Winning new customers

In order to grow your customer base - and your business as a whole - you need to understand your audience.

Your target audience are the people who need or want your products and services and they should be at the core of your business.

Clearly defining your target audience and including as much detail as possible will increase your chances of finding, engaging with, and selling to prospective customers.

When defining your target audience, remember to:

Be specific

You can’t market a product or service to everyone, you need to be specific about who you are targeting. There are people who need or want your product or service, and people who don’t. Think about what you’re offering and how it will help, then work out who needs that help. For example, suppose your business sells alloy wheels. In that case, you’re only likely to be of interest to people who have automotive vehicles or work in the automotive industry – they are your target audience.

Use data

Don’t rely on assumptions about your target audience. Carry out market research and use analytics and data to fully understand who your target audience are and how they behave.

Put your customer first 

Rather than focusing on the people you want to be engaging with your business, target the customers who want to engage with you – they might be different. If the data shows a particular type of person is engaging with your business, they should automatically become your target audience.  

When you’re running your own business, it’s tempting to only focus on what you’re doing and how you can improve it. However, taking time to examine what your competitors are doing can be the difference between your business’s success and failure – especially when attracting new customers.

Find out what your competitors are offering and how their customers (who could be your customers) are reacting to it. What deals do they have on? What reviews are they getting? How could you improve on what they’re offering?

Everybody loves a good deal. A great way of attracting new customers to your business is to offer introductory deals or discounts. They can act as great incentives to entice new customers.  

Check out this article by Shopify on 18 coupon and discount code ideas for small businesses to generate more sales on ecommerce sites.

It's important to make sure your promotions are clear, fair and legal. Check out this article by DFA Law on the legal rules of sales promotion. 

Networking is a great way to meet new people and potentially grow your customer base. You can network at face-to-face events or online. Check out your local Chamber of Commerce to find networking events near you. 

Don’t be afraid to shout about what you’re good at. Identify the thing that makes you stand out from your competitors and let your prospective customers hear it.

PR is an excellent way to achieve this. Click here for tips on promoting your business with PR.

Once you’ve attracted new customers, it’s important to keep them coming back for more. A great way to boost customer retention is by offering reward and loyalty programmes. This could be in the form of a points system, cashback or punch card loyalty (like buy four coffees and get the fifth for free). 

You’ve already defined your target audience, now you need to think about where you are going to target them. Depending on the type of product or service you’re offering, different social media channels will be more beneficial than others. For example, LinkedIn is a great B2B channel, whereas Instagram is a great place to visually promote products.  

You can find more about who uses which channel in this report on social media demographics. 

Encourage sharing 

Encouraging customers to share their experiences is a great way to boost your exposure on social media. The more people that are sharing your content, the more people will see it. Word-of-mouth is also the best form of marketing, so encourage customers to leave reviews and push them out to as many people as possible.  

Use visuals 

Research has shown that content with imagery helps communicate ideas faster and easier than content without, so use visuals like photographs, videos and infographics wherever you can.  

Be respondent  

Responding to customers’ questions and feedback is vital to building a great online presence for your business. If someone is thinking about buying from you and asks a question relating to your business, if you ignore their question, they are far less likely to buy from you. A quick, informative response can maximise your chances of making a sale, prove your commitment and help attract more customers to your business.