8 Ways to Bring In More Customers

Attracting new customers to your business can involve fun, creative techniques, including cross-promotion with partners that match your goals. To make your business more attractive, you need to clearly define your target market and give customers something special they can't find elsewhere. Here are eight ways to bring in more customers.

1. Build a Referral System

The first step to increasing your loyal customer base is developing a referral system that brings you a flow of constant leads. Word-of-mouth promotion is still effective in building referrals from your existing business. By satisfying customers with your product or service, you can help encourage your most loyal customers to promote your brand to their friends and family.

The fastest way to build an online community is through social media. The concept of social proof, in which people are influenced by what others think, goes a long way when you communicate through a social network. The key is to build fresh content mixed with visuals and text. Be clear about how people get more information or sign up for your product or service.

2. Develop Eye-catching Email Marketing Campaigns

One of the most effective ways to bring in more customers is through email marketing. Email is still a major part of digital marketing that gets results for business owners to attract new customers. It's simply a more powerful and automated version of the traditional marketing list. An email marketing software platform lets you keep all your customers in a well-organized database with contact information. You can speed up the process by sending a newsletter or other marketing materials through automation controls.

3. Use SEO to Counter Your Competition

Search engine optimization is an excellent practice for reaching a target market. Applying back SEO marketing tactics lets you capture a corner of your market through a strategic list of keyword phrases. Expanding your customer base by studying your competition's keywords, search results, and traffic data are possible. It will help you learn where there are market holes in search engines.

While SEO takes several months of content creation to attract traffic, it can eventually become a reliable, steady source of leads. You can accelerate your marketing campaigns by combining SEO with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which gives you quicker visibility in search engines.

4. Choose Compatible Business Partners

You can get to know other business owners in your community through networking events such as your local chamber of commerce mixers. These events are valuable because they bring together business leaders personally, making it easy to break the ice and inquire about partnership opportunities. If you run a startup business, it can benefit enormously by partnering with a well-respected brand in your community.

5. Tie In with Community Events

A small business can gain visibility in its market by displaying its banner at community events such as street fairs and annual local celebrations. Just figure out how your business ties in with the event's theme. It's easy to tie in holiday themes, usually the most-promoted events of the year. The more regular exposure your logo gets in public, the more it will stimulate curiosity and conversation among market participants interested in your offerings.

6. Offer Contests and Free Incentives

When you offer a free trial, it makes more people pay attention to your product or service, which raises brand awareness. Contests attract people who like simple, fun challenges, while free trials attract bargain hunters. Find out your competitors' prices and try to offer more at a lower price. Make your initial free trial easy to sign up for without complex or confusing instructions. By keeping the content simple, prospects are more likely to get involved.

7. Seek Local Media Coverage

One of the most overlooked reliable marketing strategies is to get news coverage from a local TV station, radio station, or print publication. Instead of paying for expensive advertising, go with a public service angle that would help the image of the media outlet in terms of serving the community. You can notify officials at media outlets via colorful postcards as a low-cost method. Make sure your story involves helping the community and is not just an attempt to get a brand mention.

8. Ask for Online Reviews

You can attract potential new customers by asking your existing customers to post reviews online on sites such as Yelp! Many consumers now use the site to make purchasing decisions. Make sure you've first developed a business model that people will appreciate. Promoting your business before it's proven to satisfy customers can be a premature mistake that leads to bad reviews. Once you refine your business, check reviews to learn what you can do to improve your operation.

Learn More on Attracting Customers

Expanding your customer base is possible through various techniques, such as digital marketing and traditional media campaigns. Word-of-mouth is still one of the most effective forms of advertising. To learn other ways to bring in more customers, sign up for our small business emarketing newsletter.