Once the product is ready for market launch, the next step for every startup is to acquire customers and build a solid base. For that, you need a brilliant customer acquisition strategy. This is very important if you want your startup to have significant long-term growth. Without it, the startup is likely to fail.
What is Customer Acquisition
This is basically any kind of method used to persuade a consumer to buy your product or service. The process could be paid or organic, as long as the lead is being converted in to a customer, it falls into the umbrella of customer acquisition.
After you acquire customers, your next job is to retain them. This can be done by ensuring that you provide value to them, and innovate over time to prevent a competitor taking away your customer.
Lastly, you will have to focus on optimal growth with the customers you acquire. Initial customers will help your startup grow through referrals and unasked word of mouth marketing.
How to acquire new customers
Once the startup reaches the growth stage, the customer acquisition cycle is complete. Now to acquire new customers, you will be depending on existing customers to refer your startup and rely on marketing. Referrals create a growth loop that you can keep on moving.
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What you need to get started
Before you start working to acquire customers it is important to remember a few things. Firstly, focus on having a conversation with your customers. It is important to put the right message out and understand if your audience actually gets you. Do they care about your product or service? Are they actually interested? You need to address these questions and connect with your audience accordingly.
Secondly, it is important to lay down your marketing foundation. You will need to learn how to best optimize your marketing mediums through trial and error.
Lastly, you will have to evaluate what your feasibility and spending capacity is. For example, your budget for Facebook ads might not be the same as what big companies have. Therefore, you will have to structure your plan according to your budget, and then optimize it for maximum results.
Customer Acquisition Strategies
Now getting to the most important part of this article, what are the customer marketing strategies for startups exactly? Well, to understand these better, let’s divide them into Online and Offline strategies.
Online Strategies
Acquiring customers through online marketing strategies is very common. There are 3 main channels available. Paid Marketing, Email Marketing, and Social Media Marketing.
In paid marketing, you run advertisements over the internet in order to acquire customers. This is a commonly used and preferred method by startups, as it leads to higher conversions. You can utilize both, search engines and social media platforms for paid marketing.
In email marketing is an effective method to target and acquire customers. It is especially useful in re-marketing campaigns, as you are able to email and remind customers about your product or service. Here a few email marketing strategies that you can implement.
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Social media marketing is an effective way of acquiring customers organically. You can use social media platforms to curate content and posts that drive traffic to your website. This traffic can lead to conversions which translates to customer acquisition. You can also post in communities and groups that are relevant to your product and service. This way you are likely to build a great following that will increase your brand value.
Offline Strategies
Offline strategies are greater customer acquisition tools as well. Even though almost the entire world has shifted to the digital landscape, there is still a huge audience that can be targeted offline as well. You can make use of print advertisements to reach your audience. This can be done through ads in magazines, newspapers, or billboard advertisements. You will be able to create awareness and build credibility this way. Also, another effective offline strategy is to host an event in a community that is relevant to your product or service. You can then promote your startups through this event and reach a big audience.
You can use these strategies and be more effective in customer acquisition. This will facilitate your startup growth. You can try and test which ones work for you. Share your experience in the comments section below, and subscribe to PACE Business Newsletter for regular updates!
Read More: How to Start a Startup
