Running a business is hard. There’s no doubt about that. One of the biggest challenges is growing it when you seem to have hit a plateau. Finding new customers and making a connection with them requires creativity and hard work. Many marketers find that they are crafting great content and materials, but not seeing the engagement they want from new prospective customers. Or, they are able to get prospects, but aren’t able to close the deal and convert them into a paying customer. The solution is connection. You need to build a rapport with prospects and new customers to get them to convert, and then to come back again in the future.
Get Personal
Human beings, in general, are self-centered. We love to have others celebrate us, whether it’s for accomplishments, birthdays, or anything else. We enjoy when others take the time to get to know us, and show that they recognize us. You can leverage that for your business, and it doesn’t even take a big monetary investment to do it.
To start, make sure that you have a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. You can track every interaction you have with customers and prospects. Then, with the information you have, you can develop personalized marketing materials for each one. That means when you get a new visit to your website, direct them to a survey page, or track their pageviews. Once all of this is in your CRM, you can send out emails highlighting things that will interest them specifically. Your materials should all have their name on it, and if you can refer to something specific about them, all the better. Make it easy for them to make a purchase of something they like because you’ve already anticipated their needs.
Use Your Current Customers
There’s an old saying in marketing that word of mouth is the best advertising. While this saying might be old, it is an absolute truth, even to this day. It’s a little different than it used to be, though. Now, a customer’s social circle can be many times that of a regular person a few decades ago. They can connect with people around the world, and share mass info through their social media channels.
You can leverage the support a customer has for you into connecting with new customers in their circle. Provide your current customers with incentives for reaching out to their friends and family. The more prospects they bring in, the more benefits they get, and the more potential revenue you can get. It’s a marketing investment that targets the most powerful marketing tool of all: social trust.
Leverage Technology
One of the best things about living in the times we do is that technology is evolving and people are coming up with amazing solutions every day. Technology is your friend, and it doesn’t require a huge investment to be able to connect with customers. For instance you can use a mass notification app to send out mass messages to every customer in your CRM, or to certain groups. These messages can be calls to action, such as answering survey questions or signing up for a contest, or they could be sales-based. The best part is, these messages are immediate, and they are sent to people who have already expressed an interest in your brand by providing their contact information. Let’s say someone signs up to your newsletter, or submits their details on your website. You can then send them out a message a short time after to keep your brand at the top of their mind.
Technology will also allow you to do amazing things when it comes to targeting your marketing. You can get a general location of your prospects, and send out location-specific messages to them. You can even base those messages on something that is currently happening, such as a heat wave for an ice cream shop, or a quick note to let them know your brand will be present at an event.
Have Conversations
So much of what we do involves connecting with people virtually. Emails, texting, and instant messenger have their places, but it can be hard for consumers to know what’s real and what isn’t when dealing with a brand. While many marketers are quite rightly embracing the digitization of everything, you can also swerve by offering something different to potential customers.
When someone contacts your business to ask a question or to make a sale, you can talk to them. If they call, having a real person answer can be a welcome surprise for many. If they get to know a person behind a business, especially if it’s a small business, they will be more likely to place their trust in you. Conversations also means making sure that your customer service levels are high. Answer questions, fix concerns, and make every customer feel like they are number 1 in your heart. This will build loyalty, which is much more valuable and more affordable than finding new clients.
Get Involved in Your Community
Want to connect with new customers? Reach them where they live. Sponsor events, have a booth at local fun runs, and donate to local charities. Making yourself visible at these community-building events will help to build that trust between your brand and the community. They are wonderful opportunities to talk to your neighbors and get a sense of their pain points, goals, and needs. These certainly will take time out of your schedule, but it can pay off big-time down the road.
Being involved in your community also means virtually. Make sure that you have a presence on social media pages relating to your city or area. Comment, like, and share posts from others. If a problem pops up in the community, do what you can to help. If a group is out searching for a lost pet, provide them with free pizza or drinking water. Not only will you be doing the right thing, but it will all be worth it.
Building connections with new customers is a challenge. Finding them is hard enough, and then getting them to convert to a buying customer is even harder. With these tips, you can take the steps to not just find new customers, but to connect with them and turn them into loyal ones.
