SMEs – and we really just like to say Growing businesses, understand more experientially that customers are the lifeblood to their success.
To achieve growth and a smooth transition from a start-up to a sustainable business, you have to understand customer relationship management, customer service and customer acquisition.
Sounds repetitive, but they are really distinct activities through phases. For a growing business, an important addition to customer retention is growing your overall customer base.
Having return customers is great, but that overall customer base needs to grow. Knowing how to find customers should be a top priority for any growing business and this process is referred to as Customer Acquisition.
It simply means the process or act of winning customers who are willing to purchase your services or products.
The fact is that many small businesses might not have so much time and resources to build a rigid customer acquisition strategy. However, as a business owner, you can commit to spending time to research and determine the best strategy for your business.
When you do, you would see growth and a potential to expand the business, which is typically born by the good problem of increasing demand.
Studies have shown that 76% of customers expect companies to understand their expectations and needs. This means that to keep up with current trends, SMEs need a clear customer acquisition strategy and the best way to do this is by understanding your customers. Who are your customers? Age demographic? Gender? Working class? Where do they congregate? What do they like? What do they need and don’t know they need?
You need to anticipate, and provide a solution even before they realise there is a problem, Understanding these would help you understand how best to keep existing customers and acquire more customers.
If only through the simple referral of a satisfied customer. We have selected some customer acquisition tactics for growing businesses, as below;
– Building a website to show your products and services
– Creating social media pages for your business
Content marketing is an effective customer acquisition method for all businesses. Creating new, exciting, and relevant content is a highly effective way to snag your audience’s attention and send them to your website.
– Direct mailing. e.g periodic newsletters; reaching out to customers during this COVID-19 pandemic
– Asking for referrals
– Contests and freebies
– Engagement, engagement, and more
If you leave your customer alone, someone might just snatch them from you. Research has shown that 80% of a company’s income comes from 20% of its existing customers. This goes to show just how important customer acquisition is.
Do you have a growing business? What customer tactics do you use? Did you find any of the above tips helpful? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
For more enquiries on our CRM support for growing businesses, please send an email to smeblock@cr8careers.com
