To grow a business in our century, it must be said that the traditional marketing method is not as effective as it used to be. Digital marketing has become a pillar of business growth and has many advantages.
One of the crucial advantages of digital marketing is that communication costs are considerably reduced. But moreover, digital communication campaigns are easy to implement and quick to produce results.
It is possible to know the evolution of the market, as well as the customers’ feedbacks in an almost instantaneous way, and this is beneficial for your business.
Looking for more information about the benefits of digital marketing for plumbers? We got you covered.
In this article, you will discover (Deep!):
- The Benefits of digital marketing for plumbers;
- The different media and channels of digital marketing for plumbers;
- And 5 Digital marketing Tips for Plumbers;
So, let us get started!!!!
Definition of digital marketing (Digital marketing for plumbers)
Today, 4.72 billion people around the world are connected to the internet and the average time spent on social media exceeds 150 minutes (2h30)! It is, therefore, difficult not to react to these staggering figures…
We can no longer think of marketing without digital. A plumber can no longer limit itself to traditional marketing (events, brochures…). In any case, this is our conviction.
Digital marketing can be described as the promotion of products/services via various forms of electronic, web-based media. Basically, digital marketing refers to all your online marketing projects.
Many plumbers have already experienced the advantages of digital marketing over traditional marketing. Unlike conventional marketing, it involves the use of channels and strategies for a good understanding of the market in real-time.
Thus, plumbers can analyze marketing campaigns and implement necessary measures accordingly. With digital marketing, you can get results much faster than with traditional marketing.
The interactive nature of this marketing strategy helps plumbers grow their customer base in a short period of time.
The different media and channels of digital marketing for plumbers.
1. Search engines: SEA and SEO
Google processes more than three point five billion (3.5 billion) searches per day. It is therefore essential to appear in the first search results. In order for your site to appear in the best position in the search results, you have two options.
The first one, ephemeral and costly, is search engine advertising (SEA), which means advertising on search engines. Through the purchase of keywords, your site will appear as a well-placed ad in the search results.
However, keywords are purchased through a bidding system. This practice can be expensive when you position yourself on keywords where the competition is tough.
The second option is more sustainable and does not require the purchase of keywords but requires more work than the first. It is search engine optimization (SEO), also known as natural referencing.
Thus, the more a site has an excellent natural referencing (search engine ranking), the better it will be placed in the search results. This is determined by the algorithm of the search engine that evaluates the relevance of the page to the query in question. Several means contribute to the natural referencing of a website.
2. Social networks: SMM and SMO.
Social networks have become a media in their own right. Thus, communicating on these media is an excellent way to increase your visibility and strengthen your reputation while creating a community.
It is, therefore, crucial to optimize your website so that its content can be easily shared on social networks.
This technique is known as Social Media Optimization (SMO) and refers to the fact of adapting the website and its content (blog posts, photos, videos…) to social networks so that they can be quickly relayed.
Posting content from your website on social networks encourages people to visit it and participates in spreading this content through user sharing.
Moreover, publishing relevant content to your target audience on various social networks is an excellent way to interact with them, increase awareness of your brand/company, and strengthen its reputation. This type of strategy is known as Social Media Marketing (SMM).
3. Email campaigns:
Almost 54% of emails sent by companies are promotional emails. Despite the emergence of various digital marketing strategies, a well-thought e-mailing campaign is very effective.
In fact, according to a study conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, the return on investment of a well-executed email campaign can be as high as 122%.
We attribute 3 prominent roles to emailing campaigns. The first is logically the sending of advertisements and offers. The second role refers to customer loyalty.
Finally, the third role is to create a relationship of trust in order to convert prospects into customers.
4. Data marketing:
A marketing campaign is more effective if it is targeted. The more we know about our audience, the better! With the rise of digital platforms, the collection of data such as age, gender, or geographical origin, among others, is within the reach of all companies.
Google Analytics, for example, allows you to collect several data from your website visitors. This data will enable you to offer the right message, to the right person, at the right time.
Although it is easy to collect some data, it is necessary to exploit them well. Respecting the law and the privacy of your customers must govern the collection and use of data.
5. Local marketing
There are two different meanings of the term local marketing. In this article, we will focus on one of the definitions.
Local marketing refers to digital marketing actions used to reach a local target. It is about reaching a population in a specific geographical area.
So, if you have a physical point of sale in a given city, it is interesting to develop a digital campaign with the objective of reaching people in this city.
Several tools are at your disposal for this. For example, a local referencing on search engines or online directories or the exploitation of geo-location data are good ways to develop your local digital marketing strategy.
7 Benefits of digital marketing for plumbers
Digital marketing is about reaching targeted customers at the right time. In today’s technological and digitalized world, connecting with your customers online is the best way to grow your business.
If you are a plumber, you need to choose the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies to achieve your specified marketing goals while promoting a product or service in the market.
Here, we have listed the most important benefits of digital marketing strategies for plumbers.
1. A cost-saving
The first advantage we will mention is the one related to the cost. Because digital marketing through methods such as inbound marketing gives companies the opportunity to generate leads by spending less if compared to the investment that would have been made using traditional methods such as advertising or display.
With digital, a company can develop its marketing strategy with little expense and can easily replace costly advertising channels such as television, radio, or magazine inserts with techniques such as content marketing, SEO optimization, and distribution via social media.
Let’s take the example of flyers. How often do they pass by your potential customers, and how long do they stay in their hands before ending up in the trash?
Online, by using social media sharing buttons on your website, email, and social media channels, you give your community the opportunity to share your message quickly if they find it relevant.
The expected result is the improvement of the company’s notoriety and visibility on the preferred channels of today’s consumers and especially the opportunity to attract a continuous flow of qualified prospects to the company’s website.
2. Higher conversion rates with the right strategy
One of the main benefits of digital marketing is to provide higher conversion rates. The conversion rate is essentially the percentage of visitors to a website who take the desired action.
The main objective of a growing business is to generate leads by promoting products or services. The generated leads will help you increase your sales through online advertising and digital marketing strategies.
For example, the above-mentioned goals can be achieved with a pay-per-click tactic. This is a method of paying an amount for every click your ad gets.
This means that you can pay in order to get more visitors to your website. According to studies, more than 60% of digital media users click on Google ads while surfing the net to buy any item.
3. Take advantage of the power of social media.
With the growing number of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram, you can reach many people in a short period of time.
Social media is so impressive that it can shape users’ preferences, decisions, and choices in any topic. Depending on the type of your product or service, social media tools are best for getting noticed by the people most likely to be interested in your business.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs may consider this process complicated. Yet, there are many social media agencies for startups that provide you with professional assistance to improve your business recognition via social media platforms.
4. Compete with other plumbing companies (plumber)
Traditional marketing plans require a high budget to achieve advanced business growth, and it’s not easy to compete with large companies that can afford marketing expenses.
Small businesses need a lower cost with a higher rate of return. This is only possible with digital marketing. The right digital marketing strategy offers advertising options, execution, and tracking of results in a very short time.
This way, you can boost your business with fast, high-quality services that will allow you to compete with large companies at little cost.
5. Provide real-time customer service
Customer service is essential if your goal is to dominate the market because customer satisfaction is the key point to establish an absolute presence in the market.
Among the benefits of digital marketing, real-time customer service is one of the most cost-effective concepts offering a high rate of return for businesses of all sizes.
Traditional marketing methods are insufficient to connect directly with customers. Therefore, almost all businesses benefit from digital marketing to interact with their customers in real-time to provide a faster solution.
Quick and straightforward communication brings trust and credibility, which means your business will be reliable to share with others. So, if you offer a well-structured customer service to your customers, they will be able to refer your business to their contacts who will be your new customers.
6. A long-term investment
Digital marketing is a long-term strategy. This means that it is a long-term relationship that you establish with your prospects based on trust and the constant provision of added value for the potential customer.
This relationship is based on the long term because it is not the first article published that will directly attract the people you are targeting. But your publications and SEO optimization will allow you to position yourself on search engines and to be present when your company’s “ideal customer” does a search related to your industry.
SEO is a marketing process that takes time to bring the first results, but after a few months, your search engine rankings will increase, and traffic to your site will start to grow.
The same goes for social media because once you manage to create content on your page, your number of followers will start to increase.
This audience is open to your suggestions, and you give yourself the means to engage them in conversation to present your solutions, product updates, and, most importantly, get real-time feedback.
7. An efficient way to build your reputation and show your expertise
So far, all of the benefits described above have to do with costs and sales, but those aren’t the only marketing goals.
There are many cases where you want to build your brand awareness and increase your company’s visibility or change people’s perception of your products.
Digital marketing is the ultimate (best) solution for this because not only does it help you position yourself as an expert (professional) in your field through your content, but it also helps to build the awareness of your brand across different online channels.
You can make use of social media, blog posts, infographics, PPC, SEO to position your plumbing company (brand) in front of thousands of potential customers and educate them about your business (company) and its solutions.
5 Digital marketing Tips for Plumbers
Here are some of the best techniques for digital marketing your plumbing company can use starting today.
1. Write a Blog.
Your business’s website should be more than just a place where your potential customers can find your phone number and the services (products) you offer.
You should also provide helpful tips and information, and a plumbing blog is the perfect platform.
Above all, the content of your blog should be practical for your customers. For example, you could blog about a list of foods that can clog pipes, such as potato peels and rice. Not only is this informative for users, but it’s also beneficial.
When you continually post helpful and informative blog posts, you begin to build trust with your customers, which is extremely important in building a solid relationship between your business and your customers.
Another great benefit of blogging is improved SEO, which can help you achieve higher search engine rankings.
Above all, blogs are highly shareable. This means that your blogposts (website) can be shared on social networking sites, in your newsletters, and on other websites, ensuring that your content is available to thousands of potential customers.
Blogs also act as a constant stream of fresh content that search engines love, especially if you publish blog posts regularly.
They let search engines (google, bing, …) know that you are regularly publishing new content that is useful and very important to your customers (clients, followers).
Blogs also act as a method to target long-tail keywords, which are very effective for niche businesses like plumbing. These phrases (long-tail keywords) are great for plumbing blogs because you can essentially write a different article for each of your long-tail keywords since they are so specific.
2. Create Long-Tail Content
If you’ve never published detailed content for your plumbing business, it should be at the top of your to-do list as part of your internet marketing strategy.
Detailed content helps your page rank higher in search results, which is very important when you’re looking to get traffic to your site. In fact, the top 10 results of most Google searches are over 1447 words.
If you’re struggling to find content for your plumbing website that is that long, try to find topics that you can really expand on. For example, you could write a lengthy piece that includes a glossary of common terms used by plumbers and a detailed definition of each.
Another great example would be tips for preventing the most common plumbing problems, such as reducing high water pressure and the strategies and tactics you use to solve these plumbing issues.
The long text also acts as a great way to get other sites to send you links. When this happens, it not only helps your SEO, but it also shows that other websites and industry leaders trust you.
As if these benefits weren’t enough, long-form content can also help increase time spent on your page. If your content is meaningful and valuable to visitors, they will want to keep reading and will be much less likely to leave your site.
3. Have an Active Social Networking Presence.
Social networks are great media to interact with your current and future customers through your posts (text, image, videos) and comments. You can use popular social networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to tell your customers to call within a week for a discount on bathroom plumbing (or other services/products you offer).
It’s also a great place to post informative content, like your blogs and other content.
Not only do social networks share your content with your followers, but also with their followers, making it a channel that can reach hundreds of people at once.
You can also use social networks to interact with your customers.
Many people use social networks like Facebook to leave reviews and ask questions about your business.
In this way, social networks provide almost immediate customer service, giving you the opportunity to interact with customers and show them how much you value their business.
4. Send a Newsletter Over and Over Again
Email newsletters allow your plumbing business to offer special deals to subscribers while providing valuable, usable content. Have people “sign up” for a newsletter on your social network account or website.
Then, establish a regular content publishing schedule and stick to it.
Newsletters are also amazing ways to offer monthly promotions, which is a great way to thank customers for being loyal or considering your service.
An email newsletter will help your business stay in the minds of your customers, as your name (brand, business name) will be in their inbox on a monthly basis. This way, when they need a plumber, they will know exactly who to call.
5. Get Involved In The Community
When you allow your plumbing business to get involved in the community, you show your potential customers that you really care, not just about your customers but about the community as a whole.
One way to add community involvement to your internet marketing strategy is to find plumbing forums. Look for questions about common plumbing problems and answer them.
Make sure that every time you comment, you include your company name; however, avoid linking to your website every time. If you do so, you risk being labeled as a spammer or a company that is only trying to get their name out there without really helping anyone.
Local news sites are also a great place to leave comments if the stories are relevant to your industry. Again, avoid spamming the comment forums with every article, but an appropriate and well-placed tip at the bottom of an article is a great way to reach local readers.
Final Thought.
Digital allows businesses of all sizes to access the global market at an affordable price, and, unlike traditional marketing, digital offers real possibilities, especially in terms of personalization.
If you have a website, your customers are only a few clicks away from the purchase phase. Unlike other media (traditional) that require people to get up and make a phone call or go to a store, digital marketing emphasizes immediacy and transparency.