The top five challenges in the US for small businesses revolve around getting and retaining new customers to grow business and revenue. You know you need new customers to keep growing your business, but it can be difficult to find–and attract–them.
And while you probably have some tried-and-true methods of marketing and advertising you’re running to reach potential customers, it’s always helpful to discover new avenues for getting customers–especially through strategies that are effective without taking a ton of your time and energy.
One such way to do this is called attraction marketing. In this post, we’ll uncover:
- What attraction marketing is
- Attraction marketing examples and types
- How to use attraction marketing
Let’s dive in!
What is attraction marketing?
Many would say that an attraction marketing strategy attracts potential customers by showing how you’ve benefitted from using your own product or service. While that is part of the definition, there’s another important side of the coin.
David Bitton, Co-founder and CMO at DoorLoop explained what it is saying: “Often, marketers that use attraction marketing are so focused on creating that initial emotional connection that they overlook the product’s long-term worth. They share their stories but do not educate, resulting in low brand loyalty.”
Ultimately, as David puts it, “Customers will not regard you as a leader or an expert until you provide valuable information that goes beyond simply sharing a narrative.” So attraction marketing is a mix of storytelling and education.
And, as you may have noticed from the definition, it’s similar to inbound marketing. Both attract customers to your business, allowing them to come to you on their own terms and in their own time instead of force-feeding them marketing messages.
The goal? To educate your ideal customers, gain their trust, and build your credibility so that when they’re ready to do business, your business is the obvious choice.
Attraction marketing examples and types
So far, we’ve talked about attraction-based marketing in theory, but what does it look like in the real world? What types of content and experiences make up this strategy and, most importantly, do they work? Let’s answer those questions with the help of a handful of great examples of attraction marketing.
Influencer content and product endorsements
Partnering with influential individuals whose target audience overlaps with yours is a popular and smart attraction marketing technique. And MasterClass proves it in not just one but two ways.
One, the brand’s trailers and videos give a glimpse into the success stories of the instructors who represent MasterClass and even educate the audience, giving a sneak peek at the value subscribers could get out of full masterclasses. In this way, MasterClass itself attracts subscribers.
Two, the same elements—instructors’ stories and the education they offer—attract more people to the instructors (AKA influencers). They amass more fans and customers just like the MasterClass brand does.
And product endorsements, which can fall under the umbrella of influencer content, work similarly. For example, think of one of the biggest endorsement deals in modern history—Michael Jordan and Nike. As of 2020, Jordan had made over $1 billion dollars from that deal and Nike has surely made much more in sales over the years.
Of course, this deal and its results are obviously greater than small businesses could realistically expect, especially right out of the gate. But it goes to show the power of having someone credible vouch for your products or services.
Classes and workshops
Another attraction marketing technique is hosting classes and workshops, and it’s been working wonders for Home Depot.
For years, Home Depot associates have done demonstrations and taught weekly classes in-store, creating a more unique and valuable experience for shoppers than competing stores. It’s a great idea for increasing brand loyalty and creating brand advocates that bring in new customers through word-of-mouth. However, now, the company has stepped it up another notch by offering virtual workshops that people can enjoy from the comfort of home.
You can’t lose with Home Depot’s attraction marketing formula: Teach your audience what they want and need to know + make it interactive and convenient.
Valuable content
Last up, there’s a wide array of educational content, which often overlaps with influencer marketing and workshops. Blog posts, email newsletters, infographics, videos, and podcasts are just a handful of the web content types that can generate leads and nurture them along the customer journey.
Growth Design provides a good example of the type of valuable content that generates leads and increases sales. Every month, the creators release an interactive case study on product psychology…in comic book format! Each one walks you through the user experience of a well-known product and teaches product psychology lessons along the way.
This is attraction marketing at its best for a few reasons. The content is personal to the creators yet also engaging for consumers. Not to mention that its primary purpose is education and, because the content is visual and entirely example-based, it’s actionable and easy to understand.
Ultimately, it helps founders Dan and Xavier build their personal brands, and drives traffic to and sales of their product psychology masterclass.
Related: Looking for more ideas to drive traffic to your website? Download our free guide!
How to rake in more customers with attraction marketing
You know what it is, and you’ve seen it in action. But how can you create and implement an attraction marketing strategy?
1. Get clear on features and benefits
As I always say, there are primary and secondary selling points. Not every feature or benefit of your product or service is as useful or attractive to your target audience as the others.
So one of the first things you need to do is nail down the:
- Biggest benefits of your offer are (either in your own experience using it or for your customers)
- Main features that correspond to those benefits
Having clear in mind what your attraction marketing campaign will focus on will set you up for success as you take the next steps.
2. Don’t skip brand strategy
Whether or not your business has hundreds of direct competitors, put thought into what will make it stand out.
- What will make your business and offer memorable?
- Why should people choose you?
- How is your product or service different or better than similar options that your audience considers?
- In what interesting ways could you brand your product or service so that they feel unique to your company?
- What impact would putting a face to the business make (either the face of an actual team member or a character)?
Of course, there’s a lot more that goes into brand strategy but questions like these will get you started.
Find out how to do a SWOT analysis here.
3. Pick the right channels
At this stage, it’s time to revisit your buyer personas (or do research and chat with existing customers to create them).
As with any type of traditional or digital marketing strategy, you have to know where your target audience is to be successful at attraction marketing. So figure out what social media platforms and professional networking sites they’re active on, what private communities they’re part of, where they hang out offline, and so on.
Once you do this, you can narrow down what type of campaign will work best for your chosen marketing channels.
4. Prioritize interactivity
Baruch Labunski, CEO of Rank Secure, acknowledged that “one reason attraction marketing is so effective is because it doesn’t really feel like marketing from the customer’s perspective.” Instead of having a message promoted to them, they get to experience the message, whether through your storytelling or through experiences you create to educate and delight them.
So, whatever channel(s) you choose, try to make your target audience’s experiences with your business as interactive as possible. Baruch gave some great examples of how to do this, saying: “An accountant can do a free mini-session on organizing receipts. A pizza shop can create a video on how to toss a pizza crust in the air. Inviting customers to come play and interact with your brand can have powerful and profitable ripples in the future.”
This restaurant held a wine pairing dinner to get new customers into its location.
Plus, as it grows more popular, there may even be opportunities to do attraction marketing in the Metaverse since “you don’t necessarily have to have a brick-and-mortar retail location to create an immersive VR experience for prospective customers. Any tech that makes your brand feel real and comfortable for customers will help you create new relationships and cement existing ones.”
Tweak campaigns based on data/multi-platform testing
Once your campaign goes live, don’t forget about it. Seek user and customer feedback, do A/B testing, and analyze whatever you consider to be the most meaningful data. That way, you can make smart, data-informed decisions.
Attraction marketing tips for successful campaigns
What else do you need to know to get the best outcomes from your attraction marketing efforts? Here are some additional tips worth keeping in mind.
Use audience language
As with any type of marketing, mimicking the way your audience speaks—their word choice, voice, and tones—is smart. It will make your communications seem more natural and relatable, which will help you grab people’s attention and build trust with them.
Additionally, as far as online content is concerned, using the same language as your target audience uses can help you rank better in relevant search results. This can help you gain maximum visibility, boost your website traffic, and get more new leads.
Related: Use these trigger words for better copywriting.
Highlight achievements strategically
While attraction marketing can involve talking about experiences personal to you and your team, a word of caution. Don’t make it all about you. After all, the main thing your audience cares about is how your audience benefits them and addresses their pain points.
So, as Daniel Foley, SEO Specialist at UNAGI says, the best approach is to “concentrate on what the business can accomplish for the potential customer. Include statistics and data that are specific to the client or their industry if possible. After demonstrating how the company’s product or service might benefit the potential client, it’s time to highlight the company’s overall accomplishments to back up the claims.”
This food pantry framed its impact around how it helped its community.
Ultimately, company accomplishments “should be handled like references in an academic paper. They should support the statements presented, but not be excessively depended upon,” Daniel concluded.
Don’t underestimate micro-influencers
It’s no secret that partnering with influencers solely because they have hundreds of thousands of followers doesn’t always bring the results businesses expect. Often micro-influencers with just a few thousand engaged followers can do much more good.
So remember that alignment of values and audiences is much more important than the number of followers an influencer has. Don’t underestimate how many customers an influential individual with a relatively small following can bring in (for far less money than a global superstar).
Try gamification
Last but not least, one way to make your marketing techniques not feel so much like marketing is to gamify them. Make them fun and interactive.
Nathan Hughes, Marketing Director at Diggity Marketing said: “A lot of marketers don’t understand how well gamification of customer interactions can work for brands. As much as this method requires some extra effort, it’s always worth it. For example, brands can conduct quizzes through Instagram or Twitter polls. Most customer interactions can be gamified and can lead to higher customer engagement.”
So it’s worth thinking of some ways—for example, user-generated content contests—that you could gamify your attraction marketing campaigns.
You can master attraction marketing
So there you have it—attraction marketing in a nutshell. It’s all about being genuine and helpful, showing how you’ve benefitted from your own products or services, and educating potential customers (instead of hard-selling your offer).
Now it’s time to put this information into action and create your own attraction marketing strategy. As you do, don’t forget to define top benefits and features, consider branding, choose your marketing channels wisely, and apply the other tips we covered. If you put your best foot forward, with a little effort and creativity, you can start attracting new customers like never before!
