Regardless of what kind of business you are running, there is a lot of competition for customers. It pays to be able to cast your net as wide as possible, as well as be able to scoop up any missed customers along the way, which your competitors may not have focused on.
Updating your website
When it comes to your website, you must remember that it is probably the first connection any potential will have of your business, and those first impressions last. Therefore, there are a number of things that you will need to focus on when you are looking at your website in a critical light.
Making sure that it matches your business. For example, having a good-looking website with graphics or pictures that are of no connection to the industry your business is in can cause confusion to your visiting audience, regardless of how nice, welcoming, or eye-catching those graphics or pictures are.
Check that your website is easy to navigate. It doesn’t matter how many people or viewings you get to your website. If it is hard to navigate, it is likely that your audience will click away and will not come visiting again. If your visiting audience knows very little or nothing about the services you are offering, be aware that they will not struggle with the language you are using.
It is important that you are catering to all the possible visitors you may attract by making your website totally user-friendly. There is a very helpful overview which you can read that can really explain why these points are so important to your visiting audience and, therefore, your potential customers.
Using social media platforms to promote your business is a very handy tool. Most people are connected in some way or other on a social media platform, and they take that connection everywhere they go, mainly on their cell phones.
With the modern person spending hours on their cell phones every day and that net being totally worldwide, the number of potential customers your business has is staggering.
To catch these potential customers, you will need to write articles, promotions, educational pieces, and post videos so that you can connect fully with those people who are surfing the platform. It is important when you are doing this that you do not make any of your literature or footage too salesy, or your viewers will skip your articles or fast-track through your videos. Instead, look to make them educational or entertaining, and remember to always add a link back to your website so that any viewer can carry on reading and gain your business’s contact details along with the details of any products or services you are selling.
Try more traditional ‘old school’ methods
When you are trying to entice new customers into your order book, you may find that traditional marketing methods do still work. We all react differently to marketing strategies. Some people react well to social media. Others may react better to newspaper advertising or even shop window displays or mail drops, leaflets, or letters.
If you are thinking of advertising in a local newspaper or even a magazine which will have a much further reach, you may find it beneficial to write an article about your business rather than just place an advert. By writing a bit about the history of your business and then about the services which your business is offering, you will be able to engage with your readers.
If you can add a bit of a success story, you are more than likely to get more readers, as everyone likes to read about success stories, and it will also make your piece personal, although the information you write will have to be true and not fabricated. Do remember to add your business website and contact details to your article so that your readers have somewhere to go and look afterward.
Introduce promotional items
Using promotional items is another way to gain interest in your business, and if you are clever can pave the way for more customers or keep your most valuable ones returning time and time again.
You could go the old way about this and set up a stall at your local fetes and activities, but you may find it far more beneficial to contact the local schools, colleges, or universities so that your business can be there when they are promoting careers advice. In addition, giving out promotional items with your company’s logo will keep your business at the forefront of your audience’s mind, especially if you use items connected to your business and the products or services you are offering.
Suppose your business requires other businesses as customers. In that case, holding an open day or evening on your site to welcome new potential customers could be the way forward and offering goody bags with a promotional item in so that they can see the quality you are offering or at least have items which will make them remember your business before they look elsewhere.
Final thoughts
When you are looking to gain those missed customers, it is important that you look to your website to make sure that it is accessible to all and that it can be well understood and runs properly. With the world as it is today, so heavily driven by social media, you must have a social media profile for your business and look at having one on every platform available to you. To make this work to its fullest potential, ensure that it is linked to your website.
Do not be afraid to try more traditional methods of getting your business known. Indeed, it is a good idea to try all that is available to you. Everyone responds differently to different marketing strategies. Some like to have a leaflet put through the door, others like to read success stories in magazines, or there are the people who react best to social media or online advertising.
