Guide
Plumbing advertising ideas, cheapest first
Updated
These nine ideas run from the ones you have already paid for, like your van, to the ones that charge you for every lead. What to skip is at the bottom.
In short
- The cheapest plumbing advertising is what you already own: your van, yard signs, your Google profile, local groups and boiler stickers.
- Local Services Ads are the first paid step worth taking, because they charge per lead instead of per click.
- Before and after videos of the job, with your voice explaining it, show the standard of your work.
- Skip radio, print, posters and lead-selling sites until you run more than one van.
- Ask every caller how they found you and write it on the job sheet. That is the only way to rank these.
- Ideas on this page, cheapest first
- 9
- Question for every caller: how did you find us
- 1
- A finished 30 second video ad, edit plus export
- 110 credits
How to measure an ad
Ask every caller one question: how did you find us?
- Write the answer on the job sheet, every time.
- After a month you know what each channel produced. After a quarter you know what to cut.
- Count booked jobs, not calls. Ten haggling calls from a coupon site are worth less than two from a neighbour's tip.
- Divide what you spent on a channel in a month by the jobs it booked. That is your cost per booked job, and it is the only price worth comparing.
- What each channel costs changes from city to city. Treat the order below as a starting point and check it against your own job sheets.
The 9 ideas, ranked
Cheapest per booked job at the top.
Plumbing advertising ideas by cost
| Idea | What you pay | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The van | Already paid | Seen at every red light and outside every job |
| 2. Yard signs and door hangers | A few signs | The street just watched you fix their neighbour's flood |
| 3. Google Business Profile posts | Free | Your next caller reads it |
| 4. Nextdoor and local Facebook groups | Free | Recommendation threads do the selling later |
| 5. Boiler sticker and fridge magnet | A few stickers | Brings the repeat job back to you |
| 6. Local Services Ads | Per lead | Sit above the map for emergency searches |
| 7. Google Ads on emergency terms | Per click | Work if set up tightly |
| 8. Before and after video | Free on your phone, or about 110 credits an ad with Cutroom | Shows the standard of your work |
| 9. Boosting a post | A small budget | Gives a post that already worked more reach |
Idea: 1. The van
- What you pay
- Already paid
- Why it works
- Seen at every red light and outside every job
Idea: 2. Yard signs and door hangers
- What you pay
- A few signs
- Why it works
- The street just watched you fix their neighbour's flood
Idea: 3. Google Business Profile posts
- What you pay
- Free
- Why it works
- Your next caller reads it
Idea: 4. Nextdoor and local Facebook groups
- What you pay
- Free
- Why it works
- Recommendation threads do the selling later
Idea: 5. Boiler sticker and fridge magnet
- What you pay
- A few stickers
- Why it works
- Brings the repeat job back to you
Idea: 6. Local Services Ads
- What you pay
- Per lead
- Why it works
- Sit above the map for emergency searches
Idea: 7. Google Ads on emergency terms
- What you pay
- Per click
- Why it works
- Work if set up tightly
Idea: 8. Before and after video
- What you pay
- Free on your phone, or about 110 credits an ad with Cutroom
- Why it works
- Shows the standard of your work
Idea: 9. Boosting a post
- What you pay
- A small budget
- Why it works
- Gives a post that already worked more reach
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Ideas 1 to 5: free or nearly free
These cost you time, plus a few signs and stickers. Do all of them before you pay for ads.
- Your van should carry your name, trade, number and area, big enough to read at a junction.
- Ask the customer whether a small yard sign can sit out front for a week.
- Post the week's jobs as photo updates on your Google Business Profile.
- Answer plumbing questions plainly on Nextdoor and in local Facebook groups, with no sales pitch.
- A boiler sticker and a fridge magnet are the cheapest repeat-business ads there are.
Paid search (6 and 7)
Emergency buyers are in a hurry, and the top box on Google takes the call.
- Local Services Ads check your licence, your insurance and your background, then show a badge and charge you per lead instead of per click. Start there.
- Google Ads work with a tight radius, emergency keywords only, bidding for phone calls, and off in the hours nobody answers.
- Both work off your reviews, because the badge and the map ranking read them. If you have fewer reviews than the plumbers showing above you, ask for one at every door before you spend here.
Before and after video (8 and 9)
What people actually stop scrolling for is the state of the pipe.
- Film the scale inside a fifteen year old water heater, what came out of the shower drain, or a cabinet before and after a re-pipe.
- Film twenty seconds before you start and twenty after you finish, and ask permission at the quote.
- Explain what went wrong and what the fix involved. That is what turns a clip into an ad.
- Boost only a post that already worked on its own, and only to a small radius around your area.
What to skip until you have more vans
These are hard to measure or cost more than they bring in for a small team.
- Radio, local print and bus-stop posters give you reach you cannot measure.
- Sponsoring the youth team is good for the club. Count it as goodwill, not advertising.
- Lead-selling sites sell the same emergency to five plumbers at once, so you pay to race to the phone.
Make video ads without the editing evening
The video idea usually stalls at editing, not at filming.
- You film one clip of yourself talking at the van, up to 3 minutes.
- Cutroom writes out every word, writes the opening headline, and places your before and after shots on the words that describe them.
- The finished 9:16 MP4 comes back in about a minute.
- Your first video is free within 7 days, with no card, and it carries a Cutroom mark across the middle.
- Lite costs $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 ads, with no mark. You can cancel any time under Settings.
A job becomes an ad in four steps
Forty seconds of filming per job, one clip of you talking, about 110 credits per finished 30 second ad.
Before shot
Twenty seconds of the problem
After shot, then talk
Explain the fix at the van
Edit
100 credits for the transcript, the first edit and the clip search
Export
20 credits per finished minute, 9:16 MP4
Questions people ask
- What is the most effective advertising for plumbers?
- For emergencies, the map plus reviews, because that is where the panic search lands. For planned work like bathrooms and boilers, before and after videos that show the standard of your work. No single channel wins both.
- How much should a plumber spend on advertising?
- Spend what you can measure. Many owners keep it to a single-digit percent of revenue. Do the free ideas first, then add one paid channel at a time and count booked jobs through it.
- Do Facebook ads work for plumbing?
- For planned work, often: a bathroom refit is researched on the sofa, and a before and after aimed at your area reaches that person. For emergencies, rarely. Nobody scrolls a feed while the ceiling drips.
- Are lead generation sites worth it?
- Rarely. They sell the same lead to several plumbers, so you race to the phone and the price gets haggled down. Some owners use them to fill quiet weeks. Ask how they found you, so you see the real cost per booked job.
- What does a video ad cost to make this way?
- About 110 credits per finished 30 second ad with Cutroom. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 of those. A phone and the app's own captions cost nothing and are enough for stories.
Ask every caller how they found you, start with the free ideas, and film your next before and after. 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