17 Customer Acquisition Strategies Entrepreneurs Should Know

What is Customer Acquisition

Customer acquisition is the process of attracting new customers to a company’s products or services.

It is the first step of the customer life cycle. The goal is to generate interest in your product or service, which will eventually lead to sales.

For this process to be successful, you must have a good marketing strategy and know how best to present yourself online, so people can find you!

Once they do find you, make sure you know how to close the sale.

(Image Source: Single Grain)

What is Acquisition Marketing

Acquisition marketing is a strategy that is used to generate awareness and interest in a company’s products or services. It can be done through various methods, such as social media ads, content marketing (e.g., blogging), email campaigns, banners/advertisements on websites, etc.

The goal of acquisition marketing is to turn website visitors into customers by convincing them you have the product or service they need.

7 Customer Acquisition Channels

Many customer acquisition channels can be used to grow your business, but some are more effective than others.

Here are some channels you can use:

1. Website

The most obvious way to acquire new customers is through your website. If you’re running an online business, this channel will be the most successful for you in terms of generating leads and sales from a single source.

Through it, you can offer a free trial, discounts for the first purchase, and special deals.

And of course, you can give information about your product or service.

2. Social Media

A couple of years ago, social media’s purpose was just to share what you were doing with friends and family members on the other end of the world. Nowadays, it is a powerful customer acquisition channel that can be used as a marketing tool for small businesses all over the world–as long as you know how to do it right.

One way is to give customers a discount for every “like” they get from their posts, or if the post reaches a certain number of likes (for example 100). This strategy will make them share your offer with more people to reach the target and therefore increase customer acquisition rates by generating word of mouth.

Another strategy is to offer a product for free once the customer reaches 200 likes on their post, and then charge them for that same item at full price if they want it after reaching 400 likes. This builds up anticipation around your products, creates buzz in social media communities, and lets you show potential customers how popular your products are–thus increasing customer acquisition rates.

It’s a great way to reach potential customers at no cost. You can find people who might be interested in your products by using specific keywords on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.

(Image Source: Marketing Land)

3. Print ads

This can include newspaper and magazine ads or even direct mail advertising. The latter is more costly but can be a powerful way to make connections with new customers.

The only downside of this method is that you need to reach these potential customers where they live or work–which may not always be possible without investing in the mail for every address and city you want your product to go into.

4. TV and radio

TV and radio ads are a fast way to reach the largest number of people. Your message must be compelling–and you can’t just put up an ad on TV or radio without making sure it will be effective for what you need.

However, these methods require specific amounts of money, which may not always be possible for small businesses right at the start.

The upside to these methods is that they are effective, and you can generate a lot of interest very quickly–and with relatively low costs compared to other options.

5. Events

Attending events is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach new customers. It’s not always a good idea, but if you’re attending an event within your industry–or even in another related field (for example, conferences for crafters who sell products at craft fairs)–you’ll be able to meet and network with people who may be in a position to hire you.

6. Blog

Blogging is one of the more popular methods for getting yourself out there.

You might want to take note that search engines favor frequently updated blog sites with a lot of content.

This means that you’ll need to post often, but if your blog is helpful and informative, it will be easier for potential customers to find you when they’re looking around online.

Moreover, you can use it to build your email list. Every time you publish a new blog post, be sure to include an email sign-up form somewhere on the page.

Your readers can then sign up for your mailing list and stay updated with all of your future posts without having to remember where they left off or search through past archives.

7. Email

This is a tried-and-true way of building customer loyalty. And since email marketing doesn’t cost anything to set up, it’s probably the cheapest acquisition channel out there.

Branded emails get an average of 21% open rate, and the ROI is a whopping $38.32 for every dollar spent!

Through email, you can offer a free e-book or discount, ask for feedback, announce new products, and more.

17 Customer Acquisition Strategies to Win Customers

There are many user acquisition strategies you can try depending on the industry and the company you’re in.

Here’s a list of strategies that can help you acquire new customers:

1. Increase engagement from unopened emails

You can increase the number of people who open your emails by starting with the subject line.

Here’s an acquisition strategy example: if you’re sending an email about a product that was just released, start with “Introducing…” or “We have something new.” If someone opens it and doesn’t purchase their first visit to your site, send them another one of these kinds of emails.

(Image Source: AppleToolBox)

2. Find out what kind of content your customers like

If you’re not sure how to increase engagement, try sending an email with a poll or survey.

This will help you figure out the best thing for your business and also give people more personalized messages that they want to open. If it’s not clear from their answers which topic would be best, you can always ask them to pick a topic.

3. Update and republish old content

If you have old content on your site that’s still relevant to what you’re doing, update it and then publish it again.

Add new pictures or a video if appropriate, refresh the text where needed, make any changes for SEO purposes. Update as often as possible!

Create something great every day- find inspiration in the world around you.

Take a walk outside, watch movies or read books that are related to your niche. You’ll find yourself with ideas to implement!

4. Ask for reviews on social media and email newsletter sign-ups

This is the simplest of all strategies- ask people for their honest feedback by posting about it on Facebook, Twitter, or even in a blog post. Share your product and let people know you’re looking for feedback- if it’s good, they’ll want to share!

When launching a new product or service, this is the simplest of all strategies as it can be done in minutes.

You can also ask for feedback through email newsletter sign-ups; asking people if they would recommend your product or service to a friend/family member and allowing them to provide their feedback.

5. Align search intent to content upgrades

This is a little more complex, but using Google Ads or Bing ads can help you align your search intent to content upgrades.

For example, if someone searches for ‘photography tips’, then an ad might appear with information about how you could learn photography from the articles on your website.

You’ll want to be careful that this type of ad does not cause you to rank for terms that don’t align with your offering.

6. Build a list and promote through email or social media

One thing I like about this strategy is it doesn’t require an initial investment. You can build a list using something as simple as Mailchimp, AWeber, Constant Contact, or any other tool you might be familiar with.

Then, promote the list to your email subscribers and social media followers.

LinkedIn groups are a great place to start looking for potential customers in niche markets that may not be tapped into by other people in your industry.

If you’re just getting started building links or haven’t been successful yet, it may be worth your time to start with sites that don’t require you to leave a backlink.

The goal here is not necessarily traffic but rather links from quality websites.

Keep in mind that simply publishing content on your own site and spamming it through social media channels won’t help much either.

7. Integrate with other products

Once you hit a certain threshold in your customer base, start integrating with other products that offer complementary services.

This can be anything from creating an integration for SMS marketing and CRM software or even affiliate links that will send customers to another website when they click them on yours.

It’s not just about driving more traffic through SEO tactics, but also about driving more traffic through the marketing channels you’ve already spent time and money developing.

For a lot of companies, this might mean taking an inventory of all your business assets that could be utilized to drive customers to your site.

If for example, there’s some data-driven product in development at your company or something like it, you might want to create an integration for it.

This is a great way to cross-promote and identify opportunities that can also complement your marketing strategy.

8. Acquire a website

Choose a website with an old domain, one that’s not being used or updated

If you’re looking to acquire a website with an existing domain and some traffic, there are many ways to go about it.

One of these is buying the site from the owner by paying them for what they feel it’s worth. This can be a great strategy if you’re not looking to spend a lot of time and money on building up your own domain.

9. Pay to email someone’s email subscriber’s list

Another strategy is by paying somebody for the list of emails.

This can be done with or without their consent, and it’s usually up to you what type of email campaign you want to be performed on your behalf. You might choose this option if you’re not looking to spend a lot of time building out an email subscriber base from scratch.

However, if you want your own email list, you can use LeadFuze.

It’s the best way to build your email list. It’s easy, it’s affordable, and it works! You can use its system to create an opt-in form on your website or blog. Or you can import contacts from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, or any other social media platform.

You can even integrate it with the CRM tools you use.

Start your LeadFuze free trial now!

10. Create co-branded content and share leads with other companies

If your product or service complements other businesses’ offerings, you can form co-branded content and share leads. You’ll be able to show off your company while generating new business opportunities for yourself, too!

A successful example of this is “The Complete Guide to Customer Retention,” which was created by HubSpot in collaboration with CoSchedule (a social media scheduler).

Both companies can point new leads in the direction of a comprehensive resource for customer retention.

11. Build a viral mechanism

You can try and create a viral mechanism by incentivizing customers to share your content.

For example, if you offer free shipping for the first 100 people who retweet this tweet then it’s likely that more than 100 people will be exposed to your company.

A few companies like Dropbox have been successful with this type of incentive-driven marketing.

12. Use YouTube influencers to your advantage

YouTube has grown in popularity as a platform for video marketing. The success of this type of marketing acquisition relies on the strength and reach of influencer audiences. For example, if you partner with an influential person who reaches 100 people per day then that will result in 1000 potential customers!

Or you can give influencers exclusive access to your product before it launches.

13. Seed engagement metrics on Facebook ads

When it comes to Facebook, the more engagement you have to surround your posts then the higher up in the News Feed they will show. The best way to increase engagement is by asking a question or allowing users to share their thoughts about something with others on Facebook.

For instance, asking “Which TV show should I binge-watch next?” will lead to more engagement than just sharing the name of a popular show.

14. Use referral programs wisely

A powerful marketing channel that can improve new customer acquisition rates for businesses is referral programs. But they have to be set up correctly for them to work efficiently.

The most successful referral programs will provide a user with an incentive, such as:

• A cash bonus if the friend accepts your offer
• Free shipping on their next purchase
• Ebooks, videos, or other digital products that are personalized to the friend
• A free product or service from your company

15. Set up an affiliate program

Affiliate programs are a great way to increase customer acquisition rates. These work by giving independent sellers the chance to sell your product or service using their name, while you still control distribution and pricing.

It’s up to you whether these affiliates need an upfront fee or not; some offer just a percentage of each sale (usually around 30%), while others offer an upfront fee that will be paid back if the sale is completed.

It’s important to note, however, that there are two types of affiliate programs:

• A-type (external) affiliates – these work by promoting your products on their own websites or blogs with some sort of link to generate revenue from sales
• B-type (internal) affiliates – these work by promoting your products on their social media and other platforms to generate revenue.

Regardless of which you choose, the key is to have a plan for customer acquisition marketing before launching your company.

16. Answer Quora questions

Quora is a question-based social network where you can answer questions to build your personal brand.

There are several ways that Quora is useful for customer acquisition:

• You’re able to be seen as an expert in the field and help people, which will attract new customers.
• Leveraging other metrics like “real” followers or likes means you’re more likely to have viral content.
• Share your knowledge and expertise by answering questions on Quora, which will help you acquire new customers.
• Take the time to research popular topics so that you can answer questions about those subjects as well.

(Image Source: Ladder Blog)

17. Content flipping

This is a technique that marketers use to find relevant content on the web and then repurpose it for their own purposes.

For example, if you’re running an article about getting your first job as a social media manager, you might want to research how others have achieved success in this field. You may come across articles like “25 tips for social media managers” or “social media: the new marketing frontier.” You can then take this information and turn it into your own blog post.

How to Improve Your Customer Acquisition Strategy

Found the perfect strategy for your brand? Well, you might want to improve it using these tips:

Track your KPIs

KPIs or Key Performance Indicator is a metric that’s used to track the performance of an organization. There are both qualitative and quantitative indicators that you can use to measure your success.

By tracking this, you can see where you’re lacking, what you need to improve or change.

Create a brief strategy plan

Your customer acquisition strategy should have a clear objective that will lead your efforts in the right direction and help you achieve success.

You won’t be able to know if it’s working out until after some time has passed so make sure you set a timeline to review your progress.

Differentiate yourself from the competition

One of the most important steps when creating a customer acquisition strategy is differentiating your brand from others and making it memorable. A big part of this is having a strong brand identity that tells people what you stand for, who you are, and how they can connect with you.

Optimize your funnel

One of the most important things to do when designing your user acquisition strategy is optimizing your sales funnel. This will help you determine what potential customers are looking for before they purchase a product and how to get them through the buying process quickly.

(Image Source: WebEngage)

Personalize acquisition journeys

Personalizing your customer acquisition strategy is one of the best ways to create a memorable experience for potential customers. A personalized and engaging journey will help you gather information about what they are looking for, why they’ve come to you, and how you can keep them interested in purchasing from your brand.

Build engagement

Creating a brand that people want to engage with is another important step in your client acquisition strategy. One way you can do this is by creating an emotional connection between the user and your company.

Limit spending

Pricing is one of the most important factors for a customer. It’s why you need to limit your spending on acquiring customers by understanding how much it costs and what return you can expect from each customer to avoid overspending.

Test different acquisition methods

Different people respond differently, so testing different tactics like advertising with different channels will help you find what works best for your company.

Conclusion

Overall, customer acquisition is an important way to grow your company. If you want more customers, there are a variety of ways for you to go about it. We hope this article will help give you some insightful tips on what strategies work best for different companies and how much they cost!