Turn Short-Term Customers into Loyal Long-Term Customers with Digital Marketing

In the previous article, I outlined the digital marketing techniques that form the foundation for any effective online business. All of those techniques can convert short-term visitors and customers into loyal long-term clients and even brand advocates.

Get Them to Come

Every site and blog struggles to get traffic. Content on a website or blog will help lure them. So too will video, social networking and search engine marketing and pay per click.

Get Them to Browse

If you do get a visitor, make sure everything is in place to get to want them to stay and get to know you better. You need a professional-looking site, great content and images, videos, and more. The content should encourage them to browse more. Also include an email capture box with the incentive of a free special report or ecourse. In this way visitors won’t just visit once and click away forever. They can get to know you and you can build relationships with them.

Keep Them Coming Back

Your email marketing and social media efforts will help keep them coming back to your site. After the ecourse is over, for example, continue to mail them your enewsletter. Notify subscribers and followers of new content and products. Encourage them to share the information with others who might be interested.

Get Them to Buy

When you are creating content, think information plus promotion. If you’ve ever seen an infomercial on TV, you know the ultimate goal is to get people to buy. The companies inform and entertain as they sell. They identify a problem and provide a solution for it that you can buy at a low price. The solution is guaranteed to work, or your money back. This low-risk offer means most people who need the item will usually be willing to buy.

Offer Real Solutions with Real Value

Investigate similar products and services your competitors are offering. How can you make yours better? Are your prices in line with what the market will tolerate? Does yours really work? Sell quality products and they will keep coming back for more.

Get Them to Buy Again

Once a person has purchased a product, use your email marketing automation tools to put them onto a new list – your customer list for that product. Now you can offer them “insider information,” special deals and more. Personalize the promotions instead of lumping everyone onto one list. We all love to feel special and everyone loves a bargain. Special deals will help your subscribers with both.

Treat Your Customers Like the Valuable Business Assets They Are

Many businesses make the mistake of chasing new customers to the point of neglecting their existing ones. Tried and tested marketing wisdom found to be true is the 80/20 rule – that is, 20% of your customers will be responsible for 80% of your sales.

Offer Real Value Worth Recommending

I’ve also discovered that one happy customer will tell one other person, but one unhappy customer will tell seven others about their “terrible experience.” In these days of social media, this can be a disaster waiting to happen. On the other hand, if you don’t have a social media presence online, you can’t control the conversation to try to put out any fires that might start to blaze. Create a product page and allow user-generated content, but be sure to monitor it. Maintain a professional stance at all times. If you seem like a company easy to do business with, you’ll be amazed at how many short-term customers can become enthusiastic long-term clients.

Next time, I will discuss marketing with powerful visuals.