Industries
Plumber marketing for the burst pipe tonight and the repipe next month.
Kojo Growth is a marketing agency for local service businesses. For plumbers, we work on the three things that decide an emergency call: whether you show up on Google Maps in each town you serve, whether your reviews and website look trustworthy on a phone, and what happens when a call or a form comes in. A monthly report shows what changed.
- Google Maps work town by town, built to get you into the top three
- A review ask after each job and a drafted reply to every review
- Google Ads for water heaters, drains and emergency calls, with call tracking
- A fast website with a page for each service, and a text back when a call is missed
By the Kojo Growth teamPublished Last updated
Free audit: see where your plumbing business stands.
- Your Google Maps ranking across town
- Your reviews against the top three
- Your website on a phone
- Who you're up against
- How many people search for what you do
- The three fixes that matter first
How customers find you
How people find a plumber
Plumbing is an emergency trade. Most searches happen on a phone, in the moment, with a problem that can't wait. That changes what matters.
The map pack comes first
“Plumber near me” and “plumber Canton” bring up the map pack, the three businesses Google shows on a map above the other results. If you're not one of those three in the neighborhood where the search happens, you're invisible for that call.
Open now, with a number to tap
A listing that says open, shows a phone number and has recent reviews gets the call. A listing with old hours or no reviews gets skipped.
Specific problems, specific pages
“Water heater leaking”, “sump pump not working”, “drain cleaning”. People search the problem, not the company, and the problems follow the weather: frozen pipes in a cold snap, sump pumps in a spring thaw. A page for each one catches the search.
Reviews settle the tie
Two plumbers in the map pack, both open, both close by. The one with more recent reviews and owner replies gets the call.
What usually goes wrong
The problems we see most for plumbers.
If a few of these sound familiar, the audit shows what they cost your plumbing business, with the fixes in order.
Strong by the shop, invisible across town
You rank well a mile from your address and nowhere else. Most of your service area never sees you on the map.
The plumbers above you keep collecting reviews
The top three get new reviews every week. Yours arrive a few a month, and the gap widens with every job that goes unasked.
A water heater search lands on a drain page
Water heaters, drains, sewer lines and repiping share a single page, so Google has nothing specific to send a specific search to. It sends that search to a plumber who has a page for it.
Ad clicks nobody can trace to a job
Money goes into Google Ads, calls come in, and nobody knows which calls came from the ads or what each one cost.
The 9 p.m. form that waits for morning
A form filled in at 9 p.m. gets a reply the next afternoon. By then the homeowner has booked someone else.
A wet basement and a slow website
Your customer is standing in a wet basement, on a phone. A site that takes several seconds to load gets closed before the call button shows.
What we'd focus on
The services that matter most for plumbers.
Not every service, every time. These are the ones that tend to move the numbers for plumbers; the audit sets the order.
- Get found
Google Maps & local SEO
The map pack is where plumbing jobs are decided. Your Google Business Profile, categories, service areas and a monthly map scan across town are the foundation.
See the service - Get chosen
Reviews & reputation
Review pace settles ties in the map pack. An ask after every job and a drafted reply to every review work toward closing the gap with the top three.
See the service - Get called
Google Ads
Water heater, drain and emergency searches come from people ready to call. Ads can cover those searches while the Maps work builds, with call tracking so you can see which ones became jobs.
See the service - Get found
Websites
A page for each plumbing service and each town, with a call button that stays on screen on a phone, turns the searches you earn into calls.
See the service - Follow up
Email & text follow-up
A text back as soon as a call is missed and a reply to the 9 p.m. web form, written and approved by you first, so a lead isn't left waiting until tomorrow afternoon.
See the service
What people search
The searches behind the calls.
The numbers are real monthly searches in two Metro Detroit towns. The examples are the kinds of searches we check for your towns in the audit, without numbers.
Searches a month in the US
Real search data- “plumber canton mi”Advertisers pay about $24 a click on Google Ads320
- “plumber westland mi”Advertisers pay about $45 a click on Google Ads320
Searches we check in your audit
Illustrative- “water heater repair near me”A problem search. People call the first listing that looks open.
- “emergency plumber [your town]”After-hours searches go to listings that show the right hours.
- “drain cleaning [your town]”A page for this service catches the search; a general page doesn't.
- “sump pump replacement”Seasonal in Michigan: spring thaw and heavy rain weeks.
How it starts
Easy to start. Built to keep growing.
A free audit of your plumbing business first, then a plan in writing, then the work, then a report every month.
- 1
Free audit
We check your Google Maps ranking across town, your reviews against the top three, your website on a phone, who you're up against and how many people search for what you do, then write up the three fixes that matter first.
- 2
Plan in writing
A 30-minute call to walk through the audit. Then a written plan: what we'll do, in what order, the price and the term. Nothing starts until you say yes.
- 3
We build
We take a day-one baseline, then fix what matters first: your profile, your website, your tracking, your follow-up. You approve anything that goes public.
FAQ
Straight answers, up front.
What plumbers ask us before they start.
Do you work with one-truck plumbing companies?
Yes. What matters for plumbing marketing works the same at one truck or ten: a strong profile, a flow of reviews and a site with a call button. The plan is sized to the business, so a one-truck shop gets work that fits one truck.
How long before the Google Maps work shows?
It varies with your market and where you're starting from. Profile fixes can show within weeks; moving up in the map pack across a wider area usually takes a few months of work. Nobody can promise rankings, and we won't. You'll see the map scan every month.
Can you help with emergency and after-hours calls?
We make sure your listing shows the right hours, that an after-hours call goes where you want it, and that a text goes out as soon as a call is missed or a form comes in. You write and approve the message before it goes live. We don't offer call answering; if you need that, we'll say so and point you to a service that does.
How do plumbers get more Google reviews?
Ask every customer right after the job, while the work is fresh, with a link that opens the review form on their phone. Word the ask so the review can mention the job, like a water heater swap or a drain clear. Reply to every review, good or bad. Our Reviews service runs the ask and drafts the replies, and you approve each message before it goes live.
What is the best marketing for a plumber?
For most plumbers the order is a strong Google Maps presence in every town you serve, then reviews, then a website with a page for each service, then Google Ads for the searches that are ready to call. Emergency calls go to the listing that looks open and trusted, so the map and the reviews come before anything paid. The free audit shows which of these is weakest for you.
What do you need from me to start?
For the free audit: your business name or website, and the main city you serve. If you go ahead: manager access to your Google Business Profile, a few job photos, and about 15 minutes a month for questions only you can answer.
Other trades
Built for the trades people call.
The free audit
See who gets the 2 a.m. call in your service area.
All we need to start is your business name or website and the main city you serve. The free audit covers your Google Maps ranking across town, your reviews against the top three plumbers, your website on a phone, who you're up against, how many people search for what you do, and the three fixes that matter first.
- Your Google Maps ranking across town
- Your reviews against the top three
- Your website on a phone
- Who you're up against
- How many people search for what you do
- The three fixes that matter first