Marketing a septic company online requires a very specific strategy to deliver successful results. It’s not a glamorous industry and it’s not one that you can create compelling content around. It’s also not a topic that consumers are going to want to see in their social media feeds or receive emails about.
The best approach when it comes to septic marketing is to position your business to be found when consumers need to hire a septic and sewage company. With the right combination of website optimization, organic SEO strategy, and paid advertising, you can position your company to be the top results consumers find when they need immediate assistance.
If it’s an emergency, such as a full septic system or a leak, time is of the essence. The average consumer isn’t going to take days, let alone hours, to search through multiple companies trying to find the best option. The top result on Google – whether it’s in the Maps, Search, or Ads results, is going to be the one most select.
While branding is important, for this industry and type of service, the business that dominates the opt of the search results is going to receive the majority of the website traffic and inbound phone calls.
Let’s look at a very simple five-step online marketing plan for septic companies that works well to help be found by local consumers that have an immediate need and desire to schedule a service call.
1. Optimize Your Septic Company Website for Usability and Conversions
Since the traffic generation strategies we are going to be focusing on target those who are looking for an immediate solution, your website must be optimized to convert your traffic into leads and phone inquiries.
First, make sure that mobile traffic is focus number one because when a situation arises, the average consumer is going to reach for his or her mobile device and pull up Google and type in “septic company in [location]” and click on the first result they see.
They aren’t going to be looking for articles to read or an “About” page on your website. They want to find contact information as quickly as possible. Have a mobile “Call Us” button that sticks to the top, always viewable, ready to field their call.
Make sure your contact form is large and has the bare minimum in terms of fields. Name, phone number, email address, and comments are more than enough. Be sure to also include a confidence-inspiring call-to-action to convert a higher percentage of traffic into leads. A “We Respond in Less Than 5 Minutes” CTA will convert much higher than a submission form without that heading.
2. Run a Google Ads Campaign to Generate Immediate Leads
When a consumer turns to Google any types in “septic pumping in [location]” or “fix septic tank leak in [location]” they are automatically going to be attracted to the top results, which are the paid ads results.
Running a Google Ads campaign allows you to generate traffic, leads, and service calls instantly. You can launch a campaign and book service calls from your ads on the same day. There is no waiting period like there is with organic SEO.
With septic PPC ads, you can account for every dollar spent and determine the realized return, allowing you to further optimize and adjust to meet your needs regarding cost-per-click targets, cost-per-lead goals, and customer acquisition.
Being such a measurable advertising method, this makes scaling a no-brain decision since you can remove the guesswork and speculation from the equation. You know the exact ROI that each Google Ads campaign produces, allowing you to determine what keywords and ads perform the best and which ones need to be disabled.
3. Use Facebook Ads to Target Local Customers with Remarketing Offers
What happens when a prospect visits your website after clicking on a PPC ad only to leave before calling your business or submitting a contact form for more information? Unless you have a remarketing plan in place to reconnect with your abandoned website traffic will be lost forever, and your average cost per conversion and customer will be high.
Using Facebook ads to remarket consumers places your ads in front of users that have been to your website recently, and you can even get aggressive and heavily target them 24-48 hours after the visit. Any longer than that and there is a very high likelihood that they have already found a solution to their problem.
Getting back in front of them right away allows you to pull them back in with an offer, whether it’s a discount or a promise of a fast service response time. This will vary depending on what pages they last interacted with on your website.
Someone that was viewing your standard septic pump service is better marketed with an offer of a discount, whereas someone who was looking at an emergency septic repair service page is going to take action on an ad that promises a 30-minute service response time.
4. Publish Blog Content Targeting Low Competition Septic Problem Keywords
Not all of your traffic has to come from paid ads, as there are plenty of great keywords that you can target and rank for organically that will help attract traffic to your website around the clock. Writing blog content centered around one keyword per article can help you attract organic traffic, and increase that volume monthly if you remain consistent with your publishing.
This is a long-term play, as results can take some time, but if you are constantly adding to your blog you are creating a content asset that will grow in terms of the traffic it attracts. The key is to target low competition long-tail keywords and search phrases that are not based on search volume.
Ranking for “emergency septic leak repair service in Memphis” might only receive 10 searches per month, but if your business is the top result for that – and hundreds more like it, you will begin to convert more service calls from organic traffic.
Create a list of keywords to rank for, and write optimized blog posts around each one as frequently as possible. Over time, as your septic SEO begins to deliver a strong ROI you can then outsource your blog writing, which enables you to scale it exponentially. This is when large-scale growth is realized.
5. Launch a Partnership Program with Local Realtors
Establishing a partner program is a great way to create a steady stream of septic pumping and septic inspection jobs. The best source for these types of referrals is realtors. Any time a home is being sold, the buyer will typically request an inspection of the septic system.
Create a referral program that offers a gift card “thank you” reward for all deals. A simple gift card to Starbucks or a local restaurant is enough to keep this channel full of service calls and appointments.
Without an actual customer acquisition cost, you can take what you typically pay for PPC or Facebook ad conversions and apply that amount towards the reward. This is a simple, yet highly effective way to constantly attract new customers.
Final Thoughts
As you can see all of the septic online marketing strategies explained above focus on targeting those who are currently looking for a solution. This is where the majority of your business is going to come from. When you do SEO correctly to target those emergency keywords it’s going to naturally spill over to help your business be found for standard septic keywords relevant to your location.
This helps your business be discovered by those who are being proactive and want to schedule a septic pump ahead of time before a problem arises. These are a good portion of your customers, but with many being repeat customers year after year, you can target new customers vis the strategies mentioned above and still position your business to be found on Google for those non-emergency searches.
If you have any questions related to the online septic marketing strategies outlined above or would like to learn more about the services our agency provides, please contact us so we may assist you.
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