If you currently head a startup or thinking of creating one shortly, you must learn as much as possible about Startup’s customer acquisition strategies and tactics.
Startups struggle to find their customers at the very beginning. This is because very few people are familiar with your products, services, and brand. and in this case, they have to be more aware of the best startup’s customer acquisition strategies and tactics. Once you’ve implemented the basics to identify and attract new customers, you need to continue growing.
But let’s slow down and start from beginning;
What is customer acquisition? and why it is important?
“Customer acquisition refers to the activities and actions a company takes to gain new customers. A successful customer acquisition strategy helps you win new business, retain loyal customers, and improve profits”.
That acquisition starts at first contact with a new customer and rolls into your strategy for retention. No matter how good your acquisition strategy you need to move forward and build over it to fill the gaps and satisfy your customer.
A good strategy will help you grow in a targeted and cost-effective way to attract the right customers. It provides the framework to grow your business by helping you to gain new customers while retaining the ones you have.
But what it takes to start working on your customer acquisition strategy?
Establish Your Goals
What goals are you looking to achieve over the next quarter, six months, or year? Having a clear understanding of the goals you want to achieve with your ideal customer in mind, will help you to stay focused on your target for your acquisition strategy and guide your efforts.
Determine your channels
There are various marketing channels available nowadays but this does not mean using them all. You need to choose the channel where your current and potential customers in.
let’s elaborate further if your current and potential users usually engage in the email you need to include email marketing as a key component of your strategy.
Keep in mind that not everyone will make a purchase on the first interaction, and you want to build an ongoing relationship that provides value for them, in addition to sales.
To promote your startup’s customer acquisition, here are 5 proven strategies:
1- Give Away Free Stuff
Many consumers need far more than words and promises to convince them to pay for a product or service even word-of-mouth won’t convince them. And to acquire them as your loyal customers, you need to have them experience your products or services in some way or form.
By offering them free stuff you will guarantee they will try your product/ service and they will realize the value your brand has to offer for themselves. Therefore, ensure that the free stuff you offer is of the utmost quality. This free item shouldn’t cost you much, or impact your cash flow.
Be creative in what you offer, for example; provide one month of free access to your app, offer a free brainstorming call that will let prospects experience your expertise or other related things.
2- Produce Quality Content Regularly
Establish yourself as a go-to source of helpful information and a trustworthy expert in your niche or industry. Unfortunately, this can be incredibly difficult for startups that have little to no reputation. One way to do so is by producing quality content regularly.
Nowadays, there are many ways you can publish content regularly and as mentioned earlier in multiple suitable channels even if the same content but adjusted for each channel format, focus on the value they will get.
3- Incorporate Video Content
Developing multimedia to promote your brand and facilitate customer acquisition. When it comes to multimedia marketing, start with creating video content, a great way to establish and build a connection with your audience.
The video content should be interesting, with value to your customers in a significant way, and bonus points if entertaining, as well. If you’re having a hard time balancing between interesting and valuable videos, you can alternate between the two.
4- Develop a Referral Strategy
Since referrals will likely serve as the basis of your customer acquisition strategy, especially at first, you want to develop a referral strategy that will encourage your users to refer other potential users. But when doing so be careful about the impression your customers might take.
depending on your industry you can choose to use incentives or not. For example, you may offer your current users incentives like discounts or extra features if they successfully refer other users to your product or service. For others this strategy might backfire, People may hesitate to recommend you as they worry about what their friend or colleague may think.
So, choose wisely and try to mix between various methods till reaching your perfect strategy and remember to try and update to fill your gabs all the time.
5- Partner with a Complementary Company
Is there a well-loved and known company that complements your products without directly competing? Create a partnership and join with them and get access to their audience. Partnerships can come in many forms, so make sure to choose a creative way that best fits both of you.
If you want to find out more you can check this Guide from HubSpot, and remember to check instaDeel’s following articles: