Customers form the lifeline of every successful business. Studies show a small 5% increase in client retention can increase your business profit margin by 25-95%. As they’re an integral part of your business, developing strategies to attract and keep them is essential. Growing your customer landscape requires keeping in touch with current and potential consumers. Do you want to lay a solid foundation for your brand to thrive sustainably? Here are nine simple and practical ways to increase your customer base.
- Leverage your existing network
Your existing client network is the best place to start improving your brand awareness, as their recommendation can help boost your customer depth and also makes them feel part of your brand, leading to improved healthcare patient retention (or whichever industry your business is in). Consider leveraging referral programs to generate new leads. One way to do this is to try networking with your target audience. For instance, if you operate a bike shop, you will want to join more cycling-centred groups. Seasoned entrepreneurs advise businesses to explore within their immediate network to see who matches their products/services. Therefore, make it a point to establish connections with your repeat customers and encourage them to recommend your brand to their peers.
- Understand your customers
Knowing your customers allows you to launch products that suit their needs. If you can personalise your services, you can increase customer satisfaction. Understanding your current client base is vital to improving it. Thus, your marketing team should strive to have a crystal-clear knowledge of your audience and their expectations. That would allow you to distinguish your brand from competitors and serve customers better. Furthermore, you can establish a healthy business-client relationship to accelerate growth.
- Improve your customer service
To increase your customer base, rendering excellent customer service is key. Most buyers usually walk away if a business fails to offer them the best customer service experience. As your company grows, you must prioritise delivering exceptional service. Responding to your clients’ needs in time makes them feel special. They will then become loyal customers who choose your brand any day over your competitors. Therefore, try to find ways to put smiles on the faces of unhappy customers, so they may start making friends with your brand.
- Host an industry event
Consider speaking at an event or organising an industry-related seminar to share your business experience. As you build your company, you will gain valuable insights that could benefit others. So, why not grab opportunities to showcase your brand on bigger stages? By participating in industry events at the local level, you can leverage various platforms to grow your connections and your reputation as a market leader. It’s smart to offer to speak for free or host any program to attract potential customers. Getting your budding enterprise off the ground is relatively simple when you start at the local level.
- Try collaborating with influencers and professionals
Another idea to grow your customer base is to partner with leading industry influencers and brand experience agencies. Find prominent figures or experts in your niche and try collaborating with them to increase your business’s exposure. For instance, you can partner with top influencers to create content or seek product recommendations. It’s easy to reach a wider audience if you tap into the follower base of leading influencers. While doing that, working with a brand experience agency is advisable to improve your marketing strategy and build a solid brand your customers won’t forget anytime soon. Brand experience agencies can use effective promotional events to support and elevate your marketing campaigns.
- Adopt online marketing strategies
In this digital world, the central goal of every business owner is to attract customers and increase their visibility online. Recent trends made adopting digital marketing strategies a must for most businesses, as the internet can transform how customers discover your products or services. Indeed, research reveals that about 94% of B2B buyers search the internet for products before buying them. A well-designed and functional website is a good investment to scale up your online marketing strategies. You can enhance your website to increase traffic and obtain smart insights into your audience. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for generating quality leads.
- Make good use of social media
Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are powerful tools to promote your business for free or on a low budget. You can build an engaging social media follower base and expand your brand outreach. Following social media conversations lets you know what potential customers say about your brand. Social platforms also allow you to discover popular keywords or trends in your target market so you can apply them. Overall, these digital channels can be a great way to attract new clients, so optimising your business profile for better results is up to you.
- Track your campaigns
Measuring what works and strategising your marketing campaigns as required is necessary. You should track your leads’ sources to determine which campaigns perform better. Refine your techniques if certain programs are no longer paying off, and focus more on activities with higher conversions. While it’s okay to experiment, you don’t want to waste your resources practising marketing strategies that don’t yield good results. Thinking outside your comfort can sometimes surprise you with good outcomes.
- Include calls-to-action
Adding calls-to-action to all your marketing elements can increase customer engagement with your brand, whether creating a blog post, social media content or publishing a weekly newsletter. It’s not good enough to create marketing material and put it out there without adding simple call-to-action messages like “subscribe, follow, and sign up with your email,” which can make the difference between a client clicking away or hanging around to check out more stuff. Your call-to-action doesn’t have to ask too much from your clients. They need to be simple, meaningful and straight to the point. For example, you can ask visitors to share a link to your blog post to increase your visibility.
If you’re seeking effective ways to build a wider customer base, practising the steps above will give you a head start.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.