If you own a small business, you know how important customer acquisition and retention are. After all, if you can’t grow your customer base, your business won’t grow either. So, when it comes to finding the right type of customers, you need to know how to attract, convert and keep them. In this guide, we’ll go over why attracting the right type of customers is important and the best ways to go about it.
Customer Acquisition
Moving prospects through the marketing funnel is just one part of the equation. Prior to that, you also need to capture their attention and make them want to do business with you. But acquiring new customers isn’t easy. With so much competition out there, you need to provide value even before they convert. What’s worse is if you don’t have a clear idea of who your ideal buyer is, you might find yourself trying to convert unqualified leads.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Marketing to the wrong people is like trying to drive a car blindfolded. It simply doesn’t work. To effectively reach the right people, you need to define who they are first. You need to create buyer personas for every type of consumer you think would benefit from your product or service. Identify their problem, which social media channels they use and how you can engage authentically.
While some businesses might use shotgun tactics to market to the masses, this usually results in nothing more than a waste of your marketing dollars. And if you’re working with a limited budget, marketing to the wrong people can eat up your ad spend quickly. So, how do you save money and finds quality leads? First of all, you need to find ways to increase your marketing budget while zeroing in on your target audience.
You can cut corners in other aspects of your business, or decrease spending in other areas of your life. If you’re still paying on student loans, you could refinance your loans. If you choose the latter, working with a private lender can give you the extra cushion you need to improve your marketing campaigns. Most times, refinancing lowers your monthly payment and helps you save on the interest as well.
Master SEO
Landing on the first page of Google doesn’t happen by chance. It happens by knowing the steps involved in keyword research and how to implement SEO. Even seasoned marketers need to stay current with the latest trends in SEO. There are plenty of online blogs and resources to learn from. Some of the best ones to check out are HubSpot and Neil Patel. Both offer a slew of free information you can use to improve your ranking online.
Acquisition vs. Retention
Acquiring new customers means finding ways to retain them as well. If your customer churn is too high, specifically, you lose customers initially after one purchase, you need to find out why. Even though consumers can be fickle, most will stick with a brand if they had a good experience. Some might even stick around after a bad experience if you rectified the issue to their satisfaction. Your goal should be learning what makes loyal customers happy, so you can increase your overall retention rate.
