A battle is being waged between businesses of all sizes vying for attention to gain customers. Each day a flood of information hits your potential clients – news, ads, emails, blogs, videos, you name it. It’s getting harder and harder for businesses to stand out in all the clutter.
You may already have tried to gain ground by following the battle cry of “more content!” with little or no success. There’s a reason for this. And the reason is that throwing mediocre content into the fray is not the answer. Not in today’s world where Google algorithms insist that content is
- well-researched,
- authoritative from your experience,
- accurate, and
- provides value to the searcher.
In short, you win the battle to gain customers’ attention by offering value, context, and experience.
Let’s look at these in turn and see if we can pinpoint how to gain customers in this information-overloaded world we do business in.
Always Offer Value to Gain Customers
Rather than focusing on your product’s or service’s attributes, focus on making your solution strategic to the target customer’s success.
Really get to know who your target audience is, step into their shoes, and then show them how your business, products, and services will solve their current problems or problems they haven’t even realized they have.
Uncover a problem that’s vaguely nagging at them. Then, present a solution so that their response is: “Wow! They really know me and my business.” This factor will go a long way in not just making the first sale but engaging them as a long-term customer.
For this to be successful, you need to have a supply of highly relevant resources for your team to use. You’re driving value, not demand!
Gain Customers by Giving Context to Your Content
Most businesses have fallen prey to the belief that more content is what’s needed in our new social media landscape. However, content without context is a lot of energy lost to a losing battle.
You need a story. A story that has your solution embedded in it.
The reasons is this: A well-articulated story marries your value with the customer’s reality. It will take them to a new, more successful result and keep them engaged.
The story simply explains why you’re bringing your product or service to market. And you tell it from the viewpoint of your customer in four parts:
- First, part 1 explains what’s changed for them – their current pain point.
- Part 2 tells the story of solutions from the previous reality that fell short.
- Part 3 presents your business’ solution.
- And finally, part 4 describes a vision of the customer’s transformed future.
Your prospect now has an emotional and logical reason to respond positively to you. And you gain a customer.
Make the Customer Experience Unforgettable and You Will Gain Customers
Buyers have shifted from forming opinions and making decisions on the basis of a description or a sales demonstration. They need to experience you and your solution – which links to the previous point of giving them a story to hold their attention.
Therefore, you must bring out the big guns and win customers by showing the unique value of your product or service through a compelling experience.
Your prospective customer needs to interact with you through a variety of senses. This is “experience.” And it will leave a longer and more lasting effect than even the most compelling white paper or blog post.
Winning the attention battle is more important than ever because 57% of the typical B2B sales cycle is complete before the buyer’s first contact with vendors. That means your customers are more than halfway through their decision process before they’ve even made contact with you! Their immediate experience of you and your brand is going to matter .A lot.
In fact, Forbes says that buyers will invest more if you communicate in a way that shows you understand their needs – not just meeting their expectations but exceeding them.
360 Consulting Can Help You Gain Customers
So how can you stand out from competitors, consistently engage customers, and sky rocket your sales to the next level? It’s by focusing on value, context and experience.
Not sure where to start? Or maybe you’ve been in the trenches a little too long on your own?
Our team at 360 Consulting knows the digital terrain and the path to sales success. Contact us today for to schedule a FREE consultation. We’re standing at attention and ready to join your battle!