February 15, 2024
Looking for your first customers seems like a monumental task at first. Without a clear picture of your target audience or connections to influential people in the business community, you can find yourself struggling to land your first client or customer.
Early adopters will be a meaningful segment of your customer base throughout your time in business, so it’s important to know proven methods for landing your first customers to ensure you’re getting the right people interested in your business.
Here they are – 6 methods for landing your first customers. whether you’re a tech startup or brand-new salon.
6 Proven Methods for Landing Your First Customers
Method 1: Blog about your industry
Position yourself as an expert by blogging about your industry in-depth. Answer the questions you think your target audience has about different aspects of your industry, even those spanning beyond your business. By making a variety of accurate, easy-to-understand information available to your audience, your blog can become a new resource to people that might be interested in buying your product or service.
Include a few well-placed calls to action that lead to targeted landing pages in your blog posts and you’ll be able to convert some of those readers into customers in a relatively short amount of time.
Method 2: Give something away temporarily
Another method for landing your first customers is giving something away on a limited-time basis. Every business has an add-on service or item they can give away to new customers with a purchase; if not, a discount or gift card can be just as effective. The idea is increasing the value customers believe they are getting with their purchase, so even if the item or service you’re giving away doesn’t cost much to you, it can add considerable value for the customer.
Enticing people to give your business a try is much easier when you’re offering something additional for free. Once you’ve landed your first customers, it will be easier to get new ones without necessarily offering something for free.
Method 3: Learn persuasion and sales techniques
If you’re in a position where you can talk to lots of your potential clients or customers, it’s wise to learn about persuasion and sales techniques to help you get more of them to become paying customers. Sales techniques are usually applicable to landing new customers, and learning more about the art of persuasion can’t hurt, either.
You’ll find yourself more eloquently and capably talking about your business to your audience and landing your first customers in the process.
Method 4: Partner with existing businesses
If you have everything in place but the customers, you can consider partnering with existing businesses to take advantage of the customer base they’ve already built. Choose companies that are complementary to yours but not direct competitors.
You may need to get creative to show your brand-new business as something valuable to a potential business partner, but if you know how to negotiate and strike a good deal, it will help you land your first customers much faster.
Method 5: Invest in an ad campaign
If you have a good idea of who your target audience is and how you can target an ad to find them, it’s a good idea to invest a little in an advertising campaign to land your first customers. You can advertise a special discount, deal, or promotion, or you could showcase one of your products and the price. Social media advertising can be a particularly good choice because of its simplicity and easy budget adjustments.
Your purpose should be getting as many of your potential customers to click on the link to your website in the ad as possible. The more people that click to your website, the more customers you’ll get.
Method 6: Talk to people you already know
It’s easier to sell to someone you already have a connection with, no matter how diluted or small. Rack your brain to think of entrepreneurs and business owners you already know. Ask friends, neighbors, relatives, and other entrepreneurs to introduce you to other business owners if you’re a B2B company or recommend you to their friends and relatives if you’re B2C.
Using connections that already exist can help you get your foot in the door more easily and win your first customers sooner.
