SALES ANALYTICS
10 Ideas for Marketing to Existing Customers (Including Reasons Why)
When it comes to operating a business, many owners think that acquiring new clients is top priority for increasing sales and profits. While revenue and profit should always be at the forefront of your focus, management should never forget the importance of taking care of their existing clients.
In fact, neglecting existing clientele may be the worst mistake you will make in your selling career. In this simple guide, we will share with you the reasons why you need to dedicate a healthy portion of your resources to existing customer marketing and some of the most effective ideas to do it.
Why do you need to spend resources on customer marketing?
You’ve already achieved success by getting your existing customers to buy your products. If you have already sold your goods to them, why do you need to allocate even more resources to them? Why not shift that energy to acquiring new clients?
Although many companies don’t understand this, engaging with your current consumers is much more impactful than you may think. According to Hubspot.com, just over 75% of marketers are reporting on how their campaigns are directly influencing revenue. This leaves 1 in 4 companies that don’t know how their marketing impacts their revenue at all (both to existing and new customers)! (1)
Another reason why retaining and selling other products to your existing clients is crucial is because of acquisition costs. Since it is extremely expensive to bring in new buyers, taking care of your existing ones is more practical. Take a look at your costs to acquire a new customer. You’ll see that it costs much more than offering a promotional offer to your existing buyers. So called second and third money is much easier to achieve from customers who already have a relationship with you, versus trying to sell your product to a “cold” client who has never transacted with your company.
Just because you’ve previously sold your products or services to a client doesn’t mean that they will be a client for life. If they think that they can find more value from another company, they will jump ship. In today’s marketplace, true customer loyalty is extremely hard to find. That is just the way it works. After all, everyone is constantly being marketed to and if you aren’t always in your customers’ face, someone else will be. Therefore, to get more business, always aim to keep the clients you already have.
10 effective ideas for marketing to your existing customers
Hopefully the importance of keeping existing customers has set in, let’s touch on some ideas to keep them happy with your business. Here are 10 ideas that are proven to help small businesses get results for their marketing campaign.
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”
1. Assess your market
Before anything else, the most important thing you need to do first is gathering data about your customers. This process is also what we call “market research” or “market analysis”. When this is done thoroughly, you will have helpful data you can use for your campaign.
You should know:
What products, goods, or services they like purchasing from you?
Which of your offerings are they least likely to buy?
Where did they first hear of your business?
What are the things they like and do not like from your offerings?
Customer demographics – you should know this inside and out
2. Make them feel special
To retain your customers much longer than your competitors, you need to show appreciation for their patronage. They could easily take their business elsewhere (not out of spite), but loyalty in general can be very short lived. Have a yearly sale where they can get their favorite products at a discounted price. Give them a loyalty discount so that they know that they are valued by your company.
Everybody likes freebies. When customers receive things they don’t expect, they’ll reciprocate the feeling by sharing their positive experiences with their family and friends. Positive experiences can travel quickly through social media! This small gesture can result in many new clients in the near future.
3. Keep your reputation in check
Marketing campaigns are more than just targeting ads to the right consumers. You also need to remember that your reputation is extremely important to your business.
What are your consumers saying on your social media? Do you have a lot of unhappy customers? Negative feedback? If this is the case, it could turn other prospects off from trying out your product or service. Make sure that you address complaints as soon as you can to avoid escalating the issue and use this as an opportunity to make your products/services/customer service even better.
4. Always ask for suggestions and feedback
Customers like to be heard. Whether it is a difference in your formulation, poor packaging, rude staff, or the experience they have post-sale, always keep your ears open. This way, you can improve the processes and procedures in your business while ensuring optimal retention for existing clients and the acquisition of new clients.
In business, feedback is extremely crucial for success. Sure, not all suggestions are helpful, correct, possible or even make sense, but if your customers can see that you are willing to hear them out, they are more likely to come back and be a recurring asset to your business.
5. Never disappear after a sale
You sold a product. Now what? If you want more repeat business, you should never, ever, disappear after a sale. This is especially the case for B2B companies. If you want to boost sales, you should always stay in front of your clients, but always be there when they need customer support.
Keep your consumers in the loop about new products, sales, updates, and information. Of course, make sure it’s valuable information or you run the risk of having your emails ignored.
6. Communicate with them regularly
One of the most effective strategies that many entrepreneurs know they should implement is constant communication with their current customers. This can be an email, a quick phone call, or even an actual visit by someone on their sales team. As a tip, personalizing your offers will be highly appreciated by your consumers. This is exactly why CRMs such as ReconInsight’s Ri360 business analytics software is a must-have to improve client relationships and engagement.
For example, few CRMs make it possible to check what type of products your customers buy most. Using this software, it outlines what each of your customers buy, how often they buy it, and when they are likely due to make a re-purchase. This makes it easy for your sales team to reach out, let the client know, and also make another sale. Existing clients usually appreciate the effort that the business is willing to provide to get their services.
7. Keep them coming back for more
Involve your consumers with your services. Ask for their expert suggestions and consider their feedback when you offer your products. Never stop marketing your business to build awareness for your brand.
When your consumers are satisfied with your offers and the way you value their loyalty, chances are high that they will reciprocate by supporting your business as well.
8. Improve your products
More often than not, companies focus their efforts on “putting more shoes on the shelf” instead of creating the absolute best product in the market. Unless your product unanimously “the best” then you’ll always be known to have an inferior product in the marketplace. If you move on and release another inferior product, it will be extremely difficult to gain market share and you’ll never be able to command the price you want. Selling an inferior product means always having to justify your product and your prices.
Quality and pricing should always be your priority. While marketing your current offers and deals, look for ways to make them even better in the future.
9. Implement an up-selling and cross-selling strategy
When we talk about up-selling, it is the process of encouraging consumers to get a better similar product while cross-selling involves the sale of an additional product with the original purchase. These two techniques will not only make your current clients happy but also increase revenue. Think of Amazon who also offers the “frequently bought together” section of each product page. These products should go hand-in-hand and should complement each other.
10. Invest in your team
Finally, an overlooked part of retaining customers lies in continuously investing in your own team. If you are offering poor or even non-existent customer service to your clients, you’re damaging your business’s ability to grow and make more sales.
Sadly, no matter how good your product or service is, your customers will get frustrated if they cannot contact you for questions or help. Patience and attention span is short lived, so you should always ensure that your team is motivated, passionate, and eager to provide the best customer service in the marketplace to establish a long-term relationship with your customers.
Looking for more strategies to grow with your existing customer base?
Building strong and healthy relationships with your existing consumers is essential if you want to retain their loyalty, boost your sales, and even attract new clients.
For more techniques to make your business grow, ReconInsight offers consultation services for B2B or business-to-business commerce. With our data analysts’ years of experience, you can be assured that we are here to help your company realize greater growth and success when it comes to sales.
References
Hubspot.com: The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2022
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