The average small business owner will spend about $40,000 in expenses for their first year. If you don’t have enough revenue to handle this, your business won’t sustain itself. The only way to get the money you need is through customer acquisition—so make sure that’s a priority.
Whether it’s flashy ads, irresistible discounts, or charming promotions, do whatever it takes to lure in those customers! You want to make such a good impression that buyers can’t resist coming back again and again. If you’re new to this, here’s the rundown on customer acquisition and how to get more customers for your small business.
What Is Customer Acquisition?
Customer acquisition is the process of turning leads into paying customers. It’s a critical part of any business because you can’t generate revenue if you don’t have customers to sell your products and services to.
Customer acquisition can be achieved in many different ways including:
- Advertising on social media platforms
- Organic search engine optimization
- Email marketing
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- Personalized sales funnels
There are many other ways to acquire customers, but these are a few of the most common. When done properly, they can help you generate more revenue than any other channel.
The Basics of a Customer Acquisition Strategy
The first step in any well-implemented customer acquisition strategy is awareness. At this stage, you’ll show your products to as many potential customers as possible. TV ads, radio spots, and social media marketing are all part of this stage.
Next, you need to collect contact information from potential customers so salespeople can follow up with them later. You can nurture these leads by adding them to a mailing list or emailing information about your company and its offerings. During this phase, it’s important to make sure you’re providing value for free before asking people to pay for anything.
From there, you must engage with those leads until they’re ready to become paying customers.
Finally, you must close the sale. Once you’ve made some money, you’ll want to make sure those customers are happy with their purchase so they come back again in the future.
How to Improve Your Customer Acquisition Strategy
If you have a website, use it to get more customers by adding a sign-up form.
If something happens that makes your site temporarily unavailable (like an outage), consider this an opportunity to improve your user experience. That way, when everything’s back up and running, prospective customers will be even more stoked to check out your URL.
Social media is another great way for businesses to attract new leads and establish their brand identity in the marketplace. It’s the go-to tool that most customer acquisition specialists rely on. However, they often neglect the following 4 strategies to improve their performance.
Partnerships
Another way you can acquire customers is by partnering with businesses that are similar to yours. For example, if your business sells shoes, team up with an athletic clothing distributor. This will allow you to market your brand to an established group of customers who may not have known about you.
Another option is to reach out to social media influencers. For example, a shoe company can team up with a popular Instagram fitness blogger. The influencer gets complimentary footwear, while your business gets free exposure on its social media channels.
Re-Contact Old Customers
If someone has bought from you once, they’re more likely to buy again. Contact your old customers when you have something new and exciting in the works. For example, if they previously bought a pair of sneakers, show them your new line of breathable socks.
Promote Your Expertise
Others will see you as an expert in your field if you’re writing articles, giving presentations, speaking on podcasts, and writing guest posts on popular blogs. This will bring in more business because people will see you as the go-to person for advice on your niche topic.
Speak at local events and classes that are related to your industry. This will help build connections with potential customers while also developing new relationships within your field—which could lead to business opportunities down the road.
Use Online Reviews
There must be a space to leave a review on your website. Your current customers will be more willing to recommend your business if they’ve had a positive experience with it. Potential customers who read these reviews will feel more confident about purchasing from you if they see others have been happy with their service.
How to Track Your Customer Acquisition Goals
The best way to keep track of goals is with a spreadsheet. Create three columns: one for each stage of the sales funnel—awareness, consideration, and decision.
Next, enter your data based on how many people move through each stage. Here’s an example:
- Enter the number of leads generated from your advertising campaigns, email marketing, etc.
- Calculate how many leads resulted in an appointment with sales reps
- Enter how many appointments were booked and paid for
To keep your customers coming back, you also need a system to stay in touch with them. If you want to catch customers who recently had a new need in their life, like those who recently switched jobs, then tracking champions is an essential tool. You can learn more about champion tracking here if you want detailed ways to target customers.
Improve Your Sales Funnels
An organization’s marketing strategy is incomplete without customer acquisition. But there are other things you can do to retain customers and increase sales. Explore our business section for further sales strategies. Check out the latest articles on entrepreneurship, sales, and marketing to build your business faster.
