Tag: how to get more customers

Try This Old Marketing Trick to Sell More Products and Services

August 6, 2015 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

I was in the drugstore yesterday and I saw an annual back to school favorite called the Teen Value Pack, which consists of 10 different skin and body care products from various brands packaged together in a box for a value price of $9.99 (retail value $42). Even though my kids may only need half the products in the packs (my son isn’t old enough to shave just yet), I still bought them because I felt like I was really just paying for one product and getting the rest for free.

The lesson here is that consumers love getting value for their money, and love getting many items at one expenditure almost feeling as if some were free. So, have you thought about bundling together your products and/or services?

There are a few advantages to this old marketing trick:

The customer might be more likely to go for the bundle because of the overall cost savings, allowing you to sell more product to one customer at one time, and hence make more money overall.
It is a good way to introduce new products and create future demand
You can take advantage of various selling occasions or events to create bundles or value sets around, such as Back to School, Having a Baby, Going on a Trip, New House, etc.

It can also be a way to quickly expand your customer base. Back when I was working for a computer software company, we wanted our customers to start buying the CD version of our software because it was much cheaper to produce. But a lot of people didn’t have CD-ROM drives in their computers (we’re going way back here). So the company bundled the CD version of the software with a top-notch CD-ROM drive (they worked out a deal with the manufacturer to buy them at a really good price). They packed the software and CD-ROM drive together in a box and called it the Blockbuster Bundle for the same price as buying the software on its own and they sold like hot cakes. Why not, it was a chance to essentially get a free CD-ROM drive. The end result was not only did we successfully get our customers to upgrade to CD-ROM, but we got a ton of new customers in the process.

So come up with a bundle that makes sense, offer it at a value price where you still make a decent profit, make it a limited time offer, and see what it does for your business.

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How to Get Valuable Research from Your Customers

April 8, 2015 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Research your customers on their social media sites to learn vital information you can then use to get new customers.

New clients always ask me how to get in front of their target market and get more customers. One of the problems may be that you don’t know enough about your current customers. Luckily for you, social media has made it very easy for you to find out more about the people who are buying from you (and from your competitors).

Follow Taylor Swift’s Lead

For example, a few weeks back I wrote a post about What Your Business Can Learn from Taylor Swift because she really gets it in that she understands that her fans are her customers. So when she wanted to send some of her die-hard fans Christmas gifts, she went onto their social media pages to learn more about them.

Now, as a business owner, have you done this? Have you tried to learn as much as possible about the people who have already bought from you?

What You Can Learn From Your Customers’ Social Media Pages

It is not as creepy as it sounds, but basically is an exploratory exercise to research your customers. Someone who has bought from you is likely representative of other people who would buy from you. By checking out their social media pages, be it Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., you will find out a lot of information about them such as which blogs they read (because maybe they sent out a link to a recent post), what TV shows they watch (because they have liked their fan page) even what stores they shop at (because they posted a photo of a recent purchase). research your customers

Tactics to Try

All of this information is really helpful in not only marketing your business, but also in creating future products and services your customers might like. Start by looking at their Facebook posts to see the type of content they have liked and/or shared. Then go to their Pinterest page and see which pins they have repined or liked or what type of boards they have created on what types of subjects. Go to their Twitter profile and see which media outlets they follow, which is really helpful if you are trying to find new places to advertise or get publicity for your business. This is why I always recommend to my customers to follow their customers on social media.

You can also use these same tactics to find out more about the people who are buying from your competitors, as likely their customers are following them on social media.

The more you know about your customers, the better chance you have of not only finding them, but selling to them.

About Me

Do you need your Brand Story written or an SEO-Optimized Blog Post or a Personalized Business Consultation? As a 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are super affordable.

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012, and my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, Yahoo Business, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

My Publicity Pitch service has also gotten my clients featured in Real Simple Magazine, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Martha Stewart, Glamour Magazine, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride,– just to name a few.

High Traffic But No Sales?

November 19, 2012 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

High Traffic But No Sales? Does this sound like your business?

Do you ever see marketing promises that say, “We’ll get you tons of traffic”. Well, that’s very nice but traffic is not a guarantee of sales.

For example, say you sell jock straps. If one day 500,000 women visited your site, how many jock straps do you think you would sell as opposed to if 500 men visited your site? Exactly, if they have no need for your product, they’re not going to buy it.

Another offer you’ll see is, “I will post you to my 200,000 Instagram followers”. Well who are these followers? Are they just other companies who wanted a follow back, so the person reading your post is their Web marketing person (who is not reading posts, just sending them). How many of their followers are actually still active on Instagram. Don’t be lured in by high numbers. Again, if their followers are not who you are selling to, it is not going to make a difference.

What You Want is Traffic That Is Your Target Market

For example, let’s say you sell wedding products and someone says they will get you in front of 200,000 brides, this is reliable traffic…maybe. How long have these “brides” been on their blog, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.? A woman plans her wedding in 12 to 18 months so if she first joined their blog two years ago, she is married now and not interested in wedding products. She just hasn’t taken the time to unfollow. So, it could be only 60% of these 200,000 brides are still potential customers. Which is still good, but remember numbers can be overestimated.

Same thing if you are selling maternity clothes, for example. Women are only pregnant 9 months, so if they’ve had the baby, they may still be on that person’s email list but have no need to buy your products.

So you need to find where your potential customers are really hanging out online, at this moment in time, and that is where you will find the traffic that will buy what you are selling.

How Do You Find Where Your Target Market Is?

Simple, ask them. If you are selling to 13-year old girls, you must know a few – family, neighbors, friends’ kids. Ask them where they go online and that is where you’ll find your traffic that will lead to sales.
You can also poll your current customer base via a social media post. One day simply ask followers, “What are the blogs you read the most?” or “What social media site are you on the most?”