn into business results and are essential to the longevity of your business. But in an increasingly competitive landscape for local businesses, cold calls just don’t cut it anymore.
Plumbers must leverage a variety of strategies to generate demand for their services over the competition. Optimizing the digital experience for potential customers in tandem with tried-and-true relationship building is the best way to grow leads without significant expenditure or experience in marketing.
Marketing is a lot like plumbing—the initial setup might require some heavy labor, but with simple, regular maintenance and monitoring, you should see leads flowing into your business regularly.
Here are 13 strategies you can implement today to increase leads for your plumbing business:
- Leverage social media for your plumbing business
- Paid social media campaigns
- Optimize your website for search engines
- Set up a Google my Business Account
- Optimize your website for conversion
- Pay-Per-Click advertising for plumbing leads
- Create compelling blog content
- Plumbing lead sites
- Plumbing lead referral networks
- Start a newsletter
- Brand your vehicles
- Sponsor local initiatives
- Cross-promotion
1. Leverage social media for your plumbing business
Creating social media accounts only takes a few minutes and can be a powerful way to generate free leads for your plumbing business.
Make sure your handle (your username) is consistent across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and any other platform you decide to share content on. Also, ensure that you’re creating business profiles that include a clear link back to your website, and that every part of your profile has been filled out. Confirm that your phone number and email address are all included in your profile too, so homeowners can reach you directly.
Plan what you will post on your social accounts ahead of time and schedule your social media posts in advance using tools like Later or Buffer (both have free versions). Customer testimonials, pictures of happy customers and videos of expertly completed jobs are all informative, engaging content for your potential customers.
Your social media accounts should have a clear content strategy—this will inform the type content you share and how you’ll represent your business online.
Stay active on all accounts to get the biggest impact from your company’s social media. To save you time, you can share the same post across different platforms with a click of a button in your social scheduling tools, or repurpose older posts so that you don’t run out of interesting content.
Engage with your followers by following them back and answering their questions. Between new posts, engage with other business’ accounts and get involved in discussions. While every follower might not translate to a paying customer, their attention helps expand your reach to potential customers—and ultimately, generate more leads.
This activity will signal to the social media algorithms that you’re an active user, improving your ranking in your followers’ feed and making sure that your potential customers see your posts more often.
Finally, if you want to be more strategic about your company social media, set goals for your accounts and make sure your content aligns with those goals. Here are a few examples to get you started:
| Goal | Content |
| Drive traffic to your website | Include a call-to-action on posts (CTA) that encourage your followers to go to your website. Example: “Click the link in bio for more information about our plumbing services.” |
| Help customers get to know your company | Post photos or videos of members of your team on the job. |
| Increase the credibility of your plumbing company | Post customer reviews so future customers know your plumbing service is reliable and high-quality. |
2. Paid social media campaigns
Once you start regularly posting content, promote your most popular posts to reach a wider audience through each network’s advertising model. We recommend Instagram and Facebook to reach the most potential clients.
Facebook is typically the best paid social platform for plumbing businesses. You can promote your page, specific posts, or your website itself. Focus on low-barrier calls to action like signing up for a newsletter or filling out a lead form for a free consultation.
It’s important to note that people don’t necessarily turn to Facebook for emergency plumbing services. That’s why we recommend posting content that assures the credibility of your services, like customer testimonials or explainer videos, as well as installation and maintenance messaging. When you promote these posts, use the targeting features on Instagram and Facebook to narrow down your audience to people within your service area and ideal characteristics, such as homeowners above the age of 30.
3. Optimize your website for search engines
When people search for a plumber, it’s because they have an urgent problem. Google search is one of the best digital marketing tools you have to show up exactly where and when someone needs plumbing services. When they Google “plumber near me”, you want your business to be there.
To get plumbing leads through your website, you need to rank higher than competitors on search result pages. Consumers are most likely to click on one of the first three displayed results, and rarely look past the first page of search results. Invest time and effort into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive plumbing leads to your site over others.
At a glance, SEO can seem daunting; however, there are simple tactics that those with little experience can use to improve their search engine ranking:
SEO revolves strongly around keywords—a keyword is a term that a prospective customer might type into Google when looking for your services. Include plumbing keywords in the titles and headings of your webpages. Follow these best practices to optimize your website pages for the most impactful keywords.
Boost your local SEO by including your service area in the title (heading) of your web content. This keyword will signal your location to Google so it can show your site to customers in your service area in need of a plumber.
You can also use advanced techniques like backlinking, which is just as it sounds; when one webpage links back to yours. Here are a few methods to generate backlinks:
- Submit your expert advice to HARO (Help A Reporter Out) queries for media outlets.
- Add your business to relevant directories such as the Better Business Bureau, Google My Business, and Yellow Pages.
- Answer people’s questions on Reddit and Quora about plumbing issues (and include a link to your services in your response). Answers are rated, so the most helpful ones come first!
The Google algorithm doesn’t immediately process these backlinks, but once it does, your site will become more competitive in rankings with other companies.
4. Set up a Google My Business account
Having a Google My Business account is essential to boost your odds of appearing in local searches like “plumber near me,”, and the best part about it is that it’s free! It’s also what will help you appear in Google Maps when someone searches the same term.
Start this process ASAP as it can take a few weeks for your business to appear on Google. Go to www.google.com/business to set up your account, and fill out every field that is available as it improves your search ranking. Then to verify your business, you have to request a postcard, email, or phone call from Google which will include a code to verify your listing.
Once your account is set up and you’ve been verified, make sure your listing is up to date with current hours and locations. You can add a booking button and service menu directly to your listing to increase your conversion speed.
Make sure to keep an eye on and respond to reviews that appear under your listing, as these are key to the legitimacy of your business.
5. Optimize your website for conversions
SEO will improve your website traffic, but optimizing your website for conversions is what turns these visitors into promising leads!
These tactics will make visitors more likely to engage with your website and convert:
- Clearly show your phone number or email address. When a customer needs a plumber, their need is almost always urgent. Every second a customer spends searching for your contact information is bringing them closer to leaving to look at other companies (bouncing). Include it at the very top and very bottom of every page on your website for easy access.
- Include Calls To Action (CTAs) your web content. Some think CTAs are only good for social media or direct contact marketing, but including a CTA in a few key spots on your website can make a big difference. Adding a CTA to “Contact Us” in the main navigation of your website and at the end of your blog post or webpage will help convert visitors into plumbing leads.
- Add features to your website to make booking plumbing jobs easier. Using a booking plug-in on your website will also save you time in answering calls. Consider adding a chat bot, which can answer simple questions about your services, guide someone through the booking process, and generate more sales.
Pro Tip: Once you have the job, let customers know what to expect on the day of their appointment. You can use our GPS fleet vehicle tracking software to share plumber locations with clients so they know when they’ll arrive and where they’re coming from.
6. Pay-Per-Click advertising for plumbing leads
While SEO helps you to rank at the top of the Google search results page, advertising is a shortcut to get you there, if you have the budget for it. With Google Search Ads, when a potential plumbing lead searches for a series of keywords such as “plumbing services near me”, your website will appear (tagged as an ad) at the top of the search results page, but you only pay if your ad is clicked on—hence pay-per-click (PPC).
Through Google’s Local Services Ads, you can ensure your ads show up for people in your area, and only pay when someone contacts you through your ad.
7. Create compelling blog content
Today’s plumbing customers want to make informed decisions. A blog that answers their boring plumbing questions can help these qualified customers find you and show that you’re a trusted expert.
To get started, see what other plumbing companies are writing about and make note of common questions customers ask you and your plumbers. You can then create blog content with tips, expert knowledge, and insight into your plumbing business. Creating a blog with high-quality, properly optimized content will also help develop your website as an authority in plumbing, leading to better rankings on search engines.
Feeling writer’s block? Consider topics on how to prolong the life of your plumbing system, the common mistakes homeowners make that lead to damage, or seasonal risks and how to combat them.
Pro tip: All of your blog content can be repurposed into social media content!
8. Plumbing lead sites
Besides standard business directories, referral sites are a great way to amass positive reviews, credibility—and most importantly, get leads from your target audience! If they’re already on these sites, they’re a potential customer.
Create profiles on sites such as Angie’s List, Home Advisor, and Thumbtack, where customers commonly search for vetted plumbers. Ensure your page is specifically designed to connect with these customers in need of a plumber by answering common questions on services, costs, service area and response time.
9. Plumbing lead referral networks
In addition to these public referral networks, consider starting up your own customer referral program through Homeowners’ associations or community groups. Reach out and see if you can become the plumber of record for that community to establish yourself in different communities within your city or town.
You can also incentivize person-to person-referrals. For example, if an existing customer refers a new lead to you that converts, they can receive 10% off their next appointment (or whatever deal makes sense for your business).
You can deliver this offer through email or a business card, but we suggest using fridge magnets — instead of getting lost in the shuffle, like paper marketing materials tend to do, a branded magnet will have a place and function. Being part of their home landscape will help customers remember to take advantage of your program, which means more leads for you!
10. Start a newsletter
Email marketing is a great way to communicate with potential customers. In fact, every dollar spent on email marketing has an average ROI of $42.
Add a newsletter sign-up form to your website (ideally a pop-up) to convert your site traffic into leads. After that, every initiative you take for SEO and your website will improve your chances of subsequently getting a new email lead.
You can motivate visitors to sign up using lead magnets; things you can give to the visitor to motivate them to subscribe. For plumbers, that could be a discount off of future services, a downloadable e-book about best plumbing practices or free bathroom cleaning products.
Try tools such as MailChimp or Klaviyo to send newsletters, create automations, view audience insights and easily manage your email marketing list. Both of these tools and many others offer free versions.
11. Brand your vehicles
Vehicle wraps are a great choice for plumbing companies since it provides passive advertising that works even when you’re not working yourself—like running errands or just parked at home. Most plumbers use cargo vans, a prime option for wraps because of the huge, blank surface area—they’re essentially a billboard on wheels! When at a customer’s residence, park on the street versus in driveways to maximize the visibility of your vehicle wrap.
Vehicle wraps are eye-catching and hard to ignore, unlike digital advertising which can be blocked by users. They concentrate your exposure to locals who share the road with you, resulting in precise geographical targeting.
While they bear an upfront cost, vehicle wraps last roughly 5-7 years, without continued investment or upkeep (unlike digital marketing).
12. Sponsor local initiatives
Sponsoring local events or sports teams is a great way to connect with the community, gain local visibility, and humanize your plumbing business. When you work with a reputable local organization or group, people extend that positive reputation to your business.
If you and members of your team attend local events you can chat with other event attendees and share business cards. Having genuine conversations with other people will attach a personal connection to your business. When those people are in need of a plumber, they’ll think of you.
As a bonus, most organizations that offer sponsorship opportunities have a website, where you can earn a backlink to your website and assist your SEO efforts.
13. Cross-promotion
Cross-promotion with other companies is another great way to generate new leads for your company. The best companies for plumbers to work with are those that share a similar, but non-competing service; like contractors, interior decorators, or electricians.
You can cross-promote by agreeing to be each other’s first option for customers who ask for recommendations for relevant services. You can also bring each other onto projects when relevant, like larger construction projects or home renovations.
Make your cross-promotion efforts even more effective by offering joint discounts when customers use both of your services either on a project or within a certain timeframe.
When it comes to marketing tactics with your promo partners, there are endless possibilities—including partnering on several of the previously mentioned marketing strategies; like sponsorships, backlinking, and creating content for one another.
Create trust and transparency for your plumbing business
The best strategy to gain more plumbing leads is by being the best business around. Nothing beats great quality work and customer satisfaction.
Each of the tactics above work to build trust with your future customers. Once you’ve generated a new customer, make sure they keep coming back to you by maintaining that hard-fought trust.
Keeping customer trust is achieved through transparency and clear communication; making sure your customers know what to expect and when. With Force Fleet Tracking, you can keep customers informed on the whereabouts of your plumbers through our GPS Tracking System, so they’re never in the dark about when help will arrive. Try our free trial and experience the benefits for yourself.
