Have you ever thought marketing like dating?
They say marketing is a lot like being in a relationship.
While we are heading towards the end of the summer, this post is all about how you can attract NEW customers and fill your calendar using some of the same approaches you might already be using in your relationships.
Ready to take your enquiries up a notch?
Here’s what you need to consider to attract new customers:
1. Get their details
Think about the last time you had a crush on someone. As you got to know them, you probably started collecting little details about your new amore. I’m sure you did your research online, on social media or any other platform to find as much information about that person.
The same thing you need do with your customers. Getting specific about who your ideal customers are will help you to create the offers, design a brand that attracts those people and creating your social media posts and start promoting your product.
Go beyond what’s on their online profiles. Attracting new clients is sensitive especially if you don’t know their background. Talk to them, meet them, get to know what drives them, what they value, how you could help them and add value to their existing needs and what they want for their future.
Take action: Get to know more about your customer than the normal information like their age and hometown. Use surveys, interviews and conversations to learn their deeper needs, values and desires to get to a conclusion of how to move forward.
2. Tap into their want match
When trying to convince your significant other to do something together, do you
a) Tell them they have to go or ‘it’s over’
b) Tell them all the reasons why you want to go
c) Tell them all the reasons they might like to go based on what you know they like
I hope you picked point C, because the same logic applies to your customers.
Once you managed to know what your audience wants that meet their needs, then you can create an offer (product or service) that is of a match. The solution here is to have a connection between what the customers want and they you offer.
The secret is to make your audience fall in love with what you offer, create the need that will align with their desires. Sell them what they want, not what you think they need.
Take Action: Get to know your customers, their preferences, lifestyles and values. Once this is achieved then create multiple offers that will attract their interest and match their needs and wants.
3. Be the real-deal
Have you ever imagined if you were to date someone who only talks about their wins, accomplishments and how everything is? Not the best feeling right? At some point you might even start to question their sincerity.
In fact, stories of failures and fears can help others to bond with you, share mutual feelings. They can help your audience to sidestep your mistakes, build rapport and connection.
Take action: Build relatability by sharing stories about both your wins and your losses. Be sure to keep them genuine, true and relevant to what your business is about.
4. Pop the questions
Every great relationship, collaboration and friendship starts with an ask. Generally, these start out small and get progressively higher in both risk and reward as you build trust. You wouldn’t ask someone to marry you on a first date, and the same goes in marketing.
In your business, you might start with a small request, like asking someone to follow or comment on your instagram or asking for an email address in exchange for a freebie. And eventually that graduates to asking them to work with or buy from you.
The 2 big problems many people have encountered when building their audience are
- They don’t want to be too pushy, so they never ask for anything
- They train their audience to receive a lot of value without needing to do or pay anything.
That means when they DO finally ask for a sale, their audience is like ‘why would I pay when you always give me so much great value without me lifting a finger?’
Smart people.
Asking your audience to engage, take action and pay for the value your delivery is essential for your profitability and even their own results.
Because, when we pay, we pay attention.
Take action: Free value definitely has its place in building trust, but if you want to be profitable don’t forget to also ask your audience to be active and invest in their own development as you get to know each other.
5. Persistence pays
There will be occassions when someone asks you out and you say no, but they will come back and ask you again and you say yes.
In business and in relationships, I believe:
- Not everyone you reach is going to want to buy in
- Not everyone you reach is going to buy in straight away
Often it takes multiple engagements with your brand for someone to take action (especially if you’re selling high priced products or services). That might mean showing up in their inbox, in an ad, in search engines, in their facebook news feed and instagram feed.
Think about it – how many times has something shown up in your feed and you think ‘oh that looks interesting’ but you don’t have time to look at it further? You think ‘it’ll pop up again’ but it doesn’t. If what you do or sell can help your customers, you owe it to them to show up again and again.
It’s really easy to be disheartened when you put a lot of time into creating content and you hear crickets. In that situation, you could take it as a personal rejection, or you could use it as evidence of what your audience doesn’t respond well to and change up your game plan.
Take action: Not everyone you reach will take you up on your offer, and not everyone will take action immediately. It pays to be consistent and persistent.
Attracting your dream clients isn’t unlike attracting your dream partner.
And while finding new clients might sound trickier than finding a lover, the same principles apply:
- Know who you want (and who you don’t);
- Support them to get what they want;
- Be real and transparent;
- Ask them to spend time and engage with you; and
- Be persistent and consistent about showing up in their lives.
When you put it like that, it sounds simple, but I know it’s definitely not always easy. Stay committed to your vision, keep showing up and I have no doubt you’ll fill your incredible clients very soon. 😉
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