If you run a small business from home, whether you’re a freelance creative, sell homemade products, or provide professional services, reaching out to clients on a budget can be challenging. Certain marketing campaigns such as advertising can be costly, especially if you outsource these to an agency. If you’re working with lower resources temporarily, there are still plenty of ways you can connect with new customers without breaking the bank. Here are a few examples.
Referral marketing
This is how you get your existing customers to do the work for you. Social media is a great tool. You could offer discounts and promos for your products or services to previous customers in exchange for them recommending you to a friend. You may need to invest time setting up your campaign but it’s effective and won’t cost much money. Consumers are more willing to choose a brand that’s been recommended by someone they trust, which is why referral marketing works. Here is a complete guide to referral marketing with more information.
Encourage reviews
Another way to gain trust is with positive customer reviews. New clients will go to these to find out more about your company, especially on external sites such as TrustPilot, Yelp, or Google. There are several ways to encourage customers to write reviews. You could simply send a personalised email asking kindly for their review. Avoid asking for a lengthy description, instead, use surveys and ratings. If you want to post the review on your website with client details you will need to ask for permission.
Optimise your website
You will likely get new organic leads from Google searches, which means it’s imperative to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO). Google’s latest algorithm is largely based around page experience which means that if you want your website to rank highly you need to optimise it for user experience. This means reducing page load speed, cleaning up any glitches, and ensuring it has a logical structure. Potential clients will have been brought to your website while searching for the exact products or services you provide, so it’s essential they find the information they’re looking for.
Email marketing
In order to increase your client reach, utilise as many marketing platforms as possible. Email marketing, for example, is a good cost-effective choice. It’s very versatile and you can automate your campaign easily. The only problem is that you’ll need to collect contacts first. You can also use referrals in your email marketing. Email existing customers with promotions in exchange for a referral.
Digitise everything
To reach out to new clients quickly, you need to digitise everything and have as much information readily available on your site. Prepare digital documents in advance so that you can send them straight away to customers. For example, if you run a beauty business prepare a Chemical Peel Consent Form template, or invoices or contract templates. Making use of technology will help your business appear more legitimate. You’ll also be able to provide a more efficient service.
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These are great ways to reach out to new clients Kayleigh, they’re all so important to do x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Referral marketing and testimonials is one of the most effective ways of gaining new clients. People buy from people as the saying goes, and a powerful recommendation (be that positive or negative) really does influence potential new clients 🙂
These are all great tips! I think honest reviews can come such a long way to expand your customers and show them that you’re a trustworthy business! I never thought about referral marketing, but it’s actually a great idea too! Thank you for sharing x
Awesome ways to connect with clients! Thanks for sharing your tips
Such great tips for reaching out to new clients Kayleigh. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner, but I’ve been encouraging people who I’ve worked with to send reviews to set up a testimonials type page.
Claire.X
I loved this list. Thanks for sharing this with me. I’ve recently started selling my freelance writing services and it’s hard to reach out to new clients.
I really need to get my head around SEO, I’ve kind of let me blog stay stagnant when it comes to things like that, but I’m finding out that it’s more and more important to do so xx
http://www.iridescentplaces.com
These tips are so helpful. I really love the idea of referrals and getting reviews. Reviews are something that I really need to work on! Gx
I really need to work on my email marketing! I’ve never been consistent with it and then Mailchimp closed my account.
It’s one of my biggest regrets in blogging!
These are all great ideas for getting more clients. Email marketing is brilliant for so many things. Getting customers/clients to refer you is perfect, that way other people know immediately that you are trust-worthy.
Great ideas! Although I have barely hopped on the wagon myself I have definitely seen how far email marketing can benefit a brand.
XX Angelica
https://eraenvogue.com
I have nele’s products that I need to finish reading through, to help improve my SEO and improve my site. These are some really helpful tips; as I am wanting to develop my blog and my career. Thank you for sharing these helpful tips!
Lauren bournemouthgirl.com xx
I’m not really doing anything right now where I need to reach out or attract clients but these are great tips which I’m sure a lot of people who are in those businesses will find very helpful!
Thanks for sharing! These sound interesting and definitely very helpful to know!
xoxo Olivia | http://www.oliviaandbeauty.com
These are really some helpful tips, thanks for sharing. Could you please share, which are the best email marketing tools?
Even though I work in email marketing, I’ve never done anything like that for my blog. I don’t know why but it’s a great way to boost engagement!
Rosie