There’s something you should know about Reddit. The aggregator site that commands millions of users today used to be a small fish in a sea of whales and sharks. During its early years, it was so obscure that its founders resorted to creating fake accounts to make the impression that there are people actively using the site.
Fast Forward
Fast forward to today wherein Reddit is one of the most popular sites in the social media arena. Its influence is so far-reaching that it often determines what goes viral online and what doesn’t.
The obvious question now is how was it done? How did they and others escape obscurity to become one of the most visited websites on the internet today?
Simple Answer
The answer is quite simple. They came up with marketing strategies that directly connected them with their target audiences. They focused all their efforts on creating a service that’s so easy to use and very informative at the same time. This is the formula that turned Reddit into an internet behemoth.
The ultimate lesson here is that growing your startup business from a few clients to a million customers is not rocket science. With the right plan and with the appropriate strategies, you can quickly push your bottom line to any level you want.
If you are confident that you have a product or service that provides real value to your target market, then the sky’s the limit. Although it’s achievable, turning your business into a powerhouse will take some time.
This is a reality that you should always consider when devising your strategies whether such strategies are for product development or for marketing campaigns.
Below is a quick overview of some of the most practical and most effective strategies on how to attract millions of customers to your startup.
1. Create a trusted advisor relationship throughout the sales cycle.
There’s a reason why customers tend to patronize companies with good reputation and trust ratings.
Whether they are purchasing a product or a service, they feel like they are getting their money’s worth. With that said, if you want your customers to be loyal to you, you must create a relationship of trust between you and the customer.
This trusted advisor relationship should be present throughout the sales cycle. What does this mean? In the simplest of terms, you have to provide great service from the moment the customer made his order to the moment the order was delivered.
Everything should be done smoothly without hassles, glitches, or other issues. One of the most famous companies in the world that has perfected how to do this is Microsoft. Whether you are purchasing software or hardware from them, they are always around to help out with whatever problem you have. They have customer support representatives that you can access via phone, email, fax, or even snail mail.
2. Put your customers at the center of everything.
Every strategy, every plan, and every development you pursue should be geared towards providing value to your customers. Your customers should always be your number one priority. Everything else comes second.
A perfect example of this strategy was implemented by the online retail giant Amazon. Did you know that during its first decade, Amazon was operating on a loss? Yes, they were losing millions of dollars every year because the company often priced their products much lower than the competition.
The only reason they drove down the prices of their products is to ensure that their customers get the best value for their money. Jeff Bezos, the long-time CEO of Amazon, was adamant in following the strategy and it worked. Amazon often has the lowest prices whether you are looking for low-priced books or high-end gadgets.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should also drive down your prices. It’s just an obvious example of how you can attract a ton more customers by giving them exactly what they want. It can be the prices, the quality of the products and services, or both that you should focus your attention on.
3. Create better content to attract the right customers.
This is very important especially if you want your target customers to find you on the web through organic portals like search engines (i.e. Google and Bing). The first thing you should do is create high-quality and SEO friendly content. Search engine optimization is something that you should absolutely spend some time on if you want to maximize the reach of your content.
The idea behind SEO is to ensure that your content is read by your most valuable target customers. This is why you must extensively perform keyword research and organic backlink building. This is especially important if your business belongs to a narrow niche.
Creating SEO friendly content is a very common technique in the travel industry especially among hotel businesses. For instance, a hotel located in Los Angeles should be creating content that aims to rank for the keyword “hotel in Los Angeles.” You can apply this concept on any niche.
4. Streamline your sales processes with integrated tools.
One of the benefits of running an online business is that you can automate almost every aspect of your operations. Your sales process is definitely one of the things you should automate. Automated sales processing means that you can accept orders 24/7.
The first step you should take is find the right sales automation software for your business. There are tons of these software today. They are also often categorized by industry which makes it even easier for you to decide which software to use.
Most online retail sites today like Amazon, eBay, Clickbank, and TeeSpring make use of different versions of sales automation programs. Just find the program that works for you and stick with it.
5. Connect your sales team to customers around the world.
You have to train your sales personnel and instill in them the value of widening their horizons when it comes to attracting customers. Provide them with tools on how to connect, communicate, and network with target customers wherever they are in the world. This may involve instructing them to be active on social media or to start their own blogs.
This is a very common strategy in the beauty industry. Beauty brands often employ sales ambassadors who write blogs or film video tutorials. These techniques connect them to both established and potential customers. To maximize results, you should teach your sales team how to write SEO friendly content which they then publish on their personal blogs.
In a nutshell, you have the power to build a business that attracts millions of customers. You have to work smarter, not harder. You have to come up with your own particular strategies that are inspired by what was discussed above.
As mentioned earlier, with the right plan and corresponding strategies, you have everything you need to take your business to the next level. You have to do it quick and do it now to maximize your chances.