A question that is usually thrown by new business entrepreneurs to business resource speakers runs something like, “How can a small business on a tight budget get new customers?”
A most likely answer would be, “By being innovative and inventive among many other things or businesses.”
Each business has a unique requirement to fulfill in terms of luring customers into the business front door. What worked for others may or may not work for your own. So the key is to carefully study your business and the real market or customer base you need for your business to grow. Once you have determined your market base, it will be easy to draw up techniques and strategies aimed at successfully getting new customers for your business.
The following are eight tested and time-proven ways to get new customers for your business.
1. Stay away from old habits. Old and outdated marketing techniques may no longer work especially in the fast-changing business environment. It’s time to try new marketing techniques. This way you are extending your reach to more people, which may have been excluded when you used the old marketing technique, and where new people are tapped, the likelihood of turning them into new potential customers is high.
Do some research on effective marketing ideas which may be applicable for your business like, distributing flyers, coupons or having a sale or promotional tie-ups with other businesses, etc. Choose the one that will most likely give you fast results.
2. Re-invent a service or a product. Customers are always on the lookout for new products or services. Consider new market base when you launch a new product or service. They will be an exciting addition to your existing client base.
3. Go online. There’s nothing that can beat the efficiency and usefulness of going online 24/7. Be it a having a well-designed website or a blog or a simple in-set advertisement, when more people get to view it, more people will get curious and therefore, more people may be potential customers. Offering the product or service online, where customers may make direct purchase will be the quickest way to filling in your cash register.
There are many ways to direct traffic to your site. Putting ads on Google Adwords and Microsoft adCenter is a good way to start.
4. Time for PR campaign. While advertising has its own advantages, it tends to be one-sided. The trend these days is collaborating with another party to do the PR campaign for your business. Get writers to do write-ups or articles about your business, products and services.
Create media hype by launching some promotional schemes which can be announced through TV, radio and newspaper or magazines. Testimonials from satisfied customers can also do wonders for your business.
5. Give incentives for referrals. Most people rely on referrals because they trust the person doing the referral. For that reason alone, you should reward the referrers with incentives like discounts or rebates or loyalty points.
People have different reasons for referring your business to other people – satisfaction with your products and services, trust in your company and yes, they would love to get incentives for doing that. It’s a great way to say thank you for helping your business.
6. Ring them. Customers abound and they are just waiting to be tapped. Sometimes a call is all they need to get into your business. Find out new prospects by doing some online research. Like you, there may be other new business you might have a potential partnership with to make the business grow. When turned down, don’t take it personally. There are more waiting on the line. Keep calling.
7. Redesign your Web site. People need to see changes even in your web page. If they see the same thing over and over, they will stop visiting your site. Imagine the traffic lost if this happens, and just because you failed to update and keep your website as dynamic as possible.
8. Maximize the power of social networking. It’s the ‘in’ thing nowadays. Everything is disclosed in social networking sites. Use this to your advantage and keep the business alive by encouraging discussion among social network friends and affiliates.
Statistics and surveys showed that most people rely on message boards before making a final decision on a product or service. Customers do take time to give out feedback, positive or negative, on certain products or services availed. You have to ensure that your products or services will reap more positive than negative feedback to influence more customers to check your business out.
You may be able to come up with fresh and more innovative ways to create new customers. Bottom line is you don’t stick with the old ones. New techniques will create new customers one way or another.