It doesn’t matter what your specialty is or what format your business takes, every business is ultimately judged by the same metric—are you giving your customers what they want? Customers are the lifeblood of every business, and keeping them happy is the main focus of any operation that wants to keep growing. But as important as satisfied customers are, they aren’t always enough.
To stay relevant in the market, it’s key to not just satisfy existing customers but find new ones. Expanding your client base is the way to raise your profile in the market and keep improving your search engine presence. Here are four ways you can do what you do best while you keep getting bigger and better and claiming a larger slice of the market.
1. Know Your Prospects and Customers
How much do you know about your customers? The best test is how many of them come back for another engagement or leave you positive reviews. Customers usually aren’t shy – if they’re not happy with a good or service, they’ll usually let you know. But it’s not enough to just know what they want from your current offerings – you’ll want to know what they’re looking for that you’re not offering yet.
It might be that your ideal customers are going somewhere else for something you should be offering. But in other cases, the service that could help you reach a larger client base isn’t offered anywhere yet. Customer research using surveys can help you identify a gap in the market that your business could successfully take advantage of and develop new services that fit your client’s needs.
2. Promote Your Business on Social Media Networks
The most effective marketing today isn’t being done on traditional advertising services – it’s being done on massive social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These sites all have audiences of over a billion people worldwide, so targeting advertising on these platforms can reach an audience much larger than any newsletter or paid ad on search engines could. But like all advertising, it’s key to understand how to use social media marketing effectively.
For one thing, not all social media sites offer the same advantages. Different businesses will find some are more useful than others – a company with an older audience will do better on information-heavy Facebook, while a fashion brand will excel on Instagram. Used effectively and targeted to the right people, social media marketing can reduce your overall marketing costs heavily, and many of their services, like Facebook groups, are actually free.
3. Maintain Excellent Customer Support and Service
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression, which goes double for businesses when it comes to customer interaction. Many companies concentrate on existing customers when it comes to their customer support, focusing on helping them with problems and ensuring that any hiccup they experience is resolved satisfactorily. But they may be losing a lot of opportunities for expanding their client base if that first contact isn’t up to snuff.
All contact points for potential first-time clients should be organized well and must be easy to use, including your website, online order portals, and customer service lines. If your system frustrates someone, they’re likely to leave and take their business elsewhere. A well-optimized system makes money for itself and creates new clients.
4. Leverage Technology
Today’s customers are looking for a smooth, streamlined system with which they can maintain contact no matter where they are. The more up-to-date your company is, the better you’ll be able to maintain an efficient business process and deliver services to your clients in a satisfying way. This is why many companies are turning to cloud-based systems that organize the entire internal network in one system securely stored off-site and protected from security breaches.
These cloud-based systems include many features, including project-management systems and communications networks that ensure your team never misses a deadline. You’ll also be able to transform your traditional phone line into a virtual one where you can maintain contact with clients both in and out of business, complete with international calling plans for global business. These systems are flexible and can be customized to your business needs.
Optimize Your Way to Success
Your business has the opportunity to reach a much larger client base. The biggest challenges are making sure clients can find it and keeping them around once they do. The tools are out there, so why not upgrade your business today?