How To Grow Your Plumbing Business With A Tight Marketing Budget

Introduction

Starting a new business is expensive, especially if you are going into the building trade. You have to buy your own equipment, transport, insurance and cover all other associated costs. Many people take out small business loans to get started and will need to stick to a tight budget.

If you need to go at it alone with no outside help, you will have to tackle the marketing tasks to get your business known and bring in those all-important clients. Below are some marketing strategies which include a mix of traditional and digital tactics to help grow your business on a small budget.

Make Your Website a Resource Centre

Most of your competitors will have a website but stand out from the competition by making yours a resource centre. Customers will then be able to use your website as more than just a place to find your contact details. By putting lots of helpful information on your website, you will be seen as a trusted and knowledgeable professional – leading to customers choosing you over another provider.

Have an active blog that educates and gives visitors new ideas for how they can use your plumbing services. For example, you could write DIY tutorials to teach customers to fix basic everyday plumbing problems. They are more likely to remember a company that has taught them something and will contact you when they run into a job they are unable to fix on their own.

In addition to providing your customers with a decent online experience, blog posts are a great way to help with organic search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines (like Google) reward sites with higher rankings when they contain longer blog posts with rich, relevant information and good use of keywords.

Grow Your Contact Database and Email Consistently

Email marketing can be an incredible sales tool when done correctly. However, you will first need to collect a database of valid email addresses. This can be done by having a newsletter email subscription option on your website and requesting email contact details for quotes and invoicing.

You will need to ensure that your email marketing adheres to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). This is not as hard as it might seem, as with a few simple steps, you can ensure your email marketing is compliant:

1. Ensure your prospecting is targeted and appropriate.

2. Explain your legitimate interest in your email copy.

3. Make it quick and easy to opt-out or unsubscribe.

4. Regularly cleanse and maintain your email database.

Sending out a monthly email will keep your company top-of-mind and could also lead to an increase in earnings from your existing customer base. You can include seasonal promotions, links to the informative resources you have posted on your website, and any company news you think will interest your customers.

Make Use of Social Media Platforms

People turn to social media all the time – searching for skilled tradespeople, plumber recommendations and home improvement inspiration. There are lots of different types of content you can post on your social media accounts to help boost engagement and get your brand known.

Next time you are on the job, why not give Facebook live a try and engage with your online community. It has been found that live videos tend to get six times more interaction than regular videos. Just remember to get permission from your client before you start filming during a job.

Social media provides a platform for you to be genuinely creative and get people excited about your plumbing company. If there is a budget available, you can also run sponsored posts so you can target and reach your ideal audience. This can be a little complicated if you are not familiar with creating and managing social media ads.

Partner With a Builder

One of the greatest ways to boost your revenue is to form strategic partnerships. Finding a builder that shares your values and work ethic is a great option – especially as when someone builds a home, they tend first to seek out a builder who will then recommend or subcontract to a plumber.

If you can create a strong relationship with a builder, there is a good chance they will send customer referrals your way. To build a referral relationship, you will either need to contact local builders or join professional groups to network with builders. Have reference and proof of your high quality of work as they will likely request it.

Get Involved With Your Local Community

Plumbing is considered a local business, so getting involved in the local community will help you connect with the residents in an authentic way. If you are visible and people know you are the local plumber, it will help lead to more word of mouth referrals.

Some of the easiest ways to increase your visibility in the community include:

• Introducing yourself to local small business owners.

• Get involved in volunteer projects.

• Joining local networking groups to meet other small business owners.

• Sponsoring a booth at local events.

• Partnering with local charities to host events.

• Supporting a local sports team through providing sponsorship.

Make sure you have your business cards with you at all times as you want to hand them to anyone who would like one. You will want to get your contact details out to as many people as possible in the community.

Request Reviews Following Each Completed Job

Remember to always request reviews following a completed job. Satisfied customers are often happy to leave a review when asked, but business owners tend to forget to take the time out to ask. To make life easier, sign-up for an automated email system that will send out a review request after every finished job.

Ensure your correspondence includes all the places you accept reviews – such as Google, Facebook and Yelp. Having the options listed will allow your customers to choose which platform they feel most comfortable posting on.

The Takeaway

Growing a plumbing business with a tight marketing budget is not easy, but you can get your organisation to the next level with a bit of planning, creativity, and hard work. You do not need to spend a fortune on advertising as you are more likely to get referrals from following the steps above than splashing out on a newspaper ad.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes