5 strategic investments to build your customer base

Every business, small or big, needs customers to survive, thrive and grow. However, in today's age of extreme competition and information overload, scaling up and continuously expanding the customer base can be a challenge. 

As good as your product or service may be, it is essential your business is seen and heard at the right place. To gain this visibility, you will have to make some investments towards building and promoting your brand. A consistent branding and marketing strategy will help create an extensive sales funnel to generate more customer conversions and increase revenue.

Here are five strategic investments that can help your business gain prominence and increase sales.

Build a Website

Today all searches originate on the web, irrespective of whether you operate in the online or offline segment. A website is your own small piece of the internet where you can showcase your business and its value proposition. Customers are also more likely to trust and engage with a business with an informative website. 

Websites are highly customisable and can be designed to suit every budget and need. While template-based basic websites cost a few thousand rupees, detailed and complex sites like those used by e-commerce platforms cost more.

While the development cost is a one-time expense, the domain rights and hosting charges are payable annually. However, you can get discounts on upfront payment for 5 to 10 years. Your website may also need periodic maintenance and updates, the cost of which should be factored into your annual expense. With rapid online sales growth, most businesses can recover the cost of setting up a website in just a few months. 

A website also forms the focal point of your digital marketing strategy. All other efforts we mention below tie in to bring the customer to your website or point of sale. 

Structure an SEO Campaign

Even with a website, it can be challenging to navigate the clutter of the world wide web. SEO or search engine optimisation helps your website rank higher on search platforms and brings more visibility. SEO experts can help you build the content of your website in such a way that the critical features of your business and products are highlighted using relevant keywords. They analyse digital metrics related to your industry, location and competitors to get your website to perform better.

Website optimisation takes time, and most SEO experts offer a minimum package of three months to six months to gradually build credibility for your site. SEO can be a one-time or continuous effort depending on the variety of changes to your product offering. 

Some studies suggest that SEO optimised websites register an increase of 200% in lead conversions compared to un-optimised websites. Small businesses should consider making a small initial investment in SEO, analyse the increase in website visits and revenue, and see if they can make it a periodic exercise to boost visibility.

Leverage Social Media

Businesses need to be where customers are – and today's customers are on social media. People, on average, spend over two hours each day across social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc. 

Business owners can use these social media platforms to promote their offerings through targeted ads or sponsored content based on different parameters such as age, location, interest, etc. So, if you have a varied range of products or have branches in other cities, you can create separate campaigns for each product or location. The objective or call-to-action can also be unique for each ad. The ads can build a bigger following on social media or redirect interested people to the point of sale.

Social media marketing comes at affordable and customisable price points and requires no technical expertise. You can set it up yourself through a guided system. These promotions work on the concept of Pay Per Click (PPC). Here you buy credits for each campaign, and these are debited every time someone clicks on your ad. You can start with a budget of even a few hundred or thousand rupees depending on the reach you want to generate. 

Social media platforms offer robust analytics, which allows you to measure the RoI and see how each campaign performs. You can also use this information to make necessary adjustments to create better-targeted ads in the future. 

Integrate Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing acts as an add-on to your social media campaign. It makes your business or products seem more authentic and relatable when celebrities or domain experts endorse them. Social media influencers have a sizeable and dedicated following, and getting the right influencer to use or ratify your product or service can bring significant visibility and drive sales in a short amount of time. 

The terms of influencer marketing can be diverse. While many smaller influencers may be happy to give you a shout-out in exchange for a free product, others may charge a fee that directly corresponds to the breadth of followers they have across social media. Some influencers may even work on a commission basis, wherein they can promote a dedicated discount code to their followers to buy your product or service, and in return, they receive a percentage margin of the sales generated.

Create a Referral Programme

There is no better advertising for any business than the good word of a loyal customer. The testimonial or promotion of your customers gives you direct access to their circle of family and friends. Giving such loyal customers a referral discount or freebie works as an added incentive. 

Depending on your profit margins, you can create a referral programme and allow your customers to benefit from it. What's amazing is that most referral programmes work as a discount on subsequent purchases, which means more sales for you. Additionally, unlike other marketing modes, the cost of a referral programme can be absorbed as a part of your inventory.

Conclusion

Marketing and advertising spending is an integral part of running a business today. Entrepreneurs have to employ different strategies across different channels to remain competitive. All of this, of course, requires money. Many small business owners are likely to take a business loan to fund a marketing campaign when a large portion of their capital may be tied up with inventory or operational expenses. There are different types of business loans in the market; IDFC FIRST Bank offers Vyapaar Vriddhi Loan to help small and micro enterprises grow their business with zero collateral. 

Disclaimer

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