3 Things You Must Do To Acquire New Customers

In today’s ever changing and fast moving world of global markets no business can afford not to seek out new customers.

The biggest area of recent growth, in terms of gaining new customers, has been seen online. Already advertiser’s expenditure has overtaken Radio, TV and periodicals, and it continues to increase at an impressive rate.

No business can ignore the Internet, and if they do they can be sure that their competitors aren’t.

It is important to grasp that effective online marketing covers 3 areas, all of which should be mastered to allow you to utilise the full potential of the medium.

Each of the 3 areas requires different skills sets, methodologies and approaches:

Marketing step 1

Comparing your website to a traditional, local shop might seem unusual. However, just as in a High Street store or a local grocery, you need to consider how you are going to get people to come to see you. With a local shop the location is the key, and choosing a busy, popular location will pretty much guarantee a flow of people. With an internet site you also need to have traffic generated for your site, as people must come to it before they can buy anything from you. Another key point is that you need to get hold of the right kind of customer; someone who might be interested in the kind of thing you are selling. If you were setting up your local store we mentioned earlier then you wouldn’t consider opening one selling expensive gold jewellery in the middle of the food market in a working class neighbourhood, would you? Attracting customers is no use if they are the wrong types of customer.

Marketing step 2

Once you have got someone to visit your website you need to consider them like a potential customer who has stepped into your local store. You don’t want them to leave without either buying something or leaving behind their details so that you can offer them something later on.

Avoid confusing your customer with choices. Aim to make a SALE or obtain their details. Don’t try to do both, because strong sales pages convey only one message and seduce people to do only ONE thing. That is why company home websites do a general poor job of conversion – less than 1% is the norm.

Marketing step 3

Follow up and maintain contact with clients who have bought or have left their details.

A recent survey has shown that if you follow up within 3 minutes you are 5 times more likely to convert that lead into a paying customer than if you were to leave it longer than an hour. So, speed of following up a lead is very important.

Equally as important is maintaining a relationship through regular communication via email (using an autoresponder).

Don’t just send out buying recommendations. Each email, phone call, or letter should have something of value to your customer, and ideally would be eagerly anticipated by them.