Whether you are a seasoned veteran with a booming small business, or just starting out on your new venture, the need to always have a growing customer base is key to the success and profit for every entrepreneur. Never settle for a stagnant customer base or be afraid to take some risks when it comes to investing in marketing and targeting new customers. We never want you to go blindly into the night and testing out every marketing tool under the sun. This will only end up in frustration and wasted funds that could have been used for something else.
We give you our top 4 ways to grow your customer base without spending the money on fancy marketing tools. These are tried and true options that are guaranteed to grow your customer base and bring you the profits you want.
Create Online Communities for Your Existing Audience
If you already have an existing customer base, why not create a community for them on your website where they can engage directly with you and other customers like them? People love engaging in a community area- be it online or in real life. If they feel they can directly reach out to you and see you as an active member in that community, you will more easily build trusted, long-lasting relationships for sustained profits. This in turn assists in gaining new customers by word of mouth, mentions by other companies, and so on. User-generated content will also keep you current base happy, and attract new customers at the same time.
While creating this community, be sure to make some unique and interesting hashtags that your customers will enjoy using. This will also be helpful in spreading the word about what you have to offer much more easily and bring in potential long-term customers.
Begin an Invite Rewards Program
This is a tool we really love, and one you can really get creative with. You probably have noticed many companies offer invite rewards programs at different points in the fiscal year. The best way to gain new customers is to reward your current customers for their loyalty by invites. These types of rewards programs really go a long way in bringing in profit from avenues you might not have thought of before. You can decide on the reward that is right for you and your business when current customers invite their friends. You can offer a freebie, additional membership points, or free shipping on the next order. You can also customize how many invites customers can send out, the rules for those invites, and even extend an invite for rewards to the newly invited customers who sign up for your newsletters or a first purchase offer.
You can create your own referral program or utilize some software programs on the internet such as ReferralCandy, Ambassador, or Referral Rock.
Using Retargeting Ad Programs
Most businesses miss the chance to re-target those who just visit their ecommerce stores without making a purchase. We highly recommend taking the time to re-target your visitors and turn them into loyal customers. You can do this with retargeting software available on the internet. Companies like AdRoll, Google AdWords, and Chango, help you create re-targeting campaigns for your website visitors, and get it seen on other websites and social media platforms they use. Don’t miss using this extremely underused marketing tool to help your success.
Creating Giveaways and Contests
Who doesn’t love entering a contest for a chance to win something amazing, like a vacation or a lifetime supply of their favorite product? Even if entrants do not win anything, you have by the collected information you obtained which can be used in future newsletters, email campaigns, and targeting/re-targeting ads. These promotions can easily help you grow your customer base in other ways, and even utilize the other tools we mentioned above for great business success.
