58 Ways to Promote Your Plumbing Business

A plumbing company can either grow, die, or stagnate. Of the three, growth is more fun and profitable. But how?  Here are 58 ways to promote your plumbing business. Many, but not all, are obvious. Use this as a marketing checklist.

1. 18 Wheeler Trailer Wraps – Wrap and park an 18 wheeler trailer in a vacant lot or field next to a busy highway or road.

2. Affinity Marketing – Make small donations to designated charities when their patrons use your business.

3. Awards Ceremony Sponsorship – Offer a small amount to sponsor a local awards ceremony, such as chamber of commerce person-of-the-year.

4. Banner Ads – Pay for website banner ads on popular local websites.

5. Benches – Advertise on municipal benches.

6. Billboards – Advertise on billboards surrounding target market areas.

7. Blog – Write a blog on your community and through in info on plumbing.

8. Blog Advertising – Advertise on local mom blogs.

9. Bulletin Boards – Pin tear off promotions to local bulletin boards.

10. Buses & Public Transportation – Advertise on municipal buses, streetcars, and trams.

11. Business Card Coupons – Make the back of your business card a coupon.

12. Cable TV – Advertise for less on cable that’s targeted geographically.

13. Church Bulletins – Advertise on church bulletins, whether you attend a particular church or not.

14. Company Brochure – Create a company brochure covering why you are better and detailing what you offer.

15. Company Consumer Newsletter – Send customers a quarterly consumer newsletter with information interesting to your customers.

16. Cross Marketing – Share the cost of marketing with non-competitive companies serving the same demographic.

17. Direct Mail – Use the mail to send post cards and marketing letters to target neighborhoods, repeatedly.

18. E-mail – Build a list of customer and prospect emails for promotions and special offers.

19. Email Signature – Adjust your settings to add a promotional signature to every email you send.

20. Event Sponsorships – Look for local events and inquire about low cost sponsorships.

21. Facebook Ads – Create targeted ads for Facebook users in your area with your target demographic.

22. Facebook Company Page – Create a Facebook company page and post to it daily, posting a coupon or promotion once a week.

23. Family & Friends Promotion – Send out special family and friends promotions by mail or email to your family members and your employees’ family members.

24. Google My Business Page – A Google My Business page is free and helps prospects (and customers) find you.

25. Grocery Carts – Cartvertising is advertising on grocery store shopping carts, targeted to a single store.

26. Grocery Receipt Paper – Advertise on the back of grocery store receipts.

27. Groupon & LivingSocial – Group purchasing is a great way to encourage trial and to build a brand.

28. Home & Garden Shows – Every town has home and garden shows, which represent tremendous opportunities to display designer faucets and sinks, which you should be able to borrow from your supply house if necessary.

29. Hot Air Balloon – Hot air balloons get noticed and cost less than you might think for a multi-year advertising opportunity when one is purchased and given to a balloonist in return for displaying your logo on the balloon and giving customers rides a few times a year.

30. Internet Radio – Advertise on Internet radio, like Pandora and the ads will follow the listener around the country based on his home zip code.

31. Invoice Ads – The last opportunity to boost average tickets is with a special offer printed on every invoice for an add-on product.

32. Linked In Ads – Buy targeted ads on Linked In for commercial work.

33. Magnets – On every service call, leave a magnet for the kitchen and one for the laundry.

34. Movie Theater – Ads appearing as slides before the start of a movie have a captive audience of consumers who live in the vicinity of the theater.

35. Newspaper – Plumbers should not overlook newspapers since readership levels may be less than a few years ago, but remain surprisingly strong.

36. On Hold Messages – While you never want to leave a customer on hold, research has shown people will remain on hold longer if given something to listen to, even it it’s promotional for your business.

37. Organization Newsletters – Lots of non-profit community organizations have newsletters and will accept advertising.

38. Personal Networking – Plumbers should never overlook the power of personal networking through service or civic clubs, alumni groups, leads groups, and community organizations.

39. Pinterest Company Page – Pinterest, which is a digital bulletin board site frequented by women, allows you to show plumbing designs and attract a local audience with one or more boards dedicated to your community.

40. Podcasts – Half the public has listened to a podcast and listeners are considered both loyal and affluent, so find local podcasts to advertise on.

41 Referral Marketing – After every water heater installation, mail to 50 to 100 surrounding addresses.

42. Search Engine Marketing – Paid search works, but don’t ignore secondary search engines.

43. Sidewalk Chalk – Especially before events and home shows, sidewalk chalk is a very low cost and innovative way to get your messaging across.

44. Sponsor 5K Races – Sponsorship of minor 5K races is affordable and every runner is a candidate for a water purification system.

45. Stickers – On every service call, stickers should be left on the water heater and disposal.

46. Styrofoam Coffee Cups – Logo disposable coffee cups to give to churches with adult education programs.

47. Team Sponsorships – Sponsor every local team where three or more team parents are customers.

48. Telemarketing – Telemarketing still works.

49. Thank You Cards – Send thank you cards with a bounce back coupon following every service call.

50. Trash & Trinkets – Trash and trinkets, like jar openers, padded grocery lists, reusable shopping bags, and so on remain effective.

51. T-Shirts – Give customers t-shirts for their kids and themselves.

52. Twitter Company Page – Twitter is free.

53. Valve Tags – Use a luggage tag machine to make valve tags.

54. Vehicle Wraps – The first, most obvious marketing program is a good vehicle wrap.

55. Website – Websites are no longer optional, but mandatory.

56. Yard Signs – Give customers $10 off a service call if they agree to let you leave disposable yard signs in their yards for a month.

57. Yellow Pages – While the yellow pages are not what they used to be, neither is the cost, making them worth consideration.

58. YouTube – In an increasingly video based society, the use of video is a must.

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