By Sharon Jones

There are a lot of different ways to win customers online. However, there’s a stark difference between them that pushes them into two categories. There’s marketing that interrupts them, that throws a popup in their face or ads that play before the videos that they want to watch. Then there’s the marketing that follows what they want and puts you smack dab in the middle of it. Let’s look at how the latter kind can help you grow a customer base with a lot more ease and reliability.

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Have a community, not a megaphone

Word-of-mouth is valuable in business, we all know that. This is the case especially on the internet, where people tend to get bombarded by marketing messages everywhere. The average browser will have their guard up against targeted marketing messages. Creating customer loyalty, connecting with them on social media, even getting them to create content as part of a marketing campaign or contest acts like a mirror to your business. It shows your brand and it delivers your message, but it does it in the voice of a community. It serves as proof that others vouch for you. The average net denizen is a lot more likely to listen to the crowd than to a very loud business.

Roll out the welcome mat

That’s not to say that your own branding is for nothing. When people are actively looking for the kind of services or products you provide, it pays to give them your best impression. Instead of cobbling together an amateur site, https://lightboxdigital.co.uk/web/ shows how to communicate your value in the most efficient of methods. The bespoke look is going to help you stand above the rest. At the same time, you should be focusing on optimizing your search engine presence by focusing on the right keywords in your metadata, so that it’s easier for those wannabe customers to find their way to your doorstep, not to someone else’s.

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Answer before they even ask

Another great way to put yourself in a place of prominence in search engine queries is to answer the kind of questions and solve the problems that people are searching online. Content creation doesn’t just help you get traffic, however. It helps you create leads. If someone is looking for an idea on how to get better performance from their PC, and their query leads them to a business that optimises computer performance, it creates a connection. A connection between someone who has just found the solution they didn’t realise they could use. Content can create leads out of thin air.

Build experiences, not brands

Branding is important. But it’s not always the most efficient way to create that initial emotional impact your business needs. Instead, you need something to get them to memorise that brand. Https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/4-highly-viral-digital-trends-to-supercharge-your-event-marketing-ds00/ shows how viral marketing, grabbing them by the gut, creating an ad or a message that’s more about the emotional impact than delivering the value, can sometimes be the right way to go. Share an experience with a potential customer and you’ll stick in their mind a lot longer than if you just made them an offer or your services.

The more natural you can make the moment that a lead becomes a customer, the better. It’s all about finding the right people at the right time and ensuring your message, your community, and your design nudges them in the right direction.