Over 2.14 billion people bought things online in 2021. That’s far greater than the 1.66 billion digital buyers recorded in 2016. You see, that’s not counting money made offline – and it’s regular businesses like yours that are driving such traffic. Truly, running a profitable business is not a game for the faint-hearted. You need to always be on the lookout for ways of providing quality products (or services) to your customers.
Speaking of customers, you’ve got to understand the work that goes into attracting them in the first place. In your quest for pinpointing how to attract more customers to your business, you’ve got to answer some questions.
First, who is a customer?
After that, you’ve got to figure out answers to other big questions like “why are customer needs so important?”, and “how do customers affect a business?”
Regardless of your industry, and your years of business experience, this guide will help you figure out answers to these questions and more.
Enough said! Let’s get down to it.
To first step to attract new customers to your business is to figure out who a customer is. Customers are a piece of your target audience. They are the kind of people who would be willing to shell out some bucks for your product (or service).
To figure out who your customers are, you’ve got to know who would benefit the most from your product (or service) offering. Yes, the people who you’ll provide solutions to their challenges are most likely your customers.
Simply put, a customer is someone who buys your product (or service) from a store or other retail outlets. For instance, someone who goes into a store to buy one of your products is your customer.
Now you know who a customer is, you’ve got to identify why customer needs are important.
Customers are an integral part of any successful business. And if you’re speaking of customers, then you know that their needs come first. Regardless of your model of business operation, whether you’re selling directly to customers, or you opt to sell to other businesses, a solid understanding of your customer’s needs will help you know how to effectively persuade new or existing customers into buying your product (or service) offering. Also, you’ve got to convince them that using your product (or service) offering will most likely be in their best interest.
After getting a good grasp of “why is customer needs so important”, you’ve got to understand why customer experience is so important.
If you desire repeat customers or pretty much want a loyal customer base, then you’ve got to take a close look at your customer experience. Yes, customer experience plays a huge role in retaining customers. A superior customer experience pretty much breeds loyalty – and nothing beats customer loyalty to a brand. Furthermore, a good customer experience boosts your reputation in the marketplace.
Moving on, you’ve got to understand the nitty-gritty of how to attract more customers to your business.
To attract new customers, you’ve got to pay close attention to your marketing. Yes, marketing and advertising are huge factors to consider if you’re on the lookout for creative ways to attract customers. With good advertising techniques, you not only attract more customers online, but you also get to generate traffic offline. Offline traffic is particularly important for businesses that have an offline presence.
If you’re like most business people, you’re probably thinking of cost when marketing and advertising come to mind. Yes, the cost is a big factor – but there’s much more that goes into generating quality traffic.
To get started, here are tips for attracting new customers.
Once a customer’s loyalty is gained, you’ve got to put it to work. Yes, ask for some referrals, and they would gladly do it.
Here’s something you need to understand about offering a good product (or service). If your customer is satisfied with your service offering, they would gladly spread the word.
Word-of-mouth always works! And the reason is quite simple.
If a trusted friend refers to a business, you’ll most likely patronize the brand. After all, you trust your friend.
You see, there is no need for some fancy Ads or marketing. All you’ve got to do is create an excellent product (or service) offering, and let your loyal customers do the rest.
Don’t get it twisted – you don’t get to drive massive traffic using word-of-mouth or referrals, but the method still works. At least you get qualified leads that are willing to buy your product (or service) offering.
Imagine a customer is satisfied with your excellent service delivery. The natural tendency will be to share their service experience with their circle of trust and influence – and these include people like close family, colleagues, neighbors, and friends.
Here’s an unwritten rule in business – a satisfied customer is a brand advocate, a soldier who would make moves to promote and convince people about your business.
But it all boils down to selling products (or services) that work and also delivering an excellent customer experience. Without these two factors in place, no one will spread the news about your business or brand.
Everyone wants a good deal, and giving out discounts and promotions is a sure way of offering a good deal. One of the ways to attract customers through advertising is by luring them in using introductory discounts, or special promotions like buy 3-get-1 free for half the price. If you’re up for it, you can offer free gift wrapping for the first three purchases of a new customer.
These discounts are sure ways to attract customers from competitors. Without such discounts, customers who have been lurking around the corner may not have a solid reason for switching brands.
Furthermore, customers who are looking for how to get the most out of their shopping would opt for a brand that dishes out amazing discounts and promotions.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for how to attract more customers to your business, then you should consider offering free stuff. Yes, everyone loves free stuff – and your customers are no exception.
Giving out free products (or services) does three things. First, your target audience gets to know that you exist. People can’t buy from a business that they’ve not heard of.
Second, it provides an avenue of showcasing the value of your product (or service) offering. Yes, offering free products (or services) helps your customers to get a feel for your products and know if it’s what they truly want.
Finally, free products (or services) provide a risk-free way for your customers to try out your product (or service) offering. If they are satisfied with what they get, then they will be willing to make payment for it.
Let’s say you did an excellent job in providing good products (or services) to old customers, then reaching out to them won’t be an issue. If those customers have not done business with you for some time, then reestablishing a business relationship won’t be an issue for them.
Moving on, you’ve got to create a regular schedule. It could be a schedule where you get to reach out to customers you haven’t done business with within six months. There are various ways of reaching out to these customers – you could do it using phone, direct mail, email, or text. Do whatever works for you.
It would be best if you reach out to your old customers with some kind of promotion or discount. Yes, the “we miss you” message is all good, but you can add some incentive by offering a discount or promotion.
Humans are somewhat competitive creatures. Your job is to take advantage of this human intuitive desire to win to attract more customers. Most times, the desire to win doesn’t have anything to do with the prize – but the thrill that comes with the fierce competition that goes into winning.
Some call it ‘ego’, others call it ‘pride’. Your job is to take advantage of it to grow your customer base.
Let’s say you produce athletic shoes, and you want to grow your customer base. All you’ve got to do is create a contest. To enter the contest, your fan base has to record a video of their early morning workout session.
Yes, it sounds simple, but you’re sure of generating enough buzz with this simple technique. Getting the word about your contest out there is quite easy. You can either use social media platforms or merely allow your customer base to do the trick using word-of-mouth.
Here’s the stunner – most of the people who jump into the contest may not win any prize, but you’ve succeeded in generating enough awareness about your product (or service) offering.
As a general rule of thumb, you’ve got to make a reasonable budget for your contest and make sure it’s something you can afford.
This sounds basic, but it’s one of the most vital tips on how to attract more customers to your business. It’s the twenty-first century, and billions of dollars are exchanged online. Your job is to take a fair cut of that money. To do that, you’ve got to start from the basics – creating a responsive website.
While creating a website, you should keep in mind that nearly 60% of online searches are done using a mobile device – and that’s why your website should be responsive.
A responsive website pretty much makes your web content comfortably fit into any of the user’s devices. Whether the user is using a mobile device, a desktop, or a tablet, your content will fit just fine.
Simply put, when a website is responsive, it improves the user experience of your customer.
Don’t have a website yet? You can start by creating one, and driving quality traffic to it.
On second thought, if you’ve got a website, but you’re generating clicks but no leads, here’s how to solve the problem.
Finally, business owners who already have a sleek website should consider updating such websites. Most times, customers go online to make searches. That means your website has to be up and ready at all times. You see, a huge chunk of the heavy lifting will be done by your website. Therefore, you’ve got to make it look good, and up-to-date. And one of the ways of making your website ready is by creating a mobile-friendly website.
Social media has grown far beyond an entertainment platform. As a brand owner, you’ve got to leverage these tools to attract more customers online and build a loyal customer base.
Leading social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have millions of active monthly users. Imagine attracting a fraction of such a figure to your business – that would be huge!
If you’re up for it, you can create compelling short videos and start building some following on fast-growing social media platforms like TikTok. Yes, you’ve got to take TikTok more seriously if your target audience is younger generations between the ages of 10 to 29.
Aside from growing an active following on various social media platforms, you’ve got to know how to start a PPC campaign on these platforms.
With online advertising, you get to put your brand in front of millions of eyeballs within minutes. Nowadays, people spend quality time on the internet, and it would be good if you follow them there. And if you’re still figuring out how to attract more customers to your business, then you’ve got to take a close look at Google Ads.
Yes, Google Ads is one of the best ways to attract customers through advertising – and you cannot go wrong with it.
Even if you’re on a tight budget, you can get your business in front of millions of eyeballs in no time.
By now, you probably know that these eyeballs will be directed back to your website – and that’s why you need a sleek website before getting started on online advertising.
As a business owner, you’ve got to always meet new people in your industry, and build meaningful, beneficial relationships with them. One of the best ways of meeting new people is by joining trade associations, or networking organizations. You can also attend Meetup events.
As a general rule of thumb, you should approach networking with the “What can I offer?” attitude. Approaching networking with the “What will I gain?” attitude won’t get you far. You must always have something to bring to the table – there are no two ways about it.
Your customer avatar (or ideal buyer persona) is everything. How will you attract more customers to your business if you don’t know who you want to attract in the first place? Well, that’s where identifying your customer avatar comes into play.
There’s no gain in selling to the wrong audience. You should direct all your marketing strategies to attract the right customers and sell to them.
But what is a customer avatar?
A customer avatar is a comprehensive, semi-fictional representation of who your ideal customer is. To identify who your ideal customer is, you’ve got to do some research and mine some data from the marketplace.
As a general rule of thumb, your customer avatar profile should include details like.
If you’ve got some more data, you’ve got to include details like.
Most business owners fall into the trap of selling products (or services). Well, that’s fine but it’s not enough. Customers are not particularly interested in your product (or service) offering, they want solutions to their problems – and that’s what you should sell.
There are lots of similar products on the market. Your job is to stand out from the crowd. To do that, you’ve got to highlight the solution your product offers, and how it would address the pain point of your customer.
What’s the pain point of your customer avatar, and how does your product (or service) offering address it?
Attracting more customers to your business is not rocket science. By merely fixing your website and following other steps in this guide, you’d be on your way to building a loyal customer base in no time.
To attract more customers to your business, you’ve got to identify who your customer avatar is. Who is your ideal customer?
Next, you’ve got to figure out what your customers want.
Yes, what do they want, and how can you offer solutions to their challenges?
Understanding the needs of your customers is not enough — you’ve got to be sure that your product (or service) offering can help them tackle their challenges. If all these pieces are in place, you can go ahead apply the simple techniques listed in this guide.
In a nutshell, attracting new customers to your business all boils down to creating a quality product (or service) offering, coming up with a pathway of driving quality leads to your business, and finally retaining the customers you attract through excellent service delivery.
Now you know how to attract customers, do you have other tips for attracting new customers?
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