No matter the industry, one of the best ways to grow a business is to acquire new customers. Of course, this is easier said than done. Fortunately, there are plenty of different methods and strategies to explore when it comes to customers who will benefit from what your business offers. Let’s explore some of the top strategies for customer acquisition and which industries these strategies can be most effective.
Define Target Customer
If you’re trying to acquire new customers, one of the first things you should do is create a clear definition of your target customer. Admittedly, this isn’t so much a strategy for success as it is a necessity. Nevertheless, if you’re having trouble finding new customers, it’s a safe bet that you could be going after the wrong type of customer. It’s essential to have a clear idea regarding what type of people will need or want your products and services the most. What are the demographics and characteristics of the customers of competing businesses? Think about some of your current customers and the similarities they share. This will hopefully lead you in the direction of discovering or specifically defining your target customer.
New Customer Promotions
In some industries, it makes sense to offer free products, significant discounts, or even promotions that are available exclusively to new customers. This can be a good strategy for increasing your brand awareness or encouraging potential customers to simply give your business a chance. After that, it’s up to your products and services to convince customers to keep coming back. This is a strategy that’s become common with real money casinos that offer a platform for a variety of casino games and try to stand out from competitors with free spins or other incentives to sign up customers. However, any online business that requires customers to create an account can utilize a similar strategy. Any discount, promotion, or free item can help lure new customers to your business and potentially turn them into regular customers.
Content Marketing
With so much marketing and advertising happening online these days—even for brick-and-mortar businesses—content marketing can be a useful tactic. Anything from blog articles to podcasts to tutorial videos can be considered content marketing that helps draw new customers to your business or at least makes them aware of what you offer. The key to content marketing isn’t to push your products or services on people. Instead, offer them help or advice in a way that subtly steers them toward your business. The ultimate goal is to get people who don’t know about you to discover what you do and what you bring to the table.
Community Involvement
This is a somewhat old-school tactic for finding new customers, but it can still be effective, especially for brick-and-mortar businesses. The idea is to welcome people into your business by offering help or expertise of some kind without necessarily charging them. In the process, people get introduced to your business and learn how you can help them and what you offer. The event can also be seen as a gesture of goodwill that helps with your reputation and creates a connection with potential customers. Even digital companies can attempt this tactic by hosting webinars and other online events that can help bring in new customers who may not have been familiar with your business previously.
Referral Incentives
Never underestimate the power of customer referrals. Word of mouth—whether it comes in person or online—can go a long way in helping a business find new customers. Obviously, great products and customer service will always be your best chance to get referrals. But you can also take a proactive approach by incentivizing direct referrals. This can be a great strategy for digital businesses that can set up a referral program that makes it easy for current customers to get a reward for referring to their friends. Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers can also explore ideas that allow them to give discounts to existing customers that help to spread the word through referrals.
Use Customer Feedback
Referrals aren’t the only way to use existing customers to acquire new customers. No matter the industry, all businesses should actively seek feedback from their customers. This could mean reading reviews, listening to customer complaints, or being proactive in asking customers to fill out surveys. The bottom line is that any way you can receive feedback from customers, welcome it, and try to make the most of it. By listening to customer feedback, you can figure out what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. Therefore, you can better highlight your strengths and address your weaknesses in ways that will help attract more customers. This type of direct feedback from customers is likely to be far more valuable than any other kind of market research.
