12 Ways to Reach More Customers Online in 2025

You’ve probably read all the stats claiming that customer acquisition is somewhere between five and 25 times more expensive than customer retention.

Besides, your existing customers are 50% more likely to try your new products and spend 31% more than the new ones, which positively impacts your customer retention rates.

But, all this doesn’t imply that customer retention should be your only focus.

Remember: all these loyal customers were once mere prospects.

And bear in mind that 50% of customers naturally churn every five years.

Now that we’ve established how important it is for your business to reach more customers online and capture their undivided attention, let’s discuss 7 tactics you can try out in 2019.

1. Polish Your Website

The goal of your marketing and advertising efforts is usually to drive traffic to your website.

Now, picture the frustration of your dedicated visitors when they arrive at a poorly structured, visually unattractive home page after all their efforts.

You can be sure that they won’t spend too much time exploring your website, which means that they won’t discover how great your products and services are.

Additionally, keeping your website updated with fresh content can attract new visitors and improve your search engine rankings.

Maybe you think it’s superficial of them to be so focused on the aesthetic component of your website, but put yourself in their position and ask yourself whether you’d be willing to trust a crummy website with your credit card number or other sensitive data.

Even research studies have shown that 94% of negative website feedback is design-related.

So, if your website looks as if it were a relic from the Windows 98 era, which takes ages to load, you’d better do something about it right away. Or your website will be perceived as untrustworthy.

Here are some ideas:

• White (space) is the new black! It will allow your content to breathe and direct your visitors’ attention to important elements of your web page.

• Optimise your nav bar and help your visitors explore your website effortlessly. Single-page web design is currently popular, as it’s user-friendly and works well across different devices.

• Speed up your load times. Besides expecting a sleek and polished website, your visitors would also like it to load before they even click on it. OK, this is an exaggeration, but sluggishness will make your bounce rates soar. Google’s experts suggest you should keep your load times below 3 seconds.

2. Leverage Social Proof to Attract Potential Customers

No matter how much you try to convince your audience that your intentions are sincere and that your products or services are indeed of superb quality, they’d still rather hear it from somebody else, preferably not affiliated with your brand.

A Nielsen survey conducted in 2015 showed that 83% of consumers trusted recommendations from friends and family over brands.

Similarly, 57% of consumers believe that less than 50% of brands produce relatable and authentic content.

So, if you want to reach a larger portion of your audience and catch their eye, ask your existing customers to put in a good word for you.

Customer testimonials that you can put on your website will dispel your prospect’s doubts and suspicions about the quality of your products and services. This kind of social proof is particularly powerful when displayed on your home page, product pages, and thank you page, especially when combined with relevant content that addresses customer needs.

3. Local SEO for Better Visibility on Search Engines

A local SEO strategy is particularly effective if you’re running a brick-and-mortar business, but even if your business operates mainly online, it’s a good idea to target local audiences. Implementing a robust local SEO marketing strategy can significantly enhance your visibility to local customers. Read: What is local SEO?

Various stats corroborate this claim, and the most striking one is that in 2017, 97% of consumers looked online for local businesses.

Similarly, 50% of people who perform a local search visit a local store within one day.

There are a couple of things that you can do to improve your local SEO, and I’ve already covered most of them here.

4. Double Down on Content Marketing

Crafting top-notch, meaningful content that truly speaks to your audience and tackles their prevalent challenges can be an effective strategy to attract more customers and drive them to your website. Incorporating educational content into your strategy can inform and inspire your audience, significantly boosting consumer purchasing behavior.

Local business owners sometimes think they’re too busy and incompetent to come up with useful and entertaining content, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Are you running a restaurant? Offer some interesting recipes and cooking tips.

Are you running a beauty salon? Share some skincare tips and tricks.

The point is in being helpful and showing your expertise in the field. People like doing business with established professionals, so if you come off as an expert willing to share their tricks of the trade, your target audience will naturally gravitate towards you.

Make your content marketing efforts consistent and publish as many posts as possible, because it’s a sure-fire way of generating new, qualified leads. However, forgo quantity for quality – rather post less but better, than more but nor as good. Read: What is Content Marketing?

To additionally expand your reach, join forces with other local, complementary businesses and guest post on their blog to tap into their audience.

And if you are looking for something even more creative, check out our B2B guerilla marketing ideas.

5. Maintain a Strong Presence on Social Media Platforms

Your target audience spends a lot of their free time on social media (although research says that people hang out on Facebook and Instagram even while they’re at work).

It’s only logical to grab their attention while they’re scrolling down their social media platforms by sharing a funny meme or a compelling piece of content on a relevant topic.

So, being active on at least one social media channel is essential for reaching your customers. If you can’t decide which one to pick, find out what your audience prefers and focus on that one. For a small business, utilizing popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram can be particularly effective in connecting with the community and promoting your services.

Apart from building brand awareness and entertaining your target audience, social media plays another important role as a growing number of businesses use it for customer service purposes.

So, make sure to respond to every question and acknowledge every comment, even the negative ones. You can greatly benefit from handling negative feedback in a constructive and helpful manner, as that paints your business in a positive light and shows your potential and existing customers that you care about them and their customer experience and that you’re willing to improve your service.

6. Try Paid Advertising

Organic reach is in decline.

That means that your audience won’t be shown your posts as frequently as before – Facebook’s algorithm has been tweaked so that it mainly shows posts by users’ friends and family in an attempt to encourage meaningful personal connections and interactions.

To be more precise, according to some estimates, your audience sees only 0.5% of your business page’s social media updates, which is pretty underwhelming given how much time and effort you put into your content.

So, the social media giant has practically curbed unpaid content posted by businesses and brands.

On the other hand, Facebook Ads come with great targeting options, and you can reach your audience based on their location, interests, and many other parameters. Consider incorporating video ads into your strategy, as they can capture audience attention effectively when placed before relevant YouTube videos.

Although the company recently announced that after years of criticism, it will prevent advertisers from targeting audiences based on age, race, and gender, there are still a lot of ways to make your campaigns granular and serve different segments of your audience with ads relevant to them.

You’ll still be able to take advantage of their recent purchasing behaviour, important life events, lookalike audiences, and layer targeting options.

Finally, Facebook retargeting is a powerful way of staying on your prodigal prospects’ radar and convincing them to come back and complete their purchase, and it can bring you a lot of new, first-time customers.

7. Give Something for Free

Although we’ve been told that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, you can bet that this adjective sounds like music to your prospects’ ears.

Additionally, well-targeted email campaigns can keep your prospects engaged and informed about your latest offerings.

This magic word can do wonders for the promotion of your business, as it’s a powerful psychological motivator.

In reality, that free lunch, subscription to your service, or branded merch has a subconscious impact on your prospects, and after that, they won’t be able to help but come back and purchase something from you.

This is called the reciprocity principle – “responding to a positive action with another positive action.”

In other words, your potential customers will feel almost obliged to return you a favour by becoming your actual paying customers.

So, in reality, the no-free-lunch paradigm is an accurate one, because, in the end, your prospects end up paying for what you’ve given them with their loyalty.

Try at least some of these ways of reaching more customers, but bear in mind that some of them will take some time to return results – SEO and content marketing in particular, for example.

If you need help with writing blog posts, optimising your online resources for search engines or with your paid advertising, get in touch with us at BeFound SEO and let us help you come up with a strategy that works.

8. Create and Verify Your Google Business Profile

Creating and verifying your Google Business Profile is a crucial step in promoting your business online. A Google Business Profile is a free directory listing that allows your business to show up in Google Maps results and the local section of Google Search results. To create and verify your profile, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Google My Business website and sign in with your Google account.

2. Enter your business name and location to find your listing.

3. If you don’t have a listing, create one by filling out the required information.

4. Verify your business by following the prompts on the screen. You may need to verify your business through a postcard, phone call, or email.

5. Once verified, optimize your listing by adding photos, hours of operation, and other relevant information.

By creating and verifying your Google Business Profile, you can increase your online visibility, attract more customers, and improve your search engine rankings. This simple yet effective step ensures that potential customers can easily find your business and get all the information they need to make a decision.

9. Offer a Free Newsletter to Keep Them Informed

Offering a free newsletter is an effective way to keep your customers informed about your business and provide value to them. A newsletter can help you establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry and build trust with your customers. Here are some tips for creating a successful newsletter:

1. Define your target audience and create content that resonates with them.

2. Keep your newsletter concise and easy to read.

3. Include relevant and informative content, such as industry news, tips, and promotions.

4. Use eye-catching graphics and images to make your newsletter visually appealing.

5. Send your newsletter regularly, whether it’s weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

By offering a free newsletter, you can keep your customers engaged, attract new customers, and drive traffic to your website. Regularly providing informative content helps you stay top-of-mind with your audience and positions your business as an industry expert.

10. Encourage Customer Referrals and Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Encouraging customer referrals and word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful way to attract new customers and grow your business. Here are some tips for encouraging customer referrals:

1. Offer incentives for referrals, such as discounts or rewards.

2. Make it easy for customers to refer their friends and family by providing a referral link or code.

3. Encourage customers to share their positive experiences with your business on social media.

4. Respond promptly to customer inquiries and concerns to build trust and loyalty.

5. Use customer testimonials and reviews to showcase your business’s reputation and attract new customers.

By encouraging customer referrals and word-of-mouth marketing, you can build a loyal customer base, attract new customers, and increase your sales. Satisfied customers are your best advocates, and their recommendations can significantly boost your business.

11. Provide Excellent Customer Support and Service

Providing excellent customer support and service is essential for building trust and loyalty with your customers. Here are some tips for providing excellent customer support:

1. Respond promptly to customer inquiries and concerns.

2. Be friendly, helpful, and courteous in your interactions with customers.

3. Use multiple channels to communicate with customers, such as phone, email, and social media.

4. Offer solutions and alternatives to resolve customer issues.

5. Follow up with customers to ensure they are satisfied with the resolution.

By providing excellent customer support and service, you can build a loyal customer base, attract new customers, and increase your sales. Exceptional service not only retains existing customers but also turns them into advocates who bring in new clients.

12. Utilize Online Directories and Listings

Utilizing online directories and listings is an effective way to increase your online visibility and attract new customers. Here are some tips for utilizing online directories and listings:

1. Claim and optimize your listings on directories such as Google My Business, Yelp, and Bing Places.

2. Use relevant keywords and categories to help customers find your business.

3. Add photos and videos to your listings to make them more visually appealing.

4. Respond promptly to customer reviews and feedback.

5. Use online directories to promote your business and attract new customers.

By utilizing online directories and listings, you can increase your online visibility, attract new customers, and drive traffic to your website. These platforms are essential for small businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with potential customers.