“Profit in business comes from repeat customers; customers that boast about your product and service, and that bring friends with them”. – W. Edwards Deming
There would really be no point starting a business if you are unable to get customers interested in it. A company may have a customer base but unless they buy regularly and provide referrals, the business would not become successful. Statistics show that a business does not begin to register a profit from new customers until they buy repeatedly and without customers interested in doing so, it would be tough for a company to break even on the resources spent on building the business and attracting customers. It is therefore imperative for your company to weave into its business strategies ways to get customers interested in your business without wasting the limited resources at disposal.
What does your company do as of now to get customers interested in your business? There are several ways to do this and each company could differ in the methods they use to gain and sustain the interest of customers. The most obvious is perhaps through advertisements and promotions, which must be effective enough to generate a large number of leads, thereby raising the chances of conversions. Getting customers interested in your business is not about constantly talking about your company but rather highlighting how the offerings can benefit the customer and how they can solve the customer’s problem. Many companies make the mistake of constantly communicating how great their business is, but fail to answer the question “what’s in it for me?” for their customers. As a result, customers may either take some time to figure out what they can get by associating with the business or may switch their interest to another.
The good news is there are now several channels through which companies can advertise or use to promote their business – the one becoming most popular would be online – through social media. The reason it is gaining popularity is its high visibility, with instant information on how many people may have viewed and shared your message, and it is not restricted in its usage based on age and other demographics. Companies must carefully build and meticulously manage their online presence and reputation, using the channels most appropriate for the kind of messages they would want to send out. If the messages convey usefulness and benefit, getting customers interested in your business becomes a lot easier via social media – and in addition, those who do become interested can, without much effort, pass on and share the information with their friends, peers, and associates. This in turn increases the reach, awareness, and visibility of your company, raising the number of opportunities it has, and the number of customers that could become interested in their business.
When your company is able to get customers interested in your business, and manages to sustain that interest, it becomes a lot easier to land referrals through the customers, which in turn could lead to more business. Spreading word about your business through customer referrals and networking is perhaps the most effective way to garner interest of prospects and target audience, in your business. Prospective customers and other readers tend to trust the testimony of existing customers a lot more than claims made and messages sent out by the company. Therefore, as mentioned, it is not sufficient to garner interest in your business, but ensure that your company delights the existing customers consistently such that they play an active part in gaining more business and interest in your company. The higher the number of happy customers, the better the chances of getting more customers interested in your business – without additional resources and much effort. Of course, gaining referrals may not happen automatically – your company would need to actively ask for and seek these business leads.
Another effective way of getting customers interested in your business and increasing your chances of gaining more revenue is through forging alliances with companies whose products / services could be used in conjunction with what your company offers. For example – a company that designs websites, could team up with an individual / company that offers content writing services in order to leverage the customer base of both, thereby increasing the chances of gaining more customers and revenue.
Many companies make the grievous mistake of using traditional methods, old pitches, and ‘tried and tested’ strategies, even while targeting the new age customers and ‘millennials’. It is not surprising then that they are unable to get these customers interested in their business. New methods, a different approach and thought process is required to get new age customers interested in your business – even if it means moving out of your comfort zone and doing things that your company may never have conceived or thought possible in the past. The idea is the same – to show value and benefit of your offerings – only that you would be doing so for a completely new set of customers and hence tweaking the approach would help. We have mentioned several times that given the number of different kinds of customers that any company could have, an ‘umbrella’ approach cannot work any longer. Each customer must be treated differently – because they are, and in doing so, you would be able to get a lot more customers interested in your business, long-term.
As mentioned, what your company already has in terms of resources, customers, and business networks are extremely critical and invaluable to success. Using what your company already has, and leveraging on the trust and power of the positive word of mouth of existing customers and business associates, helps your company to garner more interest in its business given the confidence people would have in these ‘testimonies’ of those who have already experienced doing business with your company. Again, getting testimonies and positive comments may not always be easy or a given. Your company would need to give that ‘something more’ to their business relationships in order to encourage positive comments. No company exists in a vacuum in the business world and each one requires the strength and expertise of the other. In order to get more customers interested in your business and sustain the interest of the current ones, it would be extremely beneficial to share your expertise and thought leadership with others. This could be done through publishing content in the form of white papers, articles, and blogs, and or speaking at networking events organized by other companies. This would not only gain interest in your business, but also grow the number of connections your company would have, and enhance its reputation manifold. The more respect a company can gain the easier it would be for people in the ‘market’ to trust it and think of it when wanting to engage in business.
We mentioned earlier about the power of social media in getting customers interested in your business. The other reason for the potency of this medium is the fact that messages sent out would have calls to action buttons. These could be likes, sharing, and commenting – the readers who find the messages interesting enough would use these buttons to pass on the content to a number of other people, who in turn could pass them on to several others. This way a company gains reach and possible interest in markets and a customer base that it may not even know existed. Millions of people view posts and content daily and this number is rising steadily – it would be highly imprudent to miss taking advantage of this viewership to get your company and its business out there and before a gigantic audience.
As long as your company is able to reach out, forge strategic alliances, and show value, getting customers interested in your business would be a lot easier and would prove to be highly beneficial in both the short and long-terms.