BlogBusiness TipsCommunityLocal BusinessLocal Economy6 Ways To Survive in 2020 As A Local Business by Earning Loyal Repeat Customers

What is it your brand is offering? Is it a life-changing product? An incredible service? A drool-worthy selection of good eats? Your product needs to be extraordinary. When your product is exceptional, people will talk about your business without you having to ask, because people love to share their discoveries and enjoy new things with others.

It’s also important to ensure that you’re knowledgeable, compassionate, and work to build a relationship with your customers. Ensuring your business provides top-notch customer service and responds to questions and concerns as appropriate is also the key to your ongoing success.

Understanding where you should market your business is another important piece of the audience-building puzzle. Do you plan to shoot a commercial? Are conventional print ads and flyers what work best for you? Where does social media fit in? Most importantly, who are your customers?

Pro-tip: Social media provides amazing opportunities for staying on top of trends, analyzing the efforts of competitors, and allowing customers to more easily share their experience with your product or service with others. You don’t need a huge advertising budget to take advantage of these features!

Studies show that once a customer has made three visits to a business, they’re highly likely to come back again and use your service whether or not a discount is available. 

Consider using a discount strategy to inspire new customers to stop by. You can offer discounts to anyone, but it might be particularly helpful to offer them to first-time, second-time, and even third-time shoppers to ensure they come back again and again. Once they’ve tried your service a few times, they’re more likely to come in on their own – and share the love with friends and family, thus creating more new customers on your behalf.

While discounts are an amazing way to entice people to give your brand a try, “people simply like to have reasons for what they do.” Give them a reason for the discount, even if it’s obvious; reward them for being first-time customers, as a way to celebrate a holiday, or to encourage them to try a new menu item. The options are limitless.

Discounts may be favorable, but this doesn’t mean you want to offer them constantly; this will cause your audience to expect discounts and learn to hold off on purchasing anything from you if it’s not on sale. 

Limited-time offers work well in helping customers understand that a certain promotion won’t be available forever, inspiring them to act quickly. “Many marketers think the discount is the trigger. It’s not. It’s the urgency of the discount.” You can even offer limited availability on a service or item without including a discount, and the fleeting nature of the deal will still be intriguing to prospective customers. FOMO, or “fear of missing out,” is a powerful marketing tool.

Creating a loyalty program allows you to keep nudging your customers to collect points, use discounts, or redeem pending rewards. Be proactive about encouraging them to take advantage of any incentives you’re offering, whether it’s through marketing-based text messages, newsletters, or an app dedicated to customer loyalty.

ZOOO INC partners with businesses of all kinds and helps them develop in-app marketing strategies while organizing the brand’s loyalty program on the backend. This saves you time and hassle, allowing you to maintain your focus on the service you provide and letting us handle the heavy lifting behind the scenes. Our goal is to help you earn new repeat customers and keep business booming for years to come; if you’re interested in learning more, reach out and pre-register with us today!