Now, you have managed to start your business and developed a solid and small customer base. Starting at this level has its own benefits— it can give you the opportunity to build a loyal relationship with your customers. As your business continues to grow, you also have the opportunity to deal with the challenges that face you every day—and this gives you the confidence that you need to believe that your service or product is the best that your business can provide.
With this, comes the eagerness to grow and expand your business. However, you need to note that expanding your customer base is a bit challenging and not as easy as you think. So, how can you attract more customers to your business?
The following are 8 amazing ideas that will assist you to increase your customer base. You can try out these ideas from your marketing tactics to improving your networking skills—and they will help your customer base grow much faster.
Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone When Pitching
If you have a challenge in growing your customer base, there is a possibility that you have unintentionally narrowed your focus—and this can make you miss the mark of attracting potential new customers. But why does this happen? If you pitch your business the same way you’ve always done, then you shouldn’t be surprised to realize that you have a challenge in attracting new customers.
According to Wesley Mathews of High Level Marketing, you should always go against the tide and defy all the expectations of other people. You need to note that selling is like transferring trust. Therefore, instead of depending on a sales pitch that you are much comfortable with, you should first focus on developing a relationship with your potential customers.
Mathews says that building trust is one of the major ways to reach a new customer base. Once you earn their trust, be assured that you have earned their ear too. When you realize you have achieved that, you can start to teach them on recognizing and appreciating the value of your product or service.
Capitalize On Your Existing Networks
One of the best places to start your tactics is in your existing network—as your existing customers can assist you in growing your current customer base. According to Time Shoemaker, the best thing that a business can do is to develop a strong team of customers, which can make referrals—and with referrals, come strong leads. Tim advises businesses to network as much as they can within their target customers. For example, if you own a bike shop, you should try to join many cycling-related groups whenever you can.
Darrah Brustein an entrepreneur says that tapping into your current network can assist you in determining who will be a good fit for your service or product. She says that the best thing that you can do today is to concentrate on your current customers, and then to believe that they will recommend your business to their existing networks. If you have customers, you should understand that you have an already established trust—and you should capitalize on that.
Develop a Relationship Map
According to Tamara Nell of The Leading Niche, you should develop a relationship map, and this map should match your strongest relationship with the areas that have the greatest need for your service or product. The relationship map is very important as it assists you in identifying the direction of the people you should reach out to—and this will help you to tap into a new and potential customer base.
Don’t Stop Expanding Your Network
As you continue depending on your current network to grown your customer base, you might end up attracting new leads. If you ever find yourself in this position, you might start looking for new ways to expand your network.
Alfredo Atanacio of Uassist.Me says that you might have an amazing ideal and strong business structure, but if you don’t have the contacts that are interested in helping you out, it will be a challenge to succeed. S
So, how can you grow your network? Alfredo says the best way to do this is to form partnerships, joining organizations, and attending networking events—and with this, the network will definitely grow.
Organize an Industry Event or Make a Speech at Such Events
If you have lots of expertise in your field, why can’t you participate in your community? Sharing your expertise and being involved in your industry locally can give you the chance to build new connections, and grow the existing ones. In addition, this can be the perfect opportunity for you to grow your reputation as a well-thought leader in your industry.
Natalie MacNeil of She Takes on the World says that her first clients offered to speak for free or to host a workshop at business events—and she knew that her target clients would be attending such events. According to Natalie, she started off locally, and then she got bigger and better opportunities that placed her in front of more potential clients. That’s how Natalie build her business off the ground.
Don’t Forget the Power of Calls to Action (CTA)
If you are operating on a smaller and more immediate actionable level, there are many strategies that you apply in your marketing tactics, and these strategies will potentially attract new customers. One of these strategies in adding a CTA in every piece of marketing content you send out. This can be a social media post, newsletter, or even one of your offline marketing tactics.
According to Nicole Minoz of Start Ranking Now, once you establish a successful marketing plan, you will start to execute several strategies every day. Nicole says that writing a blog is not enough—once you write is, you should add a CTA that states how your customers can work with you. You should make this an important part of all your networking actions and speeches, as well.
Your CTA shouldn’t be elaborate—their primary goal should be very simple, like increasing customer engagement. You can choose to ask your current and potential customers for opinions, ask them to tag you with a particular hashtag, or even offer a link so that they can sign up for email updates.
Offer Free Trials to New Customers—Whenever Possible
This is another practical way of attracting new customers. Whenever possible, offer them a free trial of your new product or service. Souny West and entrepreneur says that free trials are great marketing tactics, as they not only attract new customers, by they also assist you in gaining good testimonials and reviews. West also says that they also give you more feedback on your new products, which allows you to make improvements on the important areas.
Although offering free trials sounds like a great idea, how can you turn the customers you have attracted through this method into regular customers? When you offer free trials, you always show your potential customers the value of what you are offering—and you can convert these customers into paying customers afterward.
However, you should ensure that you instill in your potential customer the value of your service or the product, and ensure that you show them how exemplary is your service or product. When you do this, and then offer a great service, you will be able to convert your potential customers into actual and loyal customers.
Offer Your Service Pro Bono In Exchange For an In-Depth Testimonial or a Case Study
If your business offers services, one good way of attracting new customers is offering your services for free, and allow your customer to provide the benefits of your services or serving as a case study.
Obinna Ekezie of Wakanow says that one of the best ways of growing a business is getting a case study. According to Obinna, case studies prove that your service works and that your business has happy customers. Moreover, exchanging a service for a case study is an amazing way of building trust and getting good feedback from your customers.
For instance, if your business deals with offering personal training services, you can choose to partner with a famous member of the fitness community, and then offer them your free services, in exchange for reviews about your service in their blog—if it has high traffic. This can increase your brand exposure, and end up building credibility and trust in your business, and thus attract new customers.
