Saturday, October 6, 2012

Small Business Marketing: Connecting With Customers

Whether you are standing behind a counter helping customers choose what to buy or sitting at your home office monitoring online sales and shipping, interacting with customers is an inevitable part of business. And for small business, this is doubly crucial, because with your limited reach and influence you would need to exert extra effort in order to keep your old customers as well as to attract new ones. Connecting with customers can be in many different forms; what you choose to use depends on your judgment, so long as you make sure to break down any walls that hinder good communication between you and your client.


Perks of good customer-business interaction. 


·         Generating ideas. One interesting thing about creating great ideas for your products and marketing is that you shouldn’t think like an entrepreneur. When you can connect with customers and share their ideas—and therefore think like your customers—you’d find it much easier to answer all those questions about what customers want, what they like and hate about your business, etc.

·         Addressing customer complaints. Don’t get so detached from your customers that the very first indication you get that people are not pleased is a steep drop in sales. Keep in touch using any of the many methods available to you and be quick to address any issues and concerns. People love quick service, so be sure to give it to them. 

·         Spreading the word. When you take the time to talk to just one customer, you are actually setting the stage for a much bigger customer base because your customer can tell his friends, who can in turn tell their friends, and on and on about your business. Don’t underestimate the power of one pleased customer, and take the time to attend to everyone.

Tools to use.

·         Videos. Don’t be fooled into thinking that a 15-second video cannot effectively help you connect with customers. It’s all about knowing what to share as well as giving the customers a chance to give their feedback and start discussions. You don’t need long, elaborate commercials to market. A few seconds will do.

·         Social media. While the first one may technically fall into the social media category, this is broad and diverse enough that there are still so many aspects to explore. Post shout outs to your friends in Facebook; tweet and retweet clever sayings in Twitter; and even post daily peeks in Instagram. There’s practically an entire world at your disposal, and the best part is you can take it anywhere you want.

·         Conversation. Nothing can ever replace personal interactions between you and a customer. Knowing how to talk to your customers is an important skill, something which many business owners unfortunately do not have. This is all the more important for small businesses, because the relationships you forget between customers at this level is very strong.



1 comment:

  1. I agree that interacting with customers is an effective way for companies to engage with their customers. It makes the customers feel like they are connected to the product and helps business owners find out what their customers are searching for.

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