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What IM Is Actually Useful To Plumbers?

by thunderbird
16 replies
If you've done IM services for plumbers, what have you found to produce the best results for them, that is brought in more business.

With various apps at my disposal, I can quickly see what plumbing companies have what, such as Linked-In, Twitter, Facebook. But, what actually delivers traceable results for them in your experience?

I'm asking because I'm going to be doing stuff for a plumbing company. It does both contracting gigs and residential calls. I was getting my kitchen sink fixed and not even trying to sell any services, LOL. But the plumber asked me what I did (I said IM), then asked what they still need to do online. I was totally upfront that I would have to analyze and figure out what online services would make sense for their company. I guess they were happy when I emailed them a quick rundown of what they are doing vs what their competitors were doing because they got back to me saying they wanted my services.

Thanks.
#plumbers
  • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
    Check out Claude Whitacre's book Local Online Marketing. It's a goldmine of information about marketing online for local markets.

    What Claude discusses in the book is what the plumbing company should be doing in their market.

    Rock on!
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    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by AmericanMuscleTA View Post

      Check out Claude Whitacre's book Local Online Marketing. It's a goldmine of information about marketing online for local markets.

      What Claude discusses in the book is what the plumbing company should be doing in their market.

      Rock on!
      I know Claude Whitacre! We chat and joke around on WF Off Topic.
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      Project HERE.

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    • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
      Originally Posted by AmericanMuscleTA View Post

      Check out Claude Whitacre's book Local Online Marketing. It's a goldmine of information about marketing online for local markets.

      What Claude discusses in the book is what the plumbing company should be doing in their market.

      Rock on!
      Seconded.

      PPC is good, for online advertising. Last year I locked myself out of my house. First time since '98, thank goodness. My phone was on me, and I immediately googled for a locksmith; the first one came up in the paid-for list and I dialed it. No answer. I dialed #2, and that's who got the job.

      I was sure to tell him the online advertising had worked this time.

      However, you must make sure the client has the capacity to handle additional business. For a real example, we had a locksmith who was not interested in hiring helpers. His income was limited to the 8 hours a day he wanted to work. So we could send him more inquiries, but it would have been a waste because he couldn't fulfill.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    Easy Jason, you're going to trigger a whole 'nother discussion about answering phones, returning phone calls and blowing leads.

    A very real problem in a lot of contractor/jobber type businesses.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

    If you've done IM services for plumbers, what have you found to produce the best results for them, that is brought in more business.

    With various apps at my disposal, I can quickly see what plumbing companies have what, such as Linked-In, Twitter, Facebook. But, what actually delivers traceable results for them in your experience?

    Thanks.
    When people go online looking for plumbers, they'll probably call the first one that's listed in Google. If there is a video on the first page of a Google search, they'll watch it first.

    So....you want to create a presence on Google with a blog (for them only), maybe 3 or 4 videos, and a website.

    You also need to make sure that their listings on Google Places, Yelp, and Angie's List are complete.

    That's where customers are looking, and that's where your services will do the most good.

    And the other guys are right. buy my book. It lays every step out for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      When people go online looking for plumbers, they'll probably call the first one that's listed in Google. If there is a video on the first page of a Google search, they'll watch it first.

      So....you want to create a presence on Google with a blog (for them only), maybe 3 or 4 videos, and a website.

      You also need to make sure that their listings on Google Places, Yelp, and Angie's List are complete.

      That's where customers are looking, and that's where your services will do the most good.

      And the other guys are right. buy my book. It lays every step out for you.
      I'll buy your book today.
      1. Is a blog still useful with regards to Google nowadays? Do you mean like a wordpress type blog off of the main site or a Blogger blog? I already know they don't have time for blogging, so that would need to be outsourced. I'm not trained in plumbing, so it could be interesting to sort that out.
      2. Could you elaborate on the videos? Do you mean setting up a Youtube channel for them and creating and putting up videos related to what they do? No videos seem to show up for putting my city name plus plumbers in a Google search, but I did see something show up for New York plumbers, so I know it can happen (I'm in a Western Canada).

      The business does have a website, strong Google + reviews (which is how I chose them) and the homepage has a mobile version, but not the rest of the site. Basically everything else could be improved. I think I'll just tell them that we'll try different things, see what produces the best results, and build on that.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

        I'll buy your book today.
        1. Is a blog still useful with regards to Google nowadays? Do you mean like a wordpress type blog off of the main site or a Blogger blog? I already know they don't have time for blogging, so that would need to be outsourced. I'm not trained in plumbing, so it could be interesting to sort that out.
        Wordpress is fine. You can link to it from their website. You can post articles about plumbing, in general; Tips on DIY plumbing, how to choose a plumber, etc. You can copy and paste articles from Ezinearticles.com and post videos from Youtube. They don't have to be videos you created. Any "How to" video is fine. Just make sure you link to the source. A few articles (can be very short, 200 words or so) from the client's website, or articles you rewrite (literally spinning by hand) are fine. You want content.

        Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

        2. Could you elaborate on the videos? Do you mean setting up a Youtube channel for them and creating and putting up videos related to what they do? No videos seem to show up for putting my city name plus plumbers in a Google search, but I did see something show up for New York plumbers, so I know it can happen (I'm in a Western Canada).

        The business does have a website, strong Google + reviews (which is how I chose them) and the homepage has a mobile version, but not the rest of the site. Basically everything else could be improved. I think I'll just tell them that we'll try different things, see what produces the best results, and build on that.
        You create the videos. Slide show videos are easy to make. The content can be found on any website for plumbers. If your client is local, use a cheap cameras to tape a few in-house videos. Customer testimonials are great. How -to videos are great. You create the channel, but it's exclusively for your client. Post any videos you make on the website you create and the blog you create.

        Create a separate website. Don't use theirs. It will be easier to link from, change, add to....and it provides more value. I create a separate website for each new client. Maybe 25 pages. Videos, maps, contact information, history of the company, owners photos, reasons to buy there, certifications, testimonials, anything.

        For my core retail store, I have 4 websites. The more, the better.

        Link every page on the website to a few other pages on the website, using text links. Google loves that. Link out to a few high ranking websites too.

        A Facebook page will help. And pop videos on that too. Link everything to everything else.

        Most of my clients have 4 or 5 Google page one search listings. It takes effort, but once the work is done, it will stick for a long time. I spend maybe 10-15 minutes a month, per client, on updating their websites, adding content, adding links.

        Make sure their Angie's List listing is complete. The same for Yelp and Google Plus. These listings show up highly in search engines. Sometimes these listings are all you can find for several pages of listings. And you can link to their listings.

        Again, my book will spell it all out for you. Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      You also need to make sure that their listings on Google Places, Yelp, and Angie's List are complete.
      Yes, Yes, Yes!!!

      Especially Angie's List. We've find, for real estate, we get high quality leads from Angie's List (not always the most expensive, just the best people). Probably because consumers have to pay to use Angie's List.

      Also, I've find a lot of businesses think you have to pay to list your business with Angie's List. Not turn. It's FREE! If you want to do other advertising on Angie's List, or get listed first on searches you have to pay. We just get quality reviews, so we don't need to pay for any advertising. The reviews speak for themselves!
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      • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
        Originally Posted by AmericanMuscleTA View Post

        Also, I've find a lot of businesses think you have to pay to list your business with Angie's List. Not turn. It's FREE! If you want to do other advertising on Angie's List, or get listed first on searches you have to pay. We just get quality reviews, so we don't need to pay for any advertising. The reviews speak for themselves!
        David, are you getting those reviews for your RE business? Meaning for realtors? Interesting.
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        • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
          Originally Posted by SirThomas View Post

          David, are you getting those reviews for your RE business? Meaning for realtors? Interesting.
          The reviews are from clients whom we either sold their house or helped them buy a house.

          Our clients don't have to be a member of Angie's List to write a review, though non-member reviews don't add anything to our score. But, any Angie's List member can still read the non-member reviews.

          Then, we ask our clients if we can use their review as a testimonial on our marketing materials along with their first and last name and the city of the house. :-)

          Also, I took a screen shot of our Angie's List page and use it on marketing materials.

          Not too many Realtors use Angie's List. A lot of them think it costs money to be on, but it only costs consumers money, not businesses (unless, of course, you want to do more advertising or show up in the top spots).
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
    Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

    I'm asking because I'm going to be doing stuff for a plumbing company. It does both contracting gigs and residential calls.
    Just to add a bit of variety outside of simply IM stuff.... Have you thought about offering SMS alert messaging for these kinds of service businesses? I am not necessarily talking about "SMS Marketing", which is what most immediately recognize.

    If the plumbing company has any size to it then it'll likely have a service department. You might want to approach the service manager and prod to see if they have any problems with last-minute cancellations or no-shows to scheduled services. If the business has any size then this can be a decent sized problem:

    #of missed appts/week * Avg srvc fee = total $ loss each week
    10appts/wk * $150 = $1500/wk loss

    If they are manually calling to remind their customers of scheduled service, then this has a cost associated with it too:

    hrs calling/week * hourly wage = cost to manually send reminders/wk

    10hrs/wk * $15 = $150/wk

    Now we are at $82,500 per year in costs associated to this. They may spend $1500 each year on a SMS-over-web service to send out reminders to help mitigate this cost so it might be well worth it.

    If this doesn't seem to ring a bell with a service manager or company owner then perhaps just understanding that customers really appreciate things like a txt msg reminder. Branding, customer appreciation, kept appointments, referrals, etc are all important things that can be cultivated from something as simple as this and costs are very low.
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    This thread is just taking off. Just my two cents....l


    I think that lead generation and any form of traffic generation to build their list is a good service to offer plumbers. Almost every plumber nowadays has a mobile site. I would recommend doing any form of lead generation for the plumber. It is the perfect service for them. Of course, a mobile site that captures leads as well the way WillR's product does is a great thing to sell.
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    Tired of Google?! Exhausted from all the rehashed trash?!
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  • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
    Thank you David! I wasn't even aware that you can have your clients leave reviews without being a paid-member. Great info "Duke Of Marketing"! I love that name :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
      Originally Posted by SirThomas View Post

      Thank you David! I wasn't even aware that you can have your clients leave reviews without being a paid-member. Great info "Duke Of Marketing"! I love that name :-)
      You're welcome! And, thanks for lovin' the name! ha

      The non-member reviews just don't show up for the overall score. All of our non-member reviews have been verified (Angie's List sends an email to the clients, who wrote the review, they have to click on to confirm their email so it shows up on the reviews section. We only have one non-member who hasn't confirmed their email address, so it doesn't show up on Angie's List at all, just on our dashboard).

      It's definitely something to check out! Great platform to collect reviews and use them as a testimonial on marketing materials (with permission of course).
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      David Hunter | Duke of Marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author soontobefishing
    A nice image ad (maybe clickable to their website) on craigslist can generate some easy calls as well.

    Use a gif animator of a drip or flood or whatever to really make it stand out. Just remember to keep reposting or use a software to do it and track.

    You can set up a forwarder phone number for the ad. Also locanto and back page. Really any of the online classifieds can help keep site/phone number showing up.Just remember to use phone number in title.
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