All about customer acquisition strategy: definition, strategies and explanations

What you need to know about customer acquisition

Now that we have defined what customer acquisition means, let's get to the heart of the matter without further ado.

Key steps in customer acquisition

Obviously, if you want to have a winning strategy to acquire new customers, you need to know the key steps of acquisition. A customer acquisition strategy can be defined by following these steps:

1. Define your goals: Determine your company's goals for customer acquisition, such as the number of new customers, the cost of customer acquisition, customer retention, etc.
2. Analyze your current and potential customers: This step allows you to understand your target market segments, the buying behaviors of your customers, and the needs of your current and potential customers.
3. Evaluate your available acquisition channels: by studying the different acquisition channels available, such as online marketing, direct sales and public relations. This will help you determine which channels are most relevant to you in order to achieve your goals.
4. Develop a clear value proposition: identify the unique benefits of your business and why your customers should choose your products or services.
5. Allocate the necessary resources: determine the resources needed to implement your customer acquisition strategy, such as marketing expenses, salaries for sales and marketing teams, etc.
6. Measure results and refine your acquisition funnel : Measure the results of your customer acquisition strategy and refine it regularly based on the results obtained to reach your goals.

As you can see, even though the acquisition steps are simple, they are all more important than the others. You probably want to know where you can find your customers? Well, let's talk about it!

The different customer acquisition channels

As you probably already know, there are countless acquisition channels to develop your business. Kiliba shares with you a list of customer acquisition channels that you can use for your acquisition strategy.  

• Online marketing: paid online advertising, SEO, email marketing, social networks, influencer promotions, partnerships, etc.
• Traditional marketing: media advertising, advertising in public spaces, events, press articles, etc.
• Direct sales: phone calls, field visits, door to door, etc.
• Recommendations and word of mouth: customer references and referral programs.
• Customer experience: website, customer service, in-store experience.

Of course, you can't invest 100% in all acquisition channels at the same time. You have to select only a few, on which you can focus regularly with relevant actions.

When deciding where to invest, choose the areas that have the greatest impact for your business. For example, if you consider that product placements with influencers will attract the most customers, you need to spend your time and money on this acquisition channel to grow your business effectively.

What is the cost of customer acquisition and how do you calculate it?

Customer acquisition cost (CAC ) is the total cost associated with obtaining a new customer, divided by the number of new customers acquired. In short, this indicator measures the cost of the various marketing and sales actions undertaken to attract and convert a prospect into a customer.

If you want to calculate your cost of acquisition per customer yourself, remember this formula:

CAC = total costs associated with customer acquisition / number of new customers acquired

Total costs may include advertising expenses, salaries for sales and marketing teams, costs of technology resources used for online marketing, etc.

The CAC is an important indicator for the success of your business. With the CAC you measure the effectiveness of your customer acquisition efforts and determine if your cost per acquisition is in line with your break-even cost.

Why you absolutely must have an acquisition strategy? The 6 main reasons

You want to propel your business to reach your financial goals? Having a good customer acquisition strategy is one of the basic rules of marketing. Kiliba lists the 6 main reasons - in our opinion - to have an acquisition strategy.

1. Increase your revenue: By acquiring new customers, your company can increase its revenue and achieve its growth objectives.
2. Better knowledge of your target: by developing a customer acquisition strategy, you will better understand your target and the needs of your potential customers.
3. Better resource allocation: A customer acquisition strategy can help you allocate resources in an efficient and optimized way to achieve your goals.
4. Improving the quality of your customer base: By targeting the right market segments, you attract high-quality customers who have similar needs and are more likely to become your regular customers.
5. Differentiate yourself from the competition: A well-executed customer acquisition strategy can help your business stand out from the competition and attract customers effectively.
6. Build customer loyalty: By establishing a strong relationship with your new customers, you will build loyalty and encourage them to make repeat purchases over the long term. 

In summary, a well thought-out customer acquisition strategy can help you achieve your growth objectives, better understand your target market and improve the quality of your customer base.

7 steps to create your customer acquisition campaign

Below, we share with you some key steps to take to optimize your customer acquisition strategy.

1. Know your target customers

It is important that you understand the needs and expectations of your prospects to adapt your marketing communication. Moreover, if you want to get to know your customers better, there is nothing more effective than creating a persona file.

2. Have an SEO optimized site

This is one of the best long-term customer acquisition strategies. If you create content that ranks on the first page of Google results (SERP), you have every chance ofattracting your future customers. And that, in a recurring and exponential way.

3. Create a paid search campaign

In addition to a natural referencing strategy, you can invest in a paid referencing campaign. By setting up a referencing campaign, you can boost the traffic of your website and thus acquire new customers. 

4. Establish partnerships

Partnering with another company allows you to intertwine your performance with that of another brand or business. Through this acquisition strategy, you can capture qualified leads from partner companies.

5. Create relevant and impactful content for your ideal prospect

Content creation - in the broadest sense of the word - is a powerful acquisition lever. You can produce blog posts, informative videos, free e-books or even hard-hitting publications. These are great ways to position yourself as an expert in your market.

6. Build a solid reputation on social networks

According to Hubspot, when you're on a sales acquisition journey, you need to have a strong presence on your social media. Regularly publishing content on your social networks should support your buying journey. Thus, by alternating with educational, informative, promotional content and even by publishing some of your customer reviews, you boost your brand's presence on your social platforms.

7. Analyze and measure the results of the acquisition strategy

Throughout your customer acquisition process, you need to analyze and measure your KPIs. This is an essential step in any marketing strategy. This step consists in knowing if your acquisition strategy has worked. We remind you of the KPIs that you absolutely must follow to measure your acquisition results: 

• Number of visitors;
• Number of qualified leads per acquisition lever;
• Bounce rate;
• Cost per acquisition;
• Return on Investment (ROI).

By the way, if you want to know more about KPIs, we have written an article for you on how to measure and optimize your performance indicators.

Customer acquisition in a nutshell

By now, you know that customer acquisition is the process by which your company gains new customers. This includes defining the target, selecting acquisition channels, implementing effective strategies to attract prospects and convert them into customers, and measuring acquisition performance.

Acquisition channels can include online marketing, direct sales, content marketing, public relations, referrals and word of mouth. It is important to understand the needs and expectations of prospects to develop an effective acquisition strategy.

‍Clickhere to boost your customer acquisition emailing process with Kiliba.