Owning a business can be stressful. When you’re working day in and day on project launches, you also need to be focusing on building a loyal customer base.
Your business may experience its own slumps and busy seasons, but if you’re only looking to sell once to customers, you’re going to create a lot of extra work for yourself.
Once thing a mentor told me was to take your business should take customers through a cycle or transition. If you can solve one of their problems, it’s likely you can solve another as well.
It’s important to shift your focus from getting customer and clients to keeping them long-term by building a loyal customer base. Here are a few ways to do it.
Narrow Down Your Audience
It is almost impossible to connect with everyone you meet in person or online. That’s why you need to critically think about whom you want to connect with and who would make an ideal customer. To reach the right loyal fanbase, you need to know who you’re looking for in the first place.
It helps to create a customer avatar which is basically a representation of the ideal person you’d like to serve. For your avatar, you want to narrow down how old they are, their gender, what their income level is, their occupation, their hobbies, their family size, where they hang out at online etc. That way, you’ll know exactly who you’re targeting and how you can help consistently improve their lives.
Make Your Mission Clear
For what purpose are you going into business? That’s your business’ mission. After you have started the business, it is easy for you to forget why you started the business in the first instance. But it is clear that you put the mission in mind, with every move you make.
Align the solutions you are trying to build with your original vision. Once you start derailing from your vision, that’s when you start to lose your valued audience.
Solve a Major Problem or Pain Point
What’s the best way to build a band of loyal followers and customers eager to buy your next product? You have to find ways to solve one of their major problems.
You can survey your audience to find out what they need or get on the phone with some of your email subscribers. Really highlight their pain points and listen to what their goals are. Then create your solution in a series of offerings to help take them through a journey to reach their desired end goal.
Focus On Building Authentic Relationships with People in Your Niche
There’s power in partnerships. By working with someone else, you can tap their network and offer more value to your audience as well. Whether it’s on LinkedIn or in social events, you need to identify and network with people in the same line of business as you.
As much as you have a lot to learn from them, they can also get something from you. You can do much more when you partner with others instead of working in direct competition with them.
It is easier to run a business if you have a reliable support network. Why don’t you build one for yourself today?
