Genuine Strategies To Attract New Customers To Your Small Business

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

Common Struggles in Attracting New Customers and Clients

As an entrepreneur, you may feel like you’re constantly searching for ways to attract more customers and clients. It can be difficult to find the right people who are interested in what you have to offer. Here are two common struggles new businesses face in finding potential new customers and clients.

1. You’re not sure where to look.

With so many options out there, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to attracting new business. Do you advertise online? Locally? Should you cold-email?

Research and speak with other entrepreneurs in your market and see what they're doing in order to reach their audience. Don't copy what they are doing, but use their strategy as a way to develop your own in order to communicate your unique message.

2. You’re not sure what they want.

Even if you know where to look for potential customers and clients, it can be tough to figure out what they’re actually looking for. If you're an accountant, for example, you already know that people need tax help or financial advice. But do they want a traditional accountant? Or would they rather hire an online service? You may need to ask prospects what they're looking for before you can give them what they need.

How do you go about this? First, you need to identify yourself, know your target audience, and understand what problems they're facing. Then you need to understand and communicate how you're the best person to bridge that gap and build a lasting connection.

Identify The Purpose of Your Business

Why are you doing this? What do you believe in? Take the time to look inside yourself to find what problems you want to solve and for whom. What are the solutions you can create? How can you bring about that change and communicate directly with those who need help? People will trust you if they see you already have established the answers to these questions and are grounded in your brand message.

Asking yourself “why” is one of the most important ways to learn about yourself and where you want to go as an entrepreneur. So, before you jump into designing a logo for yourself or putting any effort into marketing, it’s important to know your purpose so that you can develop a proper business strategy that’s aimed at solving a problem for a specific person.

Know Your Customers and Clients

When it comes to marketing your small business, one of the most important things you can do is research your target audience. By understanding who your target customers and clients are and what they are looking for, you can effectively market your brand to speak to them. And you can do this without spending any money on online advertising or otherwise. The key to genuine effective marketing is to speak to your customer and client base. You can promote your business, and your products and services in creative ways and effective ways without any ad spend.

One fear in narrowing focus to a specific audience is that it won't attract any clientele. While this can be true if your focus is extremely narrow, serving a specific market doesn’t mean you can never work for another type of business. In fact, when you establish yourself as an expert and authority in a specific market, it builds credibility for you and your business. This credibility echoes across other marketplaces.

Word of mouth is powerful. Someone in the market you specialize in may talk about the positive experiences they had with you with someone in another market. That may lead to future opportunities where you can indeed branch out and expand your business. So, don't be afraid to start at the center, then expand outward.

Here are a few tips for researching your target audience:

1. Who do you want to reach with your marketing? What are their demographics?

2. Where does your target audience hang out online and offline. What websites do they visit? Which social media platforms do they use? Where do they shop?

3. Find out what kind of content your target audience consumes. What type of information do they want to see from businesses like yours? How can you provide value to them?

Attract Customers and Clients Through Connection and Content

If you want to attract customers and clients to your business, one of the best ways you can provide value is to create content that educates, informs, and excites them. By producing high-quality content on subjects your audience is interested in, you show your audience that you’re an expert in your field and that you’re worth doing business with.

Once a potential client or customer sees that you know what you’re talking about and that you genuinely care enough that you would create content for them, this increases the opportunity that they will invest in you because you have invested in them.

One great way to create content is to start a blog. Blogging gives you a platform to share your knowledge and connect with potential customers. Be sure to promote your blog on social media and other channels where you connect with your audience so that they can find it.

Create a newsletter campaign to promote your articles and also build up an email marketing system where you can share exclusive content and special offers for your subscribers.

Another great way to create content is by creating online videos. Videos are a great way to engage potential customers and give them a personal look of what it would be like to work with you. You can post videos on social media, on your website, or on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

Set up your business website in a way that helps your audience. If your business creates custom designs for wellness providers, create a branded website with a message that speaks to your audience's needs and displays your design work specifically for them.

On social media, follow businesses and people in that industry. Follow their hashtags. Become a part of that community. But, do so with the intent to communicate with them and offer support and insight and not sell them anything.

Hearing a sales pitch is a complete-turn off. If your intention is just to make money, this will seep through your pores and send potential customers running for the hills. Your business needs to have a vested interest in meeting a need first and foremost. Remember, you’re speaking with people. Don’t talk in cliches or boilerplate lingo. Be genuine and honestly care about those you serve.

Keeping A Loyal Customer Base

As an entrepreneur, you already know how important it is to establish long-lasting client and customer relationships to have repeat business and keep your brand going. By doing so, your clients and customers will continue to do business with you and recommend you to others, which contributes to the growth and sustainability of your business. Here are some practical tips to help you build and retain a loyal customer base.

1. Keep your promises. Stand by the commitments you make to the public. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. This builds trust and keeps your clients and customers coming back.

2. Communicate clearly and often. Whether it's through social media, email marketing, or your website, communication is key. Make sure your business is always transparent. Let your customers know what’s going on with your business. Clearly communicate the description of your business, your brand values, and stand by them.

3. Be responsive to feedback. Whether it’s positive or negative, take the time to listen to what your customers are saying and make any changes accordingly. This shows that you value their opinion and are always working to improve your business.

Building Brand Awareness

It is essential to have strategies in place for attracting new opportunities and then retaining those who have placed their trust in you. Through education and consistency, you will build credibility, establish loyalty, and create a healthy community for the success and growth of your business.

Running a business is exciting. But it doesn't have to be scary. Having a mission and embarking on this journey brings an incredible sense of reward and becomes more than just completing tasks, clocking in hours, and earning income.

You're helping people. That holds immense value. And also immense responsibility.