Now it’s time to get creative with your customer acquisition. Here are 10 ideas to get your creativity flowing.
Give away free products or services
Offering a bit of your product or service for free does a couple of things for you.
First, it provides potential customers the opportunity to try your product or see what it’s like to work with you, at no cost to them. Second, it can create word-of-mouth.
This free item shouldn’t cost you much, or it will impact your cash flow. Provide one month of free access to your app, offer a free brainstorming call that will let prospects experience your expertise, or offer something related to your product that’s creative and fun.
Create videos
Video content is a great way to establish and build a connection with your audience. Your videos should be both educational and interesting to your audience. Bonus points if they’re entertaining, as well!
Create a referral strategy
Once you have happy customers, make it easy for them to refer you. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving them gift cards or a discount if they refer you. Monetary rewards can work well with some products (like coffee shops or e-commerce shops). But for referrals that come from people who are sharing your company because they truly like working with you, a financial incentive can backfire.
People may be reluctant to recommend you because they worry that their friend or colleague may think you did it just for the money. Instead, think of ways to make it easy for people to refer you. Design a creative card, use “forward to a friend” links in your marketing emails, etc.
Offer amazing content
Establish yourself as a go-to source of helpful information. Publish blog posts, e-books and other downloadable content, as well as an engaging newsletter. Cultivate your social media marketing content, focusing on building a tribe and providing value.
Create a beginner’s guide
Establish your expertise while attracting people at the top of the marketing funnel by creating a beginner’s guide to the topics your product or service has expertise in.
Host an event
Host your own event to frame your message. This event can take the form of something big, like a conference, or something small, like a meet-up group.
Partner with a complementary company
Is there a well-loved company that complements your products without directly competing? Create a partnership and join with them to access their audience. Partnerships can come in many forms, including guest podcast appearances, webinar hosting, social media takeovers, or email marketing.
Be the source for trend information
Stand out in your industry or among your market by becoming the go-to source for information on trends. Being seen as “in the know” also helps you establish your company as the experts in your subject matter.
Improve your website
Consider the user experience on your website. Can you make popular information easier to find? Improve the content? These will help your search rankings and will also draw more people to visit your site regularly.
Repurpose your content
Did you get a lot of engagement from a particular social media post? Expand it into a blog post or an e-book. If your blog post was shared a lot, write an email newsletter about it, and share it out on social media. Continue providing value across your channels.
These are just a few ideas to boost customer acquisition. Get creative and be sure to test the results of your campaigns to see which are most effective with your target audience. Then, do more of those things!
Customer acquisition will continue to be an ongoing effort for your startup, but having a focused strategy will help you to build on your success and continue to grow.
