How to attract customers to your (online) business.

Being in marketing, I always get asked ‘how do you attract customers?’ (usually from sales people). This is a question I receive a lot and my point of view may be diverse.  I believe there is more value in building relationships first. Why relationships? Because relationships are built on trust and that’s where the value is created and nurtured. 

The industry your business is in plays a major role in determining your target audience and how to attract them. For example, doctors, civil engineers, and contractors are different from travel agents, insurance advisors. Below, I’m going to look at a few methods that could help you attract customers to your business in any industry.

As it goes without saying, businesses already have a clear understanding of their target audience. But recognising the difference between your online and offline prospects is important. Understanding what your customers want is how you can create a positive customer experience which in turn leads to a purchase. When customers walk into your store, you can learn about their experience by observing which section they go to first, which items they are most interested in, etc. Similarly, they leave bread crumbs online as well. Liking a post, subscribing to your email newsletter, registering for a webinar, tagging friends etc. All these could feature a product or service that they like and think is brilliant. Offering a discount on that item for them and their friend could be a pivotal moment in making that prospect a long term customer.

Social media is incredible. One method to use social media to attract customers is through the use of hashtags. Hashtags allow you to do so much on social media like search for latest topics, events, conversations, (this isn’t creepy at all) and even make your business more discoverable. This is where your brand comes in. You can dive into conversations that your audience is having and promote your brand there. This can be one to one, in groups, on posts, etc. The possibilities of how to get your brand in front of someone who needs it is really easy through this method but you need to be proactive. Some channels make it easier, take LinkedIn for instance - they send notifications about conversations in your industry. Take advantage of these methods to attract more customers and build an audience.

Another important method of building trust amongst your audience is promoting content. This means indirectly providing answers to what your audience searches for. Trust is an important factor but through quality content you are also connecting with your customers, and supplying them with information they need to make a purchase decision. This method also helps when you have customers since you can retain them with high quality content. You can promote your content through blog posts, social media channels, emails or even guest blogs for others in the same industry. 

Positioning yourself as the answer to what your customers are looking for is a good way of influencing those you are communicating with to try out your service. This will set the base when converting them to loyal customers. You can do this through your social media posts, google ads, webinars, blog posts, etc. You will attract an audience through these methods after which they will convert from followers to paying customers.

These are a few ways you can attract customers to your business apart from traditional marketing methods like cold calling, print, events, etc. 

Let me know if you’re going to give these a go or if you have some of these in the pipeline and are looking for ideas on how to go about it. Drop a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Till next time. Peace

-Schranz