What Is Customer Acquisition?
B2B companies know how crucial new additions to their client base are and how quickly they help them grow. An effective customer acquisition strategy locates new customers and engages and retains them in the long run. A strategic marketing plan allows you to identify your target market and where it's best to advertise your product or service. However, acquisition can be challenging. For example, it gets harder the more successful you become since the customer pool shrinks. Or, you may send out invitations to your email list or a webinar, but it doesn't always get people to buy your product. That's why it's pivotal to target audience members who are genuinely interested in your offerings and are not merely attracted by deceptive methods and false promises, as they will likely churn. So, your goal isn't simply to increase your client acquisition numbers but to improve its quality.
eLearning Industry has prepared an intriguing read for you, offering plenty of suggestions that will help you materialize your goals.
The 3 Stages Of Customer Acquisition
1. Awareness
This is the initial stage of the buyer's journey and the first step into the sales funnel. This is where your customers become aware of your brand and products. Most businesses usually curate engaging and authoritative content that intrigues customers, makes you a trustworthy figure, and activates user acquisition. Blog posts, webinars, social media videos, tutorials, podcasts, and case studies are all wonderful tools for grabbing potential buyers' attention. Your prospect pool is quite large here as you attract different buyer personas, with some of them not being ready to purchase yet. If you have a case study article that is dying for promotion, you can partner up with eLearning Industry.
2. Consideration
After you've launched your demand generation campaigns and gained new prospects, some of them may start getting more serious about buying from you. They include your B2B company in their selection pool and start to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of choosing you. Your content should offer answers to all potential queries and provide reassurance regarding their pain points. This is where they might sign up for a free demo or trial.
3. Conversion
At this stage, your B2B content marketing efforts come to fruition as customers are ready to buy your product. They have done their research, compared you with other vendors, and decided that you are their best suitor. Maybe they are not 100% ready to buy an annual subscription to your SaaS product but want to try it out for a couple of months. They may even add a few items to their cart and proceed to check out.
8 B2B Customer Acquisition Strategies And Tactics That Work
1. Audience Research
Have you ever heard that knowledge is power? This is especially true when it comes to customer acquisition tactics. You can't enforce successful lead generation techniques if you don't know who you're targeting and what their preferences are. To better understand your audience and find new customers, you should track their actions on your website. Which pages did they visit, how long did they stay there, and why did they leave early? Did they add something to their cart but abandon it? Apart from this method, you may also send our surveys and conduct one-on-one interviews with your existing clients. Based on the feedback and answers you get, you'll be able to improve customer acquisition and utilize marketing strategies that meet your goals.
2. SEO Optimization
Paid ads are great at boosting website traffic, but they may not be an ideal long-term customer acquisition strategy for B2B small businesses and startups. You must utilize your SEO skills to help your domain rank highly in SERPs and improve your organic visits. Do thorough research, identify the top-performing keywords and phrases in your niche, and implement them in your blog posts and other types of content. Some basic tips include adding the main keyword in your titles, adding alt text to images, uploading transcripts for videos, and inserting meta descriptions. SEO takes time to show results, but it's a sustainable tactic that improves your marketing results in the long run. eLearning Industry can help promote your blog posts and even provide you with a powerful SEO content strategy that will skyrocket your website.
3. Content Marketing
Creating and promoting content is a practice that should be followed religiously across all funnel stages. Your content marketing experts will tell you that creating blog posts, webinars, eBooks, podcasts, and infographics can propel your website and establish thought leadership in your field. SEO-optimized content engages audiences and fosters credibility for your brand. Webinar marketing, in particular, is tremendously successful in generating and converting leads, thanks to its immediacy. Prospects can engage with hosts at the end of each event, ask questions, and initiate interesting conversations. Do you have a webinar that struggles to gain traction? eLearning Industry can help you promote your event and get hundreds of qualified leads.
4. Email Marketing And Retargeting
Similarly to content marketing, email marketing can also be used to acquire new customers, keep them engaged, lead them to the conversion stage, and foster long-term relationships. The most valuable tool for any customer acquisition strategy is to segment your audience and personalize your messages. Start by using everyone's first name and providing them with relevant content. Based on their actions, automate a sequence of emails to remind them of their abandoned cart or suggest other items they might like. Additionally, you should include one clear call to action that directs people to a specific landing page. You may conduct iterative testing to decide which CTAs generate more clicks. If you're having trouble promoting your business, we can give you a boost by featuring your brand in our emails.
5. Social Media Marketing
Just because almost everyone is active on social media, don't assume that your user acquisition strategy will fly into seventh heaven. It may fall flat on its face if your tactics aren't smart. You must identify the channels you'll utilize to promote your content marketing ideas and the brand voice you'll maintain through all your promotional efforts. Consistency is key to generating and maintaining your audience while your high-performing marketing team crafts captivating content. For instance, if you have many millennials in your audience, you may publish mostly on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. On the other hand, Gen Zers are probably more active on TikTok.
6. Adjust Your Pricing
Promoting your various pricing models is one of the best digital marketing tactics for customer acquisition. SaaS B2B marketing often focuses on a freemium model or simply offering free tools. These two are wonderful lead magnet ideas that generate genuine interest from customers who are much easier to upsell at a later date. Retail stores may enforce the "Buy one, get one free" tactic, which is very appealing to audiences. If your company has noticeably lower prices than your competitors, make sure to make a comparison. Moreover, some companies enforce special prices for those who click on promo links and make a purchase. You can promote these techniques in your email sequences to drive interest and engagement.
7. Customer Testimonials
Content marketing for B2B often relies on customer testimonials, reviews, and user-generated content to find new customers and engage them. This type of content serves as social proof of your product's features and abilities. Since most consumers read reviews before making a purchase, you can ask your existing buyers to offer their honest thoughts about your services. They may send photos and videos or accept to be interviewed, which you can use for case studies or videos. They can even join your podcast as guests and talk about their experiences. Don't forget to offer them incentives to publish their reviews on social media so you can share them with your followers.
8. Video Marketing
How can videos help you find new customers and create a successful customer acquisition strategy? Video marketing may be more expensive to produce due to the need for equipment, but it's worth the investment. You may outsource your scriptwriting, editing, narration, and animation needs. You can use the final product on various platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok reels and shorts, and Twitter. Crop them according to each platform's requirements and use them in display ads and paid social media posts. If you don't have the budget to produce intricate videos, you can create simple slideshows or how-to guides and demos. Alternatively, popups and banner ads are great at generating buzz and accelerating business growth.
Useful Tips For An Engaging Strategy
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Build A Functioning Website
Your website is like the front door to your house. It should be welcoming to jumpstart the customer acquisition journey. Upon entering, visitors should quickly understand that you have what they need. The design and functionality should offer an impeccable user experience. Don't focus solely on your needs and the items you want to sell. Based on your buyers' pain points, you must concentrate on their needs and explain how your services can help them overcome their challenges.
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Optimize For Mobile Users
People use their mobile devices constantly to browse online, make purchases, and book professional meetings. Digital customer acquisition depends on quick and responsive websites. Prospects must be able to book calls, request demos, sign up for a webinar, and contact a salesperson hassle-free. Neglecting the mobile experience means that you risk losing customers.
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Utilize AI
One of the top applications of Artificial Intelligence in the B2B landscape is chatbots. Many websites attract new customers through welcoming chat messages that greet visitors when they first enter the site. If visitors can't locate what they're looking for, the bot can direct them to the right page or connect them to a sales rep who can assist them promptly.
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Offer Customer Data To Sales Reps
All B2B companies rely heavily on data and customer service insights to craft their customer acquisition and marketing strategies. Allowing your sales team to view this data helps them understand customers better and boosts sales enablement. For instance, knowing the most common complaints makes it easier for sales reps to tackle them effectively, thus increasing customer satisfaction.
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Enforce CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) software allows you to track your clients upon entering the sales funnel. Thanks to the data you capture and the benefits of AI in marketing, you can automate emails based on their preferences and track your performance. When you find new customers, your sales reps must have access to each client's data so they can provide excellent customer service and initiate sales acquisition.
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Strengthen Your Customer Service
A survey revealed that 62% of B2B and 42% of B2C customers bought more products after a pleasant customer service experience. An effective customer acquisition strategy can't omit the training requirements for sales reps and customer service agents who should treat every client like an all-star.
Examples Of Successful Customer Acquisition Strategies
Referral And Affiliate Marketing
Do you know what customer acquisition process Dropbox followed to find new customers and grow? Between 2008 and 2009, the company launched a referral program, inviting users to bring new members in exchange for free storage. Thanks to this strategy, they grew by 3900%! And they continue to invest in product-led growth, as users still receive free storage for each referral.
Similarly to Dropbox's customer acquisition strategy, Jasper.ai is an Artificial Intelligence tool that utilizes affiliate marketing to generate new leads. For each person you refer, you get a 30% recurring commission. But that's not all. The AI tool boasts an entertaining Facebook page where followers can share fun posts, blogs, and projects. Even the company's CEO often engages with people.
Email Automation
What do Amazon and Sephora have in common? They enforce the same user acquisition strategy. Starting with Sephora, the company's marketing leaders send personalized emails based on customers' preferences, browsing history, and past purchases. Also, they promote their Instagram contests through email to drive traffic on various channels. Did you abandon your cart without checking out? They will probably send you a reminder email. This is a tactic Amazon utilizes, too. The giant also sends emails regarding similar items to the ones you purchased or asking you to rate your last purchase. On top of that, they run a referral program that earns you and your friends gifts.
Freemiums
One of the most genius customer acquisition strategies is freemium, which Asana utilizes. The company allows users to use basic functions for free, and if these features are not enough for them, they can upgrade to their premium package by paying a monthly subscription. Asana takes advantage of various marketing tactics, including content creation, SEM, paid ads, and promotional campaigns on social media.
How Do You Calculate Your Customer Acquisition Cost?
How much does your B2B company or SaaS startup spend to find new customers? To calculate your customer acquisition cost (CAC), you should divide your advertising and marketing efforts by the number of new customers. So, if your ad spend is $4,000 and you generate 200 new customers, your CAC is $20. This number is generally good. But it also depends on your customer lifetime value (CLV). Why, you may ask? Well, if it takes you only $20 to gain a new customer but that person spends very little money before churning, then your efforts to retain your clientele are lacking.
So, if you need to lower your CAC and churn rates, you must research your audience and get to know their likes and dislikes. Engage with them from the early acquisition stages and showcase your interest in them. Additionally, follow up after they've made a purchase and offer guidance to keep customers coming back.
Key Takeaway
A compelling customer acquisition strategy may refer to attracting and finding new customers, but if done right, it can captivate prospects and turn them into advocates. From small business content marketing and email marketing to customer testimonials and video production, your marketing plan template should be filled with tactics and approaches. AI can help you streamline tasks such as sending automated emails based on buyer personas and implementing chatbots on your website. Additionally, your customer service must be impeccable to answer all queries and show each prospect how important they are to your brand. Remember that your website has to be an oasis for everyone visiting it—it shouldn't take them ages to find what they're looking for. They won't stay long if they can't find what they need.
As an extra tip, don't underestimate gated content. Use your webinars, eBooks, and case studies to lure potential clients. Ask them for their contact details, then add them to your email list to expand your reach.
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