Five simple ways to expand your customer base You have established a customer base. Half the battle won, right? NO! Successful growth of your customer base is essential for business survival in the current economic climate. Surviving the storm or ‘plague’ of distressed markets, economic meltdowns, industry slumps as well as other domestic and global challenges is largely dependent on a LOYAL and GROWING customer base. Be it retail, wholesale or a service-oriented business, there are certain general principles better known as “customer best practices” which apply to all enterprises. Below are five which can be applied to expand your customer base and establish a sustainable business in South Africa: 1. Create strategic brand awareness No matter how advanced mankind becomes, the power of “Word of Mouth” makes loyal customers your best marketing campaign. Apart from knowledge and information dissemination about your goods and services you need to create an ‘emotional drive’, a passion and energy that surround your brand and business. Think of “Coca Cola” who have managed to make a classic example of this through their well-developed brand identity. Use cost-effective avenues such as social-media, content marketing, targeted advertising, milestone PR announcements and quality control systems to create and maintain the right brand reputation. 2. Focus on building customers rather than making sales Simply making a sale is not the point – it’s about developing a holistic connection with the individual. Direct necessary focus on operational efficiency, staffing, quality production and CUSTOMER SERVICE to grow a loyal client base. Building a healthy relationship with your customers in the virtual and offline marketplace is essential. Indeed prioritising a marketing plan, without an effective customer care plan, will cost you dearly in today’s competitive world of business. 3. Offer your customers an experience…that they WILL remember Much of McDonalds’ success globally has been attributed to its low prices and fast service. Even the richest customer values time as a precious commodity. Everyone is “Lovin it” at McDonalds because they leave you with money in your pocket, time on your hands and therefore peace in your heart. This is a classic example of an “unforgettable customer experience” and you too can come up with creative ways of offering your customers a memorable experience. 4. Who can forget social media? Using social media is all about establishing a social presence and participating in the modern business landscape. People will work with businesses they feel comfortable and are familiar with. Your company can only address the customers’ needs if you know where their virtual ‘gathering spots’ are. Consumers are influenced by their peers’ opinions about products and services, so creating the right online image will go a long way to growing your customer base. 5. Create a powerful customer-focused value proposition A value proposition describes a company’s knowledge of the customer’s expectations, and their ability to meet, and even exceed it. This is achieved by explaining the nature of your product or service and highlighting the ways in which your product would solve the problems and/or improve the life of the customer. At the heart of all these principles is the simple truth that you need to build relationships with your customers in order to increase your customer base. Man is a ‘social animal’ and every customer is an island waiting to connect with vehicles of knowledge and opinion to get them to the mainland of valuable business products. National Small Business Chamber
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 13:58:30 +0000
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