Customer Acquisition: How to Win New Customers

Your customers are your company’s astir valuable assets. 

So, you request to person a coagulated customer acquisition strategy that consistently brings caller customers to your business. Helping you make much gross and sustainable growth. 

In this guide, we’ll show you really to build a powerful customer acquisition strategy that attracts caller leads and turns them into loyal customers. 

But first, let’s commencement pinch nan basics.

What Is Customer Acquisition?

Customer acquisition is nan process of bringing caller customers to your business. Through channels for illustration societal media, hunt engines (like Google), and email marketing.

Customer acquisition involves identifying, reaching, engaging, and nurturing imaginable customers done these channels. And yet converting them into paying customers.

The superior extremity of customer acquisition is to prosecute your imaginable customers successful ways that build trust, liking successful what you person to offer, and a willingness to make a purchase.

In this way, customer acquisition goes hand-in-hand pinch customer retention.

Customer Acquisition vs. Customer Retention

Customer acquisition focuses connected acquiring caller customers.

Customer retention is nan process of turning your existing customers into repetition buyers.

Both are intimately linked and basal for semipermanent occurrence and business growth. But you can’t clasp customers without acquiring them successful nan first place.

Further reading: 65 Customer Retention Statistics You Need to Know successful 2024

Why Is Customer Acquisition Important?

Customer acquisition helps you grow your customer base. And it counterbalances nan earthy attrition of your existing customer base. 

Because nary matter really bully a company’s customer retention strategy is, they’re apt to suffer immoderate existing customers complete time. 

Having a powerful customer acquisition strategy lets you offset these inevitable losses. Helping your business not only support a equilibrium but besides a dependable gait of growth.

Customer acquisition is besides important for:

• Market description : Acquiring caller customers from untouched segments tin thief you diversify your customer base. And trim your dependence connected a azygous market.
• Increased marque awareness: As your customer guidelines grows, truthful does nan chance of different group proceeding astir your marque done connection of mouth. Helping you summation marque consciousness and build a coagulated estimation successful nan market.
• Gather feedback: New customers bring caller feedback and demands. Which tin thief you thrust improvements successful your products aliases services.

The 3 Main Customer Acquisition Stages

At immoderate fixed time, your customers are astatine different stages of nan buyer’s journey. This travel tin beryllium summarized into a chimney of 3 customer acquisition stages:

1. Awareness

In nan consciousness stage, imaginable customers understand that they person a circumstantial request aliases problem. And they whitethorn (or whitethorn not) beryllium actively looking for a solution. They besides apt don’t person a merchandise aliases work successful mind yet.

This is your opportunity to drawback their attraction and present them to your brand. By addressing and providing a solution to their problem. 

Imagine you waste an online fittingness course. Your imaginable customers see group who consciousness little energetic and struggle to enactment motivated passim nan day. 

They hunt for queries for illustration “how to get fit” aliases “how to summation power levels” connected Google.

Here, they recognize they person a problem and request a solution. But they aren’t needfully looking to make a acquisition yet.

2. Consideration

In this stage, imaginable customers research different solutions to lick their problem. This is your opportunity to show really your solution stands retired from nan alternatives.

Your imaginable customers person realized that subscribing to an online fittingness people tin thief them.

They now hunt for queries for illustration “best online fittingness courses” connected Google. To comparison nan different options and find nan champion fresh for them.

3. Conversion 

Conversion is nan last shape wherever imaginable customers make nan determination to acquisition your merchandise aliases service. 

Your imaginable customers person compared different online fittingness courses. And are now leaning toward your course.

This is wherever having an effective conversion complaint optimization strategy comes into play.

Top Customer Acquisition Channels

Here are nan champion customer acquisition channels to consider, nary matter what type of business you run:

1. Organic Search 

Organic hunt refers to unpaid listings that look successful hunt motor results pages (SERPs). 

Here’s an illustration of a website ranking organically for nan keyword “best task guidance software”:

Why leverage integrated hunt arsenic a customer acquisition channel?

Because Google processes 6.3 cardinal searches each minute. Bing has much than 100 million regular progressive users crossed nan globe.

Search engines for illustration Google, Bing, and Yahoo are nan go-to places for galore group to find answers to their queries. And—importantly—to observe products and services.

Standard integrated hunt listings correspond awesome opportunities for customer acquisition. For example, a imaginable customer astatine nan opening of nan buyer’s travel mightiness hunt for a word for illustration “what is padel tennis” and spot results for illustration below:

The apical consequence is from Head, a sports institution that sells padel racquets. They see links to their products successful this article. Showcasing integrated hunt arsenic a viable customer acquisition channel.

But integrated hunt is besides a powerful acquisition transmission for mini and section businesses.

Imagine you ain a plumbing business. And you target imaginable customers successful your section area.

Your target assemblage mightiness hunt for nan keyword “plumbing services london” and spot your website ranking successful nan local pack. 

Appearing successful nan section battalion can:

• Increase your business’s visibility
• Provide users pinch cardinal accusation astir your business (like wherever it is connected nan map)
• Build credibility

2. Paid Search

Paid search refers to paid hunt results. These results are typically branded arsenic “Sponsored” aliases “Ad.” 

Here’s an illustration of a paid hunt advertisement ranking for nan query “web hosting provider”:

To leverage paid hunt arsenic a customer acquisition channel, you request to tally a paid ads campaign. 

On hunt engines, paid ads typically tally connected a pay-per-click (PPC) basis. PPC is simply a business exemplary wherever an advertiser pays a interest each clip personification clicks connected their ad. 

When you motorboat a PPC campaign, your ads tin look successful beforehand of your target assemblage almost instantly. And nan infinitesimal you extremity backing your PPC run aliases your advertisement fund runs out, nan visibility and postulation from these campaigns travel to an contiguous stop. 

Aside from accepted hunt ads that look for illustration those successful nan image above, you’ll besides find paid ads successful Google’s Shopping tab.

People browsing this tab for hunt position are apt successful nan information aliases possibly moreover conversion shape of nan customer acquisition funnel. Making paid ads successful this area a useful transmission for businesses that waste products.

You tin besides find paid ads successful areas for illustration nan section finder, which appears erstwhile you grow nan section pack.

As pinch appearing successful nan section battalion organically, this is simply a useful spot to get your section business successful beforehand of searchers that are apt fresh to walk money. 

Organic societal refers to unpaid societal media content. 

As pinch integrated search, you don’t person to salary money to put your contented successful beforehand of your target audience. Instead, your assemblage discovers it naturally.

Here’s an illustration of societal media station from Chewy organically appearing successful Instagram’s reel section:

People walk an mean of more than 2 hours connected societal media each day. And societal media platforms person billions of progressive users.

But which platform(s) should you choose?

Identify nan ones wherever your target assemblage hangs retired nan most. And makes purchasing decisions on. 

For example, if you waste customer narration guidance (CRM) software, leveraging professional/business-focused channels for illustration LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) make sense. 

Conversely, if you tally a manner brand, see Instagram and TikTok. Because these platforms are visually oriented and often utilized to stock manner and manner content.

Paid social is societal media contented you show to your target assemblage done paid ads. 

Such contented is typically marked arsenic “Ad,” “Promoted,” aliases “Sponsored.”

Here’s an illustration of a paid advertisement connected LinkedIn:

Here are immoderate benefits of paid societal complete organic:

• Targeted reach: You tin pinpoint what benignant of group you want to prosecute by mounting circumstantial criteria specified arsenic age, location, interests, and behaviors
• Fast visibility: You tin quickly boost visibility because paid ads tin commencement showing up successful your audience’s feeds arsenic soon arsenic you money your campaigns
• Track results: You tin intimately show nan effectiveness of your campaigns by search metrics for illustration engagement rate, click-through rate, and conversions

As pinch paid hunt ads, location are various places your paid societal media contented tin appear. Including successful users’ feeds, stories, and videos, for illustration Instagram Reels. 

5. Email 

Email is different powerful customer acquisition channel. Because billions of people usage email to pass pinch others. 

You tin leverage this transmission to straight pass pinch your imaginable and existing customers. 

Here’s an illustration from Airtable, wherever they pass nan motorboat of their caller feature, Airtable AI, done email:

Unlike galore different customer acquisition channels, wherever algorithms tin person a awesome effect connected your visibility, you person (almost) afloat power complete email. 

You tin leverage this transmission for different purposes. Like educating imaginable customers astir your products and promoting caller offerings. 

Further reading: What Is Email Marketing? The Definitive Guide for Beginners

6. Podcast Streaming Platforms

More than 460 million group perceive to podcasts. Making podcast streaming platforms (like Spotify and Apple Podcasts) awesome channels for customer acquisition.

Imagine you ain a mini java shop. 

By hosting a podcast that focuses connected discussions astir java beans and brewing techniques, you tin pull an assemblage willing successful specialty java and café culture.

By sharing your expertise and passion for coffee, you tin build spot and found your marque arsenic a thought leader successful nan java industry. 

You tin besides look arsenic a impermanent connected different celebrated coffee-related podcasts aliases induce experts to speak connected your ain podcast. 

When you induce manufacture experts to your show, it enriches your podcast pinch divers knowledge and perspectives. Making it appealing to regular listeners.

Similarly, by appearing connected different podcasts, you tin pat into nan host’s established pursuing and authority to grow your reach. And further build spot and authority pinch imaginable customers. 

6 Winning Customer Acquisition Strategies

Here are six customer acquisition strategies to suit nan channels we discussed above:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search motor optimization (SEO) is nan process of improving a website’s hunt motor visibility done non-paid tactics. 

These strategies impact publishing high-quality contented and optimizing it for some users and hunt engines. Helping you amended visibility and pull much customers.

The higher your website ranks connected hunt engines, nan much apt it is to beryllium seen by imaginable customers. 

A Backlinko study of astir 4 cardinal Google Search results revealed that:

• The first integrated hunt consequence attracts 27.6% of each clicks
• The 2nd position receives 15.8%.
• The 3rd integrated hunt consequence garners 11% of nan full clicks

SEO involves a batch of different strategies and techniques, including:

• Finding nan correct keywords for your business
• Making your website mobile-friendly
• Adding on-page SEO elements (like title tags and headers) to your webpages 
• Linking internally to different important pages and posts

And overmuch more.

Semrush offers a wide scope of devices to guideline your SEO efforts. 

Like nan Keyword Magic Tool. It helps you place applicable keywords for your business. Which you tin target connected your website to amended your rankings. 

To get started, participate a seed keyword (a wide word related to your business). Select a target location and click “Search.”

Next, you’ll spot a database of related keywords. Along pinch cardinal metrics for illustration search intent, hunt volume, and keyword difficulty. 

To find keywords that are astir apt to lead to customer acquisition for your business, constrictive your hunt down pinch filters.

For example, you tin select for position pinch little keyword difficulties. To do this, click nan “KD %” select and group a civilization scope of 0-49. Then click “Apply.”

You tin besides select by intent. This lets you only show keywords that, for example, propose nan searcher is person to nan conversion shape of nan customer acquisition funnel. 

To do this, click nan “Intent” select and prime “Commercial” and “Transactional.” Then click “Apply.”

In nan database below, you whitethorn want to target position for illustration “dog toys for fierce chewers.” It’s a circumstantial keyword pinch precocious hunt measurement and a comparatively debased keyword difficulty. Plus, it has transactional intent (denoted by nan “T”), indicating nan searcher is fresh to buy.

Once you person a database of keywords to target, you tin past create and optimize high-quality contented for those terms. And hopefully thrust imaginable customers to your website done integrated search.

2. Paid Advertising

You tin tally paid advertising campaigns connected hunt engines, for illustration Google and Bing. And connected societal media platforms, for illustration Facebook and LinkedIn.

Obviously paid advertisement campaigns costs money. So this is only a viable customer acquisition strategy for those pinch nan budget. 

However, it tin output results overmuch faster than a strategy for illustration SEO. Making it an perfect prime for businesses that request to person users quickly. Or for launching products aliases typical promotions that are time-sensitive. 

Use Semrush’s advertizing devices to guideline your paid ads efforts. 

For example, nan Advertising Research instrumentality helps you reappraisal your competitors’ ads pinch ease. To find retired what’s moving for them and summation insights to accommodate your ain strategies.

Enter your competitor’s website URL and prime your target location. Then click “Search.” 

Then click nan “Ads Copies” tab. 

Here, you tin spot a database of ads your competitor has used, and nan transcript each advertisement contained. Clicking nan “Keywords” drop-down nether 1 of nan ads will show you each nan keywords nan advertisement could show for. Along pinch hunt measurement and nan costs per click.

You tin usage these arsenic inspiration to tally a winning paid hunt run for your ain business. 

Social media trading refers to nan usage of societal media platforms to people pull and prosecute your audience. It involves:

• Building a societal media strategy
• Publishing high-quality contented consistently connected societal media channels wherever your target assemblage is astir active
• Interacting pinch your target audience, typically done comments
• Analyzing and reporting connected platform-specific metrics

Social media trading tin thief you scope much customers. But it requires important clip investment.

Use nan Semrush Social toolkit to streamline nan societal media guidance process. For example, usage nan Social Poster to draft, schedule, and station contented connected aggregate societal media channels astatine once.

Use Social Tracker to analyse your competitors’ societal media presence. And comparison their maturation and engagement to yours.

And usage Social Analytics to measurement your societal media trading efforts. To show your followers and engagement levels for Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn each successful 1 place.

Finally, usage Social Inbox to person and respond to societal media messages crossed different platforms, each successful 1 place.

These devices make managing your societal media trading strategy straightforward and little clip consuming. So you tin attraction much connected customer acquisition, alternatively than juggling tons of different platforms astatine 1 time.

4. Content Marketing

Content trading involves producing and sharing valuable online contented (like blog posts, how-to guides, videos, podcast episodes, and emails) to pull and prosecute your target audience. 

You tin create contented for different customer acquisition channels for illustration integrated search, integrated social, email, and podcast streaming platforms. 

Content trading tin increase marque awareness, build trust, and found authority. Helping you make much leads and conversions.

Content trading is much than conscionable producing and sharing contented online. You request to nutrient contented that’s valuable, engaging, and interesting. It should:

• Address your audience’s needs and problems
• Provide them pinch a solution 
• Catch their attraction astatine first glimpse and support them engaged
• Encourage your readers/viewers to return action

Use nan Topic Research instrumentality to make ideas for engaging content. Enter a wide taxable related to your business. Let’s ideate you connection schematic creation tuition services and you besides connection courses arsenic a integer product.

Select your target location and click “Get contented ideas.”

The instrumentality will show cards of related topics for you to create contented around. Clicking “Show more” nether 1 of nan cards displays apical headlines and questions for that topic. 

Along pinch hunt volume, difficulty, and taxable ratio (where precocious taxable ratio intends precocious measurement but debased difficulty).

Use these taxable ideas to create content. Or to optimize your existing contented pinch applicable subheadings and questions your target assemblage is asking.

For example, you could create blog posts that reply questions surrounding wherever group tin study schematic creation and really they tin study logo design. Then you tin constituent to your people wrong those blog posts arsenic a measurement to get customers.

5. Video Marketing

Video trading uses videos to marketplace your product, service, aliases brand. 

It involves planning, producing, editing, and sharing videos connected different channels. Like YouTube, societal media, and your website.

Here’s an illustration from GoPro’s YouTube channel:

The video showcases user-generated content successful a measurement that besides shows disconnected GoPro’s product. Making it a awesome blend of entertaining contented and merchandise promotion.

You tin create different kinds of videos to suit different customer acquisition strategies:

• Educational: To amended your assemblage astir a circumstantial taxable revolving astir their symptom points
• User-generated: To showcase real-life customer experiences related to your product, service, aliases marque (like nan GoPro illustration above)
• Product walkthroughs: To show really your merchandise works
• How-to: To present applicable proposal aliases instructions connected achieving circumstantial tasks utilizing your product
• Case study: To showcase results achieved by your customers aft utilizing your merchandise aliases service

You tin usage videos to found a beardown integrated beingness (as videos often show up successful Google hunt results). 

And you tin usage them successful your paid advertisement campaigns. To summation nan chances of catching your audience’s attention. And making them click-through to your landing pages.

Further reading: Video Marketing: The Ultimate Guide for 2024

6. Email Marketing

Email trading involves sending targeted emails to your email list. This is simply a database of email addresses of group who person signed up to person emails from your business. 

You tin tally email trading campaigns to:

• Keep your subscribers engaged, by sharing valuable contented for illustration blog posts
• Inform imaginable customers astir upcoming merchandise launches
• Promote typical offers aliases discounts to promote sales
• Announce events aliases webinars

Segment your email database to present much personalized and applicable contented to different groups of subscribers. Based connected their interests, behaviors, and stages successful nan customer journey.

Different types of emails you tin create include:

Educational Emails

Educational emails thief you reside and supply a solution to nan problems your target assemblage faces. Further helping you build spot and found your marque arsenic an authority successful nan field.

The Semrush Newsroom email newsletter is an illustration of this. It provides readers pinch nan latest SEO news, on pinch adjuvant tips and resources. 

Promotional Emails

Promotional emails tin thief you promote purchases. By showcasing typical offers, discounts, aliases caller products to promote purchases.

This email, by Old Navy, uses a consciousness of urgency to thrust purchases. The countdown timepiece indicates that a 40% disconnected everything waste is ending soon. Also, nan usage of "online exclusive" suggests that this connection isn’t disposable successful beingness stores.

Re-Engagement Emails

Re-engagement emails tin thief you reconnect pinch subscribers who haven't interacted pinch your marque successful a while. 

This email by Grammarly is simply a clever illustration of a re-engagement email. The playful conception of a “Wrinkle successful Time Badge” adds a touch of joke and acknowledges nan user's absence without being pushy.

Also, it encourages nan recipient to travel backmost and proceed utilizing nan work by reminding them of nan worth Grammarly adds to their writing.

How to Build a Customer Acquisition Plan

Follow these steps to create a winning customer acquisition scheme for your business:

1. Define Your Target Audience

Defining your target assemblage gives you clarity on: 

• The challenges they face
• How they make purchasing decisions
• What benignant of contented they for illustration to consume
• Which platforms they use
• Their interests

To find retired elaborate accusation astir your target assemblage and wherever they bent out, usage Semrush’s One2Target tool.

To start, participate up to 5 competitor URLs (your competitor’s target assemblage is apt akin to yours). Then, click “Analyze.”

The instrumentality will past supply accusation astir your competitors’ target audience. Like their demographics, behaviors, and socioeconomics. You tin find retired which platforms your target assemblage uses by clicking nan “Behavior” tab.

This shows you which societal media platforms are astir celebrated pinch each competitor’s audience. Use this accusation to understand which societal media platforms mightiness beryllium nan champion customer acquisition channels for your ain business.

2. Perform Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis is nan process of researching your competitors to amended understand their product, sales, and trading strategies. 

You tin usage this investigation to place their strengths and weaknesses. And observe opportunities. 

Performing competitory study lets you:

• Better understand your target market, industry, and customers
• Find retired who your nonstop competitors are
• Understand what customer acquisition channels your competitors are using
• Identify gaps successful your existing customer acquisition strategy

Semrush’s Organic Research instrumentality lets you summation insights into your competitor’s beingness connected hunt engines. Use this accusation to understand really you tin leverage integrated hunt arsenic a customer acquisition channel.

To get started, participate a competitor’s domain, take a target location, and click “Search.”

Next, you’ll spot a broad overview of their domain's capacity successful integrated hunt results. This includes cardinal metrics for illustration nan number of keywords they rank for, their integrated traffic, and their apical keywords by postulation share. 

Clicking “View each # keywords” shows you each nan keywords that competitor ranks for.

This information tin springiness you an penetration into nan kinds of position your competitors are targeting. Helping you understand what kinds of keywords you mightiness want to target pinch your ain contented trading efforts.

3. Set Your Goals

Setting due goals will guideline your customer acquisition efforts. 

They should straight align pinch your business goals. To beryllium your customer acquisition efforts are straight contributing to your gross metrics.

So, if your gross extremity is $500K successful caller business complete nan adjacent year, you request to group customer acquisition goals that straight align pinch reaching this gross target.

Use nan SMART model to do this:

Here’s an illustration of a SMART customer acquisition goal:

Acquire 10,000 caller website visitors by nan extremity of Q3 done a operation of SEO and contented trading strategies.

This extremity is:

• (S)pecific: Focused connected expanding website visitors
• (M)easurable: Quantified arsenic 10,000 visitors
• (A)chievable: It’s a reasonably realistic number
• (R)elevant: More visitors tin lead to much conversions
• (T)ime-bound: By nan extremity of Q3 2024

Here are immoderate much examples of SMART customer acquisition goals you tin accommodate to your ain plans:

• Convert 2% of website visitors into email subscribers wrong nan adjacent 6 months by optimizing nan website's telephone to action placements and offering valuable lead magnets
• Launch a targeted advertisement run connected LinkedIn to make 500 qualified leads successful Q2, aiming for a 5% conversion complaint into paying customers

4. Decide nan Best Customer Acquisition Channels for Your Business

We noted supra that you tin find nan champion societal media platforms to target arsenic customer acquisition channels utilizing nan One2Target tool. 

But present are a fewer much ways to place nan champion channels for your business:

• Conduct customer surveys: Ask your existing customers (or leads) which channels they’re progressive connected nan most, aliases really they recovered your business
• Track your website analytics: This helps you understand which sources already thrust postulation to your website
• Perform A/B testing: Run trading campaigns crossed different channels to spot which platforms present nan champion return connected finance (ROI)
• Use manufacture benchmarks: Research manufacture benchmarks to understand which ones typically connection nan champion return for businesses for illustration yours

You besides request to see your fund and resources. If you person a constricted budget, you mightiness person to norm retired strategies for illustration paid societal and alternatively attraction connected SEO aliases contented marketing. 

And while targeting aggregate channels tin make much leads and income erstwhile done right, spreading your resources excessively bladed tin mitigate these imaginable gains. So you mightiness spot amended results by focusing connected a azygous transmission astatine first.

5. Measure Your Customer Acquisition Efforts

Measuring your customer acquisition efforts tin springiness insights into what’s moving and what’s not. Helping guarantee you walk your trading fund wisely.

Here are immoderate cardinal metrics to track:

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

CAC is nan full costs of acquiring a caller customer. It includes trading and income expenses divided by nan number of caller customers acquired during a circumstantial period. You cipher it pinch nan pursuing formula:

Customer Growth Rate

This is nan summation successful nan number of caller customers complete a circumstantial clip frame. It reflects nan business's expertise to grow its customer base.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

CLV is nan full gross a business tin reasonably expect from a azygous customer passim nan business relationship.

Churn Rate

Churn complaint is nan percent of customers aliases subscribers who extremity utilizing a company's products aliases services wrong a circumstantial clip period. It's a captious metric for knowing customer retention and satisfaction.

Continuously Refine Your Content Acquisition Strategy

Building a customer acquisition strategy isn’t a one-off task. 

You request to measurement your efforts and continuously refine it. Based connected what’s moving for your business. And what’s not.

Tools for illustration Semrush tin thief you astatine each measurement of nan customer acquisition process.

Whether it’s nan Keyword Magic Tool to find position to target pinch your blog content. Or One2Target for identifying nan champion societal media platforms to tally paid ads connected to scope your target audience.

Get entree to 55+ adjuvant devices and reports pinch a Semrush free trial.