5 Ways To Get Prospective Customers to Choose You As marketing tactics have shifted, entrepreneurs can stop focusing on seeking potential clients and instead concentrate on making them want to come to you.
By Brian Ainsley Horn Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In the world of business marketing, the strategic focus has slowly shifted from seeking potential clients to making them want to come to you.
In other words, you as a business owner can finally forgo the drudgery of always having to jump through hoops to gain a client and instead focus on making your customers want to come to you.
To learn how to utilize this marketing strategy, read the helpful tips listed below:
1. Don't target everyone.
Admittedly, it does seem counterproductive to minimize your potential client base when attempting to grow your business.However, often catering to a niche client base will help you succeed in your efforts to grow your business, not the reverse.
Related: How to Pick the 'Right' Clients and Stand Out Among the Competition
After all, you can't please everyone and people love specific personalized solutions for their problems.. By selecting a niche group within your broad business arena, you can market more specifically and offer products or services for specific needs.
A good example is Richard Simmons. He is known as exercise expert who focuses on a niche market: overweight people who would otherwise avoid working out. In so doing, Simmons has become a huge success.
2. Make your marketing entertaining.
While you want prospects to attain information about your business, product or service after watching the ad, you also want your marketing campaign to be memorable, funny and worth sharing. Otherwise, it will likely be forgotten.
3. Provide free resources.
If you as a business owner and solve a client's problem for free, you will have succeeded where 99.9 percent of others have failed.
Related: 5 Ways to Get Your First Customer
By offering a tip or helping a client pro bono, you are building repoire with them which could lead to business down the line. This can help gain credibility, trust and create an image of yourself as an expert in your field.
4. Use authority positioning.
Authority positioning means that you are seen as an expert in your chosen field. To communicate your trustworthiness to your clients, try the following strategies:
- Align yourself with other experts. Whether through speaking at the same seminar as other experts in your field or simply using their logo on your website (with their permission of course), when you align yourself with other experts in your field, you garner immediate trust.
- Appear in relevant media. Another way to prove your authority is to be quoted in articles, appear on TV or become a guest on a radio shows and podcasts. To stand out, create three different pitches that tie into general interest news, so you can sent to producers. The key is writing them, so the producer doesn't have to do any research or work. Give them everything they need for a five- to 10-minute segment.
- Share what you know through various means. Whenever you have an opinion, can offer advice or build yourself up as a thought leader share alot and often. A great example of this point is Dave Ramsey. He shares what he knows about financial independence with Christian values on his radio show every day. He also uses seminars, books and his website, to build brand trust and recognition.
5. Create a strong digital profile.
Having a polished digital profile is an important step in getting prospects to come to you.
Why is this so important?
- Potential business connections and clients will sometimes search for your name in advance of meetings, so you want to have an impressive profile available for them to peruse.
- Your digital profile is a reflection of who you are, what you are passionate about and what you do well. In addition, since you should also include a photo in your profile, it shows your appearance.
- Your online profile allows you to brand yourself and showcase your talents, and in many ways, has taken the place of a traditional resume.
- A digital profile that is well maintained gives you the ability to create a professional network, which will help you build trust and authority in your field.
Related: Capturing Repeat Customers Is the Magic of Growth Hacking
