Building a customer base is essential to closing sales and increasing a company’s revenue.
Most experts recommend using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to drive traffic to your company’s website. Some, however, recommend diversification as well.
Since earning a marketing degree doesn’t guarantee the top three rankings of Google’s search results, let’s explore some other ways to entice e-mail subscriptions without relying on Google.
1. Buy Business Cards
The point of the Internet is to save trees and have access to millions of customers, but what if you are out having dinner and you meet someone interesting? Wouldn’t you be excited to tell them about your business if it came up during casual conversation?
Rather than nudging your acquaintances to type something into a phone or scribble down a URL, buying business cards allows you have all of your relevant contact information, such as your e-mail address and your website on hand. Providing your associates with cards also allows them to review your offer and sign up. While this technique may be an old-fashioned way to network, it is still a solid way to gather leads.
2. Refer Customers to Your Social Media Site
If your company has a Facebook, Twitter, or even a Google Plus account, ask people to connect and sign up through these social media services. Once they “Like” you on their site, you have the ability to notify them about deals, promotions, new products, new services and simply find out their opinions. Social media have opened the doors for companies that want access to millions of customers online. Those that like or follow your company will be akin to a warm lead. You know that these people already have an interest in your company.
Include your social media website on your business card as well to reach more potentially interested parties. Companies with a million followers or fans on their social media websites have instant access to customers who’ve already shown an interest in their product or service. This is a powerful way to build a list of buying customers.
3. Use a “Squeeze” Page
Squeeze pages are single web pages that are used for the purpose of gathering a prospect’s information. Once the information is obtained, you can market your product or service to the customer. This page may come in the form of an advertisement where the company offers a discount or a free item if the customer signs up on an e-mail list. Customers may obtain a free e-book, a free newsletter, a discount to a salon or an introductory offer to other companies.
4. Create a Blog
Establish a blog to discusses your product or service and related topics. Include your e-mail address and a contact name for comments. Anyone who posts comments or responds to your e-mail will be a potential customer for your product.
Customers will learn a great deal about the benefits of your product or service through a blog. Blogging provides a venue to share information about the industry and the reasons why customers need your company. Blogs can provide access to a wealth of information and also serve as good sales tools if well written and properly designed. Furthermore, users are much more likely to find a relevant blog in search results than your company website if it’s ranking isn’t particularly high. Why not use this to your advantage?
Additionally, you can include widgets to connect to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites to ensure that readers have a number of ways to be included on your list through the blog.
5. Create a Frequent Buyers or Rewards Program
Design a rewards program where customers earn points for purchasing your products. This will build brand loyalty and also put customers on your e-mail list for future business. This is an excellent way to build up subscriptions, because most people like free merchandise.
Companies that form rewards programs are seeking long-term relationships with their customers. These customers are happy with their company’s products and will continue to purchase them as long as it meets their needs or improves. These customers require less selling or persuasion to purchase a product because the relationship is established.
Conclusion
There are numerous ways to build customer lists without the assistance of Google. From old-school methods like fliers to business cards, to using online venues like social media sites and blogging, companies can build a list of customers with necessarily implementing any SEO. In some instances, this method of list-building may be more costly, but the method is effective and often results in more reliably interested contacts. Try some of these methods to increase your potential sales leads whether or not your company uses SEO to boost its web presence.
Andy Wallner is a freelance writer and web developer that specializes in providing information to students considering a marketing degree, or interested in online and offline marketing information. In his free time, Andy enjoys kayaking, playing trombone in a local jazz band, and learning CSS.
