Dreamer 2 Creator Business Magazine
BUILDING YOUR SUBSCRIBER LIST
You have thought out your business plan, chosen a logo, built a website, have unique products to sell, but how do you find customers and keep them coming back for more?
It is exciting taking those first steps to entrepreneurship. You are running on adrenaline; ideas are popping up left and right, you are coming up with what you think are unique ideas in your sleep; nothing can stop this dream you have!
Time for a reality check! Ummm, how will you get anyone to buy your products? How will you build trust? How will you compete with competitors? How will you get customers to come back for more? Sure, your product is the “best” most fantastic thing ever,….but who will buy it?
You can do all the research required, and you will find many articles on how so and so built their empire “overnight” and whatnot. Guess what? Unless you are royalty or very well known already, this is likely not going to happen. Building trust is key to building a successful Subscriber list, and depending on how hard you are willing to work; it can take some time!
I will be honest; this is something I overlooked at the beginning. Doing all this planning solo (I mean, I do have a pretty savvy hubby that would have gladly directed me, but yes, I am stubborn, yes, I want to be in control, and yes, I like my ideas better!) I did a ‘boatload’ of research on starting a business; however, I do not recall coming across too many articles about building your customer base now that I think back. Of course, you will surely come up with some great articles if you google with that actual search criteria. However, that never crossed my mind back then.
Things started slow for Hunger Hankerings, which I was okay with as I was still learning as I went along, as well as raising my family and working a full-time office job! For starters, I did some low-cost advertising on social media, Google, and Bing. That brought people to my website and got followers on social media; however, I was not getting the sales volume I was hoping for. A couple of months after launching, I had a local social media influencer contact me inquiring if I was interested in a ‘collab’ – I asked myself what the heck do they mean? (note: I was not a social media person before starting a business; it just seemed like a platform where people could put up a façade of their lives, something that this realist was not into). Therefore, thank goodness
for good ol’ Google; I looked it up and then went back to this person asking a series of questions about what exactly they were looking for.
Just a product in exchange for having a post/story written and photographed about our products. That sounded like a fair exchange to me, and it was. This social media Influencer had followers that trusted him, and they believed the products he was promoting had good value. I was getting more sales and wanted to know if they came from this collab; therefore, I started to look on social media for these people, then noticed they had a dog or a cat. This made me think; it would be so cool to send a little treat for the animals as well. Made a point to stop by the pet store and pick up a few treats and include them in the snack boxes along with a handwritten personal note. The feedback was great, customers were so grateful that we thought about their pets, yet it was a simple gesture! I continued to do this for customers who had young children, as well and added special little treats that most children would love, along with a personal note. For those that I was not sure, I would add a little sweet treat! People started to trust the brand Hunger Hankerings and appreciate the little extra touches I put in. Word was beginning to spread, and volume was picking up; repeat customers were getting numerous; it was great! The odd time I would get special requests from customers, whether it was more of a particular product, or this product instead of that, or customers buying a gift snack box and wanting it delivered by a specific date, etcetera. Being a small business, I managed all these requests, and the appreciation was great for business! A year and a bit later, I continue to do this – Why? Because it is who I am, I am not one size fits most, and I am okay with that! I have tried email marketing, CRM’s and other things you hear about regarding customer retention, and I have not had great results, and the expense involved was leaving me in the red. Not saying that I will never go that route again; however, for now, I am still able to manage this way, and customers keep coming back; therefore, I must be doing something right!
Depending on your business, this might not work for everyone; however, I suggest you do you. Do what works for you, and I guarantee results will come. Entrepreneurship is no cookie-cutter model. Sure, there are methods we use that are the same; however, behind every brand, there is the visionnaire, and you represent your brand and are what makes you different than others. Just remember that!