In what many call the digital age, one may presume that opening a successful business is relatively straightforward. However, it is rarely the case – numerous digital companies struggle to get off the ground, as nine out of ten startups end up as cannon fodder for the remaining ten percent.
One of the most significant obstacles businesses face on the road to success is customer acquisition. Paradoxically, what makes this aspect of running a startup challenging is the high number of technological advancements. All these new bells and whistles elevate customers’ expectations to astronomical levels. And meeting those expectations is a long row to hoe.
What to do in this situation? Besides hiring a resilience manager and sketching a business continuity plan, one of the most frequently used solutions to weather the storm is to search for proven customer acquisition strategies.
Below, we list some of the best ways to attract new customers and retain existing ones, ranging from engaging in digital customer journey mapping to producing more video content and running fun competitions with valuable prizes. Let’s jump right into it!
Engage In Digital Customer Journey Mapping
Before trying to find the Holy Grail of customer acquisition, having a clear understanding of your target audience is crucial. When you know who your ideal customer is and what kind of journey they go through, it is much easier to identify potential sources of new clients.
For example, if your prospective customers are people from generation Z, you will have to look for opportunities to connect with them on social media. You don’t have to be an active user on Instagram or Tumblr yourself, but it’s essential to keep in mind that these sites are the best channels to reach out to zoomers.
Once you have an idea of where to find your target audience, it’s time to figure out what made them purchase your product or service in the first place. By creating a digital customer journey map, you will be able to find out what triggers the decision-making process, why your customers usually choose to buy from you, and how loyal they are.
What is digital customer journey mapping? Simply put, it is the process of understanding how customers interact with your business. It is essential for any digital startup, as it helps them to discover what their customers need and expect from their products or services.
The best way to go about this strategy is to use a digital customer journey mapping tool, such as Google Analytics, which allows you to track the paths customers take and visualize them on your website. Doing so will help you understand where your customers are coming from and what steps they take before making a purchase.
As soon as you know the answers to these questions, you can start thinking about engaging with existing customers and attracting new ones.
Increase Your Visibility With SEO and Paid Ads
SEO and paid ads are the bread and butter of customer acquisition. As such, it is crucial to find the right combination of the two to make your company visible in the right places and at the right time.
Paid search engine ads, also known as PPC, refer to buying sponsored results on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or another search engine. The idea behind these ads is to boost online visibility during a specified period of time.
Since PPC is one of the most powerful customer acquisition strategies, you can count on paying up to $100 for each click in high-competition niches like law or real estate.
On the other hand, SEO is a more passive way to gain traction. By making your website content more relevant and valuable, your business will naturally gain visibility in the organic search results. You can accomplish this by improving the quality of your website, adding new pages and content, or publishing regular updates on social media.
Regardless of which strategy you choose, it is highly recommended to run an SEO audit to evaluate your website’s current position. While running this audit, make sure to focus on technical aspects such as site speed, load time, URL structure, and crawlability. The main goal is to make your website faster and easier for search engines to crawl.
Produce More Video Content
If you are looking for a customer acquisition strategy that is both effective and relatively simple to implement, producing more video content is a smart move. In fact, video content has become one of the most powerful tools for customer acquisition in recent years.
Research has found that videos are more effective at driving engagement than other types of content, such as text or images. Additionally, videos have proven to be highly shareable across social media platforms, which can help you reach a wider audience and drive more organic traffic to your website.
So, if you want to drive your business forward, including more video content in your marketing strategy is a step in the right direction.
Run Fun Competitions With Valuable Prizes
If you feel challenged when it comes to attracting new leads, you are far from alone. It is an issue many business owners face. The solution to this problem may lie in the concept of “fun.” Fun is a powerful word that can excite and elicit positive emotions. When customers feel good, they tend to share the experience with others.
On top of that, fun encourages people to interact with each other. It leads to enhanced customer bonding. And as even the most prominent brands have learned over time, customer bonding is one of the critical aspects of customer acquisition.
Therefore, if you find yourself at a loss for ways to attract new clients, try running some competitions with valuable prizes. Contestants can compete in various online games and win desirable prizes. For example, you can organize a virtual treasure hunt.
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to make the competition fun. For instance, you could host a photo caption competition or an Instagram-related contest.
Running competitions with valuable prizes can help you generate interest in your brand and attract new customers while rewarding those participating in the competition. Besides, running competitions can encourage people to share your brand with their friends, which can help spread awareness about your business and drive more traffic to your website.
The Bottom Line
Keeping customers engaged and enthusiastic about your business — or anything, for that matter — is nothing short of a project. A project that you need to invest time and resources into.
While it’s undeniably true that customer acquisition is pretty much at the center of everything that goes on in a startup, it shouldn’t be viewed only as an obstacle. Finding innovative ways to navigate this issue will allow you to capitalize on its potential.
After reading our guide, you are now equipped with the knowledge of how to approach this subject from multiple angles to boost your digital customer acquisition rate. Following the above mentioned guidelines will help you avoid the pitfalls that befall many businesses.
So, go ahead and implement them in your business and watch yourself rise!
This content was originally published here.
