How to Attract New Customers to Your Business
Starting a business is hard work, especially if you’re entering the retail market. With competition high, and room for new business in short supply, you’re going to have to pull out all the stops to attract customers, whether they’re coming in from the high-street, or online.
Don’t fret though, with a few handy tips we’ll help kick-start your new business and get those all-important customers through the door.
1. Focus, focus, focus
There are two fields of thought when it comes to attracting new customers – do you cast your net wide and drag everyone in; or do you focus your net in one area to attract the right kind of customer. It is all well and good thinking that advertising to everyone will get you traffic to your store, and it might well do so, but if they’re not buying, there’s a problem.
Instead you need to align your business marketing strategy to the demographic you’re aiming to sell to. Imagine you own a fishing tackle shop. There’s little use putting a classified ad in a fashion magazine simply because its circulation is greater than a fishing magazine. You know that the readership of the fishing magazine will be interested in your products – that’s smart, focused advertising.
2. Get people through the door with introductory offers
If it worked for Uber, it’ll work for your small business. There are some that might suggest that you won’t retain custom with special offers; customers will just buy and never return again – but that’s not the case. Introductory offers, whether they’re through a classic coupon campaign, or even email marketing, are great ways to bring attention to your new business.
Take advantage of a top of the range coupon maker to generate vouchers that look professional; otherwise, people might mistake them for garbage as they check out the mail. Similarly, if you plan to run an email marketing campaign, try to generate informative content, otherwise it may be marked as spam.
3. Understand what your customer actually wants
First of all, don’t try and convince your customer that they want something –they already know what they want, and if it isn’t your product, they’ll just move on. A lot of money is spent on changing the minds of customers – and nationally we’re talking trillions per annum– so if you haven’t got that kind of marketing budget, then we advise you to instead to focus on finding the people that want what you’re selling.
Sometimes though, finding out who your customers are isn’t enough. There are hundreds and potentially thousands of competing businesses that are doing exactly what you’re offering, so you need to find out what it is exactly they want. Is it discounts? Low prices? Assurances of quality? A product that lasts, or just something for single use? Of course, you’ll know the answers to most, if not all of these questions – you just need to let potential customers know that you do. Marketing your competency in a field is key – especially if it’s a niche one – is a great way to retain customers.
