For a business owner, finding your ideal customer can be a difficult yet rewarding journey. In general, your marketing strategy should include target customer development actions that fall into three categories:
Read on to learn about 15 ways you can maximize repeat business and earn your next loyal customer.
Your current customers have a broad network of friends, neighbors, and co-workers who they can funnel to your business. You just have to provide the right incentive. Experts recommend being proactive and building a formal system to solicit and incentivize customers. Follow up with customers after sales, and once you confirm they’re satisfied, introduce them to your referral program. Be prepared to offer an enticing incentive like a commission or discount code.
Everyone loves a good deal. In just four letters, BOGO creates an excited potential customer ready for savings. Create multi-person promotions that will encourage current customers to bring in a friend or coworker. Need help brainstorming your next business ads ? How about:
If you want your customer s to be your salespeople, emphasize customer satisfaction. Make the in-store shopping experience clean, enjoyable, and stress-free. Additionally, build a comprehensive customer service plan to triage any potential issues and train your employees to always put the customer first.
Are you staying in touch with current customers? Keep in contact with current and past customers so they can stay up to date with new products and promotions. Ask for their feedback so they feel valued and heard.
To ease your communication efforts, set up a system during the sales process to capture customer contact information. That way, you can reach them through a regular email newsletter. Also, consider providing value on your social media channels in the form of industry expertise and promotions to incentivize customers to follow you and stay up to date with your business.
Engaging with your existing clients and attracting potential clients through social media can significantly boost your business.
Email marketing is a powerful tool for keeping in touch with your current client base and reaching out to prospective clients.
Once you’ve created an organized inventory of current and past customers, you can begin market research to understand your audience better. This research doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as analyzing your current customer base to identify trends that will help your business tap into future leads.
Once you’ve begun your market research, you can explore new customers to target. Do you want to pursue the same demographics as current customers or expand to a new audience? Who is the audience, and what do they want?
Once you have a systemized inventory of past and current customers, you will be able to pinpoint which customers haven’t stopped by recently. Try creating a standard schedule for contacting old customers—for example, customers who haven’t visited in six months. Offer a discount or promotion to incentivize them to return. Consider also surveying them to determine why they stopped visiting.
Research customers and competitors to understand your community’s demands and how your competitors are attempting to meet those needs. Take this as an opportunity to get inspired in your business and services and ask yourself:
For example, Susan Weiand of Susan J Weiand Photography was inspired by other photographers who were doing porch portraits during the pandemic. When Weiand offered the service herself, new and old customers reached out to procure her services.
On your search for new customers, you will need to define your target markets. As you consider branching out to additional markets and customer groups, try to identify these three key players in each market:
As you consider new markets and the key players within each, you will need to establish the following points for your product or service:
Which of these will resonate with which market and which players? A parent might want to hear about a toy’s safety features while their child will be drawn to bright packaging. As you define potential new customers, you can refine the value proposition you will pitch them.
Once you have established the new markets that you want to target, you will need to develop an accompanying marketing plan . Your first decision will be to decide between traditional marketing and digital marketing, or even a combination of both. Ask yourself where your customers spend their time. Are they constantly online, or would they be more likely to notice a billboard?
There are four key digital marketing tactics for small businesses to understand and explore:
Try a blend of traditional and digital marketing techniques, including:
You don’t need to commit to all of these marketing strategies. Choose just a few to focus on as you develop your marketing skills. If you don’t see results, transition to another tactic until you find the perfect way to connect with new customers.
Another free marketing strategy is to get attention from local media. Contact radio, newspaper, and TV stations about your events and business news. Pitch them a compelling story about you or your business. Offer your industry expertise and write a guest blog.
A tried and true technique to convert your new audience into customers is to offer new customer discounts. These promotions will help them make the leap from shopper to buyer. Get creative with your offerings. If you can’t afford to offer a coupon, can you add in a free gift? Free shipping? A discount on their next purchase? Put yourself in their shoes. What kind of promotion would make you open your wallet?
For inspiration, look no further than Portland-based window company, Renewal by Andersen . This business started using Nextdoor’s Local Deals feature and saw incredible growth with new leads.
“The ROI with Nextdoor [Local Deals] is better than we’ve seen with other channels. We get warm leads from people who are already interested, and we’ve found that those leads close at a much higher rate than other channels,” said their marketing manager.
A Local Deal can make a big difference in attracting new customers to your retail store.
Build partnerships with complementary businesses that share your customer base without being directly competitive. For example, a nail salon might partner with a hair salon. These partnerships are mutually beneficial. You can offer partner commissions and discounts to capture your shared audience.
Meet your neighbors and give back to your community by taking part in local events . Consider sponsoring a nonprofit or having a booth at the local fair. Get out from behind the counter and mingle with your community. You’ll learn more about your audience, and they’ll learn more about you. It might just be the push potential customers need to turn to you for their needs.
For example, New York real estate agent Jeffrey Goodman decided to show his local expertise through an innovative community event idea—a local neighborhood tour. Goodman takes community members and potential customers through his listings area to showcase architectural beauties, favorite neighborhood spots, and insider secrets. These events are favorites for the whole community and showcase Goodman’s professionalism, warm personality, and knowledge of the area.
Online reviews are effective and free advertising. Ask current customers to post reviews or leave a Nextdoor recommendation in follow-up messages. Incentivize them further by offering a discount or promotion if they submit a review. Link to these reviews on your website and social media so that new customers can feel confident about making a purchase. Respond to negative reviews politely and try to remedy the complaint to mitigate any potential damage.
A rewards program will both attract and retain new customers. Some program s use point systems while others offer rewards after a certain dollar amount is spent. Customers will also love holiday and birthday specials. If you choose a point system, you can have double point days to drive even more traffic. The possibilities are endless.
As you search for how to get more customers, you have three key strategies:
Each of these channels can be reached through your marketing and customer satisfaction strategies. As you undertake market research to find new potential customers, look no further than your neighbors. Your community members are your best advocates and best customers.
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