{"id":142690,"date":"2021-01-04T14:07:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T14:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=142690"},"modified":"2021-01-06T12:06:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T12:06:04","slug":"eight-ways-to-align-your-customer-acquisition-strategy-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/01\/04\/eight-ways-to-align-your-customer-acquisition-strategy-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight ways to align your customer acquisition strategy in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The events of 2020 will shape the foreseeable future in a significant way.<\/li>\n<li>Customer acquisition still remains the most important aspect of business growth.<\/li>\n<li>To survive in 2021, brands need to focus on their customers and adopt marketing strategies that bring them closer to their clients.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Uncertain times are like the weather, they are always there and both individuals and organizations have little or no control over them. Just like the weather, the severity of uncertain times can rise and fall. And presently, most businesses in almost every sector across the globe are operating under uncertain conditions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pulse.com.gh\/bi\/strategy\/nike-is-prototyping-face-shields-for-doctors-and-nurses-in-oregon-as-the-coronavirus\/9ew5gn9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nike<\/a>, a popular shoe brand is taking some drastic measures to stay afloat. How? By prototyping face shields for doctors and nurses. Businesses and marketers are beginning to realize that their initial customer acquisition strategy is no longer a match to the new normal of social distancing, remote working, movement restrictions, and lockdown of some regions as we know it.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, acquisition strategies that heavily rely on generating leads at trade fairs and conferences are no longer workable.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, all businesses and marketers\u00a0must\u00a0align their strategies to suit the current global crisis, where customer acquisition matters more than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Aligning your customer acquisition strategy in uncertain times like this can take many ways, which include the following:<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Re-evaluate your business goals<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The first step to align your customer acquisition strategy in times like this is to re-evaluate your business goals. Perhaps, these goals have (<em>or should have<\/em>) changed due to the prevailing crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Ensure that\u00a0your marketing team understands how your business goals have (<em>or may have<\/em>) changed before deciding upon a new acquisition strategy.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, some businesses may focus more on offering certain products and services that better suit these times than others and this may involve altering the current product or service line.<\/p>\n<p>Once you know these goals, you would be able to create a suitable marketing plan to support them.<\/p>\n<p>A very good example is Zoom Meeting, which suddenly became the most popular web conferencing tool amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Zoom Meeting witnessed a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uctoday.com\/collaboration\/video-conferencing\/covid-19s-transformed-zoom-into-a-powerhouse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">418% growth in adoption<\/a>\u00a0and a 169% increase in revenue by re-evaluating its goal from just a communication and business meeting tool like Hangout and Skype to a more powerful collaborative and video conferencing tool.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. Find out and understand how customer behaviors have changed<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Presently, life is different from what it was just a short time ago for most people.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, the ways businesses were once marketed to target customers may no longer be effective or applicable.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, targeting customers with billboards, transit station advertising, and even radio advertisements may no longer be effective as there is a significant decline\u00a0in movement and commuters.<\/p>\n<p>Also, consumer preference may have been affected by the prevailing pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, it\u2019s important to review your marketing personas and find out how their behaviors might have changed\u00a0considering\u00a0the pandemic. More so, it\u2019s\u00a0necessary to consider if your target audience has changed or not.<\/p>\n<p>Chances are that while a set of customers may no longer need your products or services, a new set may have emerged. Otherwise, you may be targeting customers that you don\u2019t have the \u201cright to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And no matter how much you try to grow your business where you don\u2019t (<em>or no longer<\/em>) have the right to win, you would only be investing your resources and time on indifferent customers, which is next to wastage.<\/p>\n<p>You can reach out to the new set of customers with the same capabilities that gave you an edge with your base.\u00a0Learn new skills that can be useful to you, even if it is through\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.omnicoreagency.com\/best-online-course-platforms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">online course platforms<\/a>,\u00a0and look for ways to repurpose your current resources.<\/p>\n<p>The teleconferencing tools are yet a good example.<\/p>\n<p>While businesses were the major consumers of teleconferencing tools during the pre-pandemic period, these tools are now a valuable educational tool for teachers-students collaboration across the world.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. Go directly to your customers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The next step to align your customer acquisition strategy in uncertain times is to go directly to your customers.<\/p>\n<p>The current crisis has clamped down (<em>or shut down in some regions<\/em>) many activities in the retail industry and some businesses may see this clampdown as an impediment.<\/p>\n<p>However, the clampdown or shutdown has only granted permission to smart businesses to connect more directly with their customers.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, PepsiCo\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.candyindustry.com\/articles\/89132-pepsico-launches-direct-to-consumer-website-snackscom-amid-covid-19-pandemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new direct-to-consumer<\/a>\u00a0website, \u201csnacks.com,\u201d is a perfect way for the company to circumnavigate traditional supermarket channels (retailers) to sell their product directly to consumers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142692\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5-1024x489.jpg\" alt=\"Customer acquisition strategy 2021 - Go directly to your consumer\" width=\"640\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5-1024x489.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5-300x143.jpg 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5-768x367.jpg 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5-1536x734.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5-2048x978.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/5-scaled.jpg 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This move by PepsiCo will not only reduce costs but will also enable PepsiCo to develop more significant customer intimacy and hold more customer data.<\/p>\n<p>You can adopt a similar move\u00a0like\u00a0PepsiCo to get closer to your customers during these uncertain times.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>4. Embrace digital marketing and advertising more than ever<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The best way to go directly to customers today is to embrace digital marketing more than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Digital marketing\u00a0and social media\u00a0are\u00a0the most essential form of marketing. It delivers one of the highest returns. For example, for every\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/res\/digital-marketing-agency\/case-studies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$1 invested<\/a>, you can expect this ROI from different channels.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142693\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/6.jpg\" alt=\"Customer acquisition strategy 2021 - Embrace digital marketing and advertising\" width=\"554\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/6.jpg 554w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/6-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 554px) 100vw, 554px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>However, research has shown that digital marketing is not being used to its full potential, with marketers using only a small percentage of the features available to them.<\/p>\n<p>Now is the right time to change that.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/07\/23\/the-impact-of-coronavirus-on-digital-marketing-and-effective-solutions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evaluate your current digital marketing<\/a>\u00a0strategies (<em>if you have any<\/em>) and consider how you can maximize potentials as well as utilize any currently unused channel.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if your business is currently using only the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/11\/19\/email-marketing-in-2020-four-key-things-that-made-the-difference\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">email marketing<\/a>\u00a0tool, consider creating a strategy for expanding that usage \u2013\u00a0integrating podcasts or webinars.<\/p>\n<p>Better still, you can start by creating automated nurture campaigns via emails or send your leads a survey to inquire about their current needs and how you can serve them better.<\/p>\n<p>If you run a training business, you can\u00a0investigate\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.omnicoreagency.com\/best-webinar-software\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hosting a webinar<\/a>\u00a0as a lead generation tool for your online courses.<\/p>\n<p>When you provide free content like webinars to your target audience, you\u2019ll not only earn their goodwill but also become a valuable source of information.<\/p>\n<p>The free webinars will lure your audience into the top of your marketing funnel and nudge them along that funnel towards your online course.<\/p>\n<p>Customer acquisition via podcast has also been underestimated. However, if you\u2019re looking to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.omnicoreagency.com\/best-podcast-hosting-platform\/\">start a podcast<\/a>, don\u2019t assume you\u2019ll get millions of downloads right away.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2019\/09\/27\/cracking-the-code-on-podcast-advertising-for-customer-acquisition\/%22%20\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Techcrunch<\/a>\u00a0stated that podcasts can reach about 51% of the US audience between the age of 12 and above.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142694\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/7-1024x567.jpg\" alt=\"Customer acquisition strategy 2021 - Podcasts\" width=\"640\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/7-1024x567.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/7-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/7-768x425.jpg 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/7-1536x850.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/7-scaled.jpg 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><strong>5. Focus your marketing on care, stability, and resilience<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In case you\u2019re not aware yet, the mood and mode of marketing have changed, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, businesses need to make any necessary adjustments.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses that turn a deaf ear and continue to deliver ads and business messages that are too self-serving may end up driving away their customers inadvertently.<\/p>\n<p>Ensure that your business is well-aligned with the needs and tenor of the current marketplace. Also, make sure that your business is robust enough to evolve as times change.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, a popular movie studio that promotes darker themes realigned its marketing strategy at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to bring inspiration and hope to American movie audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Also, a B2B software company that initially promoted growth and technology innovation during the bull market has re-evaluated its marketing plans around stability, resiliency, and cost savings.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>6. Invest more in getting new customers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Due to the ongoing pandemic, some businesses feel that acquiring new customers is either needless or impossible.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, they have reduced their spending on customer acquisition and focused on incremental revenue from existing customers.<\/p>\n<p>However,\u00a0this is not a very wise business decision and smart businesses are already taking the opposite stance.<\/p>\n<p>By providing the right and timely solutions to problems that customers are currently facing \u2013 in the form of price reductions, discounts, extended payment terms, delivery, etc. \u2013 some businesses are already winning customers away from less-resourced competitors.<\/p>\n<p>Such businesses will ultimately emerge from this ongoing crisis with a stronger market position, more customers, and larger sales and revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, you\u00a0must\u00a0determine the best way to ensure that you\u2019re planning the future growth and development of your business by investing more in customer acquisition.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>7. Follow the trend<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This point\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/08\/15\/research-finds-b2b-audiences-discover-content-through-search\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">best suits B2B businesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that industries that are expected to emerge as winners from the current crisis include pharma, technology, and government while the real estate, travel, and education industries are less likely to excel?<\/p>\n<p>In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.capterra.com\/covid-19-digital-business-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study<\/a>\u00a0by Capterra, about 2% of digital small businesses will close down completely as a result of this pandemic.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142691\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/8-1024x820.jpg\" alt=\"Follow the trend\" width=\"640\" height=\"513\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/8-1024x820.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/8-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/8-768x615.jpg 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/8-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/8-scaled.jpg 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Therefore, realign your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/07\/13\/marketing-strategies-during-covid-19-times\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">marketing strategies<\/a>\u00a0to target the winning industries.<\/p>\n<p>More so, strategize to focus more on large, stable, and well-resourced companies but less on SMEs.<\/p>\n<p>You may need to position yourself to effectively capture either the growing need in the SME sector or the big companies that matter most?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>8. Determine how your product or services can help the current situation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As stated above, certain products and services better suit these uncertain times than others.<\/p>\n<p>To attract more customers and remain in business, businesses must alter their current product or service line to help the current situation.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few examples of businesses that have stepped up to be helpful in the present situation:<\/p>\n<p>The athletic apparel companies have begun the production of personal protective equipment (PPE), shoe manufacturers are now producing medical masks, while a picture framing company has begun the production of face shields.<\/p>\n<p>All of these are to help the present situation and keep people safe, especially medical workers.<\/p>\n<p>Though you may not be able to pivot your products or services to\u00a0help out\u00a0in the same ways, you can think of other ways to use your marketing to help the situation.<\/p>\n<p>You can analyze your audience\u2019s persona or send them a survey to determine what they need right now and how your products or services can help ease their burdens.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if you\u2019re a business that deals mainly with services or content creation, you can publish helpful posts and training webinars to assist the audience.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Despite the current pandemic-led uncertainty that has plagued the business world, it\u2019s important to always remember that customers are key to any business growth.<\/p>\n<p>Irrespective of the type of business you run, the future growth of your business hinges on one thing \u2013 your customer acquisition strategy.<\/p>\n<p>This current COVID-19 pandemic has rendered most customer acquisition strategies effective, which necessitates the need for businesses and marketers to re-align their marketing strategies.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s never\u00a0going to be easy. But\u00a0if\u00a0you put the customer first, you\u2019ll always find a way to navigate the tough times and still win.<\/p>\n<p><em><span lang=\"en\">Lidia S. <\/span><span lang=\"en\">Hovhan<\/span><span lang=\"en\">\u00a0is part of the Content and Marketing team at\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/omnicoregroup.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\"><span lang=\"en\">OmnicoreAgency<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en\">. She contributes articles about how to integrate digital marketing strategy with traditional marketing to help business owners to meet their online goals. You can find really professional insights into her writings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Customer acquisition has drastically changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. How will businesses survive in future uncertain times? Here are eight tips to align customer acquisition strategies in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":142695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27893,7],"tags":[115,1635,27956,14890,6368,27813,1012,460,53,28023,905,1119],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-142690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-industry","tag-b2b","tag-b2c","tag-brand-strategy","tag-business-strategy","tag-consumer-behavior","tag-covid-19","tag-customer-acquisition","tag-digital-advertising","tag-digital-marketing","tag-podcast-marketing","tag-podcasts","tag-strategy"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Eight-ways-to-align-your-customer-acquisition-strategy-in-2021-scaled.jpg","category":"Digital Marketing","timeago":"5y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142690"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=142690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}