Marketing strategy to attract customers (List of 12 ways)

As you know from our other tutorials, the purpose of marketing is:

1. To gain a customer, and
2. To keep a customer.

Nothing else matters.

Today, we are going to simply narrow in on how to gain a customer through marketing strategy.

That is, use marketing strategies to attract a new customer to choose you over the many options available to them.

You see, your potential customer can either choose a direct competitor of yours, or they can skip your product category altogether and choose a substitute product or service.

For example, if your ideal customer is looking for a weight loss product, they can choose a Fitbit, a powder, a pill, a life cycle, a treadmill or they can join a Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, weight loss clinic or a support group.  Or they can learn to play tennis, do a bootcamp at the park, ask an MD or learn how ketosis works, on and on and on.

There has never been more businesses competing for your customer than ever before.

But today, we are going to give you a marketing plan to attract more customers than you can handle!

So, let’s get started and ensure your marketing foundation is ready to attract new customers.

What are the strategies required to attract customers?

Marketing is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about your business, your customers and the strategies that work to grow your sales.

Think of it as a white board that you get to be creative in how you develop your plan of marketing and sales activities.

But, before we get into the marketing strategies and tactics to attract customers, first, it’s critical that you have these three required foundational marketing items worked out:

1. Know exactly who your ideal customer is. You’ve probably heard this a million times. But it's true. Do your research. Find out where they live, how much money they make, are they male or female, find out how often they buy your product or service, and how they use it, what they read, where they go online and what groups they belong to.  For strategies go here.
2. If you have a base of customers already, the marketing research never stops. Learn to survey them here and find out how to create promotions to attract more great customers like them. Discover why they buy and why they stop buying. Now is a good time revisit item #1, above.  And avoid this common mistake at all costs.
3. Your customer value proposition is key to creating more value and gaining more customers. Go here to polish your unique selling proposition and your customer value proposition.

Now that you know precisely who your customer is, why they buy, why they stop buying,  and your value proposition is dialed in, let’s build our marketing strategy to attract customers.

How do marketing strategies attract customers?

Remember, successful marketing strategies attract customers because the marketing message is focused on:

What the customer wants

There’s a sales principle that everyone listens to one radio station and it's called WIIFM, which is short for: What's In It For Me?

Your customers are no different.

Marketing strategies successfully attract customers because they clearly communicate the benefits of the product or service to their ideal customer, make a compelling offer, and make it easy for customers to act on the call-to-action.

As we get into the 12 marketing strategies that attract customers, let’s first address the 6 most common reasons why customers actually make a purchase. After all, you can have the most successful advertising strategies in the industry, but if your offer fails to match what customers want, your marketing strategies will ultimately fail.

1. Product benefits are clearly stated — focus on what you know they want and deliver it clearly in your product benefit list.
2. Product is easy to use — show how easy your product is, this is a powerful strategy giving the customer more reasons to choose you.
3. Your product is easy to buy — reduce friction in the buying process. Remove as many barriers to purchase as you can.
4. The offer is clear and easy to understand — Many sales are lost because the offer is either not what the customer wants, or is too complicated.
5. Social proof — Industry credibility, testimonials and social media can add reasons to support a customer’s choice to buy from you.
6. Guarantee — You’d buy from a company that supports their product with a guarantee, wouldn’t you?  So will your customer.

Go here for the full list of reasons on why customers buy.

Now, let’s grow your marketing strategies.

12 creative ways to attract customers

Now that you have a solid foundation, probably far superior than any of your competitors because you did the work of researching your customer, building your customer value proposition, and thinking about clear messaging to your marketplace, its time to have some fun.

And develop some marketing campaigns.

As you go through this very important list of marketing ideas, be sure you are familiar with the Marketing Mix, a.k.a the 4 P’s.

1. Use the power of multiple impressions in your marketing strategy. Most people buy after they have seen your brand 5-10 times. Focus on dominating your ideal target market with direct mail, email, print advertising, online advertising, remarketing, text messaging, and more.
2. Use the word Free -- Free is the most powerful word in the marketer’s toolbox. Figure out how to use it in your marketing.
3. Use a guarantee -- by using a properly communicated guarantee in your marketing you could increase your responses by 100% of more.
4. Use testimonials or case studies -- what others say about your product or service is far better received than you saying it.
5. Make your website fast, secure and for mobile -- enough said. Go here for more on this.
6. Use Google Ads -- Google Ads is still an excellent platform to test your offers, landing pages, and copy. And if you find a winning ad, it can last for years.
7. Use targeted direct mail -- done right, this is King for attracting new customers, as well as retaining customers. If you have a customer base, send your top 5% or 20% a letter with a great offer.
8. Use email -- done right, email will produce your best return on advertising.  If you have an email list, send your top 5% or 20% a letter with a great offer. Learn how to properly segment your list here.
9. Use shopping sites -- Amazon, Etsy, Ebay, Walmart and others can be excellent platforms for acquiring customers.
10. Use guerrilla marketing -- whether you have a shoestring budget or not, guerrilla marketing is one of the most fun types of marketing you can do -- both for acquiring customers and for your marketing team.
11. Use print ads -- print advertising is not dead. Done right, this is an awesome strategy.
12. Use door hangers -- once you know what markets to target and you have a fantastic offer, door hangers can work well in your marketing mix.