Enticing a potential client to visit your site is just the beginning of a long journey between you and them. If you think about your own personal shopping experience, it takes more than one site visit to truly convince you to let go of your hard-earned cash and buy a product or avail of a service.
So what can you do to get people to buy from you instead of your competitors?
Whenever you travel, there are many ways to reach your destination. You can ride an airplane, drive a car, go on a train or hire an uber… there are so many potential means of transportation to choose from.
The same can be said about reaching your customers. We can consider ourselves lucky to be living in a digital age; no longer are ads confined to newspaper and magazine printouts, huge billboards, and expensive radio and television commercials. Make use of the digital scene and find ways to connect with your customers.
It has been proven by marketing expert Dr. Jeffrey Lant that the average consumer needs to be exposed to your brand at least seven times, hence the name of his marketing strategy the “Rule of Seven”, to be able to think about buying a certain product.
Just imagine how quickly you can reach the magic number seven when you’ve made use of several avenues easily available at your disposal.
There are basically four stages each customer goes through before actually pushing through with a purchase: Awareness, Consideration, Comparison, Decision.
You’ve got the “awareness” stage down pat -- ads up and running, you have content that is relevant and high quality, and your rankings are pretty impressive. How do you convert that into revenue?
You learn to discover that you need to come up with a strategy that will set you apart from others. For example, offer exclusive access to an ebook that talks about their pain points -- you’re reaching out to your customers, connecting with them, trying to build a relationship.
Having potential clients this close in proximity to you, you now have the opportunity to win them over and convince them to choose you. By offering them valuable insights and showcasing your experience in a given field, you have just shown them how much better it will be to invest in your service rather than someone else.
Cultivate a good relationship with a client by building a foundation from which the two of you will grow.
Take a look into this strategy:
Let’s go back to the ebook example. You’re using this platform because you want to showcase yourself and that the services you offer are what they need and want. You may opt to use videos or a buyer’s guide -- it’s ultimately your choice. The point here is that you are finding ways to establish brand awareness and expertise in the given field because the ultimate goal at this point is to build trust.
As people, we find it comforting when we find out that we have something in common with others. Whether it’s something mundane such as favourite TV shows or food, or sharing an experience that is eerily similar, we instantly connect with them and create a bond.
Making sure that you can connect with their pain points humanizes you and makes you more relatable. You’re not some faceless person online now; you are a living, breathing human who understands their problems. The difference between you and them is that YOU have the solution to those problems.
Remember that if you are very general about your marketing strategy, you are basically marketing to no one. By humanising yourself and discussing issues that bother prospective clients, you are zeroing in on them and trying to build a connection.
Don’t be afraid to showcase studies about past clients once you have begun cultivating a relationship with prospective customers. Allow them to compare (a natural instinct during the buying cycle) and have them take a look at why your company is more favourable than others.
Marketing automation systems alert you of when a potential buyer clicks on the checkout button or makes the decision to leave it in their cart and opts to buy your product on a later date. Make follow-ups by offering discounts or send them an email about how the product can help with their pain points.
Connecting with your target market is just another way of making “touches” and giving you the opportunity to build brand awareness and trust.
Technology is at its best and with so many platforms to help you and your business engage with prospective clients, take advantage of what is readily available to you and go for it.
When it comes to increasing sales, there’s no cookie-cutter way of building increased revenue. What you can do is to lead nurture, retarget, and be aware of buyer signals. This is an approach that, when done correctly and consistently, you will see a marked growth within your company over time.
