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Hey! So you have a small business or want to have one. Then, you've probably heard that customers or clients are the soul of every business. But here comes the big question, "How do you acquire these customers?" And not just any type of customers but the right customers?
This post focuses on telling you the most effective ways to acquire the right customers for your small business or start-up, and how to retain these customers. Without further ado, let's dive in.
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1. Know your target audience
Before you even begin any marketing activity for your business, it is only right that you know who your target audience is. What problem is your product or service addressing? Who are the people with these problems? Know their age grade, their demographics, their sex, their location. With this, you can strategically position your business and channel your marketing strategies to the right audience.
Knowing your audience helps you streamline your marketing activities. Without mapping your audience out, you will be left fishing in a very wide pool without knowing what type of fish to catch.
2. Meet their demands
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Now you know your audience. Good! The next question is, "How does your product or service solve their problem? Let's say you run a laundry business. You have figured out that your audience includes working class men and women. Before you set up your laundry business in any area, first, you need to understand the environment to know if the people living there will go for what you're offering. If you set up the laundry business in a remote area where the inhabitants can barely afford a three-square meal, then you might be making a huge mistake.
Second, you need to understand whether they like quantity or quality. This boils down to the class of people your business is serving in the area you set up.
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3. Identify and define their pain points
Pain points reveal the solution your product or service will provide for the customer. For your laundry service, customers' pain points could be lack of time to do their laundry. When you have identified their pain points and are sure that your product solves this problem, you can go ahead with your marketing activities.
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4. How do you get your solution to them (Marketing)
Marketing is perhaps one of the strongest keys in business. When you talk about marketing, you talk about leveraging necessary online and offline platforms to advertise and promote your goods and services. As a small business owner, your options might be limited, but you can start from the few on your table; say, create a flier that contains basic information about your business, your business location, open and close hours. You can hand these fliers to potential customers around your business area. That is one way to start. If you decide to go digital, there are a lot of options you can choose from to promote your business. You just need to find out what works best for your business and get started with your marketing activities.
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5. Create innovation around your business
This is as important as giving a coupon or sales promotion. People are no longer swayed by the "regular old". The competition is fierce and if you want your customers to come back after their first touch point with you, you need to create innovation around your business to make it unique. In your packaging and branding, return policy, response rate, and virtually everything that requires a customer to meet with you, go beyond the regular and take it up a notch. Check out the two images below.
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These are two similar products but presented differently. You will agree that a customer will definitely come back for the product that gives him the most assurance of hygiene, isn't it? And as a bonus, customers are moved by their emotions. Well, that is one lesson to learn from product packaging. There is more to learn from every customer touch-point. So, look deeply into your business and see what you can do differently with every customer touch-point. That's a way to ensure your customers come back after their first meeting with you.
With these five customer acquisition strategies explained above, you can head along to apply these in your business and get ready to have buyers that turn into loyal customers. Want to learn more ways to make revenue for your business? Check out our course on Setting and Achieving Financial Goals for your Business, by clicking the link below.
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