How to Get Septic Tank Leads: 11 Ways to Try Out [2024]

How to Get Septic Tank Leads

Here are some lead generation strategies you can use to generate leads for your septic company:

1. Harness the power of local SEO

Local SEO (search engine optimization) is a strategy that septic service companies use to remain visible and boost their ranking on local search result pages for local-intent search terms like “septic business near me.”

Local SEO strategies and septic companies make an ideal pairing, as homeowners typically prioritize hiring nearby septic service providers for two primary reasons:

• Response time: Customers prefer local businesses as they can respond quickly to emergencies such as overflowing septic tanks.

• Familiarity: Customers are likely to know employees at local businesses, as they live in the same neighborhood, attend the same schools, share the same friends, etc.

By employing local SEO strategies, you can appear in two sections of local search result pages: the popular organic blue links on every result page and the local map pack.

The local map pack is the most coveted position on local result pages as it appears above the conventional organic blue links at the top of the result page. It also captures 44 percent of local SERP clicks, as most searchers prefer picking companies featured in the map pack instead of scrolling down to the organic listings.

However, Google’s local search algorithm includes only three top-ranking septic service companies in local map packs, displaying their key business details and a map insert with pins indicating their physical locations.

The best way to increase your odds of earning a place in the local map pack is to increase your local search ranking. Here’s how to do that:

Optimize your Google Business Profile

GBP (formerly Google My Business or GMB) is a free business listing platform that lets businesses control their appearance on Google Search and Google Maps.

Optimizing your GBP greatly influences your local search rankings and appearance in local map packs, as it feeds search engine bots with relevant details about your business.

The first step of optimizing your GBP is creating one and filling it with all your company details: your phone number, a brief description of your services, your hours of operation, etc. The more complete your profile is, the greater the odds of ranking high and earning a local pack inclusion.

Other GBP optimization tips include:

• Use your correct business name without additional keywords to avoid Google penalties.

• Upload high-quality images and videos.

• Include a well-written service description.

• Use a local phone number so Google perceives you as an authentic local business.

• Ensure your name, address, phone number, and website (NAP+W) are accurate across all your citations (online business mentions).

• Fill up your profile with customer reviews.

Filling out your profile with customer reviews is crucial. Any potential new customer will read them to verify your company's authenticity, expertise, and experience.

Reviews are also a key Google local search factor—the more reviews on your profile, the greater the odds of ranking high and featuring in the local map pack.

So, urge techs to request reviews. They can also teach customers how to leave online reviews on your Google profile or simply leave a postcard with step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

To ensure you don’t lose track of reviews, consider using ServiceTitan’s Reputation platform to automate the entire customer review process.

The platform lets you set up review requests that customers automatically receive once a technician completes the job.

Additionally, with the Survey Resend feature, you can create reminders automatically sent via email or text to customers who didn’t click on the first review request.

This ensures you fill up your GBP with quality customer reviews.

Create local service pages on your website

Do you offer different services? Are you serving different areas? 

If so, creating location-based and service-focused landing pages is a great idea. It’s a great way to tell Google the locations you serve and the services you offer, improving your relevancy for local-intent septic business searches. 

Any location or service pages should be optimized for the right keywords, which you can find using:

• Google autocomplete feature

• Google related searches

• Google keyword planner

• SEO tools such as Semrush, Ahrefs, SE ranking, and Keywords Everywhere.

2. Run Facebook lead ads

These special Facebook ad formats let customers submit their details without leaving their Facebook news feed.

Facebook lead ads are an effective septic tank lead generation strategy as they eliminate the frustration of slow-loading landing pages by converting leads directly on the platform. 

Data from different studies also proves their effectiveness:

• Facebook lead ads outperform conventional Facebook ads by 20 percent, per Wordstream.

• Around 31 percent of customers say they used a business after watching a Facebook ad.

One way to get more results from Facebook lead ads is to avoid manual export by integrating your CRM into the backend of your Facebook Ads Manager. This makes it easy to follow up on people who didn’t convert after the first interaction.

Other ways to boost your lead ad’s conversion rate include:

• Allowing customers to automatically pre-fill the forms with their Facebook profile details instead of typing them.

• Limiting the number of fields and questions on lead forms.

• Using attractive graphic design, images, and videos.

• Including click-to-call and click-to-book buttons.

Recommended reading: Find more about Facebook lead ads.

3. Leverage PPC advertising

PPC (pay per click) is a form of digital marketing that lets advertisers display ads on digital platforms such as websites and applications, paying for each click the ad receives.

Different types of PPC exist: Google PPC, Bing PPC, Gmail sponsored ads, YouTube instream ads, etc. 

However, most marketers use Google PPC since the search engine accounts for a large percentage of online searches, and most customers use it to evaluate local businesses.

With Google PPC, advertisers who bid on keywords enter an auction whenever someone searches with the relevant keyword. 

Next, Google’s algorithm calculates ad rank scores using factors such as the advertiser's historical click-through rate, the bid, the ad's relevance to the searcher, and the landing page experience. Then, the top four ads with the highest ad ranks earn a place in the sponsored section.

The competition for the sponsored section is usually fierce. Here are some ways to increase your ad rank and upstage other septic service companies:

• Include more details about your septic service business to increase your click-through rate.

• Match your landing page copy to that on your ad.

• Use a high bid amount to compete favorably with other advertisers.

• Monitor and make improvements.

You can use marketing tools like Google Analytics and Semrush to monitor your PPC campaign’s performance.

But to escape the rigors of understanding cryptic charts and see your campaigns' exact ROI, consider using ServiceTitan’s Home Service Marketing software.

The software lets you create and assign unique phone numbers to each campaign. It automatically matches each customer's phone call to the originating campaign and displays the campaigns’ respective ROIs in real time.

Furthermore, the software gives a detailed breakdown of your campaigns’ performance, ranking them by their generated revenue and displaying the areas driving the most calls.

With this performance report, you can allocate resources to high-performing campaigns.

Pro tip: When picking high-performing campaigns, prioritize revenue rather than calls. 

That means a campaign that generates few calls but more revenue takes priority over one generating more calls but less revenue. It’s not about the lead quantity but the lead quality.

Discussing the importance of this, Liz Soto, the senior account manager at Proximo Marketing, says, “Why optimize calls when you can optimize revenue?”

To ensure your ad campaign stays optimized for revenue rather than calls, consider using ServiceTitan’s artificial intelligence for the trades—the Ad Optimizer.

The AI-powered tool analyzes conversion data from your campaigns on an ongoing basis and automatically reallocates your ad spend, giving more to revenue-generating campaigns.

Over time, the tool learns what quality leads look like and delivers that insight to Google, which then displays your ads to people most likely to convert. This increases lead quality and sales.

“Ad Optimizer solves one of the biggest pain points in marketing—tying digital marketing performance to revenue without creating internal solutions,” says Soto.

“Instead, that work is done automatically within ServiceTitan and Marketing Pro.”

Find out how to connect your PPC ads to ServiceTitan’s Home Services Marketing and Ad Optimizer tools to increase your conversion rate and lead quality in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3S7Mbk4OiY&ab_channel=ServiceTitan 

4. Run local service ads

Local service ads (LSAs) are a type of paid advertising that empowers customers to message or call businesses directly from ads placed on local search engines.

They take up valuable real estate at the top of local result pages, containing three top-ranking septic service companies alongside key details Google pulls from their respective GBPs.

Unlike PPC ads, where advertisers pay per click, local service ads charge you only for each lead your ad generates. That is, you only pay when a prospect calls or messages you or books an appointment with your LSA.

Here are some ways to increase the number of leads your LSA generates:

• Fill your GBP with real reviews.

• List your accreditations and unique service offerings.

• Optimize your profile page and provide accurate information.

• Include high-quality images and service descriptions.

• Always respond promptly to calls and messages.

Given LSAs' lead-generation potential, we partnered with Google to create the Local Service Ad integration, which pulls all job bookings from LSAs into your ServiceTitan dashboard.

The tool also lets you track the performance of your LSAs, using a dashboard containing LSA key performance indicators (KPIs).

Here are some case studies justifying the use of ServiceTitan’s Local Service Ad integration:

• Increased conversions: F.H. Furr (Manassas, Va.) has recorded an 80% conversion rate on leads booked with the integration.

• More new customers generated: 75%of the leads Coolray (Marietta, Ga.) gets using the integration are new customers.

• Reduced cost per lead: Benjamin Franklin Plumbing generated 76 bookings using the integration, costing 50%less than other lead generation channels.

5. Get referrals

Referrals happen when a customer recommends your septic services to someone they know, either unprompted or due to a referral marketing program you’ve set up.

The good thing about referrals is that they almost always generate high-quality leads.

Imagine looking for a septic tank company and seeing a branded advertisement for company A. However, your friends recommend company B, having used them in the past.

Which company will you choose? Company B, right?

Most customers would make the same choice as they prefer learning about companies from people they know.

Actively requesting referrals also benefits your company's bottom line, as referred customers will likelyconvert and outspend others in the long run.

Therefore, it stands to reason that you should always request referrals.

You can include referral requests in your newsletters, invoices, and booking page and encourage techs to request referrals from happy customers. 

Another excellent way to get referrals is to exceed customer expectations. Satisfied customers are more likely to refer you to a prospective customer organically.

ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience software can help you delight customers by communicating with them at every step of the job cycle.

The software lets you text or email customer appointment reminders, boosting tech productivity and preventing wasted trips to job sites.

To ensure techs arrive on time at the customer’s location, ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience software lets you relay the real-time location of the tech’s truck to customers using GPS technology.

This ensures techs avoid detours and proves to customers that you’re working to fix their septic tank issue.

From our experience, customers love the hassle-free experience provided by septic service companies using ServiceTitan's Customer Experience platform. From receiving updates to ensuring on-time arrival, everything's smooth and easy.

For example, Courtney Van Delden, owner of Van Delden Wastewater Systems, received a customer's call after they switched to ServiceTitan.

"She said, 'I know you moved to [this] software in the last few years, and I just want to tell you as a customer, it's amazing, and we love the communication.' She works for a solar company, and they were really growing and looking for software. She said, 'I'm calling you to see if you can tell me what you use because we're interested in using it.'”

"I thought that spoke volumes," says Van Delden.

Overall, this tool can help you exceed customer expectations and earn valuable referrals and customer reviews.

However, managing reviews can be difficult, especially with hundreds of them. Even worse, most customers expect local businesses to respond to their reviews.

That’s where ServiceTitan’s Reputation Management tool comes in handy.

In addition to automating customer review requests, the platform lets you create review alerts, so you are notified whenever a customer posts a review on any of your business listings or social media handles.

Even better, once a notification comes in, you or any team member can respond to the review from a central dashboard.

This ensures you resolve negative reviews quickly before the fallout worsens or competitors exploit them to steal customers.

Pro tip: Considering how busy most customers are these days, send a fillable referral request template to customers like this one:

Hi [Name of Referral],

I recently had a fantastic experience with [septic tank cleaning company], and I wanted to share it with you! They helped me with [name of service].

I was particularly impressed with [mention specific things you liked].

You should check them out since you're looking for [name of service]. I thought you might be interested.

6. Create lead magnets

Lead magnets are free assets, such as ebooks and infographics, that septic service companies offer to prospects in exchange for their personal details (email, phone number, etc.).

With the prospect’s details in their hands, septic service companies can nurture the prospect into a loyal customer by delivering content that resolves their objections, showcases the company’s expertise, and gives the prospect reasons to book an appointment.

For a lead magnet to work, it must be valuable to the prospect. That is, it must solve a septic tank–related problem or answer a question.

For example, your customers often report septic tank emergencies that frequent inspections and maintenance could have prevented. You can create a Seasonal Septic System Maintenance Checklist and send educational and promotional emails to those who download it.

After a lead submits their contact information, send a thank-you email to mark the start of your lead-nurturing campaign.

Also, consider using ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro Email software to set up your lead nurturing campaign.

The software's easy-to-understand interface and professionally designed templates allow users to create, send, and track email lead nurturing campaigns.

To set up a campaign, simply build your audience, customize a template with your email copy and brand assets, and send.

The platform’s robust analytics dashboard shows you each email’s performance data.

You can use this data to consistently improve your email's key elements, boosting your campaign’s click-through and engagement rates.

7. Engage in donations and charities

Donating to and volunteering with charities grows your brand visibility and can even earn you a mention in local publications. 

Supporting local community also builds your brand’s reputation and attracts customers who care about the causes you support.

Take a look at ways to generate septic leads through donations and active engagement in charities:

• Sponsor a local team or event.

• Donate to a local food bank or homeless shelter.

• Volunteer at local nonprofits and encourage your employees to do the same.

As a local company, you’re bound to receive several support requests—a school team might need a sponsor, the community fair might request a donation, someone might need healthcare support, etc.

Managing and approving such requests can be a considerable challenge. Saying "no" can feel like letting someone down, but saying "yes" to everything stretches your resources too thin.

ServiceTitan’s director of customer relations, Chris Hunter, who has participated in employee-led community drives, gives the following tips:

• Set aside a charity budget. And always try to stay within it.

• Set up an application process for all support requests. Tell every applicant what the process entails.

• Establish an application review timeframe. For example, Hunter Super Techs reviews all support applications at its annual planning meeting and offers support the following year. 

• Create an application review committee. This team decides which initiatives to support.

• Notify the organizations chosen for support. Assign an employee to communicate with the applicants and coordinate the money distribution.

• Have an annual planning meeting to take stock of the program’s success. Measure the program's impact on the community and your business to determine if it's worth continuing.

• Offer support to employees interested in a charity or cause. You can also volunteer with them if you have the time.

8. Try remarketing

There’s usually a long interval between consecutive septic tank maintenance sessions. Traditional septic systems are maintained every two to three years, and aerobic septic systems are maintained every four to five months.

Retaining top-of-mind awareness until the next maintenance is crucial so customers don’t leave you for competitors. That’s where remarketing comes in handy.

Remarketing is simply advertising to people who have used your services or interacted with your company but have yet to book your septic services.

Let’s say you ran maintenance on a customer’s aerobic septic tank. You can keep sending them promotional, educational, and engaging emails until they’re ready for their next maintenance in four or five months.

For remarketing to work, you must have a record of people who have interacted with your brand in one way or the other by:

• Installing pixels (code snippets for tracking web activity) on the backend of your website or social media ad.

• Collecting emails or phone numbers of prospects and customers.

ServiceTitans Marketing Pro Email and Direct Mail platforms can help you remarket to prospects and customers. 

With both platforms, one can build audience lists using customer data and launch direct mail or email campaigns that are hyper-relevant to the recipients’ current needs.

For example, you can send an email explaining why it’s essential to frequently maintain septic tanks to customers who serviced their septic tanks four-and-a-half years ago.

Even better, ServiceTitan’s Direct Mail platform saves you the stress and costs of creating, designing, printing, and sending your mail.

Just upload your postcard, add your mail copy, and ServiceTitan will handle the printing, postage, and delivery––only charging you for individual pieces rather than expensive minimum print runs.

You can also track the deliverability of each postcard and the revenue it’s generating.

You can use these valuable insights to tweak your mails to improve deliverability and generate more revenue.

9. Offer free inspections

Free inspections encourage potential customers who might otherwise wait to book an appointment until they have a problem.

You can also use a free inspection to collect prospects’ contact information and suggest some services they may need, such as pumping and septic system maintenance or repairs.

You can promote free inspection offers on your website, social media handles, newsletters, billboards, and ads. Remember to make the CTA clear and concise.

Finally, to increase conversion rates, consider offering a discount to prospects who immediately book an appointment to fix the issues you found during the inspection.

10. Team up with other local businesses

Collaborating with other local businesses can help generate leads through cross-promotions, referrals, and co-branded marketing campaigns.

Such partnerships are also an excellent way to expand your reach, increase your visibility, and leverage the credibility and trust other business owners already have with the community.

Before partnering with any business, ensure they offer complementary services—i.e., their customers will likely need your services.

Some examples of complementary local businesses you can partner with include:

• Real estate agents: You can partner with them to offer new homeowners septic tank repair or installation discounts. You can also provide them with educational materials on septic tanks so they can promote your services better.

• Home inspectors: They will direct clients with faulty septic tanks to you. You could offer them a commission.

• Plumbers: They often encounter septic tank issues. You can partner with them so they refer customers to you. And in exchange, you could refer customers to them.

• Builders and contractors: You can co-create packages that charge clients a specific price for installing a septic tank. 

Aside from local businesses, you can also partner with government agencies, local chambers of commerce, local media outlets, and even homeowner associations.

11. Create an ad spot on a local radio station

Running an advert on local radio stations is a great way to reach prospects and customers within your local service area.

Radio ads allow you to target specific audience demographics by timing your ads to coincide with the particular programs, hosts, and music genre that demographic listens to.

Rather than creating radio ads yourself, hiring voiceover artists and professional production companies is advisable to ensure that great music and a voiceover accompany your ads.

Depending on the goals you wish to achieve, you can use any of the following radio ad formats:

• Live reads involve show hosts or DJs reciting a prewritten ad script. Such radio ads leverage the host's credibility and familiarity to generate leads.

• Jingles comprise your message accompanied by catchy tunes, which can increase the ad’s memorability and help grow brand awareness. 

• Testimonials that feature  a customer narrating their experience with your company. Hearing the experience of an actual individual can build credibility and trust, which helps generate leads.

• Straight reads get straight to the point: no voice acting, no jingles. Using a straight read is advisable if you have a complex offering.

Since radio ads are non-digital, tracking their performance can take time and effort. Luckily, there are some best practices. 

By monitoring your website's analytics, you can observe traffic patterns and potential upswings in search volume for the keywords related to your radio advertising campaign and any increases in organic traffic, conversions, and time spent on your site.

An even easier way is to assign a dedicated phone number to every radio ad or ask leads how they heard about you.

Pro tip: New, small businesses can use other, more budget-friendly strategies and only take on radio advertising once they've grown.

Tips for More Effective Septic Tank Lead Generation

Getting the basics right can set you up for success.

Here are some basics of septic service lead generation: 

• Know your ideal customer: The first step is to know your ideal customer. Who are they? What are their demographics and psychographics? What septic tank–related challenges do they face? 

Once you get these answers, you can tailor your lead generation strategy to meet their needs and your message to resonate with them.

• Make it easy for potential customers to reach you: After attracting leads, the next step is making it easy for them to contact you. 

This includes having a clear call to action on your ads and landing pages and ensuring your contact information is included in all promotional materials.

• Nurture your leads: Some leads may convert quickly into new customers. You should nurture other, more slow-converting leads into new customers by following up with them, answering their objections, and providing valuable information. 

This can move them down the sales funnel faster until they become customers.

Now Over to You 

With all the strategies we’ve covered, you’re ready to start generating leads for your septic tank business.

But first, discover your ideal customers so you can pick a strategy to reach them where they are with messages that resonate with them.

Use ServiceTitan’s septic company software to automate your lead generation efforts.

ServiceTitan is cloud-based software septic companies use to streamline their business operations. Over 100,000 contractors across the country use the platform.