Great business leaders never get complacent. They’re always looking for opportunities to grow their businesses to new heights. And what better way than attracting new customers?
Once you figure out how to consistently get new clients, you set your business up for continued growth and success. Explore practical tools and strategies for acquiring new clients that you can implement today.
- Understanding different client acquisition channels
- Comprehensive strategies to get new clients
- Utilizing social media and online platforms
- Proactive outreach and relationship-building
- Agency-specific growth strategies
- Advanced and innovative tactics
- Technical tools and resources
- Taking the first steps on the path to more clients
Understanding different client acquisition channels
When you’re trying to grow your business, your most commonly asked question is probably, “How can I attract new clients?” There’s no one right way to find new clients, though. What works well for one business may not provide meaningful results for another. The key is understanding and trying different client acquisition channels until you find the ones that work well for you.
Before you get started, make sure you define your ideal client profile (ICP). Your ICP is your target customer, whose problems you can solve perfectly with your product or service offering. Understanding your ICP will make determining which client acquisition channels to pursue easier.
Comprehensive strategies to get new clients
With digital marketing you have tons of options for connecting with and acquiring new customers. Give some of these strategies a shot:
Building and optimizing your website
Today, businesses simply need an online presence, including a great website. Research shows that most customers now use the Internet daily or throughout the week to find details about local businesses. A strong business website gives you the chance to connect with all those potential customers who are searching online.
At the very least, include relevant details about your products or services, a way to contact you, and some customer reviews. Upgrade your site by adding high-quality images and integrating keywords related to your industry.
Creating SEO-optimized blog content
A blog is a great way to showcase your expertise and direct traffic to your site. By including strategic keywords and using other search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, you can get your website to rank higher in the search engine results pages. The higher your website ranks, the more people will see it and potentially become customers.
Growing and leveraging your email list
Email is a more powerful marketing tool than many people realize. Focus on getting more potential customers to sign up for your email list, and then you have a direct line of contact with them. You can send promotional messages, share industry updates, and deepen your customer relationships. Email is adaptable enough that it can help businesses across industries — from acquiring new manufacturing clients to getting more private-duty home care clients.
Utilizing social media and online platforms
Social media has opened up a whole new world when it comes to connecting with people and acquiring new customers. Using social media, you can grow your audience and get your business in front of millions of potential customers.
Here’s how to get new clients by leveraging social media and other online platforms:
Maximizing your presence on social media platforms
Many business owners think they can just set up a social media account for their business and post content occasionally. That’s fine for establishing a barebones online presence, but it probably won’t win you any new customers.
Instead, you need to be as deliberate about social media as you are in all your other business endeavors. Start by carefully choosing one or two social media platforms based on your target audience and content style. TikTok, for example, is for short-form videos and generally has a younger audience than other social media sites.
Think about what kind of content would appeal to your target audience. Then, create a content calendar that spells out what you’ll post and when. Your content calendar will help you stay consistent, which improves engagement and other key metrics. Social media is interactive, so engage with your audience by answering comments.
It might take some time, but using these strategies will grow your social media reach. As you gain followers, you will have more opportunities to convert them into new customers.
Advertising through social media, search engines, and content networks
Organic posting isn’t the only way to find new customers with social media. You can also run digital paid advertising campaigns on social media platforms, search engines, and content networks.
With these campaigns, you get to set detailed parameters for your target audience. That way, you don’t waste money and effort advertising to people who are unlikely to be interested in your business. Digital campaigns like these give you a lot of adaptability and in-depth insights compared to traditional advertising.
If you’re not sure how to get clients for a new business, digital paid advertising campaigns are some of the best options because they offer near-immediate results. Someone could see your ad and become a customer minutes after you click “publish” on the campaign.
Engaging with online communities and directories
Engaging with customers in spaces where they’re already discussing topics related to your industry or business is a great way to get new clients. For example, if you were wondering how to get new clients as a financial advisor or officer, you might look for personal finance communities and share your expertise there.
You don’t need to promote your business directly in all these conversations. If you show people in these communities that you’re knowledgeable and capable of solving their problems, the customers will come to you. Build up rapport and then occasionally refer community members back to your business.
Proactive outreach and relationship-building
As great as it would be if customers came to you all on their own, that’s not typically how things go. If you want to get new customers, you need to be proactive about reaching out to them and building relationships. Try these methods:
Direct approaches to potential clients and offering solutions
Do some research to scout out potential clients that fit your target customer profile. Consider setting up digital ad campaigns to reach these customers, like paid search or paid social campaigns.
Once people know about your business and the solutions you offer, you can start engaging them. Work on getting contact information from interested potential customers and focus on building relationships in-store or with your social media followers online. Directly engaging with potential clients through these avenues will make them more comfortable and inclined to make a purchase.
Sending follow-up emails
Remember that sometimes, the customer just needs that second nudge to take action. Don’t let your first point of contact with a potential customer be the last.
Re-engage them.
A re-engagement campaign can come into play. You don’t want to give up on potential customers too soon and lose out on those opportunities.
Tip: Avoid sending too many follow-up emails, as persistent messages to nonresponsive customers quickly become spam.
Leveraging existing networks and making new introductions
One of the most commonly overlooked ways how to get new clients for business is leveraging your networks. There are probably lots of people you already know who can help you find new customers.
Talk to friends, family members, or even former coworkers about your business’s products or services. Tell people that you’re looking to reach new customers. Show off your skills and the value your business provides. It may feel awkward to bring the topic up at first, but it will become more natural with time. And you never know which conversation might lead to new customers.
Inviting influential figures to promote your services
Customers aren’t always going to take your word for it that they should buy from your business. Sometimes, you’re better off getting an influential figure they already know and trust to promote your services for you.
Influencer marketing has grown tremendously in recent years and is now worth over $20 billion annually. You don’t necessarily have to work with social media influencers, though that’s certainly an option. You could also contact notable people in your industry and ask them to promote your business. An endorsement from a prominent, recognizable figure will make your business much more appealing to customers.
Agency-specific growth strategies
Agencies often benefit from slightly different growth strategies than other businesses. If you’re trying to get more clients for your marketing agency or other agency, try these strategies:
- Post niche content tailored to your target clientele.
- Focus on ranking higher in search engine results to attract traffic using keywords.
- Create case studies that go into detail about previous projects and the impact you made on clients.
If you own a digital marketing agency, you should also consider working with a digital marketing platform to reach more clients. With a digital marketing platform, you’ll be more efficient, gain access to more accurate campaign reporting, and improve campaign performance for your clients. Learn more about how agencies benefit from partnering with a digital marketing platform, including expanding your client base.
Advanced and innovative tactics
If you tried all the typical approaches for getting new clients and want to branch out, try these more innovative tactics:
Finding clients via workshops, conferences, and local businesses
Potential customers are everywhere, but you’re more likely to find them in some places than others. Industry workshops, conferences, and even local businesses are all great places to look for new clients. These are places where people with shared interests and problems gather.
Show up, make connections with people, and grow your network. Not everyone will be a future client, but those connections still expand your network. It’s about getting the word out and making sure more people know about your business and expertise.
Setting up referral and affiliate partnerships
The best resource for finding new clients can sometimes be your existing ones! Word of mouth is powerful, and your happy customers may just need a nudge in the right direction to recommend your business to people in their circles. That’s what referral programs are for.
In a referral program, you reward your existing customers in exchange for referring people they know to your business. The rewards can be free products, discount codes, vouchers, or whatever else you think might persuade customers to refer others to you.
Similarly, you can create affiliate programs to get others to do the hard work of acquiring new clients for you. In affiliate programs, the affiliate promotes your products or services and earns a commission whenever they bring you a new customer. The commission can be a flat fee, but it’s typically a small percentage of the sales they get for your business.
Technical tools and resources
You don’t have to manage all your client acquisition efforts manually. That would be incredibly time-consuming and limiting. Instead, rely on digital tools for client management and communication.
Constant Contact, for example, is an online marketing platform that provides an email marketing automation tool to help you run better email campaigns. With Constant Contact, you can quickly create effective sign-up and landing pages to collect subscriber contact information.
Once you have their information, use the software to easily design and write appealing email messages to engage these potential customers. Plus, you can create automated email paths so the right messages go out to the right customers at the right times.
Sign up for a free trial of Constant Contact today to see how you can upgrade your email marketing.
Also, consider using project management and collaboration tools like Asana or Trello so your team members always know who’s responsible for which client acquisition tasks. Incorporating a customer relationship management (CRM) tool will give you even more insights into your clients to improve customer relationships.
Taking the first steps on the path to more clients
Whether you’re wondering how to get new clients in a salon or how to get clients as a new real estate agent, there are so many different pathways to expanding your customer base. The trick is finding a few client acquisition channels that work for your business and getting better at leveraging those channels.
If you try something that doesn’t help bring in clients, don’t be discouraged. Just put that effort toward other client acquisition strategies. Take advantage of automation software like Constant Contact to improve your campaigns while saving time and effort. To learn more about growing your small business’s customer base, check out resources like How to Create a Marketing Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide and 7 Ways to Get Consulting Clients Fast.
