The From Line

Ongoing customer acquisition activities are a necessity of every business big and small. For some, pivoting customer acquisition strategies can seem overwhelming. However, just keep in mind the below three things while creating the underpinnings of your new strategy in addition to increasing your productivity and ROI:

1. Think value when looking for customers. Never mind worrying about how much each lead costs, but rather have your long-term goals in mind. If you are being stingy on your marketing budget when it comes to purchasing leads, it can really have a negative effect on your long-term customer acquisition plan. Instead, keep the value of each customer you obtain in mind and how that will impact your business over time. Although it might cost more in up-front costs to obtain quality leads, it is worth it in the long haul for your business.

2. Continue to test. Increasingly, there are new marketing strategies coming about that will enable you to track your efforts and how effective they are as well as any resources you have used. Although testing does not necessarily increase your customer base, it does reduce the costs of obtaining new customers, and lengthens your campaign run, so you can see more results.

3. Keep your current customers happy. When your customers have a good experience with your products and services, they are more inclined to spread the word about them to friends and family. Keeping your current customers satisfied will do wonders for your customer acquisition marketing campaigns since customers who are happy do a couple of things; they return and they refer.

Contact us here at RegReady for more information on acquisition marketing and increasing your customer base.

There’s a consensus among marketers that one of the hardest things to do is to continually grow a quality opt-in list. Aside from using RegReady to help aid you with this process, below are some quick tips to ensure your gaining quality of quantity. Remember, building an opt-in marketing lists of highly responsive subscribers is no different than starting any type of quality relationship.

1.  Be transparent and outline benefits

Be upfront and clear on your sign-up page or welcome email what you will be using your subscribers’ email addresses for and the frequency of your sends.  Of course in order to gain quantity it is important to outline all the benefits associated with your opt-in email communications program.  Use short bullet points to outline your email’s value.  Once your audience feels is comfortable with your value proposition they will convert to subscribers.

2.  Incentivized opt-Ins = some nuggets and lots of crap

3.  If you do use incentives, create urgency.

Adding a time limit or countdown to a free incentive always helps to increase your opt-in rate. If your audience is convinced that the time limit is legitimate, they will make an instant decision, rather than waiting. Advanced online marketers use this approach all the time with success.

4.  Know your statistics

Once your site has achieved predictable traffic patterns, your opt-in rate should remain steady. This is when you should test different placement, incentives, etc.  Test one variable at a time for the exact amount of time and evaluate if there is an increase in conversions. Conversion rats for blogs tend to be higher than other types sites however, if you are just sending traffic directly to a squeeze page without blog traffic, expect these rates to be lower. Your goal should be to always find ways to attract quality subscribers that will become engaged and loyal customers.

Acquisition marketing is another trite marketing term for getting new business. Every resource used to acquire new customers through marketing, whether it is a paid website or relationship building, falls into the acquisition net. A company using this type of marketing is simply acquiring customers through whatever marketing means necessary.

This might seem simple enough, but acquisition marketing doesn't stop at focusing on growth. An acquisition marketer must always be be on their "A" game acquiring new knowledge. This type of marketing moves beyond researching who uses the company's products; the marketer is also learning as much as possible about the industry as a whole. Companies similar to the one with which the marketer works are of utmost importance. The marketer must always know what the other companies are doing in regards to advertising then must proceed to learn how to do it better. Keeping an eye on the competition will help align the needs of the current market with the business goals to help an acquisition marketer stay on top of necessary advertising.

Looking to the future is the final big step in acquisition marketing that will help line up the company goals with the marketing strategies. The marketer or marketing team needs to have a vision for their own department. Where will marketing be in a year or two? Will they remain in a position to continually help the growth of the company? The future of the marketing team is as important as the future of the company in terms of growth. If the marketer or marketing team does not have a plan to help the company reach its growth potential, the reasons to continue with acquisition marketing diminish.

Here are three great ideas for lead generation.

1. Offer free analysis. An excellent way to generate leads is to offer a free analysis or initial consultation. Attorneys do this all the time. It's a great way to introduce yourself to the prospective client, and demonstrate to that prospect that you are a subject matter expert. You can also take this time to "wow" the prospect with an initial assessment of how things could be if your services are rendered. For example: you can tell the client how much money will be saved by using your services. Then, closing the deal becomes a win-win. You get a new client, and the client saves money.

2. Write an article that demonstrates your expertise. You may have some knowledge that your prospective clients simply don't know about. Demonstrate it to them with a well-written piece that is either a) published by a reputable magazine or b) goes viral on the web. This is a great way to gain exposure for your business. It's important to ensure that the article is both practical and well-written. Consider obtaining the services of a ghostwriter if you are not capable of crafting a well-written piece.

3. Obtain partnership referrals. If you are offering a great service, then chances are that your prospects are using the services of another business that complements yours. For example, if you are an accountant, then your prospects might be using the services of management or marketing consultants. Why not partner with those non-competing consultants and obtain referrals that way? Of course, you would be expected to refer them to your clients as well. But, once again, it's a win-win.

Make your content marketing and lead generation programs go further with a RegReady membership. Contact us for more information or visit our FAQ section.