Pipe Dreams
– A Plumber’s Journey To Digital Dominance
Journey with Luke, a London plumber, as he transforms his traditional business into a digital success. Learn how to carve a unique online identity, tap into customer needs, and nurture loyal relationships. If you’re ready to shine in the digital world, this book is your guiding light.
The book is a fascinating blend of friendly conversation and expert guidance as it walks you through the world of digital marketing in the shoes of a London plumber named Luke.
Chapter 3: The Magic Tap
With the sun peering through the restaurant windows, Sam and Luke met again for their regular morning coffee. Today’s topic was one that Sam had hinted at during their last meeting. The anticipation had kept Luke up late the previous night, eagerly researching online and jotting down notes of things he didn’t quite understand.
“Remember how we talked about the need to stand out in the digital crowd, Luke?” Sam began, drawing Luke’s attention away from his notepad. “The first step was to understand what makes you unique and amplify it. The next step, and the topic for today’s lesson, is understanding your customers.”
Luke looked puzzled, “But I know my customers, Sam. I’ve been working with them for years. How is this related to my website?”
Sam chuckled at his friend’s innocent question, “In the offline world, yes, you interact with your customers, understand their problems, and provide solutions.
But, in the digital world, you don’t have the luxury of face-to-face interactions. So, you have to find a different way to understand their needs, their problems, and how they express them. That’s where ‘keyword research’ comes in.”
“Keyword research?” Luke echoed, the unfamiliar term creating a furrow in his brow.
“Yes, keyword research,” Sam confirmed, sipping his coffee. “In the simplest terms, it’s about finding the words and phrases your potential customers use when they’re looking for plumbing services online. These are the words that we need to use on our website and in our content to ensure we show up when customers are looking for our services.”
“But why can’t I just use the terms I think are relevant?” Luke questioned, trying to get a grasp on this new concept.
Sam leaned back in his chair, his eyes gleaming with an educator’s excitement. “The digital landscape is vast, Luke, and people have different ways of expressing their needs. What you think is a ‘blocked pipe’, a customer might search for as a ‘clogged drain’.
Our job is to find the most common language that potential customers use and mirror it in our online presence. That’s how we make sure we’re always in the right place at the right time.”
Luke slowly nodded, understanding dawning upon him. This was a new territory, a new way of thinking. It was challenging, yes, but it also held a promise of connecting him with his customers in a way he had never considered before.
After a moment’s silence, Sam broke the pause, “So, how do we begin? There are some tools we need to start this journey?”
“I’ve got a list of the tools you’ll need to get this working as fast as possible,” Sam explained. “There are several out there, both free and paid. Over the last few years I’ve pretty much tried them all. Some were garbage, and some have been a game-changer”.
Luke scribbled down the names on his notepad, his hand almost unable to keep pace with his racing thoughts.
“And how do I use them?”
Sam took a deep breath, preparing to dive into the details. “Well, for starters, you need to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Think about what problems they might be facing, what kind of help they might be looking for, and the language they might use to describe it.
Then, you use these tools to validate your assumptions and find related phrases that you might not have thought of.”
As he said this, Sam reached across the table and turned Luke’s notepad towards him. Grabbing a pen, he started sketching out a process: brainstorming keywords, validating them, exploring related terms, and narrowing down the list.
“Once you’ve identified a list of potential keywords, the next step is to validate them,” Sam continued, his pen moving swiftly on the paper. “These tools will show you how often each term is searched for, giving you an idea of how many potential customers are out there.
They’ll also show you how competitive each keyword is, meaning how many other websites are trying to rank for the same term.”
“But remember, Luke,” Sam paused, looking up to ensure he had his friend’s full attention. “Keyword research is an ongoing process. You keep looking for and finding as many low competition keywords with search volume to add to your strategy as necessary. You see, that’s why the typical local business websites simply don’t work.”
“When you are only targeting a couple of the same high competition keywords as everyone else, that’s why your site doesn’t get the visitors you’re looking for, they don’t have a chance.”
With that, the friends wrapped up their meeting, leaving Luke with a new toolbox and a head full of ideas. As he walked away from the café, his heart fluttered with anticipation and nervousness. This new knowledge, the unknown world of digital marketing, was daunting, yes, but it also promised a fresh lease of life for his business, a business he had put his heart and soul into.
Luke was left alone at the table, his mind buzzing with thoughts. As he looked down at the notepad, filled with his own hurried handwriting and Sam’s neat diagrams, he began to grasp the magnitude of what he was about to undertake.
His old ways of operating his plumbing business were becoming a thing of the past, and in their place was a promising, albeit daunting, digital future.
Over the next few days, and each night after the day’s hard work, Luke dedicated his time to deciphering the digital landscape. He started with exploring the tools Sam had mentioned – he found himself fascinated by how they could predict customer behaviour, almost like reading their minds.
He began understanding his potential customers better, identifying services they looked for, the problems they encountered, and the solutions they sought.
He realised that the world of digital marketing was not so dissimilar from plumbing. The tools were different, yes. Instead of wrenches, pipes, and valves, he had keyword research tools, SEO tactics, and compelling content. But the purpose was the same: to connect people to the services they needed, just like how a network of pipes connected homes to water sources.
As he delved deeper into keyword research, he discovered that his potential customers were not just looking for ‘a plumber.’ They were searching for ’emergency plumbers,’ ‘plumbers who do leak repairs,’ ‘plumbers for bathroom renovations,’ and more. Each search phrase was a unique tap, controlling the flow of potential customers to his business.
One evening, after a particularly fruitful session of keyword research, Luke found himself staring at his screen, a smile playing on his lips. It dawned on him that he was not merely a plumber lost in the vast digital city, but a craftsman with the ability to carve out his unique space in it.
Just like each plumbing job required its unique approach, Luke realised that his online identity too needed its own strategy. He decided then and there that his website wouldn’t be a bland, generic website like so many others.
It would be a platform where he would share his extensive knowledge about plumbing, offer helpful advice to homeowners, and provide quick, efficient solutions for those in need.
Sam’s first lesson, differentiation, had taken root. The world of digital marketing, once an intimidating puzzle, was starting to make sense. It was all about connecting with customers, understanding their needs, and providing value, much like his plumbing work.
But most importantly, it was about standing out, about turning a unique tap that let his business flow freely amidst the multitude of similar digital plumbing profiles. The seed for Luke’s digital transformation had been planted. It was time for it to grow.