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Living in the mountains? You know gliding through snow fun. That’s a business. So I caved and hired a local kid, let's say his name is Mark, to tackle the skiing lessons promotion in my area.
Dave slapped flyers everywhere when autumn hit. Saw his deal and jumped on it. His flyer? A mix of "help me save for skiing lessons" vibes, a negotiable rate, and a pic of him ready to ski, mask on and all. Felt like a safe bet, solid work, and all for a good cause without breaking the bank.
What Mark got right, without even trying too hard, was nailing the customer-getting game. He spotted his crowd, found the right moment, and offered exactly what they needed. Wanna grab some tips from Mark's playbook? Here's the rundown on setting up a killer strategy to keep those customers rolling in.
It's about getting folks who might buy from you, warming them up into leads, and then flipping them into actual buyers. Picture it like a funnel with five steps: getting noticed, sparking interest, making them think, sealing the deal, and keeping them around.
But don't mix this up with just any marketing moves. Sure, those play a part, but customer acquisition is a smart, well-researched plan to guide potential buyers through the sales journey.
Take Mark, for example. He nailed it on the customer getting front because he had a plan: pitch a solution. His flyers got the attention, turning folks into interested leads when they reached out.
Thinking "build it and they'll show up" works only in movies. In the not-movie world, you gotta hustle for those leads. Doing it with a strategy can seriously pay off, like:
Basically, having a strategy for pulling in customers is like having a map in a treasure hunt – it guides you where to go, what to dig into, and how to find the gold.
Getting customers to actually buy? That's what customer acquisition marketing is all about. It's not just any old marketing—this is the kind where every move you make is designed to turn those maybe-customers into definitely-customers. It's like fishing with a purpose—you're not just casting a wide net and hoping for the best. You're using the right bait to reel in the big ones.
Old-school marketing is huge for getting customers. It's your megaphone, how you start filling up that potential customer pond.
Same deal with the funnel.
Think of it as the journey your future buyers take, starting from when they first hear about you, to the happy day they make a purchase. It's like mapping their trip from "Who's that?" to "Take my money!" Here's the trip down:
Alright, so you wanna grab some new customers. First step? Figuring out where to chat them up. This is all about knowing your crowd, tweaking your hello's, and catching them in their favorite hangouts.
You've got two big playgrounds here:
Digital spots: pretty much every biz needs to show up here. If you're all about that online life, like selling software or cloud magic, you're gonna live and breathe in this space. Think:
How to pick your perfect match in this mix? Roll with these steps:
Someone smart (probably) tossed out the idea that you've gotta know your current spot before planning your next move. So, when it comes to figuring out how to get more customers, it's all about checking out where you already hang out with them.
Kick things off by making a list of every place you and your customers cross paths. Social media pages, your blog, those Facebook ads you've been running, the trade shows you hit up every year, any billboards you've got out there, and don't forget your Google Business profile. You might need to shout across the office (or send a few emails) to gather intel from sales, marketing, and maybe even the IT crew to get the whole story.
After you've got your list, start pulling together some numbers to see what's actually working. You don't have to dive too deep, but here's a starter pack of stats to look at:
Every place you're trying to catch customers will need different kinds of eyeballing. The big goal here is to get a bird's-eye view of where you're throwing your energy and money, so you can figure out what's actually worth it.
Getting the lowdown on who's actually buying what you're selling is key. It's all about figuring out the kind of folks in your crowd—what they like, where they chill, and how they shop. This stuff shapes where they're most likely to bump into your business and check out your goods.
This part of the game can get pretty deep and might need a bunch of people from different corners of your team to chip in. Depending on how far along you are in trying to sell your stuff, your marketing squad, sales crew, and the product peeps might have already dug into some of this.
Here's how you can start to sketch out who you're after:
Roll up your sleeves for some DIY market digging with surveys, chat groups, or one-on-ones.
Yeah, it's a bit of a team effort and might eat up some clock, but getting the dirt on your future fans is totally worth the hustle.
Just hitting up your Twitter or whatever social spot you're used to for blasting ads might not be the sharpest move. You don't wanna be yelling into nowhere, hoping someone's listening on the other side.
That deep dive you did earlier? It's showtime for that intel. If you're a SaaS outfit aiming for those busy exec types, you might find they're all about LinkedIn or catching wisdom from big names at conferences. Or if you're selling cool, safe kitchen stuff to the homebound parent crowd, TikTok and YouTube might be where they're picking up their next best recipes from influencers.
Figuring out where your future customers hang out mostly comes from doing your homework, but here are a few ways to crack the code:
But remember, the social media wind changes fast. What worked a couple of years ago might as well be ancient history now. Spotting trends and jumping on them before everyone else does? That could be your ticket to standing out.
So you've figured out who's buying and where they're scrolling for inspo. Now, it's time to mash up all the digging you've done. Ideally, you'll see a lot of where your peeps hang matches where you've been hanging. But if not, it's still a gold mine of info on where you might wanna show up more.
Don't think you've gotta follow the data like a recipe, though. If you're a newbie no-code virtual legal gig, going head-to-head with big law firm billboards might not be your play without the street cred or an actual street address. Or say you're in the funeral biz looking to lighten the mood for older millennials dealing with parent stuff—Instagram, not usually a funeral hotspot, could be your stage for some respectful chuckles.
Choosing your spots is a mix of science and vibe. The homework you've done lays out the land—what's usual and what might just be picking up steam. But just knowing where your crowd expects to find you isn't enough. You've gotta weigh out:
Any channel needs your time and a solid plan to work out. The last thing you need is to pour resources into a black hole. Before you dive in, nail down what winning looks like for each spot so you can track progress and know for sure you're betting on the right horses.
Alright, you know who you're talking to and where they hang out. Time to get those potential buyers moving down the funnel with some smart campaign moves.
Let's dive into some customer-grabbing strategies that work across all sorts of channels.
For a bunch of companies, their website is like the main stage of getting customers in the door. It's where folks start as curious clickers and can end up as paying customers. That's why SEO is pretty much joined at the hip with a lot of other ways to get customers, especially when we're talking about content marketing.
SEO's big goal is to push your site up the ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs), making sure that your content marketing isn't just shouting into the void. But SEO isn't just about sprinkling keywords into your articles, making sure your site's blueprint makes sense to humans and search engines alike, or even just about tagging your images right. It's also about tuning up your whole online website (that you can build with no-code, by the way)—from how your URLs are laid out to how quick your pages load—to make sure anyone swinging by has a smooth visit.
Let's say you're on the hunt for "skis" on Google. It's probably no shocker when Decathlon's page for hoops shoes is the first thing you see.
Despite being packed with products and pics, their site is quicker than me saying "Nordica Enforcer" a couple of times. The link to the men's skis doesn't take you on a wild goose chase through a maze of categories. The navigation is straightforward, you're not bombarded with annoying pop-ups, and the whole vibe is focused on making your visit hassle-free. The way they've tagged and titled their page is clear and right on the money for "men's basketball shoes," without feeling like they're trying too hard.
Speaking of SEO with Directual, you might be interested in knowing that quite soon it’ll be your own SEO powerhouse. If you are reading this at a later day, then it already is just that! That’ll cover a lot of things, namely:
This is where you roll out the good stuff: blog posts, eye-catching infographics, videos, deep-dive white papers, surveys with fresh stats, and even podcasts. Content marketing is a heavy hitter in pulling in customers.
The beauty of content marketing? It's a win-win. Your audience gets the lowdown or some laughs (hit the jackpot, and they get both) without opening their wallets. On your end, you're getting your product or service out there, boosting your brand, laying down breadcrumbs that lead straight to you, and keeping an eye on how many folks are taking the bait.
Plus, by tracking what they're clicking on or signing up for, you can figure out what kind of content is driving them to do the stuff that matters, like signing up for newsletters, trying out a free version, booking a chat, or asking for a demo. Then, slap a price tag on those actions to see just how much bang you're getting for your content buck.
Those little ads that pop up when you're googling stuff? That's pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for you. It's a bit like social media ads but with a cool twist: you only fork over cash when someone actually clicks on your ad. Inside your ad dashboard, you can spy on how your ads stack up against the competition, how many eyeballs they're grabbing, and how often people are clicking through.
Linking these ads to their own special landing pages lets you track how many of those clickers turn into actual leads. If your ads are bringing home the bacon, you've got every reason to up your spending because you can see the actual cash it's making you. Spotting a snag in how many leads you're getting? Time to play around with your ad creative, mess with your keywords, or maybe bump up your budget. If clicks are through the roof but no one's buying, it might be time to revamp your landing page, sprinkle in more calls to action (CTAs), test out different copy, or fine-tune the layout and design.
The real deal with social media ads is nailing down your aim. Once you've got a lock on where your crowd hangs out online, you can get super specific about who sees your ads. Talking age, hobbies, where they live, and even the stuff they're into online. Selling car gadgets? Target the car enthusiasts. Peddling photo editing tools? Make sure only graphic designers see your pitch.
You get to watch what's happening with your campaign as it unfolds. Every social platform's got a place where you can check out the latest on impressions, clicks, conversions, and how much people are digging your ads. If your message isn't hitting home, you can switch gears on the fly. Want to really get into it? Try A/B testing to see where your ad dollars do the most good.
For a bit of inception, let's talk about LinkedIn advertising on LinkedIn.
Who better to nail LinkedIn ads than LinkedIn itself? It's targeting the crowd that's got the need and the budget for big-league campaigns—think the big bosses in charge of B2B action. The ad cuts to the chase with what it's offering (make your brand big) and what to do next (hit up over 900 million pros). No fluff, just straight to the point, because that's how the LinkedIn crowd rolls.
Click the ad, and you're on the LinkedIn Business Solutions page for their B2BUILD thing, guiding potential leads through the ad world of LinkedIn. Meanwhile, LinkedIn's ad squad gets to geek out over how these visitors interact with the page, spotting where leads might drop off, how well they're turning into paying customers, and crunching the numbers to see if the ad spend is paying off.
Sales teams have been riding the referral program wave for ages, and guess what? They're still catching waves because they actually work. The cool thing about referral programs is they leverage your happy campers, giving them a nudge to bring their pals into the fold. Speaking of, Directual also has a referral program that you, as a no-coder, might be very interested in.
What's in it for them varies, but it's usually something along the lines of:
Take Robinhood, the app that lets you trade stocks without paying fees. They hook up their current users with a free stock for dragging new folks into the mix, who also score a free stock.
This is smart for a couple of reasons: it fits right in with what Robinhood's all about, and it gets people talking them up over and over. Robinhood says you might snag a stock worth anywhere from $5 to $200. So, folks might dream of landing a hot stock but often end up with something less flashy, thinking, "Next time, it'll be the big one." Meanwhile, Robinhood's rolling in new users ready to invest and maybe bring in more friends for another shot at the stock lottery. It's a win-win on paper, but let's be real—Robinhood's probably popping the champagne more often.
Teaming up with the right partner can be your ticket to success. This kind of deal is a two-way street, letting your brand borrow some shine from a related but non-competing buddy in your sphere, while offering them a slice of your pie, too.
Imagine a fitness apparel brand linking up with a popular health food company. It's a match made in heaven. The fitness brand gets to tap into the health food company's loyal following of wellness enthusiasts, a group that's all about that active lifestyle but might not know the first thing about where to snag the best workout gear.
On the flip side, the health food brand gets an in with the fitness crowd, pushing their nutritious snacks to people who value healthy living but maybe haven't thought much about what they eat pre- or post-workout. This kind of partnership can spotlight the fitness brand's commitment to wellness, echoing the health food company's vibe and hitting the right notes with a crowd that digs anything about it.
Everyone who's ever tried to eat cleaner or get fit knows the struggle of finding gear and grub that supports their goals. A cool collab like this cements the brands as go-tos in the broader wellness world.
You're the boss when it comes to what you're selling and the ins and outs of your field. Spreading the word through free webinars and workshops is a killer move. Here's why:
This strategy reels in the ones who are super likely to sign up and stick around. Webinars on no-code certainly worked for Directual—be sure to check out the masterclasses we held before.
Dive into TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube for just a bit, and you'll quickly catch on to why influencer marketing is such a big deal. Even though those product shout-outs popping up as you scroll are definitely ads, they come across as genuine recommendations from folks who seem real and unbiased.
You're watching cool people genuinely buzzing about their love for a product. After seeing a handful of these endorsements over a few days, you can't help but feel like you're missing out.
From a marketing standpoint, this is gold. It's like getting word-of-mouth buzz that you can actually buy. While the big-name influencers might want a small fortune to feature your product, the up-and-comers might do it just for a free sample or a software key. And even the newbie influencers can get your product in front of thousands, offering a bang for your buck that's hard to beat.
Consider Emily Mariko (@emilymariko) who's all about lifestyle and food content. She's an ideal match for the Always Pan by Our Place, a kitchen product she's shown using in her meal prep videos. This partnership fits snugly into her feed filled with recipe shares. As you're scrolling through her content, stumbling upon a video where she recommends the pan feels like just another piece of her usual content.
With her hefty follower count, Emily might not be as cheap as a newbie influencer, but she's spot-on for reaching folks interested in kitchen gadgets. For Our Place, partnering with creators like Emily allows them to tap into specific audiences who trust her kitchen wisdom, making her endorsement of the Always Pan resonate with potential buyers.
I'm not sure who first dropped this truth bomb, but it's one of those lines that sticks with you: if you're not paying for the product, then you're the product. This hits home especially when you think about free trials in the sales world.
That saying might sound a tad too skeptical, though. Offering folks a chance to try your product for free, or giving them a basic version without charging, does offer legit value. They either get everything they need without spending a dime, or they get to take your product out for a spin to see if it's worth the investment. And for the sales team, either scenario is a win.
Take Spotify as a solid case in point.
There I was, itching to dive into some new tunes and podcasts without shelling out for every album or show. Despite my hesitance to commit to yet another monthly subscription, Spotify's free tier—with ads, but still plenty generous—was a no-brainer. It gave me instant access to a massive library, no strings attached. Sure, the ads can be a bit much, but for zero cost, I was all in. And for Spotify, that's the hook. They bet on the idea that once you've had a taste—even with ads interrupting your jam sessions—you'll see the value and maybe, just maybe, decide to upgrade to premium for an uninterrupted experience.
Email marketing's a powerhouse because it plays so well with other customer-getting moves. Say you've got a killer blog that's all SEO'd up. You can use that content gold to lure people into signing up for your emails.
Most times, you've gotta dangle something enticing to get people to sign up for those emails—think free trials, exclusive content, or sneak peeks. Once they're in, you hit them with your newsletter or a smart drip campaign to keep them hooked and thinking about you until they're ready to buy.
Duolingo is a champ at this. Their whole vibe is about making language learning fun and accessible, and their emails are no exception.
Duolingo will hit up your inbox with engaging tidbits, language challenges, or stories that make you want to dive back into lessons. It's about opening up a world where learning a new language feels like an adventure, not homework. Plus, these emails aren't just for kicks. They're also there to nudge you towards Duolingo Plus, their ad-free, premium version with extra perks.
Alongside, they'll plug relevant partners or products, like travel guides or cultural immersion tools, tapping into that wanderlust vibe that language learners often have. It's a smart way to keep engaging their audience while subtly pushing the cross-promoting partners that make sense for their language-loving subscribers.
Having gated content on your site is like keeping your best snacks in a locked cabinet. Folks can only get a taste if they give you something valuable first, like their contact info. This trade-off is gold because it means you're drawing in exactly the crowd you're after—people genuinely interested in what you're dishing out. Plus, it sets you up as the go-to guru in your space, giving you a leg up on the competition.
With these details in hand, you're all set to launch into other ways to win customers over, like email blasts filled with freebies, discounts, or sneak peeks at what you're selling.
Your locked-away content has to be top-tier, something you can't just Google. We're talking exclusive insights, like in-depth case studies, insider survey results, or heavyweight guides and templates that can't be found anywhere else.
Let's look at Moz as a prime example.
SEO insights are a dime a dozen online, but Moz offers the kind of deep dives and tools that SEO professionals and marketers drool over—if they're willing to sign up. Moz teases you with a taste of what's behind the curtain through free trial access to their premium SEO tools. Sure, this teaser might not spill all their secrets, but it's enough to show the caliber of tools and insights up for grabs.
To get your hands on this trial, you've gotta hand over your email and maybe a bit more. It's a fair exchange: a glimpse into Moz's SEO stuff for a spot in your inbox. Even if you don't grab a paid subscription right off the bat, Moz has got you on their radar for future persuasion. Because you've seen the quality they offer, you're way more likely to think of them first when you're in need of SEO insights that cut deeper than the average blog post.
Once someone goes from lead to happy customer, that's not where your story with them ends. Sure, keeping them coming back for more is key, but there's also a goldmine in using their positive vibes to attract new clients. Like most people these days, I hardly buy anything without scouring through reviews first. Chances are, your customers are doing the same homework.
Getting your customers to share their good experiences through reviews or testimonials is a solid move. It not only boosts their bond with your brand but also helps pull in new customers. It's a bit like influencer marketing, but with the folks who actually use and love your stuff showing off why it's the bee's knees.
One smart way to get those reviews rolling in is to offer a little something extra, like discounts or free stuff. Take Casper, the mattress folks, for example. After I bought a mattress from them, they dangled a free pillow if I shared my sleeping experience online.
Was the mattress dreamy enough to earn five stars from me? Absolutely. Would I have bothered typing up a review without the promise of a plush freebie? Probably not. What Casper gets is that genuine praise from snoozy customers is priceless. If I wasn't over the moon about my mattress, no free pillow would've nudged me to fake a glowing review. Casper's betting that by giving away a few pillows, they'll rack up enough rave reviews to outshine competitors and lure in buyers with an impressive star rating. Plus, it keeps customers like me in the loop, ready to come back for more cozy buys (and, yep, I've already eyed their sheets).
After you've chosen your battlefields (a.k.a. customer acquisition channels) and unleashed your strategies, there's another step. The real secret to succeeding with customer acquisition is to figure out if your efforts are actually paying off in cold, hard cash.
For this, you can lean on a classic marketing math formula that boils down to how much you spend versus how many customers you get. This little calculation reveals your cost per new fan.
Imagine you've thrown $1000 at a social media blitz. This cash covers what you've paid a freelance designer, the portion of your copywriter's paycheck for campaign work, and any software subscriptions you used over a month. If this campaign encouraged 100 people to use a special promo code, your acquisition cost per customer is a cool $10.
Now, if the average checkout using that code is $70, you're looking at a sweet $7 return for every dollar you threw into the marketing machine, bringing in a total haul of $7,000 from a $1000 stake.
Whether you pop the champagne or head back to the drawing board with those numbers is all up to what you were aiming for with the campaign. With the actual bucks and cents calculated, you're in a solid spot to figure out if you should double down, ditch it, or tweak your tactics for the next round.
Once you've got the numbers on how well your customer-snagging tactics are doing, it's all about cranking up the efficiency to get the most bang for your buck. When you've whittled down that cost per new buddy to its leanest, that's when you're in prime position to kick things up a notch.
Making your acquisition game tighter can mean a few things: getting more people to say "yes," spending less to get each "yes," or making each "yes" worth more. Here's how to tackle these goals:
Going after these strategies not only makes your efforts more effective but also helps every dollar do a little more heavy lifting.
Gettingcustomers is never a "set it and forget it" kinda deal. It's all about the hustle—keeping things fresh and pushing for better, even after they've hit the "Buy" button. The real prize is turning those new faces into regulars who stick around, adding more value over time as you keep the newbies coming.
But keeping them around? That's a whole different ballgame, needing its own playbook that's more about cozying up than just catching their eye. Sure, it's part of the whole customer-getting saga, but happy, sticking-around customers make it happen. They’re your fans, after all.
Now, imagine weaving Directual into the mix.
Whether you're crafting a slick customer retention program or setting up a referral system, Directual makes it a breeze to get your ideas off the ground. It's about giving you the tools to create something tailored, without needing a coder by your side.
With Directual, you're free to focus on what you do best—dreaming up and executing killer strategies to not just win customers but keep them coming back for more. It's about making sure that every part of your customer journey, from hello to high-five for sticking around, is smooth, engaging, and, above all, effective.
See for yourself.
Congratulations on making it through this behemoth of a customer acquisition guide and not dying. Come for a respite in our communities, and let’s chit-chat about your projects. Perhaps you’ll learn even more about your business going supersonic with Directual’s help. The links are in the footer below.
Customer acquisition involves attracting potential buyers and converting them into customers. It's a strategic process guiding leads through a sales funnel from awareness to purchase.
Directual offers a no-code platform that enables businesses to easily create customer acquisition channels without needing coding expertise. It makes building websites, chatbots, and any other tool needed to improve customer acquisition easy.
Measuring success helps businesses understand the effectiveness of their campaigns in real terms, enabling them to optimize strategies for better ROI.
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