Guide
Plumber marketing, in order: reviews, search, repeat work, then video
Updated
Most plumbing jobs are decided before your phone rings, by your reviews and your map listing. Do these four steps in order: reviews, search, repeat work, then video.
In short
- Plumber marketing works best in one order. Reviews first, then emergency search, then repeat work, then video.
- Ask for a review at the door on every job and send the link by text while you are standing there.
- Fill in your Google Business Profile with exact hours and photos of real jobs, so you show up in emergency searches.
- Leave a sticker on every boiler and text past customers when service season starts.
- Post one explained job a week. Few plumbers post video, so you stand out.
- Asking for a review and filling your Google profile
- Free
- Videos to post in step 4
- 1 a week
- Finished 30 second ads Lite covers a month
- ~11
The 4 steps at a glance
Do them in this order. Each step makes the next one work better.
The only money here is a pack of stickers, plus the per-lead ads in step 2 once you are ready for them.
Plumber marketing, in order
| Step | What you do | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Reviews | Ask at the door on every job | Free |
| 2. Emergency search | Fill your Google Business Profile, add Local Services Ads later | Profile free, ads charged per lead |
| 3. Repeat work | A sticker on the boiler, a customer list, a text each season | A few stickers |
| 4. Video | One explained job a week | Free on your phone, or about 110 credits an ad with Cutroom |
Step: 1. Reviews
- What you do
- Ask at the door on every job
- Cost
- Free
Step: 2. Emergency search
- What you do
- Fill your Google Business Profile, add Local Services Ads later
- Cost
- Profile free, ads charged per lead
Step: 3. Repeat work
- What you do
- A sticker on the boiler, a customer list, a text each season
- Cost
- A few stickers
Step: 4. Video
- What you do
- One explained job a week
- Cost
- Free on your phone, or about 110 credits an ad with Cutroom
Step 1: Reviews
A stranger with water on the floor picks between three plumbers they have never met. Reviews are their only evidence.
- Ask at the door, job done, water back on. Not in an email three days later.
- Say something like "It would really help me if you left a line about what I fixed today."
- Send the review link by text while you are standing there.
- Reply to every review and name the job, so it reads as real work.
- Answer a bad review within a day, calmly, and offer to come back.
- Aim for the review count of the plumber above you in the map results.
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Step 2: Show up in emergency search
Pipes burst at 2am. The searcher wants the nearest good plumber now, and Google's map box decides who gets the call.
- Claim your Google Business Profile and put in exact hours, emergency availability and a phone that gets answered.
- Add photos of real jobs, vans and faces, not your logo.
- Local Services Ads sit above everything for plumber near me searches and charge per lead, not per click.
- To run them you first pass Google's checks on your licence and insurance, plus a background check. That takes days, not minutes, so apply before you need the leads.
- You then set a weekly budget and Google charges you per lead. What a lead costs varies a lot by city, so start small and count booked jobs.
- You can dispute a lead that was not real work, like a wrong number or somebody outside your area.
- Turn the ads on once your profile and reviews can win the leads they send.
- Your website should say what you do, where you work, roughly what common jobs cost, and your number at the top. A price range gets the call.
Step 3: Win repeat work
The customer whose tap you fixed will one day need a boiler service or a frozen pipe fixed. Make sure they can find you.
- A sticker with your name and number on the boiler outlives every ad you will buy.
- Keep a list of the job, the date and what needs attention next.
- Text customers in October to say it is service season and they can reply to book.
- Leave a card that says keep this for next time.
Step 4: Add video
Few plumbers post on TikTok or Instagram. That is exactly why it works.
- Film the inside of a water heater you have just cut open, scale and all. You see one most weeks and almost nobody outside the trade ever has.
- Video makes you the known name when the search happens, and it puts a face on your map listing.
- It will not bring in the 2am call by itself. Reviews and the map do that.
- A phone, the app's own captions and a steady habit are enough to start.
- Editing is what stops most plumbers. Most trade accounts go quiet by week three.
Make the video step fast
Filming at the van takes five minutes. Cutroom does the editing that used to take the evening.
- You upload the clip, highlight the phrase about the corroded valve, and your shot of it lands on those words.
- The finished 9:16 MP4 comes back in about a minute with captions burned in.
- Your first video is free within 7 days, on 600 credits, with no card. It carries a Cutroom mark across the middle.
- Lite costs $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 ads of 30 seconds, with no mark. You can cancel any time under Settings.
What one 30 second ad costs, step by step
Edit plus export. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits.
- Editing (transcript, first edit, clip search)100 credits
- Exporting 30 seconds, at 20 credits a finished minute10 credits
- One finished 30 second adabout 110 credits
Questions people ask
- How do I market a plumbing business with no budget?
- Ask for a review at every door, fill your Google Business Profile, leave a sticker on every boiler, and text past customers when service season starts. All of it costs time, not money.
- Are Local Services Ads worth it for plumbers?
- Often, because you pay per lead and the ads sit above the map. They work best with good reviews, so fix those first. Prices vary a lot by city: test for a month and count booked jobs, not calls.
- How often should a plumber post videos?
- Once a week is plenty, and it survives a full call sheet. A steady weekly post for months beats a burst of seven followed by silence.
- Do I need a marketing agency?
- Not at the start. Everything here is owner-sized: the review ask, the profile, the sticker, one video a week. An agency makes sense when you run several vans and your time is worth more on quotes.
- What does the video step cost with Cutroom?
- About 110 credits for a finished 30 second ad, edit plus export. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 of those. Basic is $39.99 for 2,500 credits and adds avatars and generated music.
- What should a plumber's website say?
- What you do, where you work, what common jobs roughly cost, and your phone number at the top. Price ranges beat a quote form: someone calling at 11pm wants a number, not a callback.
Ask for a review at your next door and post one explained job this week. Your first video is free.
Try for freeYour first video is free, no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom mark; Lite at $19.99/month removes it