E.R. Plumbing is a plumbing company in the Charlotte area that has handled all aspects of home and commercial plumbing service and emergency repairs since its founding in 1997. Dave Parker, the owner of E.R. Plumbing, became a Local Solutions client in 2016. Dave needed to improve his marketing tactics to reach new audiences and project an image beyond emergency plumbing needs. Read on to see how Local Solutions helped him double his gross revenue and break sales records every month.
Marketing Goals
While Dave felt that E.R. Plumbing had a solid hold on the market for emergency plumbing needs, he wanted to build his client base with homeowners who need an everyday plumber for maintenance. Having "E.R." in his company's name helped him conquer the emergency plumbing market, but he needed to reach more potential customers. E.R. Plumbing is uniquely positioned as a company that's small enough to offer a personal touch, but large enough to weather economic ups and downs and provide continuous service to its customers. Dave wanted gradual growth to ensure he could keep up with the calls and provide excellent service to every customer. He also wanted to position his company as being heavily involved in the community.
E.R. Plumbing's motto is "Serviced once, client for life". Rather than promoting the company as the cheapest plumber in town, Dave wanted to convey the message that E.R. Plumbing offers top-notch service, reliability, and trustworthiness. He is proud of the company's high number of repeat customers and the positive feedback E.R. Plumbing has received via online reviews.
Focus on Community
Dave Parker is heavily involved in his community and his church, and has been a Family Focus partner with Charlotte TV since 2016. Family Focus is WSOCTV's initiative that focuses on giving back to families in the Charlotte community. In 2019, E.R. Plumbing launched the "Do Good With Dave" campaign that encourages people to connect with local nonprofits. Dave and his team volunteer at Classroom Central, an organization that collects school supplies to donate to local students, and the company has partnered with several other community organizations over the years, including Steve's Coats for Kids and St. Jude's Children's' Hospital.
For 2016 and 2017, Local Solutions focused on presenting E.R. Plumbing as a community-focused company that gives back to their neighbors, rather than using sales-heavy messaging.
The Next Level
By 2018, Dave was ready to forge a new path with his marketing strategy. He wanted to move beyond the Family Focus branding and he was interested in tying his company's image to the weather.
Local Solutions pitched a sponsorship to E.R. Plumbing that included:
- The company's logo on-screen during every Severe Weather alert
- A custom-built Severe Weather digital campaign including IP Targeting
- Targeting new movers
- Digital canvassing campaign in neighborhoods where E.R. Plumbing had already been successful
The results were outstanding: during monthly check-ins, Dave reported that every month brought record-breaking revenue.
Local Solutions Tactics
Keeping Dave's goals in mind, the Local Solutions team developed a multi-faceted strategy for helping E.R. Plumbing grow their business at a sustainable rate. Some of the tactics deployed as part of the strategy include:
- Three display sponsorships on WSOCTV.com, each targeting a different audience: Severe Weather Sponsorship, Big 22 High School Football Sponsorship, Family Focus sponsorship
- Rich media and weather triggered ads on WSOCTV.com
- IP Targeting
- Search Engine Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
Results
Since partnering with Local Solutions, E.R. Plumbing has doubled its gross revenue. The company has also doubled the number of plumbers on staff and trucks in its fleet. At Local Solutions, we are proud that we've been able to provide such effective results for a company that truly cares about its customers and its community.
