When you run a business, you are always looking for ways to say ahead of the pack. Competition, the newest trends, and relatability are some of the main things to look at when looking to better your business. But, how do you stay relevant without losing your true authentic identity, and how do you attract new customers and employees and keep your current and old ones happy? In this piece, we will take a look at the ways you can attract the perfect people that align with your business’s dreams, goals and vision, how relevance can help shape your business and how you can get you and your business on everyone’s lips.
Market With Word Of Mouth
Many people enjoy the wonderful benefits of referrals from those they trust. It is one of the reasons influencers exist. They are like a bunch of relatable online friends who go out of their way to try out whatever product is in their niche so that they can let the world (more so, their followers) know the perks, pros and cons of the product.
Influencers also help in sourcing places that followers can get products and services and act as marketers for both the customers and the businesses. As a business, and depending on your product or service, you can employ the skill of an influencer or content creator to spread the news about your offerings to the people they interact with. Remember to always go for the type of influencer that is in the same industry as you, and try by all means to get a relatable influencer and not an untouchable celebrity.
Hook Your Customers BEFORE They Become Your Customers
The key to a good customer experience is knowing about the business before committing. This helps customers decide whether they want to buy into your ideas and lets them know that you care about delivering the best to them. How do you do this? Well…
First, know and identify your ideal customers: If you want to give your customers and prospects what they want most, you have to first find out what that is. Neil Patel, a successful author and businessman, says it’s important to start with a set of crystal clear profiles of your ideal prospects and customers. Ideal customer profiles help you get to know the basic demographics, fears, desires and needs of each segment of your market. This is essential to building a loyal customer base.
Discounts and promotions are your friends: We all love a little freebie here and there, and the best way to pull in your customers is to offer them the type of promotions and freebies they will love. You can give your customers a certain percentage cut on their first purchase or offer them free delivery when their cart reaches a certain amount. Encourage your customers to share your business and reward them for referrals too. This will surely keep your name in their mouths.
Once you have created profiles and identified your customers’ needs, it will not be hard to alter all your executions to fit and suit their needs.
Happy Employees, Happy Customers
This should have been the first step to cover as it is quite crucial. Keeping your employees or staff members happy will ensure they create work that is meaningful and relatable to customers. Say you run a bakery, for example; ensuring that your pastry chefs are well taken care of, you have to have a functioning first aid kit, safe environments for them to work, enough breaks and working conditions that are conducive for them. This way, they will excel at their work and create beautiful, tasty bakes for your customers. You can take care of your staff members by employing an HR person who will take care of everyone inside the business while you take care of everyone outside.
If you have the capacity, you can upskill yourself with a human resource management course and develop your ability to efficiently manage people. Taking a highly practical approach will equip you with the latest HR management knowledge, focusing on employment legislation, recruitment, performance management, and employee well-being. It aims to teach you practical skills that you can apply immediately to improve your practice. These skills will help you not only keep staff but also keep staff happy.
Speaking of employees and staff, there are some ways in which you can attract the best staff members that will align with your goals and visions for your business. Here is how you can attract top tier talent and retain them:
- Know Your Company’s Missions And Values:
Identify the most important skills and values for your company. Then fill positions around those needs instead of just hiring one employee to replace another.
- Build An Employee-Focused Culture:
Today’s workers want to feel valued, too. Show your appreciation for them through employee recognition programs, performance bonuses and comfortable work environments.
Social Media Marketing Helps Too
Does your business exist online? And by online, we mean, does it have a social media presence? It has been evident over the years that social media is becoming the tool most people use to not only connect but also buy things. So, ensure your business has some kind of social media presence where you will advertise promotions, run specials and competitions, and even address your customers’ needs and grievances. A social media marketing course can also help you sharpen your social media skills in order to better understand how to market on different platforms.
With social media, you can also target the right staff members and use your platforms to announce new positions you might be looking to fill. Most times, the people who follow your business or like buying from you wouldn’t have a problem applying for a job in your company because they already know your values are aligned with them, so your current customer could be your next employee. Social media can help you find that person.
Choose A Cause
Customers love knowing that your business is running on good morals. If you produce organic products, locally source your suppliers and use your proceeds to help out with social issues, you can place your business at the top, making it a relatable and considerable entity that people will not have a problem standing behind. So, find something you and your staff are passionate about and dedicate some of your work to making that cause better. This will show care and compassion to your customers.
Choosing a cause will also help you identify the right employees to work in your company as they will support the same causes as you, so always ensure when you are hiring, you ask your potential employees about their thoughts on the causes you support.
Stay True To Your Authenticity
While new and innovative ways of doing business are being introduced daily, you always want to keep your business’s identity solid. This helps your current customers stay with you and be able to identify you anywhere. You can change a few ways and routines in your business but always ensure you keep certain things as they are.
If you are used to communicating with your customers via email and are considering adding another form of communication, you can run a poll on your next emailer and ask them to vote for how else they’d like to receive communication and weigh out your options then. This makes customers feel like they are part of the decision-making process and makes them trust you more.
Final Words, Keep Growing
Your business functions better when you know what needs to be done, how and when. Dedicating your time to fully explore all the options you have will not only help your business but also give you the necessary skills to make your business thrive. There are worlds of opportunities that exist for you, so explore, explore, explore.