Plumbing Business Strategy: 8 Business Strategies To Try For Yourself

Imagine you’re going on a summer road trip. You wouldn’t get in the car and drive to a new destination without directions. The same goes for business owners and their goals. A carefully crafted marketing strategy provides guidance and can help plumbing businesses hit the next stage of growth. Making spontaneous, trust-your-gut decisions may work sometimes, but it’s not a long-term strategy.

To be successful in the long run, business owners in the plumbing industry must know how to adapt to changing market conditions and trends. This guide offers some insights into strategies plumbing business owners can use to their advantage to thrive in 2024 and beyond.

First Steps to Writing a Plumbing Business Strategy

Crafting a sound business strategy doesn’t happen by chance. Instead, it calls for key elements like planning and analysis. That might look like the following:

Market Research and Analysis

Market research should guide any business strategy. Getting a handle on the local market, customer preferences, and competition can give you an edge. Research can reveal opportunities and help you introduce new services that might be missing or underrepresented in your service area.

Business Planning

This intelligence can help you develop a detailed business plan. Such a document should spell out clear objectives and how you plan to get from point A to B. You should revisit this resource frequently to confirm your efforts match your goals.

Setting SMART Goals

Using SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals can help you go further faster. These goals make it easier to track progress and tweak areas based on changing circumstances and market conditions. A goal without a plan is simply a wish. SMART goals can help you set priorities and stay on track as you set them in motion.

Budgeting and Financial Planning

You don’t have to be an accountant to run a business, but you do need to have a working knowledge of basic financial principles. Managing budgets, parts inventory, and sales projections all come with the territory of running a plumbing business. It’s both an art and a science to accurately predict income and expenses—knowing when to scale up or back on help and anticipating when to spend more or less on expenses like advertising. Taking a conservative approach to running a business can help you balance risk and reward.

Growth Strategies for Plumbing Businesses

Plumbing business owners must be willing to invest in their operations to attract and keep more customers. That might look different for each company, but generally speaking, these plumber marketing strategies can help them expand with intentionality:

Create a Dedicated Plumbing App

An app can make it easier for customers to do business with you. From appointment scheduling to following up, such a tool can help you land more jobs because of its convenience. Many younger customers don’t want to call to schedule an appointment or even pay. An app can help address these pain points.

Get a Professional Website Designed

Your digital image matters; and a website is one way to make a positive impression. A good website is visually appealing and easy to navigate. It also sends a message that you’re legitimate. Your website should communicate your plumbing services, tout customer reviews, and allow customers to get in touch directly from your site.

Automate Your Marketing

Marketing automation tools help you focus on what you do best while saving you time and energy trying to figure out how to make several platforms do the job of one. Automated email campaigns, review requests, and mobile payments help you manage and grow your customer base.

Optimize SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a means to improve query results and drive more traffic to your site. On the backend, plumbing business websites need to feature relevant keywords so search engines can find you. Location-based landing pages can help send more qualified leads your way. A website should also be mobile-compatible, as more consumers today use phones to do research. A higher SEO ranking can mean you attract more of your ideal customer base, leading to more sales.

Get Social

Maintaining a consistent presence on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can work in your favor. Be sure to avoid posting too much promotional content. Instead, try to mix it up with educational posts, customer reviews, and content that might interest community members.

Keep in mind social media is a conversation. Be sure to acknowledge questions and comments in a timely manner. Make a point to maintain a consistent tone and voice across platforms. Managing multiple conversations on multiple accounts can be daunting. Podium’s all-in-one inbox can help support your plumbing company by helping you respond to leads faster.

Use Google Business Profile

Many business owners find that a Google Business Profile can produce results in terms of local SEO ranking and online reputation management. It’s also a great way to confirm the accuracy of information online. This directory will display important details like business hours, contact details, customer reviews, and photos. All of these elements are important in helping leads find a trusted provider like your plumbing company.

Outsource Some Tasks

You can’t do it all, nor should you try. By offloading tasks like accounting, digital marketing, or customer support, you can shift your focus to deliver a superior plumbing experience to every customer. By allowing these domain experts to handle these operational elements, you’ll have more time to devote to growth strategies.

Create Referral Programs

Don’t overlook the obvious. The secret to your growth might be using what you already have to your advantage. Referral programs make it easier for happy customers to recommend your plumbing services to their networks. Extending discounts, rewards, or VIP perks can motivate customers to help you grow your reach in a cost-effective way.

Winning Plumbing Marketing Strategies

Effective marketing is essential for plumbing businesses looking to attract new customers and retain existing ones. Here are actionable marketing strategies to consider adopting in 2024:

Keep Tabs on Progress

Lead tracking and reporting tools help plumbing business owners get more from their marketing campaigns. Such solutions can reveal helpful information related to lead sources, conversion rates, and customer demographics. From here, business owners can adjust marketing strategies to reflect changing needs or expectations.

Use Call Tracking Software to Your Advantage

Call tracking software brings clarity to an area that’s often more abstract. Looking at metrics like call duration, caller location, and conversion rates can help plumbing business owners know how and where to dedicate resources to improve customer service.

Leverage Your Google Business Profile Page

Establishing and maintaining your Google Business Profile page helps with local SEO so more customers can find you. Confirm the accuracy of information, respond to customer reviews, and post content that might be of interest to your target market. Doing all of this can help elevate your online presence and improve local SEO results.

Use Videos and Blogs in Storytelling

Creative content can capture attention in ways that traditional sales-focused posts cannot. Featuring a gallery of past projects, employee of the month, and helpful tips invites your audience into the conversation—and can help your plumbing company connect on a deeper level.

Sell Your Unique Value Proposition

It’s very likely your plumbing business is different from others in your market. Maybe you have a money-back guarantee or a new customer special. Whatever it may be, find a way to communicate what sets you apart.

Ask Customers for Reviews

Glowing reviews are like gold. They communicate to prospects that your business is trustworthy, and they can sway uncertain ones into choosing your business. Soliciting feedback on your Google Business Profile and making the review process easy to navigate can help your cause. A tool like Podium can help you get more reviews so you get more business coming in the door.

Dominate Search with Hyper-Local Targeting

SEO is both an art and a science, and you can go pretty deep to achieve results. However, if you’re just starting out it’s helpful to begin by targeting specific geographic areas to use SEO to your advantage. You might find success using location-based keywords and creating localized content to help qualified leads find you.

Get Strategic with Email Campaigns

Email marketing is still an effective means to deepen customer relationships and promote plumbing services. Follow best practices like segmenting audiences by customer preferences and sending campaigns that reflect their concerns. Don’t forget to include a clear call to action. These communications are also ideal for pushing out promotions, seasonal tips, and case studies that position you as the clear choice.

Support Your Plumbing Business Strategy with Podium

This comprehensive guide can help plumbing business owners feel more confident in their marketing strategy and execution. Making smart investments in tools can help you stand out and even lap your competition. Marketing is one area that’s ripe for automation. With that in mind, effective customer communication and reputation management are no longer operational in service-based businesses like plumbing.

You don’t have to go it alone when executing marketing ideas. Podium can help plumbing businesses in all stages grow and scale through the power of automation. Watch a demo and see for yourself.