For growing independent businesses, building a pool of customers who’re actively ready to buy can be a time-consuming and head-scratching ordeal. Before you allow that sense of overwhelm to sink into your body – stop right there. WebHummel has put together an accessible guide to making the arduous process of finding, attracting and converting these clients not just more energy-efficient, but if we’ve done this correctly, enjoyable too.
No more are the days of blindly posting on social media and hoping for the best. Continue reading and you’ll find that encouraging new people to discover and fall in love with your brand is firmly connected to your wider online presence and, more importantly, what you decide to do with it. Let’s start by answering these crucial questions: how can I get more customers? Where do I find the right type of clients? And how do I get them to convert?
- The small business struggle: How can I get more customers?
- How to generate more clients/customers: 11 essential strategies
- 1) Rethink your brand essentials
- 2) Polish your customer service
- 3) Improve your website
- 4) Optimise for mobile
- 5) Be loud and proud with your brand values
- 6) Try out a lead generation platform
- 7) Work on your SEO
- 8) Get in front of prospective customers with PPC
- 9) Build a community on social media
- 10) Cultivate an event presence
- 11) Get networking
- Conclusion
The small business struggle: How can I get more customers?
Over the last few years, we’ve learnt that if anything is true it’s that, in this economy, anything can happen. Global pandemics, market turbulence and the insurgence of AI have all barrelled their way into the business sphere, with widespread consequences.
For those seeking to make their businesses known, these disruptions may well have thrown a spanner in the works, but savvy marketers will see them as opportunities. Which is how we’d like you to approach them.
The most recession-proof businesses can turn their underdog status into an advantage using the right blend of focused analysis, planning, creativity, open-mindedness and grit to tackle the biggest hurdle: how to generate more clients. And, in this scenario, being the David to the mega-corporation’s Goliath isn’t a bad thing.
Common challenges
It’s something we’ve covered in our small business growth strategies blog, but it’s important to reiterate. One of the early setbacks many blossoming independents experience is when the company reaches the stage wherein the amount, size and consistency of sales need to be ramped up for sustainable growth and increased profits.
At this point, however, the decision-makers are likely to be caught up with existing work and managerial duties while junior staff lack the autonomy or experience to pick up the slack. And herein lies the problem: there isn’t enough time to go out into the world to find new clients.
The solution
The above sound eerily familiar? We’ve all been there. Now, what if someone taught you how to execute a customer growth strategy with the laser focus and polish of an experienced marketer? How much more influential do you think your brand could be? How many more people would it reach?
We’re not going to lie to you – many of these tips can’t be pulled off overnight and they’ll take a bit of research, but by properly applying yourself you can surely acquire new customers whilst maximising the value of existing ones.
Whether you’re at this crucial milestone with your business or you’re just starting out, the surest way to turn leads into buyers is to exercise a powerful skill, the ability to refine your audience down to the last detail, and use this knowledge to target them appropriately. And by appropriate we mean with the right voice and through the right channels. But more on that later.
How to generate more clients/customers: 11 essential strategies
Right, it’s time to forge ahead. Here are 11 essential strategy ideas to take to heart if you want to learn how to get more customers who will stick around for the long run.
1) Rethink your business essentials
Sometimes, it helps to start by going back to the basics. First things first, what is your business? Putting a great deal of thought into the things your brand has to offer and what differentiates it from the competition is a great way to refocus yourself, and these elements should shine through every aspect of your small business communications.
Say you’re a fashion brand dipping your toes into retail marketing tricks. In a post-Amazon landscape, chances are there are plenty of competitors both big and small sharing the niche. To set up a small business you need to believe that your products/services bring something new to the field or, perhaps more likely, something slightly different with greater value. So, what are those things?
Let’s go back to the fashion example. If you were in the bridalwear niche, you could capitalise on the lack of size inclusivity by going down the made-to-order route. But it doesn’t have to be that specific, or groundbreaking at all; your unique selling point lies in you. Your energy, knowledge and lived experience can tell a story better than no one else.
With your USP in tow, thinking about your audience will come naturally. Who are you targeting? We suggest going as deep as possible. Create fictional profiles of the people you are marketing towards (buyer personas) and break them down into categories or segments. This is so important as a clear understanding of your purpose, will guide and determine the rest of your strategy.
2) Polish your customer service: Happy customers = repeat customers
Positive experiences and, in turn, strong brand awareness emanate from exceptional customer service. Cast your mind back to a time when an employee really made your day – did you ever use that business’ services again?
It’s not just anecdotal evidence either. Here’s some cold hard facts to hammer it home: enhancing customer experience can increase sales revenue by 2-7% and also profitability by 2%. This means that little elements like apologising for any mistakes made, whether by your staff or due to a fault with your product, finding personalised ways to compensate the customer for inconveniences and kind words really do go a long way. In fact, they should form the basis of any return customer marketing efforts.
3) Optimise for mobile
Making sure that your website is mobile-friendly, believe it or not, will keep customers coming back to you. We’re not kidding. Not only is it a core aspect of making your business accessible, convenient and discoverable, but it’s also a major ranking factor in Google’s algorithm. This means that if you take the trouble to optimise your site for mobiles and tablets, you will be rewarded with a stronger stream of traffic, traffic you were previously missing out on. Psst: if you want more tips on how to improve your website, check out the “websites” section of our blog.
4) Be loud and proud about your brand values
In a bustling, often overcrowded, marketplace, being authentic is everything. Small businesses can punch above their weight by communicating and living out their brand values. Because it’s what consumers want and expect. All the recent data on consumer behaviour points towards a world where we want our purchases to align with our principles, whether that be related to sustainability, ethical labour, or simply supporting local businesses.
5) Work on your SEO to appear for more searches
If you’re a certain age, you’ll wistfully remember trawling through beaten copies of the Yellow Pages to find contacts. Thank God, we don’t have to do that today. In fact, with the help of SEO (search engine optimisation), these contacts will come directly to you.
By implementing various on-page, off-page and technical measures, search engines will view your site more favourably, which will bump your pages higher up the search results. The better the ranking here, the more people will see your brand and be tempted to click. Once you’ve got them on your site, you can market to them appropriately.
We go into more detail about these techniques in our SEO audit checklist, but know that they’re incredibly important for business in an increasingly online world where 70% of people look to the web before deciding to buy or visit a company. Not to mention the 80% of product research that begins with a search engine. The facts speak for themselves!
6) Try out a lead generation platform
On top of using SEO for lead generation, there’s a plethora of tools you can use to streamline the process. For instance, using lead generation software is a surefire way to pump your sales funnel with prospective customers and sources of long-term revenue. Many of them integrate features like live visitor tracking, real-time notifications, and bucketloads of personalised buyer intent data. These features take so much labour out of the process, so you don’t have to burn yourself out promoting your business locally.
7) Get in front of prospective customers with PPC
If you’re searching for the perfect accompaniment to your SEO efforts, look no further than PPC. Pay-Per-Click, occasionally known as CPC or Cost-Per-Click, is an online advertising model that runs on a simple yet effective principle – advertisers only pay fees for their ads when they are clicked. This makes PPC particularly lucrative as it can be scaled, tweaked and refined at short notice according to your budget and market changes. And let’s not forget its main advantage – an average ROI of 200%.
8) Build a community on social media
Sure, social media management can be daunting, but here’s a secret: there’s no mystic power to cultivating a following. True, there are those with an affinity for the platforms, digital natives and those with a flair for content creation. However, you don’t need a natural ability for social media crafting; it’s a science as much as an art.
The key tenets of social media are as follows: authenticity, relatability, consistency, engagement, clarity and value. Of course, the exact blend of these qualities will vary with your industry, but tick each off in your various types of content and you can spark meaningful connections. Social proof of this kind is one of the myriad benefits of social media advertising, whether that’s growing an organic following or trying your hand at the likes of Facebook Ads.
9) Offer incentives like discounts & referral codes
To get over a slump in customers enticing incentives come in handy, especially in the short term. From website pop-ups displaying seasonal discounts to referral codes sent out via email to recent buyers, there are many ways to build loyalty and bolster retention. It will take some careful budgeting, but forecast your returns accurately and you will reap the rewards of your effort.
10) Cultivate an event presence: From stalls to speaker engagements
While we’re spending more time than ever online, nothing can beat good old face-to-face interaction. This couldn’t be truer for businesses selling physical products, which come alive in the flesh. It’s all about building personal relationships, tangible connections to your brand in the minds of your customers and generating a ‘buzz’ you can’t get anywhere else.
So the next time you see a call-out for panellists to speak at an industry conference, stalls going at your local craft market or the opportunity for a pop-up store in your city, don’t let the chance pass you by.
11) Attend networking meetings: Connect the old-school way for referrals
Finally, there are networking meetings. Whether informal breakfasts or more structured events, connecting with local businesses in your area has a wealth of benefits. For one, it’s instant access to professionals you can pass referrals back and forth to, and second, these programs allow you the space to bond with people facing the same business hurdles. It’s what you make of it, of course, but put in the energy and you can find colleagues, business partners and friends.
Start off on the right foot
That rounds off our 11 steps to acquiring more customers and clients. We hope it sparked ideas and set off the fire in your belly.
At WebHummel, we understand that one of the biggest hurdles that growing businesses tackle is all tied up in increasingly complex markets and hefty to-do lists to match. With the expertise we bring to the table, we can align our processes with these nuances and share the workload. Not unfamiliar with juggling many plates, we relish the opportunity to rise to the challenge of getting your brand out there.
With you under our wing, we can not only get your business off the ground but provide fuss-free support for the long term. Have we piqued your interest? Drop us a message or give us a ‘buzz’ to get the ball rolling.
