The #1 entry on most small business owners’ wish list is “More customers!” Beginning and building relationships with people in your community is hard. There’s a lot of competition for people’s interest, attention spans are shorter than ever before, and boosting local visibility can be expensive. With that in mind, here are 3 things you need to know about local customer acquisition to make the process easier:

[Tweet “67% of mobile users play games.”]

1. Local customer acquisition is an ongoing process.

You have a constant need for new customers. Your efforts to attract and retain people’s interest should be just as constant. Create a customer acquisition plan that describes the methods you’ll be using throughout the year, including any social media, event, advertising or promotional efforts that are specifically targeted at introducing new people to your business. You want to make sure you have local customer acquisition efforts in place for every week of the year, so no opportunities are missed.

2. Encourage your existing customers to recruit their friends.

If you’ve got a customer who really loves your business, it’s not an unreasonable expectation that their friends might like you as well. Using the data from your POS system and website analytics, identify your best customers and what offers they’re most responsive to. Use these insights to create an offer they can share with a friend – email marketing is the ideal channel for this type of customer acquisition campaign.

3. Games are a proven powerful local customer acquisition tool.

Your customers are on their smartphones just as much as you are – and maybe even more! 67% of mobile users play games. The most popular form of games are called casual games – simple, quick, easy to play games that are designed to put a smile on players’ faces. Games can be built to capture valuable customer data & contact information, which makes effective targeted remarketing possible. Here’s an example of one of our newest games, Holiday Hunt, which provides the fun experience local shoppers crave while helping you build your email list.

To recap:

• Customer acquisition is a constant process – you need tools in place to connect with new local customers throughout the year.
• Your existing customers are the best source of new customers. Reward them for spreading the word about your business.
• Games are the customer acquisition tool Millennial and Gen Z shoppers are very responsive to.