How do I get more customers?
How do I grow my business?
How do I get existing customers to spend more?
Google loves to answer search questions like ‘How do I get more customers?’ with a page that 1) recognises the question (i.e. the page repeats the ‘keywords’ often – especially in H2 / H3 titles), 2) whose readers have spent some time reading it (rather than ‘bouncing’ away quickly) and 3) sharing it, and 4) even better if other pages on high ranking websites publish a link to the page.
1. How do I get more customers? Google
Although not as dominant as it once was for ‘search’ in the USA (Bing has about c25% market share), it is still the daddy in Australia (c95% share).
So if potential customers are looking for a product or service like yours you need to be optimising for Google.
Your website’s ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ activity is fundamental. I say ‘activity’ because many businesses build a website, include some basic ‘onsite SEO’ and assume / hope that’ll do the job. Wrong.
SEO is a battleground, unless you have literally no competition. Everyone that answers the question being asked is competing for the viewers attention. The more generic the product the more competition to be in first place.
You can read more about it here.
2. How do I get more customers? Google
Once you’ve begun a thorough implementation of your SEO strategy there are things that can be done to temporarily boost your visibility. Google AdWords is the obvious choice. Google AdWords is a very effective tool (in skilled hands) and can be utilized to short cut, speed up enquiries.
Google Adwords is discussed further here.
3. How do I get more customers? B2C = Facebook / Instagram
There are 14 Million adults on Facebook (5 Million on Instagram) in Australia. Although organic reach (your post appearing naturally in a fans timeline) has fallen off a cliff to 1%, the ability to target niche audiences cost effectively using advertising has not gone away.
4. How do I get more customers? B2B = Linked In / Twitter
There are 3.6 Million active users on Linked In and 2.8 Million on Twitter. Using these tools correctly you can individually target audiences and engage in a dialogue with them for very little cost. If you’re in a hurry, or your objectives are more awareness building then advertising on these channels can reach audiences quite cost effectively.
5. How do I get more customers? Networking
Not a natural situation, nor comfortable for introverts, but networking is a powerful tool for business to business sales and marketing.
B2B aka ‘belly to belly’ relies on a truth that ‘people by from people’. People buy from people they know, trust and like.
Getting the awkwardness out of the way, honing the skills and being patient can be very rewarding. People will know you, they gain an insight into your capability and as long as you are more interested in them than the product you’re flogging they may even come to like you.
6. How do I get more customers? Door to Door
We’re not suggesting that members of staff actually go door to door introducing themselves (but it works for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Here we’re referring to the opportunity to deliver sales messages in the form of printed materials that can be placed into mail boxes in target areas your audience segment may reside.
You can employ agencies to distribute for you including Australia Post.
7. How do I get more customers? Direct Mail
Direct Mail in this definition is a sales messages in the form of printed materials that is addressed and delivered by Australia post to an individual target.
Building a segmented database of potential target audience, prospects, and hot leads is a priority, but not more than building a database of existing customers.
Communicating properly with your database of existing customers not only builds a relationship with them, keeping them informed of news and offers relevant to their buying history. It also gives you the opportunity to utilize the power of referral.
8. How do I get more customers? Email Marketing
Email Marketing only really works when the audience to whom you are emailing has given you permission to contact them through this channel. If they haven’t opted in then it’s ‘spam’ and you just added to their inbox unasked. Distressing their opinion immediately.
9. How do I get more customers? Referrals
As we mentioned ‘referrals’ above the tactic is worth a further emphasis.
Referrals are one of the top ways to grow your business and you can increase the number of referrals you get by doing one simple thing – asking for them.
10. How do I get more customers? PR
A little like the way referrals work, PR is ‘someone-independent’ extolling your story and that can be more effective than what you say about yourself.
Getting targeted messages into target media can influence your target audience.
11. How do I get more customers? Exhibition / Events
Exhibitions and events are fraught with hidden costs, however – assuming you’ve budgeted properly – they can be a great way to grab the attention of your target audience and through promotional messaging (activities, give-aways, product demonstration) get them to remember you and even gain their trust.
12. How do I get more customers? Telesales
It still works. There are some very successful companies that use this method very successfully.
Getting people on the phone may be difficult, and a numbers game, but once past a Gatekeeper, they are unequivocal in getting peoples attention.
Don’t be tempted by the ‘one-stage’ sell though, unless your offer really is too good to miss. Be prepared to ‘not sell them something’ just get their permission to send something.
Then follow it up. Either by phone or by email.
13. How do I get more customers? Point of Sale
I am still amazed at how many businesses that are customer facing (retail) that miss out on the opportunity to grab people’s attention while they are in the business or passing the business.
Your window, your reception desk, your walls, the end of shelves, the uniforms of staff – are all opportunities to convince, compel and connect with people you’ve spent considerable investment in already attracting.
The rule here is ‘people forget’. We are moving through the world with a million things on our minds – 99% of which will be a higher priority than your message.
Not signposting roads would create chaos. Sign posting your offers creates navigation opportunities. Use signs. It’s a medium you own and control.
14. How do I get more customers? Advertising
Talking of media. The ones you don’t own and control can and do still generate new customers, retain existing ones, and remind ‘gone-aways’ you still exist for them.
There’s not enough room here to extoll on the effectiveness of TV advertising, print advertising, radio advertising, outdoor advertising or online advertising (But there is here).
But it is worth noting:
If an offer sounds too good to be true it will be.
If you don’t measure potential penetration of your exact audience you will not be comparing apples with apples.
If you cannot afford sustained campaigns then ‘brand propositions /positioning’ objectives will be almost impossible to achieve with one advert – unless that advert has ‘hit you between the eyes’ execution.
Advertising works on ‘reaching’ of your audience frequently, so that they don’t forget and are aware when they are in market.
Medical Insurance, Tax accountants, Christmas retailers may be able to predict seasonality and limit the window of activity. But if you sell fridges, or cars, or mortgages or funerals … then people need them all the time and you need to be ‘top of mind’ all the time.
In this case budget should be used in a focused way somewhere that your competition do not own the media landscape.
15. How do I get more customers? Give Value.
To be honest my motivation for writing this article in the way I have is to ‘get more customers’. In order to do so I want to communicate authority in the subject matter, but it is pointless if no one sees it. Or at least not my target audience. Therefore I put in some effort to actually communicate some value.
The value proposition is at the heart of how to get more customers.
A list of 15 ways to get more customers over 1560 words should be good time well spent (& Pages with content over 1500 words have a better chance of appearing higher in Google!).
It isn’t a list aimed at big businesses, with marketing departments.
It isn’t meant to be comprehensive.
It is meant to be ‘ah, that’s useful. I’ll try that’.
It is aimed at none marketing owner managers of small businesses.
The overall objective is that anyone with this problem searching on Google in Western Australia might see the link, click it and find what this says useful / interesting / entertaining.
Having checked off 1) ‘recognises the question’ and if you got this far 2) you have spent some time reading it, then you may 3) share it (Easy to use social buttons below).
I now need to go and persuade / ask 4) other pages on high ranking websites publish a link to the page and I will have done what I recommended at the beginning.