Whether you're just hanging up your open for business sign, or whether your business is a local staple in the community, thoughts about how to gain more customers is always at the front of your mind. After all, no new customers, and your revenue stream will soon dry up.
This is why you should consider the following three strategies that will allow your sales funnel to stay packed with new revenue-generating opportunities.
Make them feel recognized
You've probably seen companies market their business in a manner that feels generic. Depending upon the product or the service being marketed, this isn't a big deal, but place yourself in the position of being a specialty consumer. If you were in their shoes, then marketing media that was specifically tailored to your needs and desires would quickly grab your attention, right?
This is why it's crucial for you as the marketer to make your marketing targets (your prospective new customers) feel like you recognize them, you know them, and therefore, you understand their needs. You'll do this by conceptualizing your marketing niche. Think about the specific demographics of your prospective customers. Then consider how your demographic targets would resonate with your marketing message.
Next, focus squarely on saying and doing everything you can to make your niche demographics feel that you are the solution to their problems. Make them feel that you have the answers to their questions.
Don't allow your fear of losing revenue to allow you to cast a wide marketing net. Casting too wide of a net might leave you with a whole lot of nothing! On the other hand, the business owner who niches down finds that the path to revenue generation might be a lot more narrow, but it's also a lot more direct.
Use the resources at your disposal
In previous eras, if a business owner wanted to attract new customers, then they were left with old-school marketing media such as print, radio, and television commercials. Not only were these very expensive forms of marketing, but they provided little-to-no method for analyzing how effective they were in generating new business.
But in our modern era, there's very effective tools such as social media platforms. Not only can you use the analytics provided by social media platforms to measure the effectiveness of your marketing, but setting up a basic social media account is free!
Even if you use the paid ad version of social media platforms, the costs are usually minimal, compared to the amount of revenue you stand to generate. But with this said, it's crucial that you understand which type of social platform is useful for finding your marketing targets.
Depending upon your identified demographic, you might need to favor certain social platforms over others, so you can find the targets you're looking for. In fact, when it comes to how to attract more customers, many business owners have found that using social media is very effective.
Show off your expertise
There are two general things that prospective customers are looking for from marketers: They want to resolve a problem, or they want a question answered. Ideally, they'd love to find someone who could resolve the problem while comprehensively answering their questions. Why shouldn't that person be you?
You'll definitely attract new customers who will become long, loyal customers, by positioning yourself as the go-to person in your industry. Not only can you do this in person by offering assertive, helpful customer service, but you can also do this by using digital mediums such as social and blogging.
Many business owners use blogs to explain topics in a long-form manner. Create long-form content that offers a deep-dive into a topic. Present facts and stats that allow your customers to become educated shoppers. Don't simply use your marketing media for advertising. Use them to provide education and expertise. Not only will you gain new customers, but you'll also gain respect among customers and peers.
These are just a few tried-and-true strategies to help you to get on your way. No matter which strategy you decide to use, it's important to recognize that it will require a lot more than opening your doors for business to keep the flow of new business flowing your way.
