Marketing to Attract New Customers
June 7, 2009 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under Marketing
Almost every business in existence needs new customers on a continual basis to stay profitable. Considering that attaining a new customer might be the most difficult thing to do in the business world, what are the best marketing strategies to attract new customers?
Here are a few tips:
New Customers Perks
We’ve all seen the offers companies make to new customers. Whether it’s a free gift, an introductory offer or a built-in, one-time savings, giving perks to new customers is a tried and true method.
Referral Bonuses
If you have a lot of satisfied customers, use those satisfied customers to your advantage and offer referral bonuses. For example, you can give $50 to any existing customer who sends a new customer to your business.
Venture into the Unknown
If your business currently focuses its marketing efforts in certain areas, try changing that focus to tap into a new demographic. For example, if all your marketing is done online, try marketing in a newspaper or on the radio to reach new customers who may not spend time online.
New Customers (Image: Flickr)
Offering new clients some sort of perk is a short-sighted and eventually destructive tactic.
It’s no secret that the best marketing campaign is simply word-of-mouth. And new customer incentives are a pretty good way to irritate those customers that have been with you, loyal and paying their way, for a long time. After all, if I’ve been doing business with you for a decade or more and I’ve never gotten any sort of perk, why should someone else who has no history with your company get special treatment?
You’ve just pi$$ed me off.
Offer the loyal customers a perk first. That is more likely to generate a positive word-of-mouth “buzz” and do more to strengthen your customer relationships than offering a newbie customer a $10 pack of azalea seeds.