Bakery business owners understand they continually need to retain and attract new customers in order to maintain continued growth for their business.

The key to attracting new customers is to find out where your customers are and position your business in front of them to ensure they receive your key messages.

With so many people now using the internet the best place to attract new customers is online. Your business then needs to implement online marketing strategies to gain new customers and grow your baking business.

Here are some online marketing strategies to help you get started.

Social media

With more than 1.11 billion monthly active users on Facebook and 550 million users on Twitter, social media is a great place to find new customers. By starting a business profile on social media you can communicate with existing customers as well as reach a wider audience of people with your message.

You can turn some of your social media followers into new customers by building a great relationship with them. You can do this by providing information of value to them, responding to their comments or complaints, providing great online customer service, offering promotions and engaging them in the business. Once your followers trust your business and feel valued they may turn into loyal customers.

Social media also helps to drive traffic to your website, which will encourage your followers to become new customers or clients.

Website

When searching for information about a baking business most people go straight to an online search engine such as Google. This means your business needs to appear in search engine results to be found by potential customers.

You can increase your website’s search engine rank by improving your search engine optimisation. This involves adding better keywords to your website copy, regularly updating your website content and creating backlinks to your website.

Search engines drive people back to your website, but it’s up to you to turn these leads into new customers. One strategy to achieve this is by providing great content on your website, which your customers will be interested in reading. Your website should be easy to navigate and show customers exactly what they were looking for. It should also provide a reason for people to keep coming back or to purchase your products.

Online directories

Many people use online directories to search for business information. Industry-specific online directories provide a comprehensive list of businesses in a particular area. It’s then a great strategy to get listed on an online directory because it positions your business directly in front of potential customers.

Online directories also help to increase your search engine optimisation (SEO) and provide quality backlinks to your website.

Word of mouth

Don’t forget about your existing customers because they can help you to achieve consistent sales and grow your business. By engaging with your customers online and providing great customer service you can build up their loyalty to your brand.

Happy and loyal customers will then recommend you to their friends or share information about your business through social media. This is called word-of-mouth marketing and is an effective way of attracting new customers.

These online marketing strategies will help your baking business attract new customers by getting seen by a wider audience of people and by building great relationships with existing and potential customers.

GoHospitality.com.au is an online business directory servicing the hospitality industry. Owned and operated by Catch, an online division of Cirrus Media, GoHospitality.provides a comprehensive central online source containing the latest product, company and industry news updates.