6 Tips for Startups to win the First 100 Customers
While launching a new business venture, the most challenging endeavor is to win over customers. However, if you succeed in earning loyalty of your first hundred customers, your business is likely to survive. While using your resources wisely, you can adopt a smart strategy to create a striking impression of your brand on the first customers. Take your first hundred customers as an opportunity to create brand value; these customers are likely to prove a real asset for your business as they can play a significant role in enhancing your brand’s image and getting you word of mouth referrals. Here are some practical tips to help you earn their trust!
Create a Buzz
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think why would you want to buy your new product/service? Customers receive hundreds of advertising and marketing messages everyday while they respond to only a few of them. If you really want a customer to take notice of your brand, create a hype about it. For instance, if you are launching a sportswear brand you can highlight some unique features of your products. For example you can say “A brand that offers affordable and trendy sportswear for young, chic and fashionable for women and comfy, stylish and durable gym wear for fitness fans.”
Start off with your Personal Social Network
For every new startup, the simplest way to win the first few customers is to make use of personal connections and social network. Talk to your friends, family and acquaintances about your business. There will definitely be people who would want to check out your product/service. Moreover, building relationships with the people you know already is also easy. The customers from your social network will give prompt feedback about your business that you can use to improve your services. So if for instance, you have just opened a cafe, invite your friends and acquaintances to check out your menu. Take suggestions from them on the ambiance and ask them to share and tweet their most likable thing about your café.
Make a Memorable First Impression on Early Adopters
Early adopters are the most valuable customers for every business as they are risk takers and don’t hesitate in trying out a new product/service. So you should dwell on developing a strong relationship with the early adopters. Serve them in the best possible manner and ask their point of view about your product/service. Winning the loyalty of early adopters will get you a number of new customers, so go the extra mile taking care of their preferences. Give them a gesture that you highly value them, appreciate them and communicate with them proactively to connect with them.
Use Online Marketing Tactics to your Advantage
There are dozens of online marketing tactics that you can make use of to win over customers. PPC, social media ads and Content Marketing are the widely used ones. However, to make online marketing techniques work for you, get well-acquainted with the evolving trends and the mindset of your target audience. For example, if you are launching a real estate business, interesting and engaging blogs about the market trends and some exciting posts about the “Most Unusual Homes around the World” or “What makes a Dream Home” would stir the interest of the readers. You are likely to get sales leads from these readers. So use the power of online marketing to engage and win your first customers.
Interact through Efficient Communication Channels
Effective and efficient communication is the key for getting customers on board. Therefore, make use of innovative channels to interact actively with your potential customers. Use social media to talk and enlighten prospective customers about your business. Live chat solutions is also a widely used communication tool that gives you the leverage of having a one on one conversation with your customers. Use LiveAdmins live chat support for knowing your customers’ expectations and strengthening your bond with them. For new businesses, this tool can work wonders in acquiring and retaining customers, since it engages customers landing on a business website and offers a seamless customer experience.
Incentivize Customers for Spreading Positive Word about Your Business
Customers love incentives, discounts and loyalty programs. In order to acquire more customers for your business, incentivize the first few to spread positive word about your product/service. Word of mouth advertising can win you more customers than any other marketing approach. So invest in the first few customers and they will do it for you. Special 30% off discount coupons can be offered to the customers who bring along a specific number of customers. You can give away a surprise gift to a customer who brings in a referral. You can even incentivize a customer to a vacation to his/her dream holiday destination or an expensive gadget if he/she manages to bring in 15/20 new customers to your brand.