Starting out in business means juggling client acquisition and demonstrating capacity to satisfy their needs, staying on top of their pains to provide solutions and keeping them interested.
8 tips for entrepreneurs to retain clients faster
A client lifecycle refers to the length and nature of a client's relationship with a company or a brand. This lifecycle is the focus of marketing for all businesses, especially nascent businesses that need credibility to grow, to prolong it and make it as beneficial as possible for the client and the business.
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Developing a unified model to take care of the client lifecycle will save you time, resources and bring organisation.
To develop a smooth client lifecycle, there has to be continuous innovation and improvement that supports a client from onboarding, keeping them interested and earning their loyalty. In fact, practicing these nine tips for creating a model for your client lifecycle will give you your customer engagement strategy.
1. Look beyond purchases
While your competitors will also be focused on purchase history to determine their marketing strategies, you should focus on more valuable metrics like customer channel preference, household structure and readiness to purchase, among other data.
2. Think like a big business
Adopt the attitude of a big business and implement using tools available to them. Instead of acting on biased data, carry out data analysis to establish who your customer is. Verify your data through individual emails, one-on-one calls to zero down on your customer.
Big businesses face challenges with set habits and attitudes that have been created over time. As a small business, you are flexible enough to experiment with data to establish what is important to customers in evolving ways.
3. Use available data
Take advantage of Facebook analytics and other free tools to collect data on your clients and how they interact with your brand. It also helps to ask customers directly, as long as you give them something in return, which might include loyalty programs, social media engagement and surveys.
4. Focus on client triggers
If you learn and understand your customers' pain or problems, you will be able to go out and find them instead of waiting for them to come to you. Engaging a customer around solving their problem (s) is likely to keep them spending. Focus on priority clients and take into consideration the optimal time to reach out to them on their lives and purchasing cycles.
5. Challenge beliefs
Take advantage of your size to be flexible and innovative in marketing methods and practices. Develop a framework of consistently re-evaluating data and insights to discover the best available and valuable data. Do not get comfortable assuming long-lasting methods will work at all times.
6. Establish your brand voice
Establish your business personality, and maintain it, with the posts, blogs, videos, interactions, and other content you have.
The personality communicates your values and those of your customers and creates a link for person-to-person connection which builds trust in you and the product.
7. Social media
Create posts or social media content that will compel people to tag their friends. This will create a ripple effect where each tag brings you into contact with multiple timelines and interactions. Try out small package giveaways that require users to tag their friend(s).
Look out for customers that post your products and services and repost their content. Ask their permission to share their posts on your channels.
8. Boost content marketing
Utilise all content marketing material including blog posts, videos, webinars, e-books, among others. However, consider content types that are suitable for your target customers and provide information they cannot get from anywhere else or in a way they cannot get from anyone else.
Inject your brand voice into the content that caters to your target customers' needs.
9. Video content
Video is the most highly contested form of content creation among digital marketers. Research shows that the human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than information in text format.
The eight tips for creating customer engagement will also help you build brand loyalty, get you organic sales and a marketing content framework that suits your business.
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