Time to Get Creative - Increasing Sales Without Increasing Your Budget
When I started my first online store almost 10 years ago, I was spending about $6,000 a month for pay-per-click advertising. I was selling software like Adobe, Mircrosoft, etc and the mark-up on these products were horrible.
I had to find new ways of bringing customers to my website and purchase from me, without the use of pay-per-click.
Fast-forward to present day and you can find articles on how to bring customers to your website with the use of blogging, networking, email marketing, and social websites.
These tools are great, but let's take it one step further.
Market Research shows that it costs your business 5x more to get a new customer then it does to sell to a previous customer.
In this economy, it is time to get creative!
Have customers send in their pictures with them using, wearing, or showing off the product.
Have your customers create videos about the product.
Give your customers a reason to create the images or videos. Give them coupons to use for their next purchase. Give them coupons to pass out to their friends.
Have an affiliate program? Have your customer create the content for you and give them a piece of the pie for bringing that new customer to you.
Give customers free products when they help you to market your store via blogs, social networking, or even just telling their family and friends about you.
Get creative and think outside the box.
Your customers and your bottom line will thank you.
Now it's your turn. Have you seen or used other methods not mentioned here to gain new customers?
Written by Shawna Fennell, President of 1 Choice4 Your Store
6 Comments
Danna Crawford says:
Fantastic suggestions!
I started mailing a postcard/thank you card that is also a coupon. I mail them out to customers when they purchase advertising from me.
Will see how it goes as I just launched this the last week.
I think you are right on as we all need to keep getting creative with turning our current customers into repeat customers!
Thanks for sharing, Danna
Shawna Fennell says:
Danna, The art of sending a thank you card has been lost on many store owners. People love getting those in the mail!
Especially when they see the envelope is handwritten. I know it takes more time, but the results are worth it!!
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MarbleHost says:
Hello,
Definitely agree with that. Even more so in longer sales cycles and B2B marketing, looking at conversion rates not clickthrough rates is critical. If the sales cycle is of any length, you should look at what the search term generated in terms of qualified leads (with an objective lead scoring criteria to determine what is qualified ).http://www.marblehost.com
Jackie says:
I like to follow up with emails that are sent individually to the customers after they have received the items that they have purchased. I give them the option to provide feedback to me.
Jackie Mom & Owner
Babyandmegifts.com
iPhone Application Development says:
Totally agree with you but have a bit confusion, Are customer testimonials help to bring a new customers to our site? i mean can we add it our daily site optimization's work out. I would like to hear you. Thanks for giving the useful information.
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