Post Highlights
*How to build a business and promote sales
*Reassessing marketing strategies and materials
*Why you should improve customer experience
*Introducing a customer loyalty program
As a business owner, you are confronted by all sorts of challenges in an attempt to keep your business afloat. And if you are not very careful, your business may not be around for long.
Whether you have been in business for a while, or maybe you have just started out, keeping up your sales is an ongoing task that will help your business’s survival.
How to build a business and promote sales
Getting people to buy from your business is not that easy at times. Many businesses will hold a coupon campaign or a clearance sale to bring in more customers. Both of these sales strategies do work well, but only for a short while.
So what can you do to keep your sales going for long? This is where you really have to look into your marketing strategies for notable improvements.
If you are running out of marketing ideas, here are five valuable tips on how to give your business sales a boost.
#1). Reassess your marketing strategies and materials
Marketing is extremely important when it comes to business success and sales, and this is why you should constantly reassess your business marketing strategies. Have you been using only billboard or newspaper ads? Have you been advertising only on your local radio?
It’s time for you to make a change by diversifying your marketing channels. Explore and tap into other marketing and promotion opportunities such as internet marketing, digital marketing and others. Your business can also benefit from them if you have not tried them.
Have you been using the same marketing materials for years? It’s time to do some work on your flyers, restyled your email newsletter and get all your marketing materials updated. Get some professionals to help you create some new ads and marketing materials to promote your business.
Good read: Reassessing Your Startup Marketing Strategies And Materials To Increase Sales
#2). Improve your customer experience
Customers are the backbone of every successful business, no business can survive without them. It’s important to always make sure that your are making your customers happy because the quest to drive sales doesn’t end once you have managed to attract new customers.
It’s an undeniable fact that businesses benefit from happy customers. The happier your customers, the quicker they will become your brand ambassador. Making your customers happy also means that they will come back for more business and consequently bring income.
To be able to achieve this, the products or services you offer must be of the highest quality because someone who has had a bad experience with your business is not likely to come back.
If customers do have bad experiences with your business, make sure they have access to a well-trained and friendly customer service team who can put the problem right straight away.
Good read: How Businesses Can Get Into Their Customer Minds And Increase Sales + Revenue
#3). Encourage customers to refer their friends
Now that you know that your customers are the main reason why your business exist, now you have to encourage them to refer their friends to your business.
You can encourage your satisfied customers to engage in a little word of mouth advertising on your behalf by offering discounts to people who refer new customers to your business.
There are a number of ways you can do this, but the simplest is to include a line on your order form where a new buyer can fill in the name of the friend who told them about you.
Alternatively, if you engage in face-to-face sales, you can train your staff to ask for the referrer’s name at checkout.
Send the referring customer an email to let them know that they have earned themselves a special bonus discount by referring their friend to you.
This program is extremely effective because it leads to your loyal customers feeling rewarded for the hard work they do on your behalf. So implement it today and publicise it widely.
Good read: How Startup Can Build Brand Loyalty And Exceed Customer Expectations For Repeat Business
#)4. Introduce a customer loyalty program
Loyal customers are happy customers. Loyal customers deserve to be rewarded for their own purchases as well as for referring new customers.
It is easy to set up a loyalty program that lets your customers collect points on each purchase and redeem them for products once they have enough. The cost to you is relatively low, but customers usually enjoy the feeling of working toward a reward.
You can also do some up-selling by suggesting other products to customers when they buy one product. This would surely complement their purchase.
If you sell online, you can program your website to automatically recommend other products and explain why they are of great choices for your customer.
Good read: Super Awesome Ways Startup Can Improve Customer Loyalty And Increase Sales
#5). Use social media marketing
Nowadays, businesses are making use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram to reach global audience. Your business can also benefit immensely from effective use of social media for business marketing.
Create a buzz around your products on Facebook or Twitter. Encourage users to say what they love about your brand – perhaps by running a competition for the best slogan or explanation of why they love you.
If you make the prize sufficiently appealing, you can look forward to seeing your Facebook page go viral, which will inevitably lead to more attention and sales for your business.
Good read: Top 3 Social Media Marketing Tips For Small Businesses