The efficiency of a business is determined by the amount of profit, which, in turn, depends on the volume of sales – the more products and services are sold, the greater the profit is. And sales are driven by customers, so any business needs a good client base. Therefore, in a highly competitive environment, various methods of attracting customers are used, both classic and innovative ones.
Traditional Advertising
It is worth starting with the traditional way of promoting a business. Advertisements are placed on television, radio, and magazines or distributed through banners, leaflets, and similar printed materials. Outdoor advertising grabs the attention of potential customers if it’s effective and well-thought, and a proper location is chosen. Billboards, posters, and leaflets inform potential customers about promotions, bargains, or new product launches and serve to develop brand awareness. Business cards used to deliver your contact details to potential clients and partners work fine in the same direction, showing your serious commitment to business development.
You can order the design from professionals or develop it yourself. The Internet offers many sites and programs that you can use. If you lean toward creating something on your own, know the ad’s positioning and brightness. Traditional advertising highly depends on the channel and its visibility. If your commercial is placed in a spot with lots of natural light, you need to develop the ad in a detailed, visible, and readable way for every passer-by. Don’t hesitate to use a color palette to identify the scheme best suited to your commercial’s placement.
Social Networks
Social media platforms run the show nowadays, as information spreads much faster there. Most top brands use social media pages to share news about their products, services, or promotions, to inform the audience about upcoming events, and to establish communication with users who later become their customers. Analyze your target audience and choose your perfect social network (or a couple of them) based on age, geographic location, interests, and other parameters.
Young people are more likely to choose Instagram and Pinterest, while a middle-aged audience gives preference to Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. If you have created accounts and groups on social networking sites, make sure to keep them “alive”, with the content regularly updated and plenty of interaction with your followership. Tell users about the company history, show them your production process, share your experience, and so on — people love sincerity and authenticity. Another great advantage of social networks is the possibility to promote sponsored content through larger bloggers, which results in a greater number of potential customers seeing your page.
Digital Ads
At the moment, there are two main areas of online advertising. Contextual advertising promotes your business in search results shown for certain queries. For example, a person enters information of interest into a search bar and sees all related web resources on the search engine’s page. If you have done a good job with SEO, your website and ads will be ranked as high as possible in the results. The charm of contextual advertising is that you offer goods or services to those already looking for them. This is the fastest and one of the most effective ways to reach your customers.
Targeted advertising covers ads triggered not by direct user requests but by specific traits of a target audience. Traffic from targeted ads can also be directed to a company’s website or its corporate page on social networks. In the latter case, it is very important to work out a well-thought-out SMM strategy, build trust with visitors, and provide guarantees.
Loyalty Program and Other Rewards
More often than not, discounts are one of the most effective methods of attracting customers since they provide clear benefits. When buying a product or ordering a service, a client pays attention to the cost, and if your discounts make it lower than your competitors can offer, the chances of expanding your customer base will significantly increase. Do not forget about your regular customers, as they are your main source of income. Use different ways to express your attitude towards them: bonuses, gifts, and other incentives work well because we all value attention.
Communication with the Audience
Chat with your customers. Ask their opinion, listen to their advice, show their reviews on social media, and so on. Contact them to receive feedback and ask for a referral. While there is a good chance they will recommend your services to another client even without your request, you can see an increase in the number of client referrals when you start asking for them. Remember that word of mouth has been doing its job from time immemorial.
Conclusion
Running a business is a difficult and complex process. In addition to customer attraction, there are a number of other processes and activities that will lead you to prosperity. It is good to analyze the work done, create plans and strategies, and learn from your own mistakes or, which is even better, from your competitors’ failures. You should not give up, but you must also be able to hear and understand constructive criticism.
Bob Andrews is a content editor for Landscape Insight, With a background in journalism, Bob brings a unique perspective to his role as he oversees the creation and publication of a wide range of content, including articles, podcasts, and videos. You can reach Bob at – [email protected] or by Our website Contact Us Page.
