Going Viral: TikTok for the Trades

The owner of Plomero en Phoenix made two brave decisions that hit the jackpot early in his trade industry career. 

A few years ago, Armando Ramos noticed a need in his community for marketing done in Spanish. 

He started doing it, and people began to take notice.

His next experiment blew the lid off business. Today, everyone in Phoenix is singing the praises of Ramos. Literally.

Embracing the latest trend in social media, Ramos created a TikTok video. The post was simple: It showed Ramos doing a simple plumbing task while fast-paced Mexican music played in the background.

At last count, the one-minute ad with the Cumbian-style jingle had received 59 million views and more than 2 million likes.

The viral sensation lit up the switchboard at Plomero en Phoenix.

“Oh, man, the response was amazing,” Ramos says. “We get lots of comments, and people have gone crazy. Everywhere I go, people start singing the song to me. Everybody loves it.”

Before creating the video, Ramos said he struggled to think up ways to compete with local competitors that had bigger marketing budgets.

“It was hard to be a new brand that didn’t have bags of money to throw at advertising,” he says. 

The return on investment for his ad budget was negligible until he opened a separate division in his company and marketed in Spanish. Soon, the Spanish side of the business was outpacing the English division.

He still does outreach in both languages—and everybody responds to the TikTok jingle.

“Nobody in my market has a jingle like that,” Ramos says.

Along with the catchiness of the music, Ramos points out that the TikTok video represents the authentic nature of his company. 

At 30, Ramos is relatively young—and the video speaks to a younger generation. 

“A lot of the younger generation is on TikTok,” he says. “I think a lot of people identify with me because the videos aren’t perfect. People say, ‘Dude, you're genuine. You're not doing crazy editing stuff.’ I just do them and they work, you know what I mean?”

Armando Ramos recently joined ServiceTitan’s Jackie Aubel as part of Season 6 of the “Toolbox for the Trades” podcast, which included Ramos’ thoughts on:

• Making the change from an electrician to plumber.

• Recognizing needs in the Hispanic community.

• Collaborating on social media campaigns.

• Getting business referrals from TikTok.

• Using TikTok to collect resumes and recruit.

To hear more tales from the trades, subscribe to Toolbox for the Trades on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, our website, or anywhere you get podcasts.