A business is nothing without its customers. That’s why establishing relationships with your customer base is crucial to your business’s success. Brands that thoughtfully build customer relationships find that consumers appreciate the added personal touch to their experience with your brand. Get to know your customers better with some of these practices.
Social media is a great tool for conducting market research, learning more about your audience, and establishing and growing your brand’s reputation. By opening lines of communication via social media and providing valuable content to your audience, customers can get to know your brand in a more personal way, which can lead to increased customer engagement.
Conducting surveys is an effective method for learning about customers’ preferences regarding products or services. Through a series of targeted questions, brands can discover their customers’ likes and dislikes and determine how their audience is receiving their offerings. This information can then guide product/service development in a way that better serves their target audience’s needs.
You can conduct surveys online in various ways, including free offerings, such as SurveyMonkey and Typeform, or through polling features on social media. Brands can also conduct surveys in person or at the point of purchase. Regardless of how it’s conducted, a survey can effectively make customers feel as though they have a voice in the product/service, leading to a closer connection to your brand.
Today’s customers look for personalized content/messaging AND personalized experiences. Customers support brands that provide value to them and care about their individual needs. Hosting an event is a great way to demonstrate your brand’s value, promote its identity, and gain traction with new audiences.
Whether it’s a Chamber event like a ribbon cutting or Business After Hours, or holding classes, workshops, webinars, or an open forum either online or in person, you will allow your customers to become acquainted with and interact with your brand face-to-face, learning more about your products or services, as well as your company mission and values, which can win them over. Plus, hosting events offers cross-promotional opportunities, as businesses can partner with others to grow their customer base and strengthen ties with other entrepreneurs in their community.
Talking to customers is a direct, yet effective way to get to know them and make them feel valued. By connecting with customers through conversation — be it in person or via social media — brands can reach their audience and glean valuable information that can be used to improve the business. Having customer buy-in engenders credibility and trust within a brand, and consumers are more likely to feel confident purchasing from you, even if it’s their first time buying your goods or services, based on the positive reviews of others.
The Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce offers many resources to help you run your business–including our annual Leadership Emporia Academy. Stop by the Trusler Business Center at 719 Commercial St., call 620-342-1600, or visit our websites at www.emporiakschamber.org and www.emporiaopportunity.com to learn more.
“Let’s Talk Business” is a weekly column of the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Visit Emporia. The mission of the Chamber is to be proactive in creating an environment for business and community success, guided by the vision that positive attitudes promote positive actions. Contact us at 620-342-1600 or chamber@emporiakschamber.org and visit our website at www.emporiakschamber.org.