Developed A Great New Product? Time To Get Your First Customers.

You did it – you’ve developed an awesome new product! Congratulations on achieving this big step toward your future success. Now, it’s time to get out there and start making your first sales. But who are your first customers? If you’ve done your research, you should have a clear customer profile in mind, but do you know where to physically (or digitally) find that customer in real life? The fact is, no matter how good your product (although quality obviously helps) you still have to know how to get first customers. Here are some tips to get you started on this exciting process.

Selecting The Right Customers

First let’s start with a novel concept – rather than asking for business from any and everyone, you could go a step further and be hand pick your first customers. Why would it pay to be selective? After all, all business is good business.

The fact of the matter is, your first customers can become something of a special group of supporters and long-term patrons for your business. Think of it like watching someone grow – by letting them in on your experience as a brand new brand, you’re building something of a sentimental attachment with these customers – at least, you have the chance.

So how and where do you select them? 

Do Some Listening On Social Media

Getting new customers on social media isn’t all about getting the word out. It’s hard to stay quiet when you’ve got a hot new product on your hands, we know, but the best way to find your customers is to listen to them – on social media or any other channel.

Go ahead and set up alerts around your most prominent search words, your company name or that of your direct competitors, then listen to the conversations that are being had.

This is a prime way to discover where your key audience is hanging out online, so you can finally start engaging with them.

Don’t Sell

Again, this may be a tough when you’ve got all of your best product pitches ready to go, but when looking for your first customers, you want to take care not to scare them away with an offer too quickly.

Now that you’ve listened to the ongoing conversations, find the opportunity to start sharing some value and expertise. This isn’t a time to sell or even mention services unless the perfect opportunity presents itself when it’s completely organic. 

You should be offering genuine input into conversations surrounding your industry. Take note of what’s being said, and what problems your audience is interested in solving. Whenever you can be helpful with an answer, you should full-heartedly engage in conversations.

Again, unless the situation truly begs for it, reserve your product promotions at this time. You want to build trust and authority in your brand.

Build Relationships 

There’s really no telling who you’ll connect with while you’re being so helpful online. You never know if your online activity is going to catch the attention of your most important new client or strategic business partner.

That’s why, if you’re interested in finding customers, you really need to be focusing on building relationships online. Whether it’s with other business owners or members of your industry, or potential leads, every connection you build has a potential to bring in new customers.

Offer Free Value

If you want to attract an audience that has a natural interest in your product, why not bate them with another free product? If you have a piece of valuable content or a cheaper add-on product that you can afford to give away for free, you also have a way to attract tons of potential customers.

One of the best and most effective ways to offer value and drive sales is an active blog. You can give away as much free valuable content as you wish, while having the organic space to gradually build to a pitch or CTA.  

Just make sure whatever bate you’re putting out there is appropriate to your specific audience. To do that, you’ll need to do some basic keyword research and optimize your content appropriately.

Final Thoughts 

You may have noticed and overarching theme among all of these strategies, which may feel counterintuitive, but getting your first customers is all about listening and building connections. There will be a time and a place for hard-core sales tactics, but this isn’t it. Do your research and offer value wherever you can – the effort you put in will pay itself back in your future sales. Play it right, and you’ll find a loyal group of followers that may turn into your biggest brand ambassadors.