The most challenging and perhaps, the longest-standing issue that small businesses often have to deal with is improving their customer base. Regardless of your niche, it can be a very tough competition to keep up with the big players in your industry. As we go into another year, we know without a doubt that small and medium-sized businesses would like to expand their reach.
By all means, we think that now is a great time to redefine your strategy (if necessary), and probably start implementing them. That said, we've also noticed that many small companies — in a bid to jump on the latest trends — often overlook some less common, but effective marketing strategies that can help them attract more customers. These unpopular or less traveled roads have proven to be effective repeatedly, and we think that you should consider adding them to your list, too.
So, without further ado, here are 10 affordable ways to attract more clients to your small business in 2022:
1. Offer promos to new customers
The use of promos and discounts is as old as the concept of marketing itself is. Customers are always looking for more value for less. If you are able to provide them with this, they'll stick with you. Offers like "refer one person and win a coupon", "buy two and get one free", and so on are just a few of the many kinds of promos that businesses use to bring more customers their way.
2. Network with more people
There are different ways to connect with more people, but the most important thing is how you network. You want to focus on opportunities that allow you to connect and hold conversations with important people in your industry, potential customers, and even old customers that you've not been in contact with for a long time. Consider joining your trade association and your local chamber of commerce. Also, be sure to focus on providing solutions and answering their questions, instead of taking the " what's in it for me?" stance.
3. Make your website intuitive and responsive
Nothing beats a website that's optimized for users. If you're looking to attract more clients in 2022, one affordable way to make that happen is to update your website and make it more responsive. Online shoppers visiting your website may be turned off by poorly designed sites or poor user interface. Visitors should be able to navigate your site and find what they're looking for without having to jump through many hoops. If you run an e-commerce business, this is all the more essential for your business.
4. Reconnect with old customers
You never really know the opportunities awaiting you when you reconnect with old customers. Use emails, texts, and calls to reach out to old and inactive clients. Your call or text might just be the push they need to reach out to make a purchase. When doing this, consider offering a promo or discount, or at least, make them understand that they might be losing out on a great opportunity/offer unless they take action immediately.
5. Invest more time on social media
You already know how important social media is when it comes to brand promotion and marketing. With millions of people on the internet, especially social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram, implementing a social media marketing strategy is worth your time and effort. You can use brand influencers and paid advertising to raise your voice and to widen your reach on social media. Another great way to utilize social media optimally is to ensure you're always sharing informative posts with your followers. Be sure to also always answer their questions and engage with people posting interesting comments on your post.
6. Ask your existing customers for referrals
As you up the quality of your service and provide better offerings to your customers, ensure you politely ask them for referrals. Existing customers can help promote your business in ways you never thought possible. If possible, offer them gift cards or discounts to encourage them as they spread the word about your company. Referrals are one major way small companies expand their client database, and you don't want to ignore that.
7. Participate in social/community events
As the year draws to an end, if you look around your community, you'll likely see several opportunities to make an impact in your community. While this is a great opportunity to push your services and products in front of people, you want to be careful not to come across as only leveraging the opportunity for marketing. For such situations, the awareness and exposure you gain by participating are self-generated, so it's best to channel your resources into actual giving, instead of trading.
But it doesn't have to be just for now. Consider taking opportunities as they occur throughout the year. Besides, the initiative doesn't have to be yours. You can join bigger community outreaches as a co-sponsor or partner with other local companies to implement specific projects.
8. Consider doing local SEO campaigns
It is a great idea to try and reach the world, but it is also very productive to focus on local consumers. If you're a professional services provider, say a pediatrician, you really may not have any business trying to reach the whole world, unless you want to leverage the opportunity to sell telehealth services. Otherwise, your focus ought to be on people in your community. Local SEO is the best approach to make that happen.
9. Team up with complementary businesses
Another affordable, or rather a cheap strategy to boost your customer acquisition efforts in 2022 is by partnering with businesses that play within your niche but not necessarily competitors. As an example, if you sell drugs, it is only wise to build a good relationship with nearby clinics and hospitals. You can refer patients in need of treatment to them and they can send patients with prescriptions your way.
10. Create a blog to share insightful information
If you're looking to drive more traffic to your website, content creation should be on your to-do list. Make no mistake, creating and sharing content is not in any way, an easy task. However, it can be quite effective for boosting your brand authority and awareness. In fact, content creation/marketing is a part of search engine optimization (SEO).
As you share more impactful content, you can use the opportunity to market your products or services.
Final Thoughts
There are many growth opportunities and it is only apt for small businesses looking to grow to leverage these opportunities to re-strategize and make modifications in your marketing where necessary. For more assistance with tips on best marketing strategies, feel free to contact us at the Mission today. We bring loads of experience to boost your marketing performance.
At Mission HR, we use our profound market insights and expert guidance to help you improve your marketing results and business productivity. We are experts at assisting businesses to implement the best growth strategies successfully. As leading partners in the PEO, HR, payroll, and benefits outsourcing marketplace, we also provide result-oriented services for small and medium-sized organizations and government contractors.