6 Rules for attracting new customers in the office supplies industry

In the office supplies industry, customer acquisition is just as important as retention, and making sure you’re targeting the right segments with the right offerings is key. We’ve complied some of our top tips for how you can attract new customers in an online B2B space.

Research your customer base, and know who to aim for

Search and scour for similarities within your customer base. These can be anything from industry, activity and category to size of the businesses who buy from you. You can then segment and prioritise your customers and prospects, targeting them with more specific and relevant products, services and offerings. It’s also a good idea is to use questionnaires or feedback forms to build up a picture of your current clientele and create target customer profiles based on this, in order to know who your key target market is and strive towards attracting them.

Re-think your offering

When a company is doing well, it’s also at risk of becoming stagnant. We feel that businesses should always be looking to bring in new customers, as well as catering to existing. Increasing your product range or services offered is an excellent way of doing this. With ever-increasing competition, ease of purchase and product range, it’s important to consistently revise what you’re offering your customers and prospects. As well as pleasing your existing base, offering a fresh category of products or services may open the door to a new segment entirely.

Keep on top of your website

Your website homepage is to your business what a shop front is to a brick and mortar store. It’s vital that your content is current, prices correct and special offers relevant and compelling if you want to attract new customers. There’s no harm in looking at the websites of your competitors too and asking yourself what they are doing better. Perhaps their brand is more consistently integrated across all pages, their user interface is more advanced, or their pictures are better quality. Taking this into account and making relevant investments on your site can be vital for attracting new traffic. Finally, make sure you’re refreshing your website often – we recommend at least once per quarter – ensuring banners, special offers and merchandise are regularly updated.

Collaborate with other companies

You’ve probably heard of the old adage there’s safety in numbers, but we believe there’s also power in numbers. Another excellent way of enhancing your offering – and customer base – is to collaborate with other companies, often resulting in a win-win all round. For example, look at products and services your existing customers want, where they get them from and then collaborate with partner companies who can provide this, make your offering stronger and widen your prospect net.

Use your current customers to bring in new ones

In this industry, customer loyalty goes a long way, and rewarding your high value customers with loyalty programs and benefits can prove the perfect incentive for them to recommend you to their contacts. Your research into their behaviour and segments should provide visibility as to what motivates them (free gifts, money off, special offers etc) and you can capitalise on this. You could also set up a scheduled NPS questionnaire in order to measure customer loyalty, keep on top of it and carry out positive actions should it decrease.

Capitalise on social media

Although it’s not directly revenue-generating, there’s no harm in using social media to your advantage, as it can be the perfect tool to increase brand awareness amongst prospects and increase existing customer loyalty. Think about where your prospect customer base lies and aim to target the platforms they use, such as LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. We’ve found that – surprisingly enough – people respond best to personal posts, so take the opportunity to showcase any PR updates, new products, work anniversaries, birthdays or other fun updates. If you post consistently and your content is engaging, you’ll gain the trust of your prospects, becoming part of the daily lives, and they’re more likely to think of your company next time they’re making an order.