Customer Outreach: Meeting Your Customers (and Greeting Them) in a Digital World

Buying Likes: Don’t, but Do

How much does each customer cost?

For non-business folk, thinking about the cost of customers might seem a little strange. After all, don’t customers bring money to a business? Why would they cost anything at all?

Business pros, however, understand that before customers bring themselves to us, we have to go find them. Of course, that’s why the television is peppered with commercials and the highways are littered with billboards. 

While they remain highly effective, those are examples of the old ways of reaching customers. Today, we can take advantage of new paths for customer acquisition and customer outreach. 

Social Media: The Digital Handshake

Clearly, a modern entry into the acquisition game, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok let businesses directly into the homes of potential customers, using a voice and approach that is specifically tailored to the message and the audience. Tell your customers where to “follow” you, give them something to “like” and get them to “share” it with their friends.

Of course, each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, and each platform has a particular potential audience, but businesses that use social media successfully understand how to match their needs to each platform’s potential in order to reach new customers and engage the ones they have.

SEO: The Digital Phonebook

So you own a business, but your business needs marketing. You think to yourself “I need to hire a Marketing Company”. You could start by calling some companies, but you don’t know any phone numbers. You could search the phonebook, but you’re not sure where you keep yours, or if you have one. If you’re like the majority of the population, you’ll likely head over to Google (87% of the time), type in “Marketing Company near me” and get “about 2,820,000,000 results in 0.56 seconds” only to choose something off the first page, if not the very first option. 

Do you think SEO is important? We agree.

If you’ve ever heard the term “Sandbox”, you know how valuable good, white-hat SEO is and how destructive cheap and quick, black-hat SEO can be. Make sure to choose wisely.

Paid Advertising: The Digital Billboard

Sure, when people are looking up from their smartphones, traditional billboards are an effective form of advertising. In a digital world, where we spend a growing majority of our time, display ads and search ads are the most effective way to get your brand’s message in front of your customers.

Display ads and search ads allow you to specifically target audiences by geographic locations, age demographics and interest groups. Some platforms will even target your compteitor’s audiences. Narrow these down to only the most valuable customers, reduce your CPA and test different messages to determine how your audience wants to interact. 

5x ROI for a billboard isn’t too bad, but 10x ROI for a well executed online ad campaign is just too good to pass by. 

Influencers: The Digital Sponsorship

If you’ve spent most of your time building a business and creating a new product, you probably haven’t spent nearly enough time telling people how cool it is. Your brand needs a hype-man. Securing the validation of a respected, unbiased user of your product or service can be invaluable when it comes to establishing consumer trust.

For a (sometimes greater than nominal) fee and a little bit of negotiation, you can have a reputable name in the industry try out your product, provide feedback and promote it to their fans.  

Crowdfunding: The Digital Fundraiser

Not usually considered a marketing platform, but reliant on many of the same principles, crowdfunding platforms are an excellent way for a business to launch a new product by ensuring the product’s customer base.

Numerous products have successfully found their audience through Kickstarter campaigns. The card game Exploding Kittens, clothing company Allbirds, the video game Mighty No. 9, the book Faces of Courage, and technology accessories such as Elevation Dock and Oculus VR all met their financial and customer experience goals thanks to powerful use of crowdfunding campaigns.

Crowdfunding helped those products find their audience, the perfect example of successful customer outreach.

Website: The Digital Storefront

In a world where you might never see your customers face-to-face, your banner has become the face of your brand. Because of this, a beautiful, smooth operating website is arguably one of the most crucial steps in the branding process. This is a place where you have complete freedom to tell your story the way you want it to be told, share updates about your company and product releases and provide a channel for your customers to purchase your products, engage with you or support your cause. With new tools, web design is easier than ever so no business has an excuse for not having a website. Your customers are online, make sure they are engaging with you.

Smart Data: The Digital Analyst

We hate to say it, but if you aren’t learning about your customer’s behaviors, you’re falling behind. Way behind. Any successful business compiles valuable data that helps them better understand their customers. Whether this is surveying or tracking, and this can be easier said than done, it’s important to understand which data pieces need to be captured, and what actions to take based on that data. That requires smart analysis and an agile approach. Businesses should pivot based on what they learn and constantly monitor feedback.

Most importantly, the data can show you how you reached the customers you have, and how you can reach more.

Covered Wagon: The Digital Solution

It’s vital you find the right partners to help you acquire new customers, keep existing customers and build a long lasting, sustainable brand. Whether you’re an existing business looking for sustainable growth, or a new venture announcing your presence to the world, you’ll need someone who understands branding, marketing, customer acquisition, and analytics. No one will love your business as much as you do, but the right partner can help you focus on doing what inspired you to start your business in the first place.

Covered Wagon can be that kind of partner. To learn more about how we can help you with customer outreach and customer acquisition—along with our complete suite of business services—click on over to our Get in Touch page. We look forward to being a key partner in your ongoing success!