The lifeblood of any business is customers. Without paying customers your business simply will not survive, regardless of any great products or services you offer. But getting customers can be difficult and time consuming.
So what is your business to do? How can you get more customers to your business or at least interested in the products or services your business has to offer? The answer depends upon a few different criteria, but any of the following will work.
Direct Calls and Call Drops
Over the years technology has improved dramatically. What used to take hours or days (or seem so daunting no one would want to do it), now can be done with the right tools. There is not a better way to gain customers than to be able to speak with them directly. No one is better at selling you or your business than you are. If only you could have an army at your disposal to call all of your potential customers directly and get them to speak with you.
Well, we can come pretty close. Over the past few years we have been able to work with technologies which can enable us to get to scores, or even hundreds of potential customers with a message that will pique their curiosity about your business. In turn, those who are interested in what you offer will actually want to speak with you (or someone at your business).
This method works well with nearly every business model that exists. We can make the initial calls and those who want to know more will speak with you.
Direct Marketing
One of the best ways to reach a client is when they need what you offer. One of the best ways to do this is through the use of Pay Per Click advertising and SEO. Pay Per Clicks is a term used to describe what happens when a person looking for what you offer finds your site listed in the search engines (or other online location). They see your advertisement and click on the link. you do not pay anything until they click.
Once they have clicked on your ad, they go to your site (or Facebook page,...) and see your offer. If they like what they see, they can purchase on your site or contact you using a form, phone number, or email, to finish the deal with you.
Interruption Advertising
Have you ever been on a website and saw different ads for products you have never thought about before? Or, perhaps you have been scrolling through Facebook (or other social media property) and saw ads? This is interruption advertising. It works by placing ads in places where you are browsing. Chances are pretty good that you were not looking for the ads or the products/services they are advertising. But, you might be looking for it.
This style of advertising can be less expensive than pay per clicks. It reaches many more people, but the urgency of the viewer is not quite as strong. This method is employed by many advertisers, though, as it increases the brand awareness of the company. It is like planting tons of little seeds with the hopes that a few will mature into sales.
Which Method to Use?
Deciding which method to use can be a challenge. In most cases a business would love it if a customer would reach out the them directly, ready to buy. In this case the top two methods are the best to use. Pay per click advertising positions you to be ready when someone needs what you have to offer. However, this method can easily run into the thousands of dollars.
Direct calls can be handled with a monthly subscription agreement and can potentially deliver clients you may have missed otherwise. This is especially true if these clients are not ones who frequent the search engines for answers (yes, this is becoming more common).
If you just want to get your business name out there, use the third method. It can be the least expensive and give you the broadest coverage. However, if you want to know for sure, use all of the methods together!
