#6 Tools for Effective Customer Acquisition Inbound marketing has great advantage as it draws customers with value-generating resources

All businesses strive to acquire new customers, but for the new ones it is a sheer necessity.

In order to get new customers it is essential to understand what makes your customers excited. Once that's done, what needed is investing heavily in inbound marketing strategies such as content, building email newsletters and search engine optimizations.

Inbound marketing has great advantage as it draws customers with value-generating resources. Though it is time-consuming to create great content, but a strong content-resource has the potential to stimulate visitors for years. Outbound marketing, on the other hand, is all about writing cheques to attract new visitors. When one stops, the other stops as well.

To approach the subject of customer acquisition, it is better to begin with a solid plan followed by building the foundation by developing relationships with your target audience, through constant engagement.

Here are six steps to guide you:

1. Content Marketing

Utilizing the potential of content marketing is absolutely the best approach for acquiring new customers for a startup. According to Tirthankar Banerjee, Founder of Cygnus (marketing and advertising agency), it is not for nothing that the buzz around content marketing is at an all-time high for the past one decade. "The performances of the businesses that do it well, are evidence of its effectiveness," he stressed.

1. Search Engine Optimization

Creating realistic and valuable content can help you reach out in great many ways. "All the shares and links will invariably help you appear in search engines. And it is given that organic search results are the most important place for potential customers to identify you," he elaborated.

1. Email Marketing

Being smart in business has its benefits. Smart entrepreneurs make appropriate use of the traffic they receive from inbound marketing content and SEO. They build an email list.

"When it comes to first-time visitors, there is no better business outcome than when they subscribe to newsletters and emails from you. Only direct sales can match this result," said Dhiraj Choudhary, Founder of Indifix, an augmented visual support.

1. Copywriting

The world has already recognised the power of the right word. The booming content industry is a testimony to this fact. "Words are what rule the web. Opting for the right words and expressions can be the game-changer for your online business. Act prudently and invest in learning about powerful word-smithing," he recommended.

1. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the latest fad and it has been used extensively, especially by new-age businesses in order to acquire new clients.

"The fact that social media usage is exponential and is rapidly taking into its fold the world's populace, speaks of its potential. Social media is the fuel that fires and spreads your online content faster than any other tool," maintained Harsh Shah, Co–founder of Fynd, a fashion e-commerce portal.

1. Analytics

Importance of utilizing analytics while building an online business is now axiomatic. To succeed in your business, you must keep track of what's working and what's not, domains your potential customers are visiting and the performance of your online presence in the form of pages or websites or profiles.

"It's time to utilise the knowledge you have gathered and start designing your acquisition plan. A customer acquisition guide helps entrepreneurs work smarter. Bearing in mind your strengths and limitations, devise an inbound marketing strategy that prioritizes the details you want to deliver for the customer acquisition drive," he concluded.