If you have a business, you already know that one of the most difficult parts of it is finding customers.
And it is not enough to offer a good service, you must be able to find your potential customers and convince them that you are better than the competition.
Therefore, in this article, I want to give you what for me are the best tricks to get clients.
Best ways to get new customers online
Although each sector is different, and the customer acquisition process can be very varied, here are some of the best ways to get customers online:
1 Make sure that your social accounts and sites are well-configured to be found
If you have an online business and want to find customers, the first thing you should do is have a website and social networks optimized for it.
This will not only allow you to appear in the searches of your potential customers, but it is the ideal way to make a good impression.
In addition, it is possible that your competition is not taking full advantage of these resources, so it will also help you to differentiate yourself.
And if possible, take the opportunity to put all the means by which customers can contact you; email, phone number, messages on social networks, contact forms…
2 Find out in the local media
Although local media are losing importance due to the advancement of the Internet, they are a source of potential customers that you should not ignore.
In this type of publication, there are usually sections dedicated to people who have won awards or, for example, the opening of new companies.
Therefore, you can take the opportunity to send a message to these people congratulating them and offering them your services.
3 Search on social networks of your niche
Social networks are one of the most powerful customer acquisition tools that exist.
However, on this type of platform, there is a lot of noise, as each user uploads a different type of content.
Therefore, you can search for specific social networks for your niche. For example, if you are a programmer you can use GitHub.
Another option is to use more general work social networks, such as LinkedIn, where professionals take the opportunity to create resume-type profiles and clients and companies contact them.
4 Try to get others to send you clients (affiliates)
Affiliate systems are a very good way to get new customers. In case you don’t know what it consists of, it is about getting your current clients to bring you, new clients.
Of course, you should reward them for this, either with money or with special offers or discounts for their future purchases.
5 Network on other blogs or websites
Word of mouth has been one of the most used ways to get customers to date, and today it still has great potential if used correctly.
Lovers of this technique have perfected it, and have named it networking, which consists of creating relationships with other professionals in your sector (or complementary sectors).
To make a good networking strategy it is necessary to contribute something to the other person, and if possible, also to your clients.
For example, if you are a personal trainer, you can give a live talk to a nutritionist’s clients, and he or she will give a talk to yours. In this way, both of you establish a relationship and connect with each other’s clients, without stepping on each other.
There are many forms of networking, although one of the most widespread is the use of guest articles, that is, writing on another person’s website to add value to their readers.
6 Offer discounts
Discounts are one of the most common claims in sales strategies, and it is possible to get real avalanches of customers if they are used properly.
These have a particularly good effect on those potential clients who are thinking of hiring your services, but who are still not very sure or do not know whether to make the investment.
The discount can be the push they need to try your services, and later, charge them with your normal rate once they have seen that your services are worth it.
7 Try to attract old customers
If you have been working in your niche for a while and are looking for clients, one of the best practices that you can do is to contact former clients.
This is something quite common among large companies, and you can also put it into practice, either by calling these people or by sending them an email.
In addition, they already know that you are a professional who can be trusted, so it will be much easier to do business with them again, than with a new person.
8 Promote your experience and good work
“Earning a name” in a sector is complicated, but when you do, customers arrive on their own.
One of the best ways to achieve this is by demonstrating your skills at events, workshops, or webinars.
Try to get tickets and even positions as a teacher or speaker in talks related to your work, it will open many doors for you.
9 Get positive reviews and opinions
Reviews are gaining a lot of importance in online sales, and it is that hiring a professional that you do not know if he is good or not, is often a risk.
In this way, having reviews and opinions from previous clients will help you to convince your new clients more easily, since they will have a point of reference to know if you are good at your job or not.
You can then post these reviews on your website so any potential customer can easily find them, increasing your chances of getting hired.
10 Participate in industry events
Events are one of the main meeting points between potential clients and professionals.
Thus, going to them is a safe bet, because you will be able to meet potential clients and if not, you will be able to establish relationships with other professionals in the sector.
Both are equally important because you never know if one of these professionals may need your help for a larger project, or on the contrary, if you may need theirs.
11 After the events do a follow up
As I was saying, events are a key part of the search for clients and professional relationships, but it is not enough to go to them.
Ideally, you should do a follow-up of those events you attend, that is, that you contact people after the event.
It is not about trying to sell them anything in first contact, simply letting them know that you liked the conversation you had, or for example, that you found the project they were working on interesting.
12 Study what your most successful competitors do
I am convinced that in your sector there are various professionals and companies offering services similar to yours.
One of the best things you can do to get more customers is to see which companies have more customers than you are doing.
What kind of advertising do they do? What social networks do they use and how? What events do they attend?
Look for answers to all these questions, and when you know what they do, try to improve it and put it into practice.
13 Try different types of advertising
Contacting your potential clients one by one can be an ineffective client search technique, especially if you are starting out in your sector and you are not yet very well known.
For this reason, you can try some online advertising campaigns on social networks, Google, YouTube…
In addition, the main advantage of this type of campaign is that it allows you to set your target audience very well, showing your ads only to users that fit what you need.
If you’re going to try this method, I recommend running several small campaigns instead of one big one, so you can compare results and determine the best campaign for your business.
14 Do not forget to sign up for Google Business
Google Business is one of the main tools you should use to attract customers.
This Google service is responsible for showing nearby businesses to users, either when they browse Google Maps or when they do an explicit search.
Creating your company’s profile on Google Maps is completely free, it may even be that your company already appears, but its profile is not yet optimized.
If so, you just have to look for it and claim your company. After verifying that you are indeed the owner, you will be able to configure your profile and appear in the searches of users in your city.
15 Try to find out why they don’t buy from you (look for elusive buyers and ask them)
Finally, I want to tell you about my favorite way to attract new customers online, and it is none other than learning from your mistakes.
To do this, I recommend that when a client rejects a proposal to work together, you ask them what made them make this decision.
It may be the prices, the way you contact them, how long delivery times are, a bad experience on your website…
Subsequently, all you have to do is solve all these errors or impediments, building a more solid and effective strategy.
What is the best method to get new customers?
The most complicated and at the same time most important task of any freelancer or company is to find clients because literally, your business depends on it.
For this reason, I recommend that you choose some of these methods to find clients and put them into practice.
Also, you should keep in mind that one of the most important things to get clients is perseverance, so if you are having a hard time getting clients, I encourage you to keep trying, because I’m sure you’ll get it in the end.
