How Can Small Businesses Find New Customers?

October 22nd 2024

Now that we are officially in the last quarter of 2024, some companies can expect an uptick in revenue over the next several weeks. 

We’re heading into the big season for Christmas tree farmers, snowplow services, event planners, caterers, accountants, hair stylists, among others. And even if your business isn’t typically affected by holiday activities, you may still see a surge if potential clients are suddenly feeling pressure to wrap projects up by year-end.

However, year-end is also the off-season for some businesses, like swimming pool maintenance services, seasonal ice cream shops, landscapers, and New England beaches. It’s a time to regroup and recharge while the weather cools off.

No matter which season you’re in – crazy busy or cautiously quiet – if you’d like to take back control of demand for your products and services, there are things you can do to find and connect with new customers.

Ideally, you have a process in place that ensures you’re always promoting your business and finding new prospects, but even if you don’t, you can choose now to ramp up your marketing and promotional activities.

Get clear about your ideal customer

The first step to finding more customers is to define who they are. 

Don’t assume that everyone is your target customer – that’s not true.

There are certain types of people or businesses that are the best fit for what you offer. Those are the ones you’ll want to invest your resources in attracting.

For example, if you run a pet grooming business in Brooklyn, New York, pet owners in California or Kansas should not be your target because they are unlikely to need your on-site services. Likewise, if you own an interior decorating business in Ann Arbor, Michigan, you should focus the majority of your time and attention on homeowners in the surrounding area and not on, say, homeowners in Dallas, Texas.

Now, the only exception here is if you run an online business and can just as easily serve people in Atlanta as clients in Seattle or Toronto. Then, location is not as important a factor.

There may be other demographics you’ll want to pay attention to, however, such as age, gender, household income, type of business, age of any children, or type of car owned. Which factors are most relevant will depend on the type of product or service you sell.

However, before you start investing more of your money in attracting new business, be sure you know how to find your best prospects. You’ll waste valuable resources if you don’t.

Identify how to find them

Study your best customers so that you understand them. What interests them and, therefore, where are they likely to spend their time?

When you know that, you can start to present them with information about your company that may pique their interest. But before you start designing ads, you need to figure out how to get in front of them, either in-person or online.

For example, if your clientele consists of high-net-worth individuals who golf, finding ways to connect with them through country clubs and golf courses could be useful. Or, if your ideal customers are new moms, marketing through pediatricians, diaper services, or Mommy and Me classes could be a smart approach.

Take your description of your ideal client and list what they are likely to be interested in, where they spend their free time, and who they might be paying attention to. Those are your clues for where to invest your marketing.

These could include:

• Physical locations – grocery stores, libraries, hospitals, schools, hair salons
• Local online platforms – Nextdoor, Thumbtack 
• Social media platforms – LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok
• Facebook groups – search for keywords associated with your business to find them
• Newsletters – free and paid; many have advertising opportunities to explore
• Community groups – such as Moms in Motion, travel soccer, religious organizations
• Volunteer opportunities – local clean-up groups, trustees, food cupboards
• Classes – free community-sponsored courses, recreation center-based, or even college
• Trade shows – local, regional, or national
• Civic organizations – Rotary, Kiwanis, Shriners
• Events – community parties, festivals, galas, running races

Make your own list of where you are likely to come in contact with your potential clients.

Share your message

Finally, to find new customers you need to tell them what you offer. 

That is, you need to package your products or services in such a way that it will be clear to your ideal customers why they need to buy from you.

In your message, you’ll want to emphasize the benefits of doing business with you, rather than the features or description. Meaning, how will they be better off thanks to your product or service? Will they save time, look better, lose weight, make more money, or something else?

As you’re sharing information about your business, whenever possible include testimonials from satisfied customers. You may even want to feature them prominently in your promotions. Testimonials and endorsements give you credibility and enhance your trustworthiness.

Be aware that you’re going to need to present your information more than once for prospects to consider doing business with you. Current estimates are that it takes at least seven exposures, which is referred to as the Marketing Rule of 7.

Which means that you can’t just buy one ad, send out one newsletter, or put a poster in one place and expect that it will yield results. You need to be consistently spreading the word about your business.

The power of focus

Although finding new customers is a numbers game, it is much better to focus on a few marketing channels than to try to do all the things. You’ll get better results by, say, investing time on one social media platform versus three, or buying ads in one newsletter for the next year instead of one ad in 10 different newsletters.

Rank the places where you’re likely to come in contact with your ideal customers and start at the top. Invest time and attention there, until you’re confident everyone there has heard about or seen information about your business more than seven times. Then move on to your second-best potential source.

Over time you’ll be able to determine which methods work best and you can spend more on those activities and less on the ones that aren’t yielding results.

Start today so that you have a chance to drum up business this quarter.