You are looking forward to expanding and growing your business. But has growing your customer base been a lot harder than it sounds? How do you do it then? Check out these strategies to get more customers in 2022!
Let's face it, no business is going to attract everyone. The first step is to identify who your target customer is. Marketing people call this a persona – but it really is all about understanding what your customer wants so you can figure out how to sell to them. Here are some questions that can help you determine your ideal client.
- What age group is my target customer in?
- What education does my target customer have?
- What is my target customer's problem that I want to solve?
- What are my target customer's likes and dislikes?
- How will my target customer discover my business?
Once you have a decent idea of who your target customer is, you can think about how you can create a marketing plan that can efficiently reach them. Let's say you have a dental clinic whose target audience is families and children. You can emphasize in your marketing how much experience your practice has serving families. You can also start thinking about how you can deliver a quality patient experience that makes the whole family happy. In some cases, just putting toys in your waiting room can make your patients want to come back for more.
Of course, this is not a strategy that only dentists can benefit from. Regardless of your business, start by thinking about your ideal customer. Then find out how you can deliver value to that ideal customer at every touchpoint.
Understanding the customer experience is one of the strategies to have more customers in 2022
To ensure your customers are close by, it's important to understand how they feel about every touchpoint with your business from the moment of first discovery.
While this is obviously an oversimplification, it's helpful to think about how you can improve your efforts on each.
be found
The first step is to make sure it's easy for customers to find you. Unfortunately, many companies are not taking the right steps to be found. This includes, but is not limited to, having a business website that is mobile-friendly and voice search friendly, and having accurate listings on the Internet.
be chosen
The process of selecting a new business can be time consuming and even a little irritating. Whenever customers are dealing with a brand that they are not yet familiar with, there is always a fear that they are not going to get their money's worth. That's why it's important to provide social proof to your potential customers.
be connected
Once a customer has decided to choose your business, it needs to be easy for them to get in touch with you. Make sure accurate contact information is displayed on your website and business listings. Make sure you're engaging with your current customers so they keep coming back for more.
Be the best
Remember, the goal shouldn't be to make a sale. Instead, you should be aiming to create loyal customers for years to come. So how can you do this? The answer is to provide superior customer experiences. By delivering value at every touchpoint your customer has with you, whether it's making a purchase or contacting customer support, you'll leave them with a positive perception of your brand.
That's why it's important to collect and closely monitor customer feedback. This feedback will allow you to understand in which areas your business is falling short of customer expectations. With the right platform to manage, then you can learn how to make changes to your business operations for maximum profit and efficiency.
Strategies to have more customers in 2022
Want to start attracting more customers to your business? In this section, we'll share a few steps that can help you with every touchpoint of your customer experience. Some of these tips will help you get discovered by potential customers, while others will ensure that you are building stronger relationships with your existing customers.
Build a great website
Every business, no matter the size, must have a website. This may seem obvious to some of you, but studies show that 40% of businesses don't have a website. While there are many paid options, you can easily create a free website on WordPress or Squarespace.
Today, it is important to take two extra steps. First, make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Studies show that most online browsing is now done on mobile devices. So make sure your site is search engine optimized (more on this in our next tip).
Optimize your site for search engines
Once you have an awesome website, make sure you optimize it for search engines. The more visibility you have, the greater the chance of attracting customers.
First, make sure you're doing keyword research to find keywords that are relevant to your business. (Ubersuggest is a great free tool). Then make sure you have a page designed to rank for those keywords. These pages should have short, descriptive URLs and relevant meta tags (the data you see in a Google search result).
So make sure you have tons of internal links to the pages that matter on your site. Internal links show search engines like Google how important certain pages are.
Next, make sure your business is optimized for voice search. More and more customers are using voice assistants like Alexa as well as Siri to discover businesses. This means customers are often using more conversational search queries like “Where can I find a barber in Palo Alto?” A great way to optimize these searches is to have a FAQ page on your website for conversational keywords (eg “Where can I get orthodontic surgery in Orange County, California?”). For more tips, then check out our complete guide to optimizing voice search.
Get the most out of your Google My Business profile
There is one factor that matters more than anything else when it comes to being discovered in search engines: your Google My Business profile. It's like that.
The first step is to claim your profile on Google My Business. The process takes a few weeks, as Google may need to send you a postcard to verify that you own the business. Once you receive the postcard, you can verify your profile and start making changes.
Next, make sure that you optimize your Google My Business listing and that you have high definition photos that highlight your company's service. Make sure all of your contact information is correct so it's easy for potential customers to find you.
Make your business listings accurate
While your Google My Business profile may be your most visible listing, it's definitely not your only listing. Customers are also looking at your company profile on sites like Reclame Aqui and hundreds of industry-specific sites on the Internet.
Accurate ads will avoid customer confusion and make your business more likely to rank higher in search. Google verifies that your information is accurate by looking at your listings on other authority sites. If your name, address, and phone number are accurate on the Internet, you are more likely to climb to the top of the search.
Paid online advertising
While not all businesses can afford it, online advertising is worth exploring. While there are tons of different sites on the Internet that offer paid advertising options, there are actually two sites that are way above the competition: Facebook and Google. It is estimated that these two sites make up 70% of all digital ad spend. Makes sense. These two sites receive huge amounts of attention from consumers all over the world.
Make sure your ad gives customers a reason to want your service. Then use a visually stunning image from Facebook. A great image can help make your ads more effective.
Google ads work a little differently. When a client searches for something like “law firms in my area” they will see some results. Chances are that some of them will be paid results.
Online assessments
Also, make sure that you are also encouraging your customers to leave feedback via text and email. This is an easy way to get feedback on what's working for your business. Studies show that 92% of customers consult reviews before making any purchase decision.
So how can you start gaining more customers with online reviews? The first step is to start collecting more reviews. Your happy customers would be happy to leave you feedback if you just ask them. They just need to be pushed in the right direction. Start submitting review requests via text and email that link to sites like Google and Facebook. That way, all your customers have to do is click the link and leave a review.
Consider using a platform to automatically collect reviews. Companies that start collecting reviews automatically see an 8% increase in revenue in just six months.
Deliver valuable content
You've probably heard the saying, "Content is king." Valuable content really shows great results. Whether through a blog, podcast or YouTube channel, content that builds trust with customers and adds value is a great way to leave a positive impression of your brand in the minds of potential customers.
Content marketing is a slow process. Don't expect great results right away. It takes time to build an audience. Just remember to stay consistent and release quality content regularly.
Use micro-influencers
One of the most popular terms in the marketing world right now is probably influencer marketing. If you're on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, you've probably seen one of the big accounts that goes on promoting a product.
Reach out to local influencers who have a large following with your target audience. Don't send a cold message right away asking them to promote your products and services. Chances are you will be ignored. Instead, engage with your posts and build a relationship. You can ask if they would be willing to promote your company once you have established communication.
Customer testimonials
We cannot emphasize it enough: customers care about the opinions of other customers. Studies show that customer testimonials on sales pages can increase conversions by up to 34%.
Ask some of your satisfied customers if they would be willing to participate in a video testimonial. Here, they can spend some time talking about how using your business has benefited them. A great video testimonial really helps to highlight the strengths of your business and furthermore, it helps to create a connection in the viewer's mind.
If you don't have the time or resources to get a video testimonial, try getting a quote from one of your satisfied customers to display on your website. Simply ask them to finish the sentence “I recommend (your company name) because…” and see what pops up.
Customer testimonials can also take the form of online reviews. For example, you can share your glowing comments on social media and on your website.
Make it easy to get in touch with the webchat
Unlike a phone or email, Web Chat makes it easy for site visitors to contact you. All the customer has to do is type a short message and wait for a response. When the customer fills in the form, he will receive an automatic message informing him that the company will contact him soon. It's also convenient for you: you can reply to the message when you're available.
Use text message marketing
Make sure your customer relationship doesn't end with the first purchase. Stay in touch with your customers over time. A great way to do this is with text message marketing. Studies show that text messages have a staggering 98% open rate.
It's important to make sure your existing customers are engaged. When you have a new sale, promotion, or event coming up, be sure to text your existing customers.
A great way to ensure your text messages are more effective is to add text features to your landline. This means that your customers are less likely to not recognize your number and ignore it.
Use email marketing
It's true: email inboxes are full. But there's a reason companies are sending out so many emails: it works.
So how can you send better emails? One key is making sure you're using compelling subject lines. A great subject line gives readers a reason to want to click through.
Then make sure you're delivering valuable content. Everyone has some emails they want to open every time they see them in their inbox. Think about how you can create short content that can make a big impact on your target customer.
Provide prompt customer service
Every now and then, mistakes happen. Most reasonable people understand this. If your company is willing to respond quickly. That's why it's so important to stay on top of customer communications.
Your Google and Facebook profile will get reviews from satisfied customers, but every now and then you will get a review from a frustrated or angry customer.
A customer complaint can seem awful. If you're working to provide great service, hearing someone criticize your company isn't the best feeling in the world. But if you're not trying to help the customer with their problem, you're amplifying the problem.
While positive word of mouth can bring customers to your business, negative word of mouth will only drive people away.
Most of the time, these customers are just raising their hand and asking for help with a problem. They don't want to hurt your business, meaning they just want to make sure the problem they're facing is resolved. So make sure you contact them with a polite response. Try taking the conversation offline so you can get to the bottom of the problem. If you are able to resolve the issue, then you can politely ask the customer to edit or delete their original review.
customer surveys
One thing we recommend for all businesses is to keep an eye on the data. Companies like Netflix use data to provide recommendations on what to watch next. Regular Netflix users often discover new shows from Netflix recommendations. But that is not all. Netflix also uses data from its customers to figure out what content to produce next. This leads to great results. Netflix original content generates 80% of the content viewed on the platform.
So what can we learn from Netflix? Keeping an eye on customer data is a great way to keep loyal customers. Not only will you have a great idea of what your customers want, but you'll also be able to start developing the services they want to see. While you don't have the resources of a company like Netflix, you can get the data you need through customer surveys.
A great place to start is with a simple net promoter score survey. A net promoter score survey asks how likely customers are to recommend your business on a scale of 0 to 10. Not only is this survey easy for customers to answer, but it also gives you a clear idea of how satisfied customers are with your business. your business.
You should also consider using transactional surveys. You can send a transactional survey after a customer has a specific interaction with your business, such as a customer service call. These surveys give you an idea of how you can improve customer experience touchpoints.
How Colors Agency can help you get more clients
As a business owner, you need to keep up to date with new SEO trends to grow your clientele in 2022.
Understand that the scope of SEO expands every day and climbing higher in SERP search results is not a cake. Search engine optimization is a complicated but important element of digital presence in online competition.
The key to the success of your 2022 customer engagement strategy is building flexibility and adaptability into your resolution. Make sure all customer communications are hyper-personalized, add more videos to your content, consider building an online customer community for your business, and try to bring conversational selling to the forefront. Look at your customers' feedback, measurements and analysis and evolve your plan as needed. Keep your customers at the center and they will continue to be your customers all year and for years to come.
If you want to delegate this work to an experienced company, our agency develops SEO strategies and brand positioning for multinational companies, large, medium, as well as small, all projects are important to us.