Getting skilled at customer acquisition is one of the keys to building a successful business. But with so many different approaches and strategies available, where do you start?
Here are Several helpful Tips that we Recommend:
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1. Invest in Growth Marketing
Most modern marketing strategies focus on the top of the marketing funnel. In other words, they’re focused on awareness and acquisition. And while these are integral elements, they’re not the entire funnel. Growth marketing prioritizes all stages of the customer lifecycle, from awareness all the way to referral. In doing so, it creates a self-feeding loop where an acquired customer eventually helps you acquire more customers.
Growth marketing is all about being lean and curious. Marketing strategies are implemented, split-tested, and optimized over and over again. Decisions aren’t made on gut feelings or guesses, but on data and research. It definitely requires a more patient approach, but the results are worth it.
2. Establish Authority
Customers buy from brands they know, like, and trust. And there’s no faster way to get a customer to know, like, and trust you than by establishing authority.
Establishing authority in the marketplace takes some work; however, there are some ways to speed up your results. Effective options include authoring a book, hosting a podcast, or launching a YouTube channel.
It’s also important to “boast” about your authority when you have it. For example, if you’ve written a book, you’ll want to include a picture of your book in your LinkedIn banner and mention the name of the book in your website bio.
If your business has ever been featured on any recognizable media platforms, you should include those logos on your website and in your marketing. Don’t be bashful – be strategic!
3. Give Before Asking
Most businesses mess up by asking for a sale right away. In doing so, they come across as desperate and salesy. But if you want to do it right, you should really give before asking.
Giving before asking seems like a strange approach, but it’s actually extremely effective. By leading with value, you not only establish goodwill and rapport, but you also have a chance to communicate your authority and knowledge. For example, you could give away a free eBook that talks about the problems your target customers are having. Then, on the backend of that book, you offer your product as a solution.
4. Emphasize Benefits Over Features
Your customers don’t care about what features your product has. They might say they do, but they really only care about one thing: what those features do for them. In other words, they’re a lot more interested in the benefits that your products and services provide.
When creating marketing copy and messaging, always emphasize benefits over features. This doesn’t mean you can’t talk about features – it just means that features should always be directly linked to benefits.
5. Showcase Testimonials
People are much more likely to trust their peers than they are to trust a brand they have no relationship with. This is what makes social proof elements like testimonials so valuable.
Get in the habit of collecting lots of testimonials and then publishing and sharing them everywhere. This includes social media, sales pages, blog content, etc.
6. Partner With Influencers
Sometimes you can benefit from tapping someone else’s authority and recognition in a niche. One way to do this is by partnering with specific influencers.
Influencers give you access to a new audience, which obviously gives you new opportunities for acquiring customers. The key is to choose the right influencers. You want people who align with your brand values and who have followers who fit squarely in your target audience.
Don’t Forget About Retention
While customer acquisition is absolutely an important part of building a business and growing, it shouldn’t be your only focus. If you get too focused on customer acquisition, you’ll actually forget about customer retention. And no matter what line of business you’re in, retention is where the real value lies.
It costs five-times more to acquire a customer than to retain an existing customer. Increasing customer retention by a paltry 5 percent can increase your profits by as much as 25 to 95 percent. This is due to the fact that the success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70 percent, while the success rate of selling to someone new is just 5 to 20 percent.
To be successful, you need both acquisition and retention. As you implement the tips from this article, make sure you don’t forget about the latter!