Warriors - Need your help with offline/online marketing

[Ryan Gabriel]

I'll be brief- I need some ideas as to how to promote a website for a local commercial plumbing company.

I did their website a while back and they want to see some results now. Now, I gave them a *great* deal on the site and they knew I wouldn't be promoting it at all. But I want to do this right, and really drive some new jobs to them. I really want to give them some tremendous value through their site/other online promotions.

They don't do service calls- pretty much all commercial/big residential jobs. Their business is at a crawl right now and I think they are looking for any way to drum up some new jobs. I just have no idea where to start.

I know a lot of the standard online marketing procedures- articles, lists, free reports, social networks, etc.. They are open to anything except PPC, but the nature of this industry makes it difficult for me to apply my knowledge. Most business here comes from referals/offline networking.

I can't think of ways to get a mid sized commercial contractor in front of this plumbing company's message- and for that matter, I have a hard time figuring out what their message should be- their USP.

Any ideas or suggestions as to how I might get started here? Could be an interesting discussion.

[WendellC]

This plumbing question seems vaguely familiar...

Does this help?

How would you market a local plumber online?

Wendell

[AlexNavas]

You can try Craigslist or JVing with other similar local businesses like home inspectors, appraisers, electricians, home remodelers and others.

Also, if you want to drum up some business for them now, you can tap into their past customer database and offer them a Web Special that can only be accessed through the website.

Hope this helps.

[Jagged]

Originally Posted by Ryan Gabriel

They don't do service calls- pretty much all commercial/big residential jobs. Their business is at a crawl right now and I think they are looking for any way to drum up some new jobs. I just have no idea where to start.

Hi Ryan,

Some good advice above............unfortunately much of it is geared towards the public "service call" plumber....and won't work on a commercial based plumber.

With them being in the commercial end of business makes this a lot tougher....the bulk of their projects are most likely awarded by "lowest bid". This takes much of the usual "traffic" methods out of play.
The economy is keeping them at a stand still.

In cases like this it's advisable to seek out architects and developers....go directly to the source.....try to get the jobs before they go public.....that I'm affraid is their job....not yours. Commercial construction is a funny thing...and very tight knit...everyone knows everyone.

Without being in the "service call sector"....driving more traffic will be hard since most....if not all will not be targeted for their business model.

I was in the commercial end of construction for over 25 years....sorry I couldn't be much more help.

Ken

[Croque]

Maybe they need to start doing some "service calls" to get some business.

Because of the slow economy, less projects are being built and companies are cutting backs on renovations/maintenance.

You may want to tell them that in these times, the business needs to adapt to the current conditions, they have the tools and the manpower, so since they have nothing better to do why not do some service calls?
that will allowed them to keep their best employees busy until the economy picks up

[artwebster]

Hi, Ryan,

You have fallen into that great hole called - believing the publicity.

It has been a long time since simply having a web site meant that people requiring or interested in your services would find and contact you.

You made a very basic mistake when you accepted the commission to build the web site - you didn't do a fact find!

If you had, you would have known that this company has a well established process for locating and bidding on up-coming projects. You would have known that they had a pipeline along which details of these projects flowed. You would have known that this company probably has a list of centres of influence that could introduce them to significant individuals in the bidding process (and, more importantly, outside of it).

Had you discovered this information you would have been able to show them how to market their web site effectively to the people who mattered - the decision makers. You need to get all this information now and create a marketing plan, probably a combination of snail mail and email, and raise the profile of your client.

[Vince Runza Online]

Many contractors and other professional service businesses use Google to find colleagues. Of course, that depends on the area. In the case of a commercial plumber, you might want to change the site's title tag to Commercial Plumber Plumbing [Locale].

The real key to their reaching their target market is networking. While a website is good for branding and service-call business, an email series for general contractors and other related but non-competitive businesses could keep them at the top of the list for requests for bids on jobs.

Warrior Jagged had, perhaps, the best advice -- based on experience: Warriors - Need your help with offline/online marketing

[JohnMcCabe]

Just want to throw another bone in the soup for you...

Networking is definitely a big thing, as Jagged pointed out. Look into sites like LinkedIn, which are aimed at establishing business relationships. Build their online network the same way they built their offline network.

Without sitting down with your client, it's hard to say much more, but some questions you might think about asking:

> How active are they within any professional association, trade groups, etc.?

> Do they subscribe to any trade publications, to which they (you) could submit articles?

> Are they active in any civic organizations? Could raising their profile locally expand their network?

> Are there projects that would require their skillset and abilities, yet fall outside of the typical new construction? Projects like historical restorations, loft conversions, building rehabs?

> Could they fill their schedule doing housing rehabs for banks with a burgeoning REO file?

Since your client prefers more of a B2B approach, inferred from what you said, you may have to modify or forgo many of the B2C methods most IMers think of.

[Preben Frenning]

I was thinking linkedin immediately, like @John said.

Try lurking around there a bit, make their profile attractive, and make people see that they are trying to expand their network.

Also, try to imagine what their potential customers will search for in google, and optimize for that. It might not give them "a rush of cutomers" right now, but might pay off in the long-term.

And like @Croque said, businesses tend to get "bipolarized" in the times of the recession, meaning there will be more winners, more losers, and less in-between.

Keep that in mind, and try to explain it to them. It doesn't matter if they don't get the bigger projects immediately, as long as they are able to stay in business doing smaller tasks every now and then.

Also, get them to network where their potential clients hang out. I've heard many good things about local networking meetings.

I hope that helps,
Preben

[Quentin]

Me personally I would look for a point of difference then market that.

For Example if you can find something new they can do then this can be a news worthy story which you can then do a release for and invite the news media and potential clients to come and see. Make it an event.

There must be some crazy things they see in their industry and this could make some good short videos.

This one got over 720,000 views.

YouTube - Plumbing Tips

These guys made an ebook

Commercial Plumbing - Chilling Tales from the Porcelain Seat

So there are a couple of ideas to get the creative juices flowing I found in 2 minutes.

Quentin

[Ryan Gabriel]

Some good responses, and a couple of ideas that I had not thought of at all. I appreciate everyone's insight.

Combining the advice given in this thread, as well as my own ideas, I will propose a strategy involving some aspects of each of the following:

• Creating a Linkedin profile
• Creating a combination snail/email campaign towards contractors/architects/developers that includes

1. Some sort of free report along the lines of "The Top 5 Ways to Save Money and Get Great Service when Hiring a Plumber"
2. An e-mail newsletter with industry news/resources

• Possible j/v with other area sub-contractors along the lines of sharing warm leads and offering a modest discount package when the lead selects both my client and his j/v for a specific job. This may be difficult to work out, but I'll run it by the client- he may have some subs already in mind.
• Some "advanced" optimization within their website
• Content submission to trade publications

This is going to be a difficult venture, but I'll give it a shot. I'm pretty much doing this for them at cost, with the expectation of some modest commission on any business generated through my efforts over the next X months.

I'm really just hoping to get a good case study of online marketing for a brick and mortar business so I can begin to market my services to more "outside" leads- I know the owner of this business pretty well.

[Jagged]

Originally Posted by Ryan Gabriel

Some good responses, and a couple of ideas that I had not thought of at all. I appreciate everyone's insight.

Combining the advice given in this thread, as well as my own ideas, I will propose a strategy involving some aspects of each of the following:

• Creating a Linkedin profile (Always a plus)
• Creating a combination snail/email campaign towards contractors/architects/developers that includes (Gear this more towards requesting infomation on future projects & bid lists...building relationships)

1. Some sort of free report along the lines of "The Top 5 Ways to Save Money and Get Great Service when Hiring a Plumber" (Think more commercial...top 5 jobsite accidents & how to avoid them....or 20 plumber jokes to "crack" you up)
2. An e-mail newsletter with industry news/resources (Maybe include a monthly "osha safety tip"....."contract award announcements".... "bidding announcements" ..."spotlight architect or builder of the month". Make it somthing that catches the eyes & builds contacts)

• Possible j/v with other area sub-contractors along the lines of sharing warm leads and offering a modest discount package when the lead selects both my client and his j/v for a specific job. This may be difficult to work out, but I'll run it by the client- he may have some subs already in mind. (This is generally called a "kickback"...lol. J/Vs with other area contractors /sub-contractors is going to be hard since most are in the same economical slump & are struggling to keep their own workforce employeed....definately worth a shot but will be a hard sell)
• Some "advanced" optimization within their website
• Content submission to trade publications. (small business association, bid notice publication, city/county procuremnt notices, trade shows, other local related newsletters)

Just some thoughts....

Ken

[Ryan Gabriel]

Some awesome suggestions, Ken.