The Importance Of Authenticity When Acquiring Customers
Every business needs customers to survive. In today’s competitive landscape, attracting and keeping patrons is more critical than ever. Building a relationship with consumers begins with spreading the word about your company, products and services. This “brand awareness” helps drive customer behavior and may be able to convert prospects more quickly than in the past.
If a customer does not know who you are, they cannot choose to buy from you. Pushing particular products is important, but if a consumer hasn’t made a connection with your brand, he or she may overlook your company when making a purchasing decision. Consider the stages a shopper goes through before buying, which is sometimes called the marketing or sales funnel:
- Stage 1: Awareness. At this point, the customer has knowledge of your brand. Until this stage, however, a customer is unaware of your existence.
- Stage 2: Consideration. During this phase, customers learn more about your brand and may develop greater familiarity with it. They may consider your company as they think about buying a product or investing in a service.
- Stage 3: Conversion. A customer chooses your brand and makes a purchase.
- Stage 4: Loyalty. Once a customer has purchased from you, the goal is to continue to build the relationship with that customer. If they are satisfied with the initial interaction, he or she may be more willing to become a repeat buyer.
- Stage 5: Advocacy. This is the stage when a customer has become a “fan” of your business. He or she is likely to talk about your brand with friends and family and may write online reviews to share his or her experience.
Obviously, a customer can’t convert without first moving through the earlier stages. This means companies should make brand visibility a priority. There are number of ways to achieve this, including using social media campaigns to heighten awareness. Other methods include attaining media coverage about your brand; publishing articles, blogs and other material; and running promotions to attract potential customers.
Companies must realize that investing in brand awareness is critical to overall success, even if there isn’t a strong return on investment at the outset in terms of conversions. By publicizing your business, more customers should be attracted to your marketing funnel, which could ultimately result in better sales. In order to stand out in the crowded advertising space, brands need to think outside the social media ad box. For info on how to create better brand loyalty and attract more customers, check out the accompany resource.
Resources:
https://www.directiq.com/marketing-funnel-stages/
Infographic created by Beantown Media Ventures
Brian Farrell is a coach, helping clients achieve their personal and professional goals. He's also the creator of the "QA2 Method". For more about Brian, visit bfarrell.com
