Quick Tips to Grow Your Business with Existing Customers

By Nicholas Day

      Jul 11, 2018     Solutions    

Some businesses make the mistake of marketing to all of their customers equally. They share the same message across all demographics and buying types. While your customers likely have some similarities, they also have stark differences.

One of the main differences in your customer base are new buyers who are experiencing your business for the first time and existing loyal customers who already love your brand. If you want to grow your business, then you need to cater to both.

Here are a few ways you can focus on existing customers to improve your brand loyalty and boost your sales.

Create Marketing Plans for Both New and Returning Customers

Look at the balance of new and returning customers to your business. You might have a 50-50 split or lean more toward loyal customers returning to your brand. Whatever the case may be, you can grow your business significantly by developing a marketing strategy to cater to existing customers.  

It can cost five to 10 times more to acquire a new customer than to convince an existing customer to return. Already, marketing to existing customers can boost your ROI by lowering your marketing costs. Existing customers also spend 67% more on average than new customers, further improving your ROI by increasing the average ticket or basket size in your business.  

It takes a delicate balance to market to both new and returning customers. Your brand needs new customers to grow, but also needs to retain the ones you bring in to balance your marketing budget and help your business thrive.    

Employ Remarketing Tactics

Remarketing is the process of marketing to people who have already visited your business or made a purchase. Some forms of remarketing target existing customers to bring them back, while others target people who never made a purchase and were on the fence about their decision. 

There are a few common ways you can remarket to your customers digitally.

  • Create banner ads to show customers who have already visited your website.
  • Send emails to customers who add items to their digital carts but didn’t convert.
  • Develop a marketing strategy to customers who haven’t engaged with your brand in a while.
  • Target social media ads to customers who visited your website.

Depending on your marketing strategy, you can tailor your remarketing efforts to match your goals and budget.  

Launch a Customer Loyalty Plan

One of the best ways to grow your business by marketing to existing customers is to develop a loyalty plan. According to Invespcro, 58% of customers will shop at a business at least once per month if they are part of its loyalty program, and 64% of brands say their loyalty program is the best way to connect with customers.  

Customer loyalty is a two-way street, which is why both marketers and customers prefer loyalty plans as an advertising tool to bring customers back. Roughly half of all customers have changed their buying behavior to reach a higher loyalty tier for a business and 70% of customers say they make their buying decisions based off of where they can get rewards points. If you operate in a highly competitive industry, you should consider investing in a loyalty option.  

Not all customer loyalty plans are created equal. You want to reward your customer, but not give your whole business away. It’s important to tailor your loyalty plan to specific ROI goals that change customer behavior and grow your business.

Turn Existing Customers Into Brand Ambassadors

One way you can grow your business is to convince your existing customers to recruit new ones. Depending on the type of business you operate, you can launch a few strategic initiatives to get people talking about your brand.  

A few options for your business include:  

  • Reward customers for checking in on social media when they arrive.
  • Ask customers to leave positive reviews on business profile sites and review pages like Yelp or Google.
  • Set up referral programs that give discounts to loyal customers who bring in new people.
  • Host events or contests that encourage people to post photos or information about your business on their social channels.   

Not all of these suggestions will be appropriate for your company, but you can test different options to see what works for your brand and what your customers like. From there, you can hone your brand strategy and marketing tactics until you have a solid plan to grow your business.

Collect Customer Data and Information

According to ProOpinion, 77% of customers want personalized recommendations during the marketing and sales process. The top way to personalize content is to collect information. If you can create a profile on a particular customer, then you can make recommendations based on their buying patterns and needs. There are multiple ways you can collect customer data while building trust with your buyers.

The goal is to get customers to willingly tell you what they want and feel comfortable that you will use the information to market to them.

A few examples include:  

  • Prompting customer surveys when customers complete their purchases.
  • Allowing customers to personalize their email content to their interests.
  • Asking customers to share their email and phone numbers for better marketing.
  • Monitoring the customer experience online to learn what your customers like.

Each of these options provide different information about your customers. The first one allows you to get direct ideas for how your business can improve, while the last option gives you tips for website improvements. The more information you have, the better the chances that your customers will see a message they like and plan to take action on.  

Discover New Ways to Grow Your Business

Do you feel like you’re in a rut with your marketing efforts? You’re not alone.

It’s not uncommon to feel like you’re not reaching customers in the best way possible.

If you want to give your business and marketing strategy new life, contact MyArea Network today. We can set up a free consultation to review your business and come up with a plan to improve your advertising action plan and help you get customers to return again and again.

REQUEST FREE CONSULTATION