{"id":38617,"date":"2020-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/how-can-small-businesses-attract-and-keep-customers\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T02:37:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:37:57","slug":"attract-new-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/attract-new-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Attract new customers: 7 ways to do it without giving away free stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you just launched your business or are growing your business, one important must-do is to get new customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

But no matter how great your product or service is, it\u2019s the \u201cgetting yourself out there\u201d part of the process that is often most difficult\u2014especially when you have a limited budget and are pressed for ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as if your potential customers don\u2019t want your product or don\u2019t trust your business. It\u2019s just that they don\u2019t even know you exist. And that\u2019s where the biggest challenge lies.<\/span><\/p>\n

But we don\u2019t want to just attract new customers\u2014you want to be able to keep them around too. That\u2019s why we won\u2019t be sharing tips that involve offering discounts or giving free stuff away. Being discount-focused is something that huge companies like Walmart can afford. But for small businesses, it\u2019s not sustainable, and it\u2019s not a particularly good way of getting an edge on competitors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(And who\u2019s to say your competitors won\u2019t also try to compete on price when they see you offering discounts? If they do, then your business is back to square one\u2014and in most cases, it quickly devolves into a race to the bottom).<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how can small businesses like yours attract new customers, <\/span>retain them<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> make more money without getting drained dry?<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are seven simple and surprisingly cheap ways to get new customers:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Provide awesome customer service<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Get your customers to promote your business for you<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Dedicate half an hour each day to social media<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Publish videos to YouTube<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Do collabs with other brands<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Align your business to a mission<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Get yourself on the map<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/a>
    \n1. Provide awesome customer service<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Key idea: Attract new customers by providing customer service that your existing customers will tell their friends and colleagues about.<\/b><\/p>\n

    One really commonly overlooked aspect of attracting new customers is actually not related to sales\u2014or marketing\u2014at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s your customer service.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Lucky for you, many businesses (and probably your competitors) tend to take a shortsighted view of customer service as it relates to attracting customers, preferring instead to focus on coming up with the next great Don-Draper-inspired ad campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

    But your customer service is arguably one of the best (and least expensive) ways to spread positive word of mouth (which we\u2019ll talk about in more detail later) and attract new customers. And the best part is, you\u2019re not doing the selling and marketing\u2014your happy customers are doing it for you:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"facebook<\/p>\n

    (And if we\u2019re being honest, those happy customers are probably going to be much more persuasive than you are when they\u2019re telling their friends and colleagues about you. \ud83d\ude09 )<\/span><\/p>\n

    Which leads into our next tip…<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/a>
    \n2. Get your customers to promote your business for you<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Key idea: Attract new customers by getting them to promote your brand directly to their community.<\/b><\/p>\n

    We put this after Tip #1, because in many ways, being able to do this step depends on your ability to do Tip #1 well first.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re providing <\/span>good customer service<\/span><\/a>, then some of your customers might even be glad to do this for you <\/span>without <\/span><\/i>any incentive. But to give them that extra nudge, try a referral program.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It doesn\u2019t have to be fancy, and you can customize it for your business by building tiers into the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

    For example, if a customer refers five people to purchase your product or service, then they get a Tier 3 reward. If they refer 10 people, maybe they hit Tier 2 and get a bigger reward. And so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The key to this, however, is to make sure your prizes are something people will actually want. If you run a coffee shop or bar, maybe it\u2019s a free drink for a Tier 3 reward. Or even better, poll your customers to see what they\u2019d like to see as rewards!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Or, get some extra juicy content out of this idea: poll your followers on social media too! This kind of poll could easily run for a few days on your Facebook or Instagram account, giving you some easy, low-effort ideas for content to post if you\u2019ve hit a creative roadblock.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
    \ud83d\udca1 Pro-tip:\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n

    You\u2019ve probably seen some companies do this\u2014add a friendly request for a review to your receipts when customers purchase something. Some companies add this directly to the receipt, whether it\u2019s a physical one or a receipt that\u2019s attached to an email, while other businesses might have a sign at the cashier asking customers to leave a review on, say, Google.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/a>
    \n3. Dedicate half an hour each day to social media<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Key idea: Attract new customers through promoting your brand, tagging other businesses and people, and using hashtags to increase visibility of your posts.<\/b><\/p>\n

    Are you following <\/span>social media best practices<\/span><\/a> to make your business more visible? It\u2019s one of the easiest ways to attract customers online.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s not enough to just have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram account set up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    You need to get more eyes on your profiles. One way is to create <\/span>social media campaigns<\/span><\/a> and nurture your audience by publishing valuable content to make the strategy work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
    \ud83d\udca1 Pro-tip:\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n

    The more social media profiles your business has, the more important it is to make sure you\u2019re staying consistent with your brand across all those channels, both in terms of the aesthetics of the images you\u2019re posting and also the tone of voice you\u2019re using.<\/p>\n

    For example, if your Instagram has a light-hearted tone, it might confuse your audience if your Facebook is really buttoned up.) It shouldn\u2019t be a problem if one person is managing every social media profile, but it\u2019s something to keep in mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    While there are countless paid ad campaigns on social media you can try out, it\u2019s better to master the basics and start small while you\u2019re still in the process of growing your audience and prospects. (Learn more about the <\/span>benefits of using social media here<\/span><\/a>.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    You don\u2019t have to be on every single social media platform! Here are some tips to help you decide which platform(s) you might want to focus on first:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Facebook:<\/b> Facebook is probably most helpful if you plan to reach a wider group of people or want to <\/span>find your target audience<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Instagram: <\/b>If your product is really aesthetically pleasing, or you have a great designer or illustrator on your team, Instagram can be a great platform for showing off your brand.<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Twitter: <\/b>We\u2019d argue that Twitter isn\u2019t really a must-have for smaller B2C businesses, and it can be a bit finicky, mainly because you have to schedule and publish posts frequently to keep things fresh. Unless you know that your audience is very active on Twitter, it may not be worth your time and resources.<\/span><\/li>\n
    • LinkedIn:<\/b> If your company sells to other businesses (hello, <\/span>B2B sales<\/span><\/a>), LinkedIn is probably the most important social media platform for you to be on.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      But what if you have to be on multiple social media platforms? How do you manage all those profiles and all those conversations with customers and prospects? This is where having some type of contact center<\/a> solution would come in handy. For example, RingCentral Engage Digital\u2122 consolidates all your social media platforms, across all your platforms in one place so that you can keep track of all your messages and even easily pick up on conversations that your teammates started:<\/span><\/p>\n