When it comes to enticing new customers to your website, communication and strategy is everything.

Today’s leading marketing companies are continuously developing new marketing strategies. Then they are turning around and charging a hefty fee to clients to implement them. Using this type of marketing strategy is great for large companies but can often break the bank for small businesses.

However, there are some ways to skirt around paying out large sums of money to get your in-store customers to join your online community.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to attract new customers to your site. A great industry tip is to start with your offline customers first.

With that said, know who your offline customers are. Do you have a small retail store, shop, call center or physical location? The people who pass through your doors and call your toll-free or business numbers are your offline customers. The easiest way to entice these customers is at the point of sale or during any follow ups.

Follow these five tips to bring in new offline customers in the New Year:

• Ask the customer how they found you or your location. The answers to this question will give you an idea of where your customers are coming from and where you should start   advertising more. For example this could be online ads, social networks, search engines, newspaper ads and word of mouth.

• Gather customers email and/or social networking information on a convenient sheet of paper located at the register.

• Offer an incentive for customers signing up for email alerts. This could be monthly coupons, discounts, etc.

• Inform customers of the customer service and support you offer online via a website such as Facebook, twitter, etc.

• Host a contest involving one of your products or services involving customers uploading their funniest and/or creative pictures of themselves with the product

Social networking sites are exploding across the internet and continue to be extremely popular. Offer your offline customers an incentive to “Like” you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter. Add buttons to your web page to create a direct link from your page to social networking sites. These are great ways to establish an online presence especially among your offline customers.

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