50 Ways to Get New Customers via Online Sources
You’ve created a beautiful website for your business.
It’s now time to sit back and watch the leads stream in, right?
Wrong!
While having a good, user-friendly website to advertise your products helps, it’s not the be-all and end-all of digital marketing.
You will need to invest more time and effort into finding potential customers and clients for your business.
Customer acquisition is an ongoing focus for any successful business.
Even the most prosperous businesses lose customers and clients. To keep an even keel, businesses have to replace the customers they lose.
Here are 50 ideas to generate new leads and convert them into customers online:
1. Build an Email List
Email lists are a powerful tool for digital marketing. Ask your website visitors to leave their emails for relevant content. This way, you can remain connected to your current and potential customers.
2. Start Blogging
As an expert in your field, start sharing your knowledge on your blog. Blogs are a great way to extend your digital marketing strategy. It is important to keep your blog updated with regular content.
3. Use Organic Social Media
Every day, 3.5 billion people use social media. If you’re not tapping into social media for online marketing, you’re missing out big time. Set up social media profiles and start interacting with your target audience.
Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash
4. Pay Social Media Ads
Using organic social media posts to acquire leads isn’t enough. Social media platforms keep refreshing content. This pushes your posts further down the user’s feed. To keep your content on top of the feed, paid social media adverts are a great option.
5. Use SEO Techniques
Improve your website’s ranking on search engines by using SEO techniques. The best way to optimise your website is by creating content that utilises keywords. Avoid keyword stuffing as it can attract penalties from Google.
6. Try Live Streaming
Live streaming is growing in popularity as a digital marketing tool. It allows you to interact with your audience more closely and educate them on your business.
7. Conduct a Webinar
A webinar is a great way to share your knowledge and showcase your business as an industry leader. Webinars are very powerful marketing tools, yet remain cost-effective.
8. Try Email Nurturing
Email nurturing is a strategy where you send personalised emails to potential customers. The goal is to build a relationship and nudge them towards making a purchase.
9. Use Pay-Per-Click Ads
Do you want your website to show first on search results? One way to accomplish this is through pay-per-click ads. Paid search campaigns will help your target audience to find you when your SEO efforts haven’t paid off yet.
10. Write a Guest Blog
Identify popular websites where you can showcase your expertise with guest posts. This is an awesome way to connect with new potential clients. Some companies will charge you for the guest post, while others will offer it for free.
11. Answer Questions on Quora
Show off your expertise by answering relevant questions on Quora. Link your profile back to your business website.
12. Engage on Reddit
Reddit has millions of dedicated users to whom you can promote your business. Use the r/entrepreneur subreddit to introduce your brand and learn from other entrepreneurs.
13. Get Listed on Google
To ensure that your business is found by local customers, get listed on Google Local.
14. Partner with Influencers
There’s no shortage of social media influencers with whom you can partner to promote your brand. Find the most relevant social media influencers in your industry and strike a deal.
15. Create a Referral Program
Create a program where your regular clients can refer new customers for a reward. The reward can be anything from discounted prices to shopping vouchers.
16. Create a Loyalty Program
Reward your loyal customers and clients by creating a loyalty program. You can offer repeat customers discounts and other incentives.
17. Make it Mobile-Friendly
There are almost 5 billion mobile users worldwide. Make sure that it is optimised for mobile use in order to reach a wider audience.
18. Hold a Viral Giveaway
Holding a highly publicised giveaway is a great way to engage your audience. Giveaway contests are also an innovative way to acquire data on your audience. You can ask participants to fill in forms. Make sure to ask for their email address.
19. Create Video Content
Don’t overlook the power of video content for marketing your brand. Posting videos on platforms such as YouTube promotes your ranking across multiple search engines.
20. Join Facebook/LinkedIn Groups
You can showcase your expertise and promote your business by participating in relevant groups. You can find such groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.
21. Leverage on Holidays
Create online promotions for holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year, and Easter. This will help you attract new customers and boost your online sales.
22. Create an Affiliate Program
Pay an affiliate website a commission to send traffic to your site. For example, if you’re selling beauty products, you can create an affiliate program with beauty bloggers. Give them unique hyperlinks or ID codes to post on their platforms. Pay them commissions on sales made using their unique links or codes.
23. Send Press Releases
Let the media know about your business by writing and sending them press releases. Press releases are effective for announcing product launches and corporate social responsibility events. This is a great way to gain free publicity.
24. Republish on Medium
Try republishing your blog content on Medium. This can gain you more engagement and help you reach a new audience. This can lead to new customers and clients.
25. Use Email Signatures
An email signature is a simple, yet effective way to market yourself and your business. Create a professional email signature right away.
26. Host a Podcast
Hosting a podcast can help you reach people who prefer audio media. Be sure to provide value in your podcast to keep your audience engaged. Promote your business in your podcast.
27. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are like the SEO of social media. Incorporate appropriate hashtags into your social media posts to reach the right audience.
28. Pin on Pinterest
You can attract new people to your website by posting on Pinterest. When your content is re-pinned, more people will click on the link that redirects them to your website.
29. Get Interviewed
Look for opportunities to get interviewed – whether on mainstream media or by relevant bloggers and YouTubers. This gives you a chance to promote your business to a larger audience.
30. Participate in Forums
There are plenty of professional forums. Participate in them and promote your business. Many people use these forums to find solutions to their problems. Be helpful with your answers to attract clients. Make sure to add your business links to your profile and forum signature.
31. Post on Slideshare
You can post creative and informative PowerPoint presentations using slides on Slideshare. This will enable you to tap into a bigger audience.
32. Leverage Online Marketplaces
So, your site doesn’t have good traffic yet? Sell your products on online marketplaces such as Amazon, ASOS Marketplace, and eBay.
33. Send Cold Emails
When you’re starting, you might find it difficult to generate new leads online. Instead of waiting, reach out to potential customers and clients by emailing or calling them first.
34. Interview Industry Influencers
To create epic content for your blog and attract more people, interview industry leaders and influencers. This creates a win-win situation for your business and the influencer.
35. Pull a PR Stunt
PR stunts have the potential to propel your brand’s popularity. PR stunts are about doing something hilarious, outrageous, or unusual enough to gain media attention. A well-executed PR stunt can help you bypass conventional time-consuming marketing strategies. This publicity comes with more customers.
36. Run a Survey
Get data on your customers by running a survey. You can use SurveyMonkey to easily create a survey. After collecting data, analyse it for marketing purposes. You can also turn it into a newsworthy press release.
37. Set up an Online Cartel
It can be difficult for a small business to make it out here in the digital space without support. Join forces with complementary businesses to market your brands. You agree to promote each other’s products online. For example, if you have a shoe collection you can promote a clothing store.
38. Beat the Competition on Comparison Shopping Engines
Online shoppers like to window-shop before making a purchase. They use price comparison search engines such as Google Shopping, Yahoo Shopping, BizRate, and Shopzilla. Before setting prices, look at your competitors’ prices. The idea is to offer the lowest possible prices.
39. Create an Infographic
When you gather relevant data from surveys, create infographics to make it easier to digest. Infographics are popular when it comes to social media sharing and SEO ranking.
40. Get Testimonials
Genuine testimonials from happy clients and customers work wonders for marketing. If you don’t have testimonials on your website yet, add them as soon as possible. You can follow up a purchase with an email asking your client to rate the product.
“The team at Handmade Web & Design personal approach made the process easy, they understood our business and what we wanted to convey to potential clients through our website. The process from initial enquiry to launch of the website was professional, timely and seamless. These three qualities are key in business!!!”
Paul & Hannah Morrow – Morrow Building
41. Create an eBrochure
Printing brochures can be an expensive affair. Save yourself the cost by creating PDF brochures for potential customers to download.
42. Add a Live Chat to Your Website
When people visit your website, they might have questions that require immediate answers. A live chat software on your website is a great solution for this customer service dilemma.
43. Comment on Blogs
Find the most popular blogs in your industry and leave helpful comments whenever you can. Make sure to provide links to your business website.
44. Send Thank You Cards
When a customer completes a purchase, send them a “Thank You” card or note. This is a simple way to show appreciation and keep customers coming back.
45. Start a Campaign on an Issue
Is there an issue that bothers you about your industry? You can start an online campaign to bring about the desired changes. Create a press release to garner media attention.
46. Enter Awards
There are plenty of awards you can enter your business into. If you win, this will give you free publicity. It also gives your business credibility and builds trust.
47. Get a QR Code
QR codes are simple AR codes that can be scanned using smartphones. This allows the user to gain quick access to your website. You can place your QR codes on all your marketing materials.
48. Create an Ezine
Start an online magazine that is closely related to your business. You can share industry news, educate your potential customers, and promote your business.
49. Create a Funny 404 Page
A 404 page tells a website visitor that a certain page can’t be found. Instead of the regular boring 404 pages, create a funny one. It could be so funny that people start sharing it on social media, which attracts traffic.
50. Monitor Your Online Reputation
Carefully track the online conversation about your business. Respond quickly and appropriately when necessary to build your reputation in the digital space.
Get a Headstart With Digital Marketing
Digital marketing can be a little overwhelming for entrepreneurs. Especially when you add it to all your other responsibilities as a business owner.
Handmade Web & Design can help!
A boutique digital marketing agency, we have the skills and experience to boost your business’ online profile.
After taking a close look at your brand personality, we create a unique marketing strategy for your business. This includes social media, electronic newsletters, website conversion optimisation, SEO, digital advertising, and remarketing.
All these services are designed to drive traffic to your website, which ultimately means more money in your coffers.
Your competition is already doing everything they can to get the biggest online market share possible.
So don’t wait to get started.
Contact us for a quote today.
