Easy Steps to Finding New Clients and Customers

It is said that one of the major challenges a new business owner faces is finding new clients or customers. Business owners who have been in business for a while still grapple with this challenge – so it isn’t strange. Customers are the foundation of every business, without which no business can survive. Regardless of the nature of your business, it is important to be able to retain existing customers and attract new ones.

Your customers determine your marketing strategy, which in turn determines your sales. Both marketing and sales are critical factors responsible for the success of your business.

How do you in today’s highly competitive market attract and retain your customers without breaking the bank?

This article will tell you how in easy ways.

Step 1: Identify your target audience

You aren’t selling to anyone if you’re trying to sell to everybody. Your target audience is a group of people who are most likely to purchase your product or service, hence, they are the ones your marketing campaigns should be directed to. They’re the ones you’ll be directly communicating to about products or services. How can you find them if you don’t market to them? And how can you market to them if you don’t know them? Below are the commonly used data to find your target audience:

• Age
• Gender
• Lifestyle
• Interests
• Location
• Education
• Purchasing power
• Consumption habits
• Socioeconomic status
• Personal characteristics
• Social media engagements

Identifying and understanding your target audience will help you define your marketing plan and strategy. Your marketing strategy will in turn reach directly to the people who are genuinely interested in your product or service, therefore, boosting your sales and revenue.

Step 2: Know your product or service

You can’t convince a potential customer to purchase your product when you don’t fully understand it – you simply can’t sell what you don’t know. Product knowledge is an essential marketing skill needed to help you present your product’s benefits accurately and persuasively to your potential customers. Below are some questoions to help you know your product:

• What’s its purpose?
• How is it made/developed?
• How does it work?
• How is it maintained and serviced?
• How is it delivered to your customers?
• How does it compare to your competitors’ products?
• What’s its price?
• How long will it last?
• What are its strengths and limitations?

Step 3: Create a potential customer and client list

A potential customer and client list contains prospective clients and customers that you can on a regular basis communicate to about your products or services. Just like a guest list helps you prepare and plan your party, likewise is a potential customer and client list vital to your business growth. It will expand your network and increase your brand’s reach. Below are a few sources to help you build your list:

• Existing customers
• Personal contacts: family, friends, neighbours, etc
• Trade fairs
• Referrals
• Internet research
• Social media
• Community events

Step 4: Engage your potential customers or clients

Now that you have an understanding of who your target market is, and you’ve made a list of your prospective clients and customers, it’s time to start engaging them. See some ideas below:

• Email marketing: Customers’ inboxes are heavily saturated with promotional and spam emails nowadays, that your mail could get lost or be tossed aside by your potential client. Yet, email marketing is one of the most powerful online tools to market and grow your business today. In your emails, ensure you avoid selling your product and instead focus on explaining what your business is and the value the product is offering to the consumers. These tips will help you create good marketing mail that people will most likely read:
  • Create the right content for the right audience
  • Make the content interesting and captivating
  • Ensure it’s mobile-friendly so readers can read at anytime
  • Give importance to a call to action and links
  • Test before sending
• Cold call: every customer is always excited to hear from the face behind their product. It seems an arduous task for you to do, but consider it a direct and easy way to hear from the customers and listen to them share their opinions about your products or services. You get the chance to tell them the features and benefits of your product too and it creates a close, emotional connection with your clients – both existing and new.
• Blog about it: That’s a big task, right? Especially when you’re not a writer. But then writing about a product you create and you’re passionate about shouldn’t really stress you out. Follow these 6 rules of blogging from Neil Patel – a ‘top influencer on the web’ as The Wall Street Journal describes him:
  • Stop spreading sales messages
  • Get rid of a corporate tone
  • Compose deliciously seductive headlines
  • Create enticing opening paragraphs
  • Write inspirational conclusions
  • Create an email list

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Featured image: istockphoto