The Copywriter Source

Introduction

According to Forbes, finding new customers is one of the top problems of small businesses. For some new small businesses, it can be challenging learn how to find new customers.

Inconveniently, there isn’t a “find-new-customers” application that you can simply download and gather customers in real time.

The secret to getting new customers is to create awareness. Awareness is the first interaction of the customer journey.

Ways to Find New Customers

Finding new customers requires a strong awareness outreach using multiple channels, which requires an informed and intentional copywriting strategy implemented in everything from sales ads, to newsletters, website posts, and social media marketing.

1. Incentives

Incentive programs are revealed through advertising and copywriting.

In case you don’t know, incentives are perks that the customer receives from the company to gain specific privileges, such as discounts, cash back, gift cards, and free items (freebies). Incentives can be intertwined with other things such as memberships, and referrals. Incentives also work on the sales side of a business (for instance, commissions for salespeople).

The reason why incentives work are because they are reciprocal. If you provide something valuable for free, or discounted, then it adds value to everything else. It’s a gift to the customer, by virtue of the incentive. Companies who do not offer incentives will not have the advantage.

They also motivate the customer. It shows a company is interactive with the customers, so this makes the company appear involved in establishing public relations and developing a brand identity. There are material and non-material incentives, but B2C (business-to-customer) incentives are almost always material, or financial in nature, such as a reward, cash, gift card, or free.

Incentives are also altruistic during times of inflation. While other businesses are being greedy, your business is giving customers discounts and things for free. Normally, capitalism operates with “price wars”, where we see businesses offering sales, discounts, and reward programs to compete with other businesses.

We’re seeing less of this in the so-called “Industry 4.0”, where there is more distance between the customer and the brand, and offers are “take it or leave it”. However, some companies still offer incentives, such as T Mobile, who offers competitive plans and incentives such as being able to keep your current phone after switching carriers.

2. Find New Customers Through Referrals

Like incentives, referrals are communicated through advertisements newsletters, CTAs, and especially word-of-mouth from the customers themselves. Referrals are important in the advocacy step of the customer journey.

• Call to Action (CTA). This can be used to facilitate referrals. For instance, “refer a friend” button in a blog post, or newsletter.
• Newsletters. You can write an entire article in a newsletter discussing a referral program.
• Advertisements. Advertisements are always an appropriate place to briefly mention referral benefits.
• Blogs. Like newsletters, referrals can be encouraged in blog posts.

There are many types of referrals.

Obviously, there are client and customer referrals, and these are perhaps the most common and important referrals that you are trying to acquire.

Then, there are company referrals. This is a referral to your business from someone within the company to use your business. You can provide incentives to your employees to refer people to the company, for instance, to apply. Also, employees may refer the company on their own without an incentive (which is why it’s important to treat your employees well).

Referrals can come out of networking and collaborative opportunities too.

3. Targeting

Generating an advertising campaign that has a trajectory toward the people who need your product.

This can be evaluated by conducting some light market research, such as determining your customer’s buyer persona, and making your ads targeted toward that particular customer.

Clarity

Targeting provides clarity to the customer that your brand is catering to their needs and not to the general public. This also requires a sense of understanding that you’re not “selling to everybody”, but to a specific customer. It also provides clarity to the business owner, because once you know the demographic who needs your product, then you can target your ads to places on and offline where customers are most likely to find out about your company.

Time Management

Targeting saves time not developing a marketing strategy or product/service development plan for people who are not in the market, or interested in your industry. For instance, you don’t work on selling fly fishing rods to people who don’t fish (like vegans who live in the city), or golf clubs to people who don’t fit the profile of someone who enjoys golfing. This helps you generate appropriate aesthetics, visuals, and copywriting to the right audience.

Hiring a copywriter who knows how to target ads to specific individuals based off of a brief data and market research, and then applying specific communication skills is also a good way to target ads to specific customers instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. Hiring a designer that also has a sense of awareness about the target customer is also better than simply using free stock imagery, and website templates. A/B testing is also a way to conduct a quick understanding about what works and what doesn’t.

4. Newsletters

If they are engaging enough, people will subscribe to newsletters.

Newsletters that are not engaging do not get subscribers. It can be difficult to brainstorm content for newsletters, and subscribers want original, personable content that has unique insights.

Creating content external to a newsletter, having a strong product, and making attempts to develop a relationship with the customer are good ways to get subscriptions to newsletters.

At The Copywriter Source, I strongly suggest that companies make intentional content for their customers. That is, you have to enjoy the process of making the content. If you do not enjoy the process, then hire somebody who does. Your customers can see through perfunctory, boilerplate content that sits on your website strictly for SEO. This will affect your conversions. It’s okay because not everybody enjoys doing everything. You may enjoy product development or customer service, whereas another may enjoy data science, or creating scripts for your ads.

There are also websites such as Substack, HubPages and Medium. These websites are technically social networks that double up as blogs and newsletters. These types of platforms can take a while to get readership (especially Substack), and have a learning curve that is very time-consuming to those who have not used them.

They often require daily updating to stay with the algorithms, which can often facilitate over-publishing articles and can take steam away from working on your website. But as your business grows, you can convert an audience to these websites by encouraging your customers to subscribe for newsletters and notifications.

5. Networking

Joining networking groups, both locally and nationally can help generate new customers. Obviously, there are websites like Meetup, but there are also several well-known business networking organizations, and random opportunities to get to know other business owners in your industry, or other industries.

Networking is an important way to get referrals, which was discussed earlier within this article. It is a good way to meet industry professionals and find opportunities for collaboration.

Online Networking

Blogs and other content can also provide a way to get to network with other businesses, but probably are not as effective as joining networking groups.

Obviously, there are online networking platforms, such as Facebook and LinkedIn (which is technically like Facebook wearing a business hat). These websites were once very effective for networking, but may not be as effective these days, although it is worth a try. You don’t always have to network with people in your niche, but people who have businesses that may be indirectly linked to your niche.

Finding mentors are also a good way to network, but the opportunities are rare and more available for people in their early-to-mid 20s. Keep an eye out for mentors. If you have a tech startup, there are organizations like Y Combinator that provide mentorship for future leaders in business, that have many online and offline opportunities and resources.

Find New Customers With Business Cards

Don’t forget to do the traditional things like making business cards. They may seem antiquated, but they are not. Note, that there are always going to be people who toss your business cards into the garbage, on the street, or vacuumed out of their car. But, there will always be people who will take your business cards. Always take business cards to networking events. Post them up in public places that allow it, and give them to anyone you meet if it is appropriate. Also, with websites like Canva and Vista Print, it has never been easier to be involved in the design of your business cards.

Be very thoughtful about the design of your business card. It should be appealing because it should be memorable and reflect your brand. Don’t just randomly put whatever looks good to you. Work with a designer who can make an intentional design. Always put your logo on your business card, if you have one.

Business cards are important in the earlier stages of the customer journey, when establishing awareness. Give your business cards to loyal clients and they can become advocates of your business.

Don’t forget to also advocate for businesses and companies that you support. Ask for a few of their business cards and recommend them when possible. Always avoid the narcissism of startup culture and simply be yourself. It’s not rocket science in this category.

6. Generate Customer Acquisition Through Blogging, YouTube and Content Creation

According to Optinmonster, 65% of content marketers say they have a documented content strategy. While that number is high, it should be more. Blogging is good for SEO algorithms, and establishing thought leadership. They are effective nests for much of your content. Make sure that your blog content is engaging and not perfunctory, to establish return readers.

It should be apparent that you’re reading a blog right now.

Blogs didn’t always start out looking this way. In the early days, blogs were informal updates and musings written by people. Today, blogs have an article style, format, and have a bit of a journalistic approach. Blog articles should be intentional, people-oriented, and well-written and researched most of the time. There should also be bite-sized content that motivates people to take action and read your bigger articles, and for people who like smaller articles.

Hosting a blog on your company website can be difficult if you do not like to write. You can hire freelance writers to write articles for you, preferably ones who are skilled at writing, communicating, and are good at making your blog articles people-oriented. In copywriting, there is a concept called you orientation, and this is the skill of writing copy in an article or about a product that is talking to a specific person, and not just giving general information.

Thought Leadership

“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

Ralph Nader

Blog articles can also give a brand thought leadership, which means that the brand appears to be on up-to-date and relevant with not just the latest developments in the industry, but also pioneering new ideas and inventions. This prompts the user to take action themselves.

A lot of small business want to stay on Facebook because it’s easy. However, it is encouraged to create your own blog on your own website because it is far better for SEO. Also, it is better to have a blog than a microblog like a Twitter account, because Twitter is more advantageous for big, internationally known companies, statesmen, and celebrities. Therefore, you can have a Twitter account if you want, but you would be better off simply hosting your own blog on your own website.

Blogs are still popular, but the gold rush where the blog is the product has tapered down. They are still highly important for businesses selling products. Today, blogs have a problem with being very formulaic and predictable. This can be fixed by making your blog more about informative content and less about flashy graphics, high-quality animations, and perfunctory, boilerplate content that is simply there for the SEO. Don’t forget to put important bite-sized content on your blog, as well as pillar content.

Audio Streams for Content

There are some who say that blogs are out and that audio streams are in.

This is not accurate.

Audio streams have not replaced blogs because they’ve always coexisted, just like television and radio. There are some people who prefer audio to reading, reading to audio, video to audio, and some like all of them.

Audio stream shows are typically better for more well-known thought leaders, but it is worth an attempt if you like talking and are passionate about your niche. However, it is important that you have a voice and delivery that is good for radio, because audio stream shows are technically just radio shows for the internet.

YouTube and Video

YouTube is also a good way to find new customers. If you can create content that is engaging and people-oriented, then you can draw users into purchasing your product. For instance, companies like ToDoist make YouTube videos instructing how ToDoist can benefit their users, using company influencers to speak in the videos.

TikTok may seem silly, but there are a lot of people who report having positive outcomes with putting videos on the short-form-content platform.

Small business should take advantage of YouTube if they can. For instance, there are exterminator companies that make YouTube shows that show them (with the permission of their clients) going into houses and getting rid of pests like roaches and rats. This may sound gross, but these companies get a lot of views because not only are these channels entertaining, they are informative for people who may want to try to get rid of pesky rats and gross roaches themselves. They also drive awareness and business to the owners and employees of these companies.

Take a Lesson from The Big Companies

These days it has never been easier to make video content for even small companies. Video content can be highly effective at establishing awareness and conversions in the customer journey.

For instance, in the early 1960s, General Motors made made-for-television films on General Motors Presents. It provided an opportunity for filmmakers and actors, while providing General Motors with a chance to advertise their products. However, General Motors could not do it without people who are good at writing screenplays.

In the wake of the pandemic, many companies have been trying to reintroduce person-to-person connection in their branding.

Today, companies are hiring their own influencers. The idea is that the company can make personal relationships with people, if they hire employees who are passionate about the products in the industry that the target company is involved in. For instance, a company that sells powdered flour may hire someone who is passionate about confectionery baking, and make YouTube videos or TikTok shorts featuring the influencer making recipes using the company’s product.

7. Find New Customers Through Collaboration

For instance, guest posting or commenting on other blogs when you have a company blog (which you should), creates interest and backlinks.

Collaboration is a rare opportunity, but should be taken when it emerges. Collaborating can arise from networking and establishing yourself as a thought leader. With online resources such as Slack and Zoom are online ways to collaborate with your team or with other people, and that is what we’re discussing is how to collaborate with other leaders in order to generate awareness for new customers in your own business.

For instance, if you have a streaming YouTube channel for your business, you can collaborate with or interview other leaders in your niche. This will not only establish important relationships with other people in your niche, but will also prove to be a good way for establish awareness of your business.

8. Outreach to loyal customers

Successful companies are good at creating a culture for loyal customers. Newsletters and memberships (for instance, for the company website) are good ways to reach out to old customers.

Often, small businesses are more public-facing than larger ones. They rely on public relations specialists, customer service and marketing teams to establish a relationship with a large client base. Newsletters also do a lot of that work.

Small business owners may be aloof to the idea that treating loyal customers good is a great way to establish a solid reputation, but it’s better to have one loyal customer than a series of random drive-by customers. Loyal customers can become advocates. Think about how many times you’ve become an advocate for a business voluntarily.

And, you can’t be there around your loyal clients all the time. This is why newsletters are a great way to stay in touch without you even being there.

Hubspot calls Newsletters “inbound marketing”, because it’s marketing on the inside to customers and businesses who know your business. This is fostering a relationship. It is not any different than keeping up with old friends.

Small businesses can get a lot of leverage creating a culture for loyal customers, and this can be implemented through giving exclusive content to customers, such as newsletters, as well as incentives for being a loyal customer, such as discounts, freebies and rewards programs.

It doesn’t have to be online either. For instance, if you have a bubble tea stand, you can give your customers a punch-hole card and if they purchase 10 bubble teas, they get one bubble tea for free. These have a tremendous effect on making loyal customers. Make sure the customers are aware of your incentives, by posting it on your signage, or making small cards and handouts that illustrate the menu, sales, and any reward programs.

9. Social Media

Because social media is such an obvious marketing channel, it is sometimes overlooked when it comes to finding new customers.

While social media marketing is not as effective as it used to be, it is still highly important.

Rather, what is more important is to advertise on the right social media platform for your business. Social media ads for Facebook and Instagram are still valuable. However, some small businesses make the mistake of using tactics like vulgar humor, confusing imagery. Other companies do the opposite and load up their ads with big, important-sounding words and industry jargon when advertising high-profile products to the general public. These are not good ideas.

Social media ads should be intentionally crafted to contain important information in a way that is also entertaining and attention-grabbing to the user. So, if you’re not good at writing comedy, stick to serious ads, and if you like the sound of big words, hold those ones aside and substitute them for smaller words that are more universally understood. Dropping a small bit of jargon is okay, and encouraged to appeal to industry people. Call-to-Actions should be applied accordingly, and the promise of the headline should be fulfilled in the body of the copy.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest are common ideas. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with lesser-used platforms like Tumblr (which was once very popular), Lemon8, and Kick. This depends on what your business is about.

10. Knowing the customer journey

All of the things that have been outlined in this list are important interactions in all the steps of the customer journey. Get a free guide to the customer journey in the free download below. The customer journey are 5 stages of interactions between the brand and the consumer.

They are awareness, consideration, decision, retention, and advocacy. An awareness outreach can be used at any stage of the customer journey. And remember, the customer journey is more about what you’re doing as a business owner. And the buyer journey is also relevant in B2B, with around 71% of buyers in B2B consume blog content during their buyer journey (according to Optinmonster.com).

Download The Customer Journey Guide. Free.

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Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest are common ideas. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with lesser-used platforms like Tumblr (which was once very popular), Lemon8, and Kick. This depends on what your business is about.

11. Search Engine Optimization.

Although some are saying it isn’t important, that is simply fluff. Don’t skim on your SEO.

Search Engine Optimization may sound like copywriting, but it’s not. It’s a different animal. Search Engine Optimization is about having particular words and doing things in a way that is optimized for popular search engines to recommend your site. It’s a bit of a contest, but it’s worth it.

Copywriters must also be aware of SEO, because the headlines have to be both optimized for the humans as well as it is for algorithms.

This can be balanced by making effective headlines and copy that has all of the right keywords.

However, never lower the content quality for SEO, or for desperate attention-grabbing tactics that some copywriters use, because the point is to have people want to read your articles and the information on your website. So, it should not be boring, boilerplate, or bland.

12. Updating Your Website.

One of the most common mistakes small businesses do with websites is leave websites dormant after making them.

This must be repeated so that it sinks in.

One of the most common mistakes small businesses make with their website is never updating it.

We get it. They’re busy.

But, it can severely affect the bounce rate. Because, people will believe that the business is not active. It doesn’t matter how attractive your website looks. First, you grab their attention and then they will scan through and click off to find a business that is actually still in operation. Even worse if they send you an email and you don’t get back to them.

I periodically look for small business websites to review on the internet. I may send them an email politely pointing out that their website’s copy needs a lift. When I find these websites, I sometimes wonder whether half of the businesses are still in operation, on the basis that the website looks like it wasn’t touched since 2012.

However, to my surprise, many of these businesses are in operation. They simply forget about their websites. A lot of times it’s because these businesses are run by a few people who are consistently facing the public and do not have people to help them with their online marketing. Other times, they put too much stock into Facebook marketing. While Facebook is important, it’s not the most important. In fact, you can advertise successfully without touching Facebook.

One of the most common errors are grammatical errors, and that isn’t good for optimization. According to Realbusiness, 74% of users will likely click off of a website that has too many grammatical errors (these collectively add up to the bouncerate). The truth is, users are evaluating your website’s copy and looking more for criticism, than they are for anything. Even with the availability of grammatical-checking, some business still allow for grammatical errors.

Make sure if you have a business blog, that you have consistent blog updates. Because, when potential clients read your blog and look at the date, they will see that there has been recent activity on it.

Rarely is making a website is a “one-and-done” project. Keeping your website updated is highly important for pinging the algorithms. Figuratively, it “lets the algorithm” know that your website is active. Having a blog, and refreshing your homepage copy (the first webpage that people see on your website), and making new images are the best ways to let customers know that your business is still active.

Implementing an informed and intentional copywriting strategy is the best way to gear up all of the different methods outlined in this article. For more information on how The Copywriter Source can help your small business implement big communication, contact us today.