3 ways to convert your audience to life long customers.
Having a good product or service is not enough to encourage a sale. Brands need to work much harder in this digital age, to cut through the noise of competition and overstimulation.
So here’s 3 ways to attract and retain new customers.
1. Create a Perceived Difference
With the advent of the internet came increased competition, which has increased year on year.
With so much choice for our audience, it’s crucial to differentiate our brand from the competitors.
Through different values, different benefits and a different brand presence, it’s essential to present our brand's uniqueness.
Establishing a brand difference is paramount to standing out in a crowded market.
So for this stage we need to carry out competitor analysis, whereby you find out who your competitors are and research different aspects of their brand’s presence.
Ask yourself these questions...
Website
What is their brand identity?
What’s the look and feel?
What benefits do they communicate?
What do their values appear to be?
What tone of voice do they use?
What’s the brand persona?
Social Media
What channels are they on and how active are they?
What’s their tone of voice on these channels?
Do they have a consistent brand identity on profile pics and header images?
Do they engage with their following?
What is their audience demographic by looking at comments?
Find gaps where your brand can obtain a competitive advantage by being different.
2. Emotionally Connect
Firstly, to connect with our audience on an emotional level we must know who they are.
We need to perform an audience analysis, to define demographics – like gender, age and geo-location.
Then we need to analyse the psychographics – values, desires, goals, interests, and lifestyle choices.
In understanding these sets of emotions – linked to values, desires and fears – you can position your brand messaging to resonate.
When you communicate on an emotional level, is when you will make the connection in your audiences mind.
This is called ‘Neuromarketing’ and has been heavily researched. The Limbic system within the brain is associated with emotions, memories, and unconscious processing. So if you can connect on an emotional level, you are likely to communicate with the decision making part of the brain.
We do this by evoking emotion, identifying your audiences pain points and becoming the solution to those pains.
Communicating through story is another good way to connect emotionally, which is why storytelling should form part of your brand strategy framework.
Storytelling helps your audience to remember you too, as studies show facts wrapped in story are easier to remember.
3. Build Reputation
To build a good reputation and encourage sales, your audience must know, like and trust your brand.
In order to do this, you must share valuable insights to help them, consistently.
This is where the audience insight comes in handy, knowing your audience will help you create content that supports and entertains them.
It will also inform where you can connect with them.
Find out which social channels they frequent and consistently show up there.
Consistency is the key, they say it takes between six to eight points of contact to make a sale if the person isn’t already looking for something new to try out.
So your new audience will need to have been ‘touched’ by your brand approximately seven times before they will consider a transaction.
Back to neuroscience – our brains can detect when we’re being sold to, which is then processed in a different part of the brain to the emotional limbic system already mentioned, it’s processed in the oldest part of the brain called the ‘Reptilian’ brain.
This part of the brain has the role of basic needs – to eat and sleep, it’s also where fight or flight is triggered.
An overly sales-led approach will come across as disingenuous and provoke people to leave.
Another good way to build trust is to host a blog on your website, which will help leverage your brand as the expert in your field.
Not only this, you will also benefit from increased organic traffic. According to Hubspot, studies show business blogging leads to 55% more website visitors.
Share information on what you do and position this to help your audience. Don’t worry about giving away too much - the more you can give to your audience, the more credibility you will gain and they will be willing to listen to your offers.
Blogging is a really useful way to put your knowledge down on paper, with multiple end uses.
You can chop up the blog post for social media snippets, build a lead magnet, or use in a series of emails, called a ‘drip campaign’ to nurture your audience from cold to warm.
Sharing knowledge will entertain and inform, adding value to your audience’s lives – which in turn will help your brand to be a part of those lives.
Find out how we can help nurture your audience into brand advocates get in touch.
About the Author
Gemma is a logo and branding designer at Emotion Brands and enjoys working across strategy and design. During her 20 year career she has worked with global brands, such as Davines, Secret Escapes, Wella Professionals and L'Oréal. She's constantly evolving her skills and enjoys taking a holistic approach to branding, with a particular interest in sustainability and eco print practices.
If you're looking for Branding or Design Agencies in Bournemouth get in touch.
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