Key points:
- Email marketing, blogging, and social media can help you meet your target customers and develop your company by helping you understand your customers and competitors.
- Small businesses depend on new customers coming through the house. Even if you have a fantastic product or service and have outstanding customer service, finding new customers can be difficult.
- Maybe you've tried placing advertisements in newspapers or passing out flyers, but nothing seems to be working.
- You're probably wondering how to get more customers for your business. The trick is to locate them online, where they are already.
- You can use various online marketing strategies to help your company grow. Use this guide to develop fresh ideas for attracting new customers and can sales.
Discover how to increase customer traffic to your company with these nine suggestions.
To learn how to draw more customers to your company, some upfront preparation, and ongoing marketing tactics will be necessary. In addition, you must have a firm grasp of your market, clients, and rivals, as well as an understanding of how to use online resources such as your website, social media, and business review sites.
1. Gain an understanding of your customers
Before embarking on marketing campaign, it is necessary to gain a thorough understanding of your customers. Once you've identified the target audience, you can develop customer personas and tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.
A consumer persona is a fictional representation of your potential customer based on demographics, place, and purchasing behaviors. By developing an identity, you can better understand your target demographic and segment your customer base, enabling you to select the most effective communication platforms and messaging.
Consider the following scenario: you are an electrician who serves residential and industrial clients. You would not want to send an email to residential clients discussing large-scale generators when they are more interested in rewiring their house.
It is essential to have tailored content and promotions. Your clients would be more open to your marketing efforts if they are appropriate and customized for them.
2. Conduct market research on your rivals
You can gain a good deal of knowledge by researching your rivals. For example, you can uncover innovative business concepts or learn how customers perceive your competitors.
Competitive research does not have to be complicated or costly.
Begin by perusing positive feedback for information that could help your company. For instance, suppose you own a cafe and increase repeat business. You can discover that your competitors have an attractive membership program. Perhaps it is time for your restaurant to develop a membership program.
3. Recruit exceptional workers
Superior customer support will help your company stand out from the competition. It begins with recruiting the appropriate personnel and adequately training them.
You cannot be everywhere at once, and you must trust your employees to provide exceptional customer service to attract visitors to return and become loyal customers.
Develop a training program that teaches staff how to deal with difficult circumstances and have a positive customer experience. Your team will know what to do in any situation and will be able to keep your customers satisfied with the training they receive.
By providing a positive experience, a talented employee will forge relationships with customers independently. On the other hand, an employee who is not well qualified and provides a negative customer experience will drive customers away and minimize repeat business.
4. Optimize your website
Nowadays, a visually appealing website is a must. If your site is poorly built, sluggish, or not optimized for mobile devices, customers will quickly abandon it. Nearly half of customers believe that the design of a business's website is the most critical factor in determining its reputation.
Create a good user experience on website using a professional layout and clearly labeling essential details. Your website should be divided into parts that describe your company in detail. These categories will most likely include the following for a lawn care business:
- Services: Describe your business's mission and the goods or services it provides.
- Service Area: Describe your business's location and the distance you are willing to drive to deliver services.
- About Us: Inform visitors about yourself and how long you've been in the company.
- Frequently Asked Questions: Answer any possible questions your visitors may have.
- Contact Information: Provide visitors with a phone number, email address, and physical address to contact you.
Additionally, it would help if had a specific value proposition that distinguishes your company from the competition. For example, a barbershop might write, "Clean cuts at a fraction of the cost."
5. Utilize a blog to increase traffic to your website.
Blogging will help you increase the amount of traffic to your website. Relevant and helpful content can help you establish a more substantial online presence and will help you improve your search engine optimization (SEO).
Blogging requires organization and discipline. First, you must conduct keyword research to determine what terms people in your area are looking for. Then choose blog post topics, schedule publication, and promote your content through online marketing channels such as your social media pages or email list.
Write about issues that are important to your customer base. For example, a plumbing company might write a step-by-step guide on unclogging drains.
A prospective customer may use this knowledge to self-diagnose and resolve issues. If they cannot do so on their own, they will seek assistance from you, as you have developed a degree of confidence and authority. Even if they do not need you immediately, they will remember you for potential plumbing issues.
6. Create an email list
Email marketing enables you to develop relationships with prospective customers and establish relationships with current customers. If you have a customer's email address, you can give them deals, relevant material, and regular updates to keep them informed.
There are some different methods for email collection. One approach is to request contact details from current customers. Don't forget to request permission to give them emails to avoid appearing intrusive (it's also the law).
Another strategy for growing your email list is to give them a reason to sign up for your newsletters. For example, assume you operate a small sandwich shop. Customers who sign up for newsletters will earn a 10% discount on their next visit.
Finally, you should include an email sign-up form on your website to capture visitors. You may provide a similar reward to this category to increase the number of sign-ups.
7. Base your decisions on customer feedback
Consumers enjoy reading reviews of local businesses before making purchases. It informs them about the quality of a company by depending on the feedback of previous customers.
Over 70% of consumers will not select a company until they first read a review, and 15% of consumers will not trust businesses that lack feedback. Therefore, if you want to increase customer traffic to your company, it's critical to have accessible customer feedback.
8. Make use of social media
Social networking platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn are practical tools for increasing customer traffic to your company. They allow you to stay top-of-mind and capture new customers.
You can use Facebook to promote your company by posting images, announcing upcoming events, and advertising exclusive deals and promotions. Conducting giveaways is another successful strategy for growing your following and social interaction.
Nearly 65 percent of business owners report that giveaways increase their social media followers (and engagement). For instance, if you own a beauty salon, you might get a complimentary haircut from a random person who likes your page, comments on an article, and tags three additional friends.
LinkedIn is more suited to B2B companies. It's the most successful social media platform for connecting with other business owners and professionals. Utilize it to communicate with other small business owners who can support your enterprise.
For instance, an electrician could obtain new clients by networking with local architects, property managers, and owners of construction companies. They will then develop a partnership and possibly convert the link into a customer.
9. Create a referral network.
Referral programs enable existing customers to act as brand ambassadors for your company. They're an effective way to increase consumer acquisition by word of mouth, rather than requiring you to do all of the work.
Satisfied customers are often more than willing to recommend your business to family and friends, especially when offered an incentive. For example, you may reward existing customers for referring friends by providing them a discount on their next purchase or a free upgrade.
Assume you own a yoga studio. Inform your members that if they refer a friend to a class, they will receive their next session free. Similarly, those referred should receive a reward, such as 50% off their first session.