Customer acquisition is like playing chess. In chess, you need to think ahead to capture your opponent’s pieces and win the game. Similarly, when adopting a customer acquisition strategy, you must carefully plan your moves to acquire new customers and ultimately win the market.

Here’s when effective strategies become irreplaceable.

This blog post will help you with three important tasks. One is to pick the best customer acquisition strategy for your business. Two, learn real-world examples of customer acquisition strategy. Three, clearly understand how to apply a customer acquisition framework to your business.

But before we dive in, let’s get on the same page about a key definition.

What is a customer acquisition strategy?

View your business as a digital playground and your customers as players. You should attract and engage the customers to keep them coming back for more. But how?

Correct! You bring into play your strategy for customer acquisition.
Simply put, a customer acquisition strategy is a plan designed to attract and convert potential buyers into paying customers. This strategy involves identifying your target audience, understanding their needs and preferences, and creating a roadmap to reach them.

Here’s a way to visualize the customer acquisition process:

In other words, your customer acquisition strategy is your plan for capturing the hearts and minds of your target audience.

Now, let’s cover two questions that may quite naturally arise.

Customer acquisition vs. marketing: What’s the difference?

These are related concepts but aren’t the same.

In essence, marketing is about getting your brand out there and generating interest, while customer acquisition is about transforming that interest into actual purchases.

Here’s an example. You own a coffee shop in a busy downtown area and aim to attract more people to your shop. You start by placing ads on social media, promoting your shop’s unique atmosphere, high-quality coffee, and delicious baked goods. In addition, you sponsor local events or host your own events to create buzz and raise awareness of your brand. That’s marketing.

However, this may not be enough to convert potential customers into actual customers. To do that, you might offer special promotions to people who recommend your brand or sign up for your loyalty program. These customer acquisition strategies aim to turn potential customers into paying customers over time.

Lead generation vs. customer acquisition: Understanding the difference.

Although related, lead generation and customer acquisition are two different aspects of the sales process.

Leads have expressed interest in what you offer, but they aren’t yet ready to make a purchase. So, the goal of lead generation is building a database of potential customers who’ll later become actual customers.

Conversely, customer acquisition involves guiding leads through the sales funnel until they’re willing to pay for what you offer.

For example, a software company might generate leads by offering a free trial of its product. Afterwards, they might use targeted email marketing campaigns to eventually convert them into paying customers.

Customer acquisition strategy: A framework to apply

The customer acquisition framework refers to a broad approach to customer acquisition that involves a set of strategies and processes. Mainly, it represents the tactics for both acquiring and retaining customers.

Basically, a customer acquisition framework means making sure everything in your business works together to get more customers. It’s like putting all the puzzle pieces in the right places to create a picture.

Four steps to creating a new customer acquisition strategy

A customer acquisition strategy is a key component of any successful business. By identifying your audience and choosing the right channels and tactics, you can attract and convert potential customers into loyal customers.

Step 1: Identify your ideal customers.

The first step in crafting a customer acquisition strategy is identifying your ideal customer. Who are they? What are their pain points? What motivates them to buy? The moment you clearly understand your target audience, you can tailor your efforts to appeal to them specifically.

Also, you need to know what sets your business apart from the competition. Maybe you offer a unique experience, a variety of products, or innovative elements that your competitors don’t have. By highlighting these strengths, you can attract customers who’re looking for something new and exciting.

Step 2: Choose your customer acquisition channels.

Once you know who to target, it’s time to plot your course. Will you set sail on the sea of social media, where the waters are choppy, but the rewards can be great? Will you trek through email marketing, where the path is treacherous, but the payoff can be huge? Or maybe a combination of these and other channels?

Step 3: Nurture your relationships.

Remember that gaining a new customer is only the beginning of the relationship. The real work comes in retaining and engaging that customer over the long term.

Whether it’s through personalized content, special offers, or exclusive access to events, consistently provide value to your customers. Say loudly and clearly that you care about their needs, and you’ll build trust and create a sense of loyalty.

Another tactic is to encourage feedback and actively listen to your customers’ concerns. This shows that you value their input. Responding to their feedback in a timely and thoughtful manner will help customers feel seen and heard.

Furthermore, focus on creating a sense of community around your brand. True, it’s a customer acquisition strategy that requires time and commitment. But it’s one of the best strategies to drive engagement and a deeper connection to your brand.

Step 4: Measure and adapt.

As you journey forth, you’ll need to stay nimble and adaptable. The terrain may change, and your target audience may shift. That’s why it’s important to adjust your strategy for customer acquisition accordingly.

Track the effectiveness of your new customer acquisition strategy attentively. The advantages and drawbacks of your tactics will quickly jump out. Next, you’ll be able to make adjustments and optimize your approach over time.

Two quick formulas to jumpstart your customer acquisition strategy

How to define customer lifetime value (LTV)

Customer lifetime value (LTV) is a critical metric. It helps businesses understand the total value of a customer over time. In other words, it indicates the net profit that someone will bring throughout their lifetime as a customer.

To calculate LTV, you need to determine three parameters:

• the average value of a purchase made by the customer,
• the number of purchases they make over a given period, and
• the average duration of their relationship with the business.

Here is the formula to calculate LTV:

LTV = (Average Value of a Sale) x (Number of Repeat Transactions) x (Average Retention Time)

For example, let’s say a company has an average sale of $100, and a customer makes two purchases per year. The average customer relationship lasts for three years. Using the formula above, the LTV would be calculated as follows:

LTV = $100 x 2 x 3 = $600

Thus, on average, each customer contributes $600 to the company’s profits over the duration of their relationship with the business.

By understanding the LTV of your customers, you can make informed decisions about your strategies, customer acquisition costs, and customer retention efforts.

How to define customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total cost a business invests to acquire a new customer. This includes all the marketing and sales expenses, such as advertising, sales commissions, salaries of marketing and sales teams, and other overhead costs. To calculate the CAC, the total cost is divided by the number of customers acquired.

Here’s the formula for calculating customer acquisition cost:

CAC = Total cost of sales and marketing / Number of new customers acquired

For example, if a company spent $100,000 on marketing and sales in a given period and acquired 1,000 new customers, the CAC would be $100.

Calculating the CAC is important for businesses for two main reasons. First, it helps them evaluate the effectiveness of their customer acquisition strategy. Second, it helps to determine the return on investment (ROI) of their marketing and sales efforts.

Best customer acquisition strategies to gain an edge in the market

Discover the top customer acquisition strategies that will take you a step closer to succeeding in today’s market.

Search engine optimization: Boosting your online visibility.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing your website to be loved by search engines.

By improving your website’s visibility in search results, you can drive more traffic to your webpages and potentially convert that traffic into paying customers. This is what makes SEO a top choice for those who’re seeking a new customer acquisition strategy.

Keyword research: For obvious reasons, one of the key elements of SEO is keyword research. This involves identifying the specific words and phrases people use when they go online to search for products or services like yours. By incorporating those keywords into your website’s content, you can improve your website’s relevance. As a result, your brand authority will rise in the eyes of users (and search engines).

On-page optimization: To make your website more search engine-friendly, you need to optimize your website’s structure, content, and metadata. For example, you might ensure that your website’s SEO-related texts accurately describe the content on your site, including title tags and meta descriptions.

Off-page optimization is another critical part of SEO. You should consider building links from other websites to your site. Why? Because this is how search engines understand that your site is a credible hub of information. Off-page optimization includes tactics like guest blogging, influencer outreach, and social media marketing.

SEO as a customer acquisition strategy: Example of a company you can learn from.

The Wirecutter

 

The Wirecutter is a product review site that was acquired by the NY Times in 2016. They’ve built their business by providing in-depth, unbiased product reviews that are optimized for search engines.

By conducting thorough keyword research, they intentionally target the right keywords that their audience is searching for. Moreover, they have a strong link-building strategy that has helped them earn backlinks from authoritative sites, further boosting their search engine rankings.

Through these efforts, they’ve been able to rank highly in SERPs for a variety of relevant keywords. As a result, Wirecutter manages to consistently drive a large amount of organic traffic to its site.

Blogging: Establishing authority and driving traffic through consistent writing.

Blogging is a customer acquisition strategy that involves creating high-quality content on your website. By consistently publishing informative and engaging blog posts, you see where your opportunities are and how to attract more customers to your pages.

But blogging doesn’t end there. You should also invest resources and efforts to promote your blog posts. For this, a set of tactics are recommended: having a regular calendar for sharing your blog posts on social media channels (more on this in a second), sending them by email newsletters, and guest posting on other blogs.

When you leverage all relevant channels, you increase your reach and attract new potential customers to your site.

Social media marketing: Connecting with your audience where they are.

Building brand awareness, increasing your reach, and driving more sales. These are the key benefits social media marketing can bring. And this is why social media continues to be a big part of every business’s marketing efforts.

To attract new customers through social media, consider an important tactic. Use targeted advertising and audience segmentation to reach people who are likely to have a genuine interest in your brand.

As a rule, social media marketing can be used without tons of resources. That’s why it’s one of the best customer acquisition strategies for startups.

Product pricing: Finding the sweet spot between value and profitability.

Just think of it. The way you price your product can be a strategy for customer acquisition.

Free trial and freemiums: Offering a free trial of your product is a recognized way to attract new customers. Allow people to test-drive your product before making a commitment, and you can easily demonstrate the value of your offering.

For the strongest results, be sure to provide helpful resources and support. Remember, during the free trial, your potential customers should have a positive experience. By the way, even if they don’t become paying customers themselves, they’ll spread the word about your brand and recommend you to those who’re searching for a similar solution.

Be cautious. A free trial can be a significant investment for your business. So, it’s important to put forth much effort in tracking your results and measuring the ROI of your efforts. This way, you’ll refine your strategy over time and optimize your investment to attract the highest quality customers.

Price anchoring: Another common approach to pricing is to use price anchoring, which involves setting a high price point for a premium product and then offering lower-priced options. Reportedly, this creates a perception of value and makes the lower-priced options more attractive to potential customers.

Dynamic pricing: Are you in a field where seasonality has a big impact on your sales? In this case, an effective approach will be to use dynamic pricing. Consider adjusting the price of your product based on demand, supply, or seasonality. This can help you optimize your pricing to attract the highest quality customers and maximize revenue.

Customer acquisition strategy: Examples of using the freemium pricing model successfully. 

In the freemium pricing model, you offer the basic version of your product or service free of charge. But you charge for additional features or functionality.

Many successful companies have used freemiums as a strategy for customer acquisition to great effect.

Dropbox

Who doesn’t know Dropbox? And who hasn’t used the free version of its service? Enter your username and password and get your gigabytes of storage free! But you have to pay for additional storage and advanced features.

The company’s freemium model has been highly successful. Reportedly, it helped Dropbox acquire millions of users and reach a leading position in the cloud storage industry.

Spotify

The free option of Spotify is a stripped-down version of the full service, with limited functionality and advertisements interspersed between songs.

However, the platform’s free version still provides access to a vast library of music and allows users to create playlists. What’s more, users can upgrade to a premium subscription at any time to be able to download songs and listen offline.

The free trial has been a successful strategy for Spotify. Many users are willing to give the platform a try when there is no upfront cost. Additionally, the company has used various marketing tactics to encourage opting for a free trial. These tactics include offering exclusive content or collaborations with popular artists.

Video marketing: Engaging your audience with dynamic visual content.

Video is the ultimate canvas for bringing your brand to life and igniting the imagination of your audience. That’s why it’s a dynamic medium to captivate and connect with your customers. In fact, a report by Animoto states that 93% of businesses gained a new customer after posting a video on social media.

Video content allows you to offer an immersive experience to your audience and make a lasting impression. It can be how-to guides, tutorials, product review videos, influencer videos, video live streams, behind-the-scenes vlogs, etc.

Creating high-quality videos may require resources and experienced staff. However, if you don’t have a lot of experience with video production, you can make use of technological solutions. Bring in tools like video editing software or animation software to create professional-looking content.

Email marketing: Driving conversions with targeted messaging.

Not only a means to acquire new leads, email marketing is an effective customer acquisition and retention strategy.

Build a quality email list: When using email marketing as a customer acquisition strategy, focus on maintaining a clean and verified email list. By identifying and removing “toxic” emails from your list, you can increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns. Plus, adopt ethical email-gathering practices and never add contacts to your list without permission.

Use email retargeting: All too often, you’ll come across customers who are somewhat interested in your business but haven’t completed a purchase. Most probably, they need a clearer path to action or a gentle push to make their first purchase. You can achieve this by sending them targeted and personalized emails based on their previous interactions with your brand.

For example, suppose a customer has added items to their shopping cart but hasn’t completed the purchase. In that case, you can send them an email reminder about the items in their cart. You can even think of an incentive to entice them to complete the purchase. Or, if a customer has visited your website but hasn’t made a purchase, you can send them a personalized email with product recommendations based on their browsing history.

Companies that rocked the email marketing strategy for gaining new customers

Without a doubt, email marketing can be a powerful strategy for customer acquisition. The reason is email marketing helps to keep your subscribers engaged, leading to increased sales and revenue over time.

Copyhackers

Copyhackers specializes in copywriting and content marketing. They have a large email list of subscribers (89k and counting) and are known for their effective email marketing strategies.

Copyhackers sends tips and advice on copywriting, as well as promotions for their online courses and resources. Also, they use targeted emails to promote their webinars and events, thus building their brand and attracting new customers.

Airbnb

Airbnb has built a large email list by offering a discount on the first booking for new subscribers. In addition, Airbnb sends emails to subscribers based on their travel preferences and previous bookings. This way, they’re able to keep subscribers engaged and interested in the platform.

Client spotlights and case studies: Highlighting the success stories of your happy customers.

Success stories are invaluable. But, to truly unlock their potential, you need to give your customers a platform to sing your brand’s praises.

To create effective customer spotlights, be sure to choose customers who are delighted by your offering. By the way, spotlights can take a variety of formats: written case studies, video interviews, or social media posts.

Gated content: Using exclusivity to capture leads and drive engagement

Many businesses provide valuable content in exchange for their visitor’s contact information. It’s called gated content – content that promises exclusive access to those who are willing to provide their contact information or perform a certain action. This exclusivity can create a sense of value and prestige around the content, making it more desirable and enticing.

But should you open the gates to all your content? In fact, the proven tactic is to adopt a hybrid approach.

A hybrid approach means that you “gate” some of your content while making other content available to everyone. The key is to ensure that you gate the right content at the right time in your customer’s journey.

Examples of offering gated content as a strategy for customer acquisition

Here are two companies that have excelled at using gated content to acquire new customers:

HubSpot

HubSpot offers a variety of free resources to its website visitors. These resources include ebooks, whitepapers, webinars, and other educational content on topics such as social media, SEO, and email marketing. But to access the content, users must provide their contact information. Afterwards, HubSpot uses this data to nurture its leads with targeted emails and marketing campaigns.

Moz

Moz is a marketing analytics company that can boast of its free tools and resources. If you’re in the marketing or content writing field, most probably, you’ve already used one of their tools.

For example, they offer a link analysis tool and a keyword research tool. But to access the advanced tools and content, you must sign up for a free trial.

Events: Creating memorable experiences and excitement

Have you ever attended a business event that left you feeling invigorated, inspired, and excited about a company’s products or services? That’s the power of events as a customer acquisition strategy.

Events can take many forms, from trade shows and product launches to networking events and conferences. However, the key is to create an experience that resonates with attendees and leaves a lasting impression.

By leveraging events as a customer acquisition strategy, businesses can engage with potential customers in a way that goes beyond traditional marketing tactics. They can create an environment where attendees can see, touch, and interact with products or services, ask questions, and receive answers in real time.

Events as a customer acquisition strategy: Examples of companies that have used this strategy successfully.

Many companies excel at acquiring customers through events, but here are a few examples:

Salesforce

Salesforce is a global player in customer relationship management (CRM) software and is known for its annual conference, Dreamforce. Dreamforce brings together thousands of industry professionals, thought leaders, and Salesforce customers for a week of networking, education, and inspiration. The event has become a platform for Salesforce to showcase its products and services and serves as a viable strategy for customer acquisition.

Adobe

Adobe hosts an annual event, Adobe MAX, which brings together creatives, designers, and developers for a week. The event features keynote speakers, hands-on workshops, and educational sessions. By focusing on the latest trends and innovations in design and digital marketing, Adobe MAX serves as a major platform for Adobe to showcase its products and services. And, ultimately, attract new customers.

B2B customer acquisition strategy

Note that when choosing the best customer acquisition strategy, the B2B world has its peculiarities. As a rule, any B2B customer acquisition strategy is focused on acquiring new business customers. But unlike B2C, B2B customer acquisition is more complex and involves a longer sales cycle.

The reason is B2B customers often require more detailed information, custom solutions, and a higher level of personalization. Therefore, the strategy needs to be well-planned and executed with precision.

To build an effective framework for B2B customer acquisition strategy, consider developing a customer profile. It should include demographics, company size, budget, and decision-making authority. This is essential to understand who makes decisions in a company to be able to speak directly to them.

Secondly, nurture leads. B2B customers often require more nurturing before they make a purchase. You need to create a lead nurturing program that includes regular follow-ups, personalized content, and a clear path to conversion.

What’s the secret to a product that flies off the shelves or a cafe with lines out the door?

Because for every hot, top-selling product, there’s dozens more that land in the market with a dud. This includes excellent products that should be an easy sell.

Sometimes a product has an auspicious beginning. It receives rave reviews and its designers are eager to sell more. But despite much pitching and promotion, the momentum never builds. The creators are flummoxed. What’s the hangup? Is it the website? The product? The price?

It’s hard to say. Acquiring customers is a complex, multi-faceted process. It entails developing a product or service with market demand, building a platform with a pleasant user experience, researching the customer and crafting a marketing plan.

Market research is at the crux of putting all these pieces together. It includes knowing how the user responds to the product, and how and where to engage with the customer. It’s also necessary to stay on your toes, as the needs of the customer constantly changes.

Good market research and analysis reveal the secrets to fly-off-the-shelf success. And research tools are key to conducting this research. Let’s look at some market research tips, plus tools and strategies to acquire and retain customers.

5 Market Research Tips

For the most part, market research is a data-driven discipline. The overall objective is to increase a company’s ROI by connecting a product to its corresponding market.

Research and data serve many functions. They connect a product to the actual customer, rather than simply rely on feedback from family and friends. They reveal how a product might be tweaked to appeal to the market. Sometimes, they confirm information you already know. Or else data reveals that there isn’t a market at all, which saves time with pitching and marketing. Ultimately, the research serves as a foundation for a customer acquisition strategy.

But with so much information out there, it’s easy to get buried in the data and have it serve no purpose at all. These following pointers allow market research to pave the way to an effective strategy.

Complement Data With Immersion

In the same way that political polls don’t measure enthusiasm for a candidate, a series of numbers, even when accurate, don’t give the full picture of a market. Immersion within the market fills out the picture and colors in those areas that raw data leave blank.

Consider a kitchen supply company that’s marketing to residents in a large, crowded city. Perhaps raw data indicates that the market is hot for the product. However, visiting several homes within the market turns the black and white data into a full-color photo. Understanding the size and layout of a typical city kitchen provides clear directives in both how to tweak and pitch the product to the market.

Pitch to the Fringe, Not the Mean

Many products appeal to large diverse markets with people of various ages, income levels and geographic locations. It’s easy to simply crunch the data and come up with an “average” person. Market researchers have found, however, that when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one at all.

Say the range of ages in a given market spans from 18 to 56 years old. The “average” market, then, is someone in her late 30s. However, pitching exclusively to thirty-somethings completely sideline both the 18 and 56 years olds.

A more successful approach is to pitch to the fringe. It’s to splice and dice the data to develop several distinct but accurate prototypes, such as the single millennial, the retired professional and the college student, and develop separate pitches for each.

Emphasize ROI

Have you ever had a conversation that went on forever yet never seemed to go anywhere? Market research can start to look like one of these rambling conversations. It’s so easy to amass mountains of data that yield nothing but unfocused, convoluted discussions and presentations.

The goal for a product or service, of course, is to serve the bottom line. And so ROI provides the focus and through line to all market research. This means identifying actual buyers, not just lurkers. Luxury goods, for example, may appeal to a broad market. But only a demographic with surplus income is going to bite.

Find the Story

Market research is about unearthing what motivates a customer to buy. It identifies where a product or service fits into the user’s lifestyle, or how it may even totally change a lifestyle for the better. And so it’s much more than compiling and analyzing data. Ultimately, it aims to tell a story.

An app that allows users to order meals to go, for example, isn’t just looking for the target market in terms of demographic details like age and median income. More so, it seeks to understand how the app benefits the user. If it gives working mothers a night off from fixing dinner, that’s a story that provides ready fodder for a marketing campaign.

Dig Beyond the Data

The market won’t always tell you about themselves. And the data can conceal critical information as well. Knowing the market means asking a lot of questions, from the mundane to the sublime. Details like free time activities, favorite foods, significant holidays and typical family size provide insight into both how to reach the customer and how the product fits into their lives.

This summarizes a few pointers to augment market research. Now let’s turn our attention to powerful market research tools.

12 Market Research Tools

Market research is a broad topic. It consists of product development, customer research, marketing, architecture and customer retention strategies. It gathers both qualitative and quantitative data.

Whether the objective is to build a website that’s easy-to-use, monitor social media accounts, or identify the price point for a product, there’s a tool out there to achieve any end. Finding the right tool first means identifying the objective. The following covers several tools arranged according to an assortment of topics.

Customer Research Tools

These tools allow you to get to know your customer, intimately. When you understand not just the demographics of the target market, but ethnographic details as well (customs, habits, aspirations), it’s possible to develop a marketing plan that engages and builds brand loyalty. It also makes it easy to tweak and adjust the product to better suit the market’s needs.

Typeform

Typeform offers feedback forms, satisfaction surveys, quizzes, polls, and even videos for 1:1 conversations with customers. This tool makes it easy to gather critical signals from users and customers right away. A recurring pattern in survey results, for example, may indicate changes in the market. A consistent complaint in feedback is a red flag that a product needs to be updated.

Typeform integrates with dozens of applications, and offers three plans with price points suitable to a range of customers.

Field Agent

Field agent’s diverse services provide valuable market research from your actual customers in real time.

It connects you with mystery shoppers who visit your business and let you know all about the experience. They can also photograph your product within retail locations, so you know just how it’s presented to customers. It connects you with real customers who provide photographs of your product within their home, providing full immersion into the culture of your target market. Its concept testing feature allows you to give the product a trial run before launching it. Plus, Field Agent offers insight on competitors!

All of these diverse tools are available on one simple platform, allowing you to peek into markets all over the country from your office.

UX Tools

User Experience is like the roadway that introduces customers to your brand and your product. If you offer a smooth ride, they’ll probably stick around. But if it’s bumpy and clunky, they’ll more than likely turn around and leave right away. These tools allow you a peek inside the current UX of your customers, and develop an intuitive structure to your website or online store that keeps customers on your site.

Optimal Workshop

Optimal Workshop compiles data from actual visitors to your website, then analyzes it to craft a fluid architecture. Some of its tools include qualitative research, card sorting, tree testing and first click testing.

Card sorting is a popular method for building architecture that logically arranges pages on a website in the way one might construct a mind map. It builds the architecture from patterns in multiple card sorts. Tree sorting confirms the discoveries from card sorting, and irons out any kinks. First click testing identifies the popular and ignored regions of your website by providing data on the journey of actual users on your site.

These tools have been utilized by some of the best websites on the market. Optimal Workshop’s customers include Uber and Yelp. It offers several plans at various price points, including a free plan.

Hotjar

Website layout is tricky business. Sometimes a user completely ignores those areas of your website you most want them to be going to. Hotjar’s observation, feedback and engagement tools work together to analyze your website and identify areas for improvement.

Its Heatmap tool identifies the “hot” and “cold” regions of your website, providing valuable clues as to the language and graphics that grab visitor’s attention. It allows you to engage and solicit real-time feedback in 1:1s with your website visitors.

Hotjar’s tools have assisted some of the best to build strong platforms, including Nintendo, T-Mobile and Panasonic. Lest you repeat the mistakes of those who’ve gone before, it showcases a wealth of case studies from various industries.

Hotjar offers several plans, including a free plan.

Content Creation Tools

In a climate where content is king, every company is subject to the rules of content marketing. The following tools provide shortcuts in this vast marketing region, and guidance to create engaging content that generates clicks, likes and follows.

Buzzsumo

With Buzzsumo, all your content will be fresh and evergreen. Its powerful analytics tools alerts you to trending topics for blog posts and other content. It allows you to stay abreast of the fast-paced world of the internet, keeping tabs on account engagement and competition. Its tools serve various platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube.

Although Buzzsumo charges a hefty fee, it’s worth it. You’ll never have to worry that you’re creating stale or boring content again.

Flick

Flick makes it easy to create keyword-rich content that targets your ideal customer. Its hashtag features allow you to enter online conversations as they’re happening, and engage with your customer on trending topics. Plus, it provides tips for content creation in both videos and blog posts. Flick serves a range of clients, and offers solo and agency plans

Sprout Social

Sprout social provides a multitude of products and services for online research and marketing. Its customer insight, broken down by industry, is key to understanding your audience. It analyzes social media trends and breaks data down by region. This service is geared to larger businesses and enterprises.

Storytelling and Presentation Tools

On its own, research and data do not reveal a whole lot, nor is it terrifically compelling. Storytelling and presentation tools serve a dual purpose. They piece dry sets of data into a whole, complete picture that follows a customer journey, and identifies his or her motivations, compulsions, challenges and hangups. Further, they allow you to turn dry market research into an engrossing, can’t-look-away-from presentation.

Pip Decks

With Pip Decks, you’ll never be met with glazed eyes or yawns during a presentation again.

This deck of cards offers step-by-step guidance to weave a story into a presentation. The cards draw on a number of archetypal story patterns, including the rags to riches story and the hero’s quest. Its easy-to-use system meets you right where you are in your presentation development, whether it’s concept development, character development, or structure.

Pip Decks assist with marketing as well. They allow you to identify your customer’s story, and build a marketing plan around it. Although the deck is a bit pricey at $200, once you’ve made the investment, it’s yours to keep. There’s no recurring payment with Pip Decks. (The digital cards are only $100.)

Keynote

Crafting market research into a compelling story is no simple feat. And all that work deserves the right presentation tool.

Keynote is popular for a reason. It’s Apple’s answer to Powerpoint and it really steps up the game. Its large selection of themes lets you add just the right tone to a presentation, and it includes plenty of diagrams and illustrations to spice things up. With Keynote, it’s easy for remote teams to collaborate from Apple Devices or a PC.

Keynote’s adaptation with Keynotopia provides further versatility. Keynotopia is a UI kit that allows you to present UX experience to the team in real time, with mockups and interactive prototypes. It allows everyone to contribute ideas and suggestions to improve website architecture.

Platform-Specific Tools

Market research tools are oriented to a specific need. And some tools are so specific they hone right in on the very platform where your customer congregates. Tools such as Jungle Scout, Alura and Tera Peak focus exclusively on the enormous seller platforms of Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay. They aid and fuel sellers to optimize the platform and its services, and provide powerful analysis tools to develop a product and reach the customer.

Jungle Scout (Amazon)

Amazon holds the lion’s share of online sales. And Jungle Scout allows you to lasso the enormous lucrative capacity of this platform.

Its features include a sales estimator that projects monthly revenue for a given product and automations to save time with listings. Plus it assists with product development by providing key metrics around market saturation for certain items.

While many recommend this tool, others believe that a seller can succeed on Amazon without Jungle Scout.

Alura (Etsy)

Etsy’s market research tool, Alura, allows you to build a strong presence on this popular online platform.

Its filtering tool simplifies customer retention. It’s easy to identify repeat customers and send out benefits and perks to those VIP customers you want to keep coming back. It also makes it easy to remind customers to leave reviews. And a top-rated shop receives more traffic and increased sales.

Alura offers three affordable price plans, including a free plan for up and coming Etsy sellers!

Tera Peak (Ebay)

Tera Peak is Ebay’s exclusive market research tool. It includes a product research feature that provides data around average price points and competition for a product. It indicates a product’s sales trend as well. It keeps up on your shop’s inventory by reminding you when it’s time to restock. Some are upset that Tera Peak has removed its keyword tool, making it difficult to label a product for optimal search results.

Tera Peak is remarkably affordable, with plans that fall around $15 a month.

And this summarizes a few tools to employ in your customer acquisition strategy. Now let’s consider some methods for keeping these customers coming back.

3 Customer Retention Strategies

A good marketing plan distinguishes between new and existing customers. Once you’ve gained a few customers, it’s so much easier to keep them coming back than to hit the pavement and find new ones. And according to data, it’s also much cheaper.

And so a customer retention strategy is a necessary component to a marketing plan. Retaining a customer really begins from when a customer first hears about you or walks in the door. It’s about engaging and enticing and building momentum for your brand at every stage of the customer arc. It takes time for loyalty to develop. But it’s worth it, as a truly dedicated customer becomes an ambassador for your brand, which is free marketing!

Let’s look at a few key touch points for connecting with customers and bringing them back time and again.

Stay Front of Mind

A customer may be delighted with your service or product, but in the busyness of their lives, they lose your contact, forget the name of your website, or never stop inside your studio again. It’s up to you, the owner, to remind them about you and make it easy for them to return.

This needn’t be obtrusive. Reaching out to customers with a quarterly newsletter serves as a gentle reminder of your brand and services. Gaining a following on social media and posting regular content achieves this same end as well.

Reward Customers

A reward program that’s offered exclusively to repeat customers appeals to them in two ways. If the reward is achieved incrementally, it builds momentum toward the incentive. This is the case with something like a coffee shop punch card. The customer, anticipating the freebie they’ll earn, comes back time and time again. Secondly, this discount includes your customers in an exclusive club. Who wouldn’t want to patronize a business who made them feel prized and valued?

Rewards can be offered in the form of punch cards, loyalty cards, or seasonal discounts.

Personalize it

Repeat customers are your VIPs, so it’s good to take the extra measures to let them know it. Find ways to connect with them personally. Remember their birthdays with a card, an email or a freebie. Get to know them as a person and follow up on their lives whenever you see them.