Most plumbers did not get into the trade because they love marketing. You got into it because you are good with your hands, you like solving problems, and you wanted to work for yourself.
The truth is, you are probably already advertising in ways you do not even think of as advertising. Your van is an advert. That card you leave on the kitchen worktop after a job is an advert. The fact that Mrs Henderson three doors down tells everyone on her street about you — that is advertising too.
This is not about starting from scratch. It is about understanding why what you already do works, and then layering on the things that bring steadier, more predictable leads. Traditional and digital work together, and the plumbers who understand that are the ones with full diaries.
What you are probably already doing (and why it works)
Van wraps and signage
Your van is parked outside houses five or six days a week. That is thousands of impressions every month, and you are not paying a penny extra for them. A clean van with clear signage is one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising any local business can have.
The key word is “clean.” A filthy van with faded lettering does not exactly scream reliability. Get a proper wrap or magnetic signs done professionally. Keep the design simple: your business name, “Plumber” in big letters, your phone number, and your website address. That last one matters more than you think, and we will come back to it.
When you are working on a street, your van is doing silent sales for you. Neighbours clock the name and file it away for when their boiler starts making that funny noise.
Cards through doors and leaving cards after jobs
Leafleting an entire town is a slog, and the return rate is slim. But targeted card drops — leaving a card with every house on a street where you have just done a job — is a different thing entirely.
A simple card that says something like “Just finished a job on your street — if you ever need a plumber, here are my details” feels personal. It feels local. It is not junk mail; it is a neighbour letting you know they are around. You might drop fifty cards and get one call, but that one call could be a full bathroom refit.
The same goes for leaving a card or fridge magnet with every customer after a job. People lose phone numbers. They forget names. But a card stuck to the fridge with a magnet stays there for years, and when a pipe bursts at seven in the morning, they grab whatever number is closest.
Word of mouth and referral networks
Word of mouth is still the gold standard. A recommendation from a trusted friend carries more weight than any advert ever will. You already know this — it is probably how you got most of your early work.
The trick is not to sit around waiting for it. After a good job, there is nothing wrong with saying “If you know anyone who needs a plumber, I would appreciate you passing my number on.” Most happy customers are glad to. They just need a nudge.
Build relationships with other trades too. Electricians, tilers, kitchen fitters, builders — they all get asked “Do you know a good plumber?” regularly. Be the plumber they recommend. Return the favour when your customers need other work done. These referral networks cost nothing but goodwill.
Builders’ merchants noticeboards
It might sound old-fashioned, but a card pinned to the noticeboard at your local Plumbase, City Plumbing, or Travis Perkins still gets seen. The people browsing that board are either tradespeople looking for subcontractors or homeowners picking up supplies for a project they have realised is bigger than they thought.
It costs you nothing and takes thirty seconds. Put up a clean, professional card. Replace it every month or two so it does not look dog-eared. Will it flood your phone with calls? Probably not. But it keeps your name circulating in the places where people think about plumbing.
Local Facebook groups
Nearly every town in the UK has a local Facebook group where people ask for recommendations. “Can anyone recommend a good plumber?” gets posted constantly.
You can respond to these posts yourself, but it carries more weight when an existing customer tags you. That is word of mouth amplified digitally. A single recommendation in a group with five thousand members reaches far further than a conversation over a garden fence.
Some plumbers set up a simple business page and share before-and-after shots of completed work. Nothing fancy. It builds credibility and gives people something to look at when deciding whether to call you.
The bit most plumbers miss
Here is the thing that ties all of this together, and it is the single most important point in this article:
When someone gets your card through the door, the first thing they do is Google you.
When a neighbour recommends you, the homeowner Googles your name before they pick up the phone. When someone sees your van on their street and thinks “I should get that dripping tap looked at,” they type your business name into Google that evening.
Traditional advertising creates awareness. It puts your name in front of people. But it is your online presence that converts that awareness into an actual phone call. If someone Googles you and finds nothing — no website, no reviews, no Google listing — they hesitate. They might still call, but plenty of them will not. They will search “plumber near me” instead and call whoever shows up first.
This is not about choosing between traditional and digital. It is about making sure that when your offline advertising does its job and gets someone interested, your online presence finishes the job and gets them to call.
The digital side: what actually moves the needle
Google Business Profile — free and non-negotiable
If you do one thing after reading this article, make it this: claim and complete your Google Business Profile. It is free, it takes an hour to set up properly, and it is the single most impactful thing you can do to get found online.
When someone searches “plumber near me” or “emergency plumber in [your town],” Google shows a map with three businesses at the top of the results. That map pack gets the lion’s share of clicks. Your Google Business Profile is what feeds into those results.
Claim your profile at business.google.com. Choose “Plumber” as your primary category. Fill in your service area, phone number, hours, and a proper description. Upload real photos — completed bathrooms, boiler installs, your van, yourself on the job. Real photos build trust in a way stock images never will.
Then keep it active. Post a completed job photo every week or two. Respond to reviews. Google rewards active profiles with better visibility.
We have written a full Google Business Profile guide that walks through every step if you want to do it properly.
A website that targets specific services and towns
A website is not a digital brochure. The plumbers who rank well on Google do not have a five-page site with a generic “Services” page. They have dedicated pages for each service, targeted at the specific areas they cover.
Think about it from Google’s perspective. If someone searches “boiler repair in Swindon,” Google wants to show them a page specifically about boiler repair in Swindon — not a page listing twenty services across three counties. The more specific your page is to the search, the better it ranks.
This means separate pages for boiler repair, bathroom fitting, emergency plumbing, and whatever else you offer — each one mentioning the towns you serve. It is more work upfront, but it is the difference between page one and invisible.
Your website also needs to do the basics well: load quickly on mobile, have your phone number visible on every page, and make it dead simple to get in touch. Most people searching for a plumber are on their phone. If your site is slow or confusing, they hit the back button and call someone else.
If you want to understand more about how a proper website compares to relying on listing platforms, have a read of our Checkatrade vs own website comparison.
Google reviews — trust and rankings in one
Reviews do two things at once. They convince potential customers you are trustworthy, and they tell Google your business is legitimate and active. Both help you get more work.
Most happy customers will leave a review if you ask. The problem is that most plumbers never ask. Get into the habit of sending a quick text after every job with a direct link to your Google review page. Something like: “Thanks for today. If you were happy with the work, I would really appreciate a quick Google review — here is the link.”
Do not buy fake reviews or get your mates to write them. Google is getting better at spotting fakes, and if your profile gets flagged, you lose everything. Steady, genuine reviews from real customers are what you want. Even two or three a month adds up over a year.
For a detailed walkthrough on building your review count the right way, read our guide on how to get more Google reviews.
Directory listings and citations
You might not think much about online directories — Yell, Thomson, FreeIndex, Bark, and the dozens of others. But Google does. When it sees your business name, address, and phone number listed consistently across trusted directories, it treats that as a signal your business is real and established.
These listings are called citations, and they influence where you appear in Google Maps results. The key is consistency: your details need to be exactly the same everywhere. If you are “Smith Plumbing” on Google, “Smith’s Plumbing Services” on Yell, and “J Smith Plumber” on Thomson, Google gets confused about whether these are the same business.
Getting listed on forty-plus directories and keeping everything consistent is tedious, but it makes a measurable difference to your Maps ranking.
Google Ads vs organic SEO — when each makes sense
Google Ads put you at the very top of search results with a “Sponsored” label. You pay every time someone clicks. For plumbers, clicks in competitive areas cost anywhere from £5 to £30, depending on the search term and location.
Ads make sense when you are brand new and have no organic visibility, when you need leads immediately, or when you want to target a high-value service like boiler installations during winter. The downside is that the moment you stop paying, you disappear. It is a tap you turn on and off.
Organic SEO — building your website, collecting reviews, getting directory listings, optimising your Google Business Profile — takes longer. Typically three to six months before you see meaningful movement. But once you are ranking, those leads keep coming without a per-click cost. The work compounds over time.
For most plumbers, the best approach is to invest in organic SEO as your long-term strategy and use ads selectively to fill gaps while your rankings build. Our article on how to get more work as a plumber covers the full range of options if you want the broader picture.
Bringing it all together
The best way to advertise a plumbing business is not one single thing. It is the combination of traditional visibility and digital presence working together.
Keep doing what works offline. Keep your van clean and well-signed. Leave cards after every job. Build referral networks with other trades. Drop cards on streets where you are working. Stay active in local Facebook groups.
But make sure that when those efforts put your name in front of someone, your digital presence catches them. A complete Google Business Profile. A website targeting the services and areas you work in. A growing collection of genuine reviews. Consistent directory listings that reinforce your legitimacy to Google.
Traditional advertising gets your name out there. Digital presence turns that awareness into phone calls. Neither works as well alone as they do together.
If you would rather someone handled the digital side
You became a plumber because you are good at plumbing, not because you wanted to spend your evenings fiddling with websites and directory listings. We get that.
Localengine handles the digital side for plumbers and other tradespeople. We build you a website targeting your services and area, manage your directory listings across forty-plus platforms, help you get more Google reviews, optimise your Google Business Profile, and track your rankings.
It is £300 a month with no setup fee, and we only work with one plumber per county — so you are never competing against another Localengine client in your area.
If that sounds like it might be useful, check if your county is available. No pressure, no hard sell. Just a straightforward service for tradespeople who want more leads without becoming a part-time marketer.