Grow Your Development & Marketing Strategy
Most businesses want to obtain as many customers as possible. However, many struggle with the specifics of how. How do you reach a potential customer you may not know about? Or one who might be slightly outside your service or geographic area, but is close enough to make an exception for?
As is often the case in the business world, using data can provide a path forward. With tools now available online, it’s easy to give customers who want to purchase your service or merchandise a chance to let you know that they’d like you to “shut up and take my money!”
One of the easiest, and often used, methods is to simply have a contact form on your website. This allows you to not only allow your potential customer to contact you, but gives you the opportunity to capture some information from them as well, such as email or physical address. But the “Contact Us” tab on your website isn’t your only (or possibly even your best) opportunity to get connected with potential revenue-generating customers.
For example, some online advertisers like Facebook and LinkedIn offer “form” options with customizable fields that you can use to capture data. They also offer targeting options by geographic area or demographic, to reach customers who are similar or close to the ones you already have.
With some types of online tools or interfaces (like the one Expand has developed) you can require customers to fill in their physical address as the first step -if they’re inside your designated area, they move to the next part of the order process. If they’re outside your service area, you can capture that data for manual review (an automated email would prompt you) and decide to either contact them and do business, or simply hold on to their information in case you expand to that area.
In fact, that stored information can be used to help you decide where to focus your expansion efforts. If a whole lot of people in a certain area desire your service or business, well, that would obviously be a good place to start expanding.
Other online tools that can help businesses reach otherwise unreachable customers include:
- Google My Business: By optimizing your Google My Business profile, you can ensure your business appears in local search results, even for users who are slightly outside your typical service area. This can help attract customers who might be willing to travel a bit further for your product.
- SEO and Content Marketing: Using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and creating valuable content can help you reach a wider audience. By targeting specific keywords and creating content that addresses potential customers’ needs and questions, you can attract visitors to your website from a broader geographic area.
- Email Marketing Campaigns: Building and maintaining an email list allows you to stay in touch with customers and prospects. Personalized email campaigns can target individuals based on their location, purchasing behavior, and preferences, encouraging them to engage with your business even if they’re not in your immediate area.
- Webinars and Online Events: Hosting webinars or virtual events can attract potential customers from anywhere. These events can demonstrate your expertise, showcase your products or services, and capture leads from a wider geographic range.
- Affiliate Marketing: Partnering with affiliates who can promote your business to their audience can help you reach new customers. Affiliates can use their platforms to share your offerings with followers who might not have found you otherwise.
- Geo-targeted Advertising: Platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads offer geo-targeting features that allow you to show ads to users in specific locations. This can help you reach potential customers who are near your service area but might not be aware of your business.
There are so many options for helping businesses increase their service area and grow their business that here at Expand, we get excited about all the opportunities to help make a difference in our clients’ bottom line.
