Attracting more customers to your small business can seem daunting, but it is possible if you follow a series of simple steps.
While there can be no guarantees of success, building distinct pillars that center around client acquisition can greatly increase your odds of landing additional customers, create a more efficient business model, improve your authority in your industry and make your life considerably easier as a small business owner.
Many small business owners struggle to attract new customers because their brand is not strong enough to carry people toward their products and services. This can either be because the business is new and hasn’t had a chance to establish itself in the industry, or your digital marketing campaigns lack the power and effectiveness necessary to compete with larger and better-funded competitors.
Either way, your visibility can be greatly increased by implementing a few tactics that have been proven to drive additional organic search traffic towards the websites of small businesses.
These include search engine optimization, which can help increase your domain authority and drive traffic to your site, and an email list which can cultivate a group of eager customers who can be easily directed towards your sales funnel.
You should also consider utilizing a more comprehensive digital marketing approach that aims to establish your brand as a market leader.
Once this has been achieved, you will find it far easier to attract clients without having to spend time and money trying to chase them.
Here is the ultimate guide to attracting more customers to your small business:
Make sure your business infrastructure can handle the demand
Your existing business infrastructure is one of the most crucial yet underappreciated details that can make or break your small business when trying to attract more customers.
If you don’t have the resources, money, time, or capacity to handle an onslaught of new customers overnight, you can quickly build a poor reputation among your target market. No one likes to be promised a service only to be faced with delays, issues with quality control, or outright rejection if the company can’t process the request, so don’t let this happen to your customer base.
You should therefore leave no stone unturned in your quest to be ready for this increase in demand.
While you can’t transform into a huge corporation overnight, you can certainly make sure that several key details are nailed down.
This includes your customer onboarding process (which should be automated if possible), your customer service team (which should be fully trained), and your accounting department (which needs to process the additional revenue, all being well).
To take your accounting department as an example, you should make sure that there are no mistakes with actions like the filing of taxes, the processing of the revenue, and knowing the difference between a tax invoice vs receipt.
Conduct detailed market research
By getting to know the people you want to buy from you, it will be easier to create a strategy that helps you attract them.
The secret ingredient behind the success of any powerful marketing campaign is a deep understanding of the intended audience, so take time to research your customer base.
This research might include finding out the average age, demographic, gender, and common interests shared by your audience, as well as information about the platforms they most frequently hang out on online.
You should then go a step further by creating a dedicated customer avatar (or avatars) that represent an amalgamation of your target audience and help you develop a digital marketing strategy that hits the right notes without having to pander to all tastes and requirements.
Integrate an SEO strategy
Another key tactic that you should implement into your overarching digital marketing strategy is search engine optimization.
Seo is the key that unlocks the door to a high search engine ranking, helping to develop the trust of search engine algorithms and ensure your website is visible to people searching for businesses like yours.
Unsurprisingly, SEO is not a new concept, and every company worth their salt is using it to varying degrees of success.
This means that it is not enough to be half-hearted with your SEO strategy. You need to intelligently execute a campaign that outranks your rivals.
To do this, you should consistently produce engaging and well-researched content that matches search intent (essentially answering whatever question your target market type into search engines), is peppered with powerful keywords and is posted on an audited website.
Not only does this help you to boost your ranking on search engine results pages, but it develops your brand authority.
This makes it more likely that potential prospects will trust you enough to hand over their hard-earned money.
Build an email list
Developing an email list might sound like old advice, but they have arguably only grown in importance in recent years.
Email lists allow you to keep your hottest prospects in one place, contacting them daily or weekly with value-adding content and a direct link to your latest offers, which gives them direct access to your sales funnel.
You may also find it easier to turn cold prospects into customers using email because your list will come in contact with your brand week in and week out. They will then start to feel more comfortable and familiar with your business through osmosis, increasing the chance of an eventual sale.
Building an email list is challenging but worth the effort. To quicken the process, consider offering a free eBook, discount, or other prizes for signing up. Not only does this help you boost your list numbers, but it gives your audience a reason to consider buying a product right off the bat.
Establish your brand as a market authority
Establishing your brand as a market-leading authority is a must if you are going to attract more customers. This is because your audience is more likely to trust you and associate your products with effectiveness and expertise.
To increase your authority, consider guest posting on popular website blogs, start your own blog, podcast, or educational YouTube channel, or even start commenting on news within your industry that is relevant to your products.
