Wouldn’t it be great if you could clone your best customers a few hundred times?
Not just the ones who make a purchase; we’re talking about the buyers who return often, leave great reviews, and seem to really appreciate what you offer.
Well, we can’t help you clone people (yet?). But we can show you ways to locate and engage prospects who are very similar to your premier patrons. From grassroots growth strategies to clever ad-targeting tactics, these ideas will attract a steady stream of customers you can’t wait to work with.
Contents
- Apply geofencing
- Launch a customer referral program
- Use lookalike audiences in Meta Ads
- Interact in online groups
- Advertise where your customers go to learn
- Base SEO keywords on your best customer’s search habits
- Get and respond to reviews
- Encourage UGC on social media
- Just ask
9 ways to get more great customers
Don’t settle for just getting more customers. Use these tactics to attract more profitable, more appreciative, and more fun-to-work-with customers.
1. Apply geofencing
Geofencing is a type of audience targeting that uses location technologies like GPS and WiFi to deliver marketing messages to people when they’re in a particular geographic area. You set up a virtual perimeter with geofencing, and anyone who enters it will get your promotion.
There are a few ways to use geofencing to find new customers like your best ones:
- Event targeting: Set a perimeter around a relevant event your best customer says they’ll attend.
- Addressable geofencing: Set a perimeter around your ideal customer’s office building.
- Location targeting: Set a perimeter around complementary businesses your customer frequents (e.g., a smoothie shop could geofence their best customer’s favorite gym).
Geofencing is a powerful way to send relevant, personalized promotions at the perfect time. If you want to try it, here are several examples for inspiration.
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2. Launch a customer referral program
Customer referrals are one of the best versions of word-of-mouth advertising. That’s because referral programs incentivize your best customers to become your best salespeople. Since people will refer others who have the same needs, the leads you get will automatically qualify as great potential customers.
Referral programs are also versatile. You can promote them through email, on your website, in person, or even with a point-of-purchase sign.
Referral programs can be as high or low-tech as you want.
Here are a few steps to help you build a referral program that’ll have amazing customers running to your business:
- Pick an appropriate incentive (big enough to get attention but not so big it puts you out of business).
- Set up an easy way for customers to participate.
- Promote your referral program.
- Review the results and update as needed.
3. Use lookalike audiences in Meta Ads
There are loads of ways to target audiences with your Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Ads. If you’re hoping to find someone like your best customer, lookalike audience targeting will be at the top of your list.
Lookalike audiences use a list of your current customers and find other Facebook and Instagram users who share their characteristics.
For example, say you manage a beauty salon. You can feed a list of current clients’ email addresses into the Facebook Ads Manager. It’ll create a target list of new potential clients who might be in the same age range, income level, and location as—or behave similarly to—your existing customers.
That means your Facebook and Instagram ads will show to people who are more like your best current clients.
You get to choose things like the size of your audience (often the smaller, the better for closer matches) and their geographic location (you may pick a new zip code if you’re opening a new salon). Use this guide to get started creating lookalike audiences.
4. Interact in online groups
Your favorite customer may be online right now, chatting with a bunch of other people who care about the things you sell. If you can ingratiate yourself into that forum, you’ll attract a bunch more wonderful customers to your business.
The great news is that between Reddit, Facebook groups, and a million other online communities, there’s a good chance you can find a forum that fits the bill.
What if you ran a car dealership or repair shop and found out your best customer liked to talk trucks on Reddit? You could join that community, share your expertise, and meet hundreds of people who need what you do.
Subreddits are superb places to engage with your ideal audience.
There’s some nuance needed when finding customers on Reddit and other forums. The biggest tip is to not be too salesy. Start by becoming a trusted member of the community. Offer valuable advice and ask interesting questions. When someone looks for a recommendation or asks a question about a product or service, you’ll be the default business people look to.
5. Advertise where your customers go to learn
Here’s a great conversation starter when you speak to your best customer. Ask them, “What’s your favorite [magazine, podcast, newsletter] about [topic]?”
Not only does it get them talking, but it also clues you into places where people invest their time and attention. Those are the best channels to invest marketing dollars.
Advertising on the very podcast your best customer listens to is a smart way to get in front of more best customers.
Now, we’re not suggesting you immediately pay for ads in every media outlet your current customers love. Once you have their recommendations, make sure those shows or publications:
- Have a sizable and engaged audience.
- Are affordable for your budget.
- Don’t air or print content that goes against your brand’s identity.
- Provide analytics so you can see your return.
6. Base SEO keywords on your best customers’ search habits
SEO, especially local SEO, is still a fantastic way to find new customers (nearly half of all Google searches have a local intent). Keyword research comes in clutch for getting in front of all those nearby buyers. And you can take it a step further by basing your keywords on how your best customers search.
Good local keyword research helps you rank in Google’s coveted 3-pack.
Start by asking your customers what words they typed in a search engine to find your business (or businesses like yours). Keep that list running. When they give you a word you haven’t reviewed, run it through your typical keyword research process.
Don’t stop there, though. Find out what search sites or AI tools your customers use to find businesses and solutions. We see a lot more clicks to local shops coming from answer engines like Perplexity and Gemini.
Those tech tools pull much of their data from online directories (like Yelp, for example). So make sure your business listings are up to date, too.
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7. Get and respond to reviews
When your ideal customer leaves a review, it will resonate with others who need to solve the same problems. So make sure the people you’ve already delighted share their experience on Google, Facebook, and other review sites.
There’s no shame in asking your best customers to share their love for you in a review.
There are several ways to encourage your customers to write reviews. Here are a few to consider:
- Ask them directly.
- Add a link to review sites on your website.
- Send a thank-you email or text that requests reviews.
- Request reviews through your social media feeds.
Don’t stop once the reviews start rolling in—respond to them and share them everywhere. Responding to reviews shows that you care about your customers. Reposting them to your website and social media feeds will give reviews more visibility with potential customers.
8. Encourage UGC on social media
Your customers have networks of like-minded people following their social feeds. Get them to share user-generated content (UGC) about your products, and their followers will also become customers.
Encourage your current customers to share posts about your products on their social networks.
How do you get your customers to post about your brand? Try creating a unique hashtag they can use in their posts. Or have a contest or giveaway where everyone who posts an image of your product in the wild is entered to win.
Not only will you get in front of your customer’s like-minded followers, but you’ll also get a ton of new marketing collateral to repurpose in other campaigns.
9. Just ask
Sometimes, you just need to ask your current customer who else can use your service. This is especially useful for home services businesses like plumbers, electricians, and roofers. Once you’ve completed a job, ask who else in the neighborhood needs your service.
Ask permission to place yard signs and hangtags so neighbors ask customers about your service.
You don’t have to work at a customer’s home to use this idea. You can call, email, or text anyone using your products and ask who they would contact next. In fact, it’s a good practice to ask that question every time you send a proposal. That way, you can start looking for new clients even before finishing with the current one.
Get your next best customer today
Your current customers are your best source of new leads. They’ll introduce you to ideal prospects and even help close deals. You just need to encourage the process a little.
To recap, here are nine ways to get more customers like your best customer:
- Apply geofencing
- Launch a customer referral program
- Use lookalike audiences in Meta Ads
- Interact in online groups
- Advertise where your customers go to learn
- Base SEO keywords on your best customer’s search habits
- Get and respond to reviews
- Encourage UGC on social media
- Just ask
