Whether you’ve been in business for a few years, or you just started your latest venture, finding new customers is an integral part of success. With so many people out there and so many avenues to pursue, finding a place to start can be overwhelming. For small businesses with limited resources, finding new clients can be especially challenging.
Even for more established businesses, customer churn and growth require new acquisition approaches over time. The question for anyone in this position remains: Where do businesses find new customers? There is no “one-size fits all solution” for client acquisition because funnels are unique to all different products and services. However, creating high-quality products, fostering strong relationships with existing customers, and continuing to generate relevant content online increases your chances of attracting potential customers each day.
Market research and definition
Market research is important to attracting new customers because it helps define the need and prospective client base for a product or service. Business owners can begin by reading data from existing surveys and demographics reports and can extend their research by doing surveys in their desired markets. If your business has online platforms or email marketing lists, these are ideal places to gather high quality information from previous or existing customers. Markets and customer needs can shift over time, so this is also a good point to re-define your target audience and buyer personas.
Get to know your competition
While defining your target audience in the search for new customers, examine what your competition is up to. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How do your products or services differ from your competitors?
- Why would someone choose your product or service over your competitors?
- What kind of messaging are your competitors using online?
- How does your messaging differ from your competitors?
Your business should take note of how your respective offers differ. This may give you some clarity on the type of information you should share and how you can differentiate yourself from your competition.
Brag about your benefits
When was the last time you asked your audience to purchase your product or service? Have you recently discussed your offer in the places your business typically markets?
Of course, you are aware of the messaging and benefits your business has to offer, but that doesn’t mean others recognize what you’re selling. This can cause an awareness problem, which can be extremely detrimental to your sales funnel and remarketing techniques.
Sometimes, it’s important to get back to the basics to attract new clients. Potential customers will not buy something if they do not fully understand it. Spend some time bragging about what you have to offer and ask for sales. You can do this by creatively informing people about your product or service and what makes it special. Sometimes, that’s really all you need to wake up potential customers.
Optimize
Keeping old and outdated content online can be detrimental to your domain authority and bounce rate, which can lead to decreased traffic from search engines to your website. To increase the quality of your online presence and bring in potential customers, take some time to create new content and clean up and re-optimize existing content. You can use tools like Moz for keyword research and HubSpot to add calls to action in key places on your site. This can help increase the traffic to improved pages on your site and bring new clients right to your door.
Team up
Creating key partnerships in your field and community can be a great way to generate new leads and increase sales for your business. Consider services or products that complement your own, or ways that you could work with them in your local area. Sponsoring an industry-leading event or creating an opportunity to exchange blogs on a different site can attract more interest towards your business. You can also create an online giveaway with like-minded businesses to cross-promote your products to a larger audience.
Consider providing funding to a local non-profit organization or planning a community fundraiser to make a difference where you live. Not only can your business benefit from the coverage and media attention given to such events, but you can create a lasting impression on the people whose lives are touched by your efforts. Read more about purpose-driven brands and why they succeed exponentially here.
Advertising
Advertising in spaces that are relevant to your target audience is key to attracting new customers. This suggestion is a more direct path to increase sales, but it’s also the most expensive way. If you have a very low customer acquisition cost or return on ad investment, putting more money into ad spend might not be worthwhile for your business. However, Google, social media, and other pay-per-click (PPC) platforms give you control and flexibility through targeting and can help you pinpoint potential clients online.
Remarketing and affiliates
The most valuable customer is the one you already have. Now read that again. 🔁
Remarketing and retention are extremely valuable because you are speaking directly to people who have purchased from you before, so you know they are in your ideal audience. With existing customers, you must demonstrate the continued benefits of your product/service to keep them from buying from someone else next time. Retention can be encouraged through email marketing, value-adding content marketing online, or top-notch customer service experiences..
Requesting reviews from past customers is extremely important as well, so make sure you always follow up with anyone who has purchased from you before. You can also create an affiliate program to give customers an opportunity to share their experiences with your business, and benefit from the sales that are generated from their reach. Affiliate programs can be as simple as offering a coupon code to the person who made the referral or providing unique affiliate links to generate a cash-back program.
Outsourcing
Start-ups and small business owners are accustomed to wearing many hats but having a team of digital marketing experts at your disposal can be an invaluable tool (that pays for itself). At Bit-Wizards, when your business works with our Software Engineers on a project, you also get input and expertise from our award-winning Digital Marketing team. They have successfully optimized and created acquisition funnels for Bit-Wizards, TalkingParents, and our many partners and clients. Get in touch.