For any business to succeed, it’s important to have a good level of acquisition from your customers. With the right steps in place, employers will be able to boost all kinds of marketing schemes to their full potential.
So, what exactly is ‘customer acquisition’? Well, in simple terms, it’s all about bringing in new customers – and keeping them! This level of attraction and retention takes time to grow. But when it does, customers remain loyal to your brand for life.
Let’s take a look at what a customer acquisition strategy is, different examples of them, and how to choose ones that work for your business.
What is a customer acquisition strategy?
A customer acquisition strategy is a method that involves persuading people to invest in your business. This might include buying your products, using your services, or choosing your brand name over competitors.
Customer acquisition and retention strategies present a solid process for attracting the right kind of people to your business. You’ll probably have organic customers visiting your site. But it’s the returning customers who’ll help develop and grow your business.
That’s why it’s important to invest in the best customer acquisition strategy for you. In the end, it’ll help establish repeat purchases, maintain customer loyalty, and grow steady revenue over time.
What marketing tools are used for customer acquisition strategies?
When it comes to consumer retention, there are numerous marketing tools available. It all depends on which ones work well with your customer acquisition strategy. Some of the most common marketing tools include:
- Organic search: This relates to using search engine optimisation (SEO) to create content that attracts a specific or high audience number.
- Paid search: This uses revenue-based methods to promote adverts or brand awareness on search engines.
- Organic social media: This involves creating a digital brand identity on social media platforms without spending any money.
- Paid social media: This uses financial-based methods to attain new customers or build brand awareness.
- Email: This method shares or promotes business-related information directly to customers.
- Referrals: This involves customers being given rewards (like incentives or gift cards) after introducing new people to the business.
- Events: This method utilises seminars, conferences, and trade shows to present a product, service, or overall business.
- Traditional advertisement: This involves using media platforms (like TV, radio, or print) to advertise a business.
What are examples of different types of customer acquisition strategies?
When it comes to using customer acquisition strategies, you should choose ones that work for you. This could be a singular one; or a multitude of them. Ultimately, it’s all about utilising the ones that work best for your business.
Let’s look at customer acquisition strategies examples to use in your business:
Search engine optimisation (marketing tool: organic search)
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is all about finding ways to place your brand name at the top of search engines. SEO methods help customers search for a product or service online and decide which one to choose between relevant competitors.
To rank at the top of searches, businesses need to optimise their website. This is done by using SEO-related methods on their webpages. Keywords, headings, alt-text, and even SERPs encourage customers to click on their content – making it a strong marketing tool to promote customer acquisition.
Content marketing (marketing tool: organic search)
For most businesses, customer marketing is often used for its versatility. Whether you’re creating a new campaign or revamping an ongoing one, content marketing helps capture your customers’ attention – converting their views into pounds.
As mentioned, the type of content you create will always vary. That’s because it depends on what type of message you want to portray to acquire customers. Whether it’s a blog or a short video, each piece of content you create or promote should be perfectly relatable to your specific audience.
Blogging (marketing tool: organic search)
Many businesses will have a dedicated blog page on their website, filled with all kinds of written content. From ‘how-to’ guides to opinion pieces, blogs allow employers to portray their take on issues relating to their industry.
Blogs allow employers to develop a level of authority with their customers. They’ll read about a topic relevant to them and respect the legitimacy of the business. Most blog sites even let customers write comments or reviews – creating an open and trusting relationship between them.
Social media marketing (marketing tool: organic social media/ paid social media)
This strategy involves using social media platforms to direct customers towards a business. Generally, two ways to do this are through paid channels or going completely organic.
Social media marketing is a great way to advertise your brand name or share content from other digital platforms. And if it’s organic, you won’t need to invest a lot of money.
With social media marketing, the more you post, the higher your chances of attracting customers. Let’s all pray for that ‘viral’ moment which can really help boost your brand name.
Video marketing (marketing tool: paid search/ organic social media/ paid social media)
From TikTok to YouTube shorts, there’s no denying that video-based content is prominent in today’s world. With easy access to cheaper yet quality filming equipment, video production has quickly become a marketing norm.
Despite that, videos still need to be relatable and accessible. As shorter videos are consumed more, you need to portray your message as efficiently as you can in those 10 seconds.
For longer videos, you may need to think about wider production aspects. Lighting, scriptwriting, editing – when these are done right, you’ll soon be able to manifest an invested and happy audience.
Email retargeting (marketing tool: email)
Emailing might seem like a long-winded (or even outdated) marketing scheme to some. But, don’t underestimate its true potential. Emailing is especially useful when it comes to tracking customer listings, interactions, and behaviour.
For example, new customers can receive emails on information about products your business sells. This will then optimise their chances of making future purchases with you. Or you can use emails to send birthday vouchers – which again, makes them buy more!
Emails can also help highlight problems, particularly when customers unsubscribe from mailing lists. Here, businesses should be thinking about ongoing issues and finding ways to amend their marketing strategy.
Sponsored content (marketing tool: paid search/ paid social media/ traditional advertising)
This strategy is all about linking paid adverts (on SERPs) to content posts (on social media platforms). In simple terms, businesses use ‘famous’ people to help advertise their products.
Sponsored ads generally have someone on board willing to help advertise your business. They’ll be able to share your brand name with their audience – helping you generate more leads and conversions.
It doesn’t really matter what type of social media platform is used, so long as the advert message is presented well. Businesses will often use ad campaigns, like sponsored search results, paid blog posts, and product mentions (or ‘shout-outs’).
Customer ambassadors (marketing tool: referrals)
Customer ambassadors are loyal consumers who offer to help promote your products or services. They can choose to voluntarily do this, or ask for a type of fee in return (i.e., like payment, creative freedom, etc.).
Employers gain free advertising, as the ambassadors help raise awareness for your brand. This saves you time and money, as they’ll do all the hard work for you!
Ambassadors may write an in-depth blog about your product, or speak about it on their social media platforms. It’s always best to reward ambassadors for their assistance. A couple of gift cards or even some free merchandise is never received badly.
Gated content (marketing tool: all)
Gated content is a marketing term used for things like guides, templates, eBooks, etc. Whilst they may not be the most cutting-edge or exciting content, they’re often crucial in certain situations.
The term ‘gated’ means only certain customers, who have given permission, can access the content. For example, they may have provided personal information, like an email address.
Gated content uses all types of strategies – from SEO to content marketing tools. The main element that makes it work is being unsearchable online. Only customers who show a good level of investment will be able to access the goods – boosting business retention and loyalty.
Product pricing (marketing tool: all)
Product pricing is a super versatile customer acquisition strategy. It attracts customers based on your position in a shared marketplace. If your numbers are attractive enough, customers will flock towards you instead of your competitors.
But, it’s not just about the price of your products or services. Customer acquisition is built from offering incentives, discounts, and promotional pricing. For example, a ‘buy one, get one free’ strategy can help grow retention and revenue.
It’s always best to utilise strategies that work for your business. This will help you understand your target audience better and improve your overall marketing procedures.
Get further help on customer acquisition strategies with love2shop
Whatever your business is, you can’t function without the steady influx of customers. And this doesn’t just mean gaining new ones; it also means investing in your loyal ones.
A great way to strengthen your customer acquisition strategies is through using gift cards and vouchers. At Love2shop, we offer a variety of rewards guaranteed to help boost your retention rates.
Whether you’re enticing new leads or rewarding loyal customers, Love2Shop has the perfect gift card for you.
