How Plumbers Are Increasing Leads & Booked Jobs from Nextdoor

Last week, I turned on the shower to warm up the water before I jumped in. When I tested the water with my hand before taking the plunge, much to my surprise, the water was ice cold. My hot water heater was a goner.

Before calling a local plumber, I hopped onto Nextdoor, the private social networking platform for neighborhoods, and asked my neighbors for plumbing company recommendations. You see, I fall into the 92% of people trust recommendations of friends and family over any other type of advertising.

If you own a plumbing company and are looking for ways to increase sales and stand out from the competition, look no further than Nextdoor.

Nextdoor is a new(ish) plumber marketing strategy. In this blog, we’ll breakdown:

• What is Nextdoor?
• How homeowners and businesses use Nextdoor
• Types of Nextdoor advertising available to plumbing companies

Let’s dive in.

What Is Nextdoor?

Nextdoor describes itself as, “the neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services.”

In other words, they are like an always-open local coffee shop, where everyone knows your name (because it’s on your profile).

Nextdoor boasts some pretty impressive statistics about its users. Did you know:

• One in four households in the United States is on Nextdoor
• 74% of Nextdoor members are homeowners (which means a lot of conversations about home improvement)
• 25% of all conversations on the app are about business
• 67% of users share business recommendations

Are you starting to see the potential for marketing your plumbing company on Nextdoor?

How Do Homeowners Use Nextdoor?

Well, before homeowners can do anything on Nextdoor, they must first verify their account using a phone number or a postcard. For plumbers, this means Nextdoor users aren’t bots from another company.

Nextdoor users are real people, who own real homes, in your service areas.

Nextdoor’s verified users provide an added level of security and trust to the platform, particularly for local businesses who rely on consumers in their markets to generate leads and sales.

Here are a few common ways homeowners use Nextdoor today:

• Asking for recommendations – “Does anyone know a plumber who is affordable and specializes in tankless hot water heater replacement?” Nextdoor has replaced word-of-mouth advertising and instead connects homeowners with other neighbors for local business recommendations.
• Meet neighbors – “Hi, I’m Sharon and I just moved here from Chicago, IL. Nice to meet everyone!”
• Buy and sell stuff – “Selling this used coffee table for $50.” Think of selling products on Nextdoor like eBay or Craigslist for your neighborhood.
• Organize events – “Blood drive this Saturday at Planet Fitness. Sign up here!”
• Post alerts – “My cat, Mr. Wiggles is missing. Here’s a couple of photos. If you see him please message me!”

How Do Businesses Use Nextdoor?

Plumbing businesses can use Nextdoor just as individual users do, by engaging with the communities they serve:

• Respond to users who recommend you – They took the time to recommend you to their neighbors, so take the time to acknowledge them, and be sure to go beyond a standard “thanks.”
• Get recommendations you need – Your plumbing company needs at least one recommendation to become visible in the communities you serve, and Nextdoor provides your business with a custom link you can send to previous customers to generate more recommendations on the platform.
• Create local events – This doesn’t just have to be for National Hug a Plumber Day (April 25, by the way) but can be in connection with other local businesses or causes that will help spread brand awareness (e.g., food drives, bake sales, blood drives, etc.)
• Answer homeowners’ questions and ask questions of your own – If you’re active on your personal Nextdoor account you can also add your business affiliation to your profile, giving some expanded visibility to your business.

But additionally, plumbers can:

• Run Local Deals (more details below)
• Share special offers (more details below)
• Create sponsorships (more details below)

Why Should Your Plumbing Company Advertise on Nextdoor?

While you’re hopefully taking some notes for your own Nextdoor advertising strategy, there are still a few things you should know about the platform.

We’ve discussed in previous articles the importance of Name, Address, and Phone number listings (NAP) and how their accuracy (or lack thereof) can affect how high you rank on search engines like Google.

Nextdoor is yet one more place to make sure you have accurate NAP data.

Because Nextdoor has such a local focus, recommendations (reviews) matter more. When someone sees that one of your recommendations comes from someone they know personally or have chatted with before on Nextdoor, that makes it much easier for them to make a decision to hire you.

Once you’ve claimed your business (just as you would on Google My Business) you can manage your recommendations and if you’re highly rated enough, you can earn a “Neighborhood favorite” badge, which is yet another reason someone in the neighborhood would turn to you if they had a plumbing issue.

Because Nextdoor verifies its users, there’s an overall level of trust in the app that is higher than the average Google My Business review.

How Do Nextdoor Ads Work?

There are two different types of Nextdoor ads for plumbers:

1. Nextdoor sponsorships
2. Local Deals

Neighborhood Sponsors

As a neighborhood sponsor on Nextdoor, you have the ability to run two advertisements per month, which are then published in users’ newsfeeds.

The posts often appear as any other post and are disguised as an ad. Plumbers advertising as official neighborhood sponsors have the ability to:

• Share expertise – Show how you can help neighbors with Tips and Advice Ads
• Answer neighborhood questions – Invite locals to ask about your business 1:1 with Conversation Starter Ads
• Engage the local community – Build customer rapport with custom Business Posts, including events and polls

Only five businesses at one time can be a neighborhood sponsor, so this is a great chance to stand out from competing plumbing companies in your area and a good source of new customer leads.

Nextdoor Local Deals

Nextdoor’s Local Deals are a carousel of discounts, coupons, and ads from small businesses in the neighborhood. They’re also a great way to complement the organic advertising you may already be doing on Nextdoor.

As with sponsorships, Local Deals help your business stay top of mind with local homeowners (your potential customers) and help you generate more leads.

Plumbers choosing to run Local Deals can choose between four different types of offers:

1. Percent off
2. Fixed discount
3. Buy one get one free
4. Custom deal

Plumbers can run their Local Deals within a 10-mile radius of their place of business and even preview the number of verified members in each Nextdoor neighborhood, and a price to run the deals:

Nextdoor Sponsorships

Companies that choose to participate in a Nextdoor sponsorship get two posts per month that are pushed into newsfeeds and are also put at the top section of Nextdoor’s weekly newsletter.

Only five businesses at one time can be a neighborhood sponsor, so this is a great chance to stand out from competing plumbing companies in your area.

Nextdoor Marketing for Plumbers & Plumbing Franchises

If you’re looking for a digital marketing company with experience managing Local Deals and neighborhood sponsorships on Nextdoor, you’ve come to the right place. Blue Corona has teamed up with Nextdoor to provide more affordable advertising options for plumbing companies, so there are no barriers between you and being the first in your service area to run Nextdoor ads.

Need help or have any questions on how Nextdoor can help you grow your plumbing business? Contact us today!

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