Have you ever heard that advertising is the lifeblood of the business?
Pretty popular, this saying reflects a truth: most companies recognize that, in order to be successful, they need to know how to attract customers by promoting themselves.
And reaching out to customers has never been as popular as it is today.
While there are countless channels, strategies, and tools available in the palm of your hand, competition is also increasing.
Even worse, digital marketing budgets are hardly as big as decision-makers would like.
Fortunately, neither competition nor lack of money should be a reason for your company not to gain more clients.
At least not with the 11 low-cost tips we’ll show you in this article!
Not to mention the number 1 marketing rule that we are going to teach you from now on. Shall we begin?
Why Do You Really Need A Strategy To Attract Clients?
Have you ever heard someone talk about marketing as if it were a tactic of “little work and high financial return”?
Successful businesses don’t believe in this kind of myth.
They understand that nothing replaces good planning and a willingness to follow it with maximum commitment.
Furthermore, they know that it is vital to closely monitor the results and adjust tactics as needed without delay.
But what if you already run a successful marketing team?
Well, past success does not guarantee future success. It’s that simple.
Everything in digital marketing changes very quickly. That means not even the best planning remains unscathed for long.
To prove this, it’s worth checking out some statistics on overall market competitiveness, taking into account the effects of digital transformation.
According to a study by Sana:
- 70% of the digital projects in companies are driven by pressure from competitors.
- Among these companies, 35% are afraid of new players in the digital market.
This means that there are a lot of new people coming onto the internet, and those who are already on it want to specialize more and more.
The #1 marketing rule: know your client
Many businesses still think it’s possible to be successful for a long time without really digging in to know who their clients are.
Even worse, there are some who feel that taking the time to find out who the ideal customer is would take time away from more important activities, and could then decrease sales.
Don’t be one of those people.
➜ The #1 marketing rule is: know your client very well.
For this, there is nothing better than understanding who your ideal consumer is, that is, your persona.
The persona represents that client who will always buy from you, who will truly benefit from your products or services, and, who knows, will even defend your brand to other people.
Now, if you ignore this advice and target your actions to an audience that is too generic, you are at great risk of selling to customers who will not have a very good relationship with your business.
Eventually, those clients who are not part of your ideal audience leave the company and look for another solution in the market.
But they don’t do that before giving you and your team a lot of headaches.
The best way to create your persona is to interview as many clients as possible. It’s the patterns found in their answers that will help you find your persona.
How Does One Attract Customers On A Low Budget With These 11 Proven Tactics?
Anyone who thinks that investing in digital marketing requires a very large budget is wrong.
On the other hand, consider that the less money you invest, the more time your team will spend learning the concepts and applying them correctly.
So you must carefully consider what is worth doing in-house and what marketing services are worth outsourcing.
Now, check out 11 low-cost practices that can bring incredible results to your business!
1. Corporate blog
Having a blog is at the heart of the Inbound Marketing methodology, the main digital way of attracting and retaining customers today.
This method basically consists of generating value through content that is relevant to the persona.
The more help you can give your prospects, even before you try to sell them anything, the better.
Where does the blog fit in all this?
It’s the main content channel your company could want. Best of all, the cost of implementation and maintenance can be close to zero.
2. Social media
With the billions of users active on major social networks every day, it’s never been easier to share content, both organically and paid for.
The best thing is that you can choose which kind of audience will have contact with your message, as the targeting power of these networks is great.
Social media can be used for a variety of purposes, such as:
- Selling products directly.
- Boosting your content strategy.
- Gaining leads for your sales department.
It’s no wonder that many businesses use these channels to provide real-time customer support.
3. Affiliate marketing
Some people think that affiliate marketing is only for those who sell info products, but that’s not true.
Any company can offer commissions to other people to promote and sell their products.
This can be very beneficial, as you will outsource part of the promotion and sales process in exchange for a small portion of the revenue.
4. Email lists
Building an email list is one of the best marketing investments your business can make.
This channel is very powerful for cultivating and engaging an audience.
Email marketing still has the advantage of being a widely tested means of communication and not suffering from major changes over time.
The same cannot be said of social media, which can change their internal policies at any time and affect your entire marketing plan.
With the right strategies, your email list can play a key role in generating many leads and closing multiple clients for your business.
5. Online ads
Who doesn’t know businesses that still insist on handing out printed flyers to reach their customers?
On the internet, you can make a type of advertisement as direct as these traditional tactics, only more modern and effective.
We are talking about sponsored links.
These ads can be carried out both on search engines (such as the mighty Google) and on major social networks.
The great asset of this type of advertising is the chance to deliver a tailor-made ad to the right people (your persona), and get great results from it.
6. Recommendation program
Refer a friend and earn a benefit.
This is the basic dynamic of a referral program.
The specific number of referrals and benefits are up to you, but should not be too complicated for clients to understand or apply.
Even companies that are now digital market giants, such as Facebook and Dropbox, have used (and still use) referrals as an important engine of growth.
7. Fidelity program
If you’ve ever taken advantage of discount coupons anywhere, you know how popular they are with clients.
But what if your business model doesn’t fit with this type of resource?
Just take what coupons represent — the idea of building customer loyalty by offering real benefits to them.
For this, a great option is to launch a loyalty program.
8. Partnerships
If your company is unable to carry out certain marketing actions on its own, how about joining forces with another business?
Also called co-marketing, partnerships are very useful to increase the exposure of both partners and even generate sales opportunities.
In fact, its advantages go beyond the low cost.
Proof of this is that even large companies, which have plenty of money to invest in marketing and are authorities in their market segments, bet on co-marketing.
9. Discounts
It doesn’t matter what your market niche is — there’s always room to surprise customers with some sort of discount.
Whenever you run a discount strategy, spread the word to all your customers and find a way to make that information reach potential customers who have never bought from your company.
Just be careful to calculate in advance whether the discount could negatively affect your cash flow and hurt your campaign’s profitability.
10. Events
Has your company participated in trade fairs and specific professional events for the market in which it operates?
With that in mind, look for the best events and ensure your presence at them.
An even lower-cost alternative is to participate in online events. Preferably participate as a speaker or interviewee.
Can’t find any such event to attend? Then there’s your opportunity to plan one and further strengthen the brand.
11. Company website
Unfortunately, many decision-makers feel that having a professional website is not a good investment.
However, that only happens when the company site is poorly made and doesn’t have a marketing and sales strategy behind it.
After all, it’s the company’s exclusive channel on the internet.
And knowing how to create a website or who to turn to for it has a single purpose: to attract and convince potential customers.
In addition to having a website, it is necessary to dedicate yourself to fundamental aspects so that it brings the expected results, such as:
- User experience.
- SEO.
- Attractive and relevant content.
After reading this article on how to get clients, one thing should be crystal clear: there is no shortage of low-cost tactics to bring them closer to your business.
The key is choosing the right strategies and dedicating time and energy to make them work.
For starters, it’s important to invest in long-term tactics, which take longer to bear fruit but pay off in the long term.
Want to know more about attracting customers? Then check our complete article about local SEO!
