How To Find Customers For Your Small Business and Increase Sales

It’s a wonderful thing that anyone can set up a website and a business and find customers all over the world, right? But how do customers find you online? How do people in your own region find you when there isn’t a local storefront? Here’s how to find customers in your area to start building your business locally.

#1. Advertise in Local Publications

Newspapers may be on the wane, but you can still find local publications to advertise your business in print and online. Here are some ideas of where to start to find a place to advertise. You might also find media outlets want to interview you, so be sure to send press releases on any new offerings or company news. It’s a great way to find customers.

• newsletters
• industry-specific magazines
• local chamber of commerce publications and listings
• local Google listings
• local social media listings
• local Yelp listings
• regional news outlets and blogs

Also – don’t undervalue the effort of search engine optimization or SEO. The best time to start working on it was last year. The next best time is today. Yottled has built in SEO or you can hack away at it with tools like Semrush or Yoast. You’ll have customers flocking to you instead of asking “how do I find customers?”.

#2. Cultivate Local Social Media Communities

Social media takes time to build, but the first place to start is to build a company page on social media platforms your customers might use such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Tiktok. Once you have a presence and are posting regularly and engaging with others, you might want to start a community. Here are some ideas of places you could cultivate communities:

• start a local Facebook group
• post on Instagram connected with local events
• host Twitter chats based on a particular discussion hashtag
• create a safe space support group on a social media platform

#3. Start a Local Meetup Group

Still asking yourself how to find customers? A step beyond online local groups to meet people is to host local meetup groups. This could be profiled on the official Meetup.com page to help you find local people interested in your subject area, or it could be informal and meet at a local library or park. Be sure to host local groups in safe areas at safe times.

#4. Give Rewards for Local Referrals

Customers in your area probably know other potential clients in your area, so don’t forget to offer rewards for referrals to new customers. You could set it up any one of the following ways:

• bonus offerings to current clients for new client referrals
• free appointment to current clients for a new client referral
• discounts to new clients for responding to a referral
• bonus offerings to new clients for responding to a referral
• loyalty programs or affiliate bonuses to existing clients for referrals

If you try some of these ideas to find new customers in your area, you’ll be building a local presence in no time.