Advertising for plumbers: ideas and a sample film
Plumbers win work from Google reviews, a tidy van, local Facebook groups and short videos customers can share. Here is what each does well, and a sample film you can have with your own face in it, with adverts from £97.
Service films £197. Packs from £497. Orders open soon. Start with the free cartoon.
Ways plumbers advertise
Most plumbing work comes from people who need help today, so the best advertising puts your name in front of them at that moment: your Google listing and reviews, a website that loads on a phone, your van, local groups, trusted-trader schemes, paid search and leaflets.
- Google Business Profile and reviews
- When a pipe bursts, people search and ring one of the first few names with good reviews. Free to set up; the work is asking every customer for a review, every time.
- A website that loads on a phone
- Customers check you out before they ring. One clear page with your number, your area and photos of real jobs does more than a big site nobody finishes. A one-off cost, then a little upkeep.
- Your van
- A clean, signwritten van is an advert parked on every street you work on. Paid once, seen for years.
- Local Facebook groups and Nextdoor
- Neighbours ask for a plumber they can trust, and a recommendation there travels fast. Free, but it takes a few minutes most days.
- Trusted-trader schemes
- Some customers only pick from a vetted list. There's a yearly fee and a checking process, and it pays off where your customers use that scheme.
- Paid search
- Your name at the top for emergency searches, paid by the click. It can bring work in quickly and eat money just as quickly, so set a daily limit and watch which calls it brings.
- Leaflets
- Cheap to print, and they still reach older customers who don't search online. Expect most to end up in the recycling, and count the calls each round brings in.
None of these works on its own for long. The plumbers who stay busy usually do three or four of them well and keep at it.
Where a short film helps a plumbing business
A short film earns its place where people scroll and decide fast: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp status, the home page of your website and paid adverts.
Picture someone on the sofa, scrolling past a dozen posts, when a cartoon of a local plumber fixes a leak in a bathroom like theirs. That's the moment you want to be remembered for, and a 30-second advert is made for it. A 90-second service film does a different job: it answers the questions people ask before they book. Each film comes wide for your website and YouTube, tall for phone stories and WhatsApp status, and square for feeds, with captions on screen because most people watch with the sound off.
See what it costs- Wide
- 1920 x 1080, for your website, YouTube and Facebook
- Tall
- 1080 x 1920, for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and WhatsApp status
- Square
- 1080 x 1080, for feeds
A sample film for a plumber
Here is the plumbing sample: a leak, the call, a reason to trust her, the plumber arriving, the fix and the number to ring.
- 1
The leak
- 2
The call
- 3
Why trust her
- 4
The arrival
- 5
The fix
- 6
The number
Films a plumbing business might order
Start with the job you want more of: an advert for burst pipes or blocked drains, then a service film for each service you offer, from bathroom fitting to a boiler service. A film pack covers several at once.
Those jobs are only ideas, and you choose what each film is about when you order. Adverts £97, service films £197, sales stories £397, film packs £497 and the founder pack £997, including VAT.
See what it costsFrom £97
including VAT
Service films £197.Packs from £497.
Orders open soon. Start with the free cartoon.
What goes in a plumber's film
Your film stars you as a cartoon, with your van, your business name, your town and your phone number, and what you tell us about your business: years trading, a guarantee, WaterSafe or a trade body if you belong to one.
It goes in as you give it, and you check every line before the script is written. We never make anything up: no customers, quotes or numbers of our own. So tell us only what's true, because customers take an advert at its word.
Read how it works
Plumbers' questions about advertising
Start with your Google listing and reviews, because that's where most urgent calls begin. Then add one or two things that keep your name in front of local people, such as your van, local groups or a short film they can share.
There's no single right figure. Pick a monthly amount you can afford, ask every new customer how they found you, and move the money towards whatever brings the work in.
Here are a few ideas to adapt, written for this page and free to use: “Drip today, flood tomorrow. Ring us today.”, “Your pipes, sorted.”, “Your local plumber, one call away.” Keep any slogan to things you can stand behind.
It can, where people scroll on their phones and share with neighbours. Nobody honest can promise a film will win you jobs, so post it where your customers already are and see what comes back.
See yourself as a cartoon plumber in about 30 seconds, free.
Not a plumber? Films work for any trade.