Creative Customer Acquisitions in 2024

In the fast-evolving landscape of customer acquisition, thinking outside the box is essential for cost-effective and inventive strategies to attract new customers. It’s time to break away from the ordinary and explore innovative strategies to bring in those new customers. So, here are some fresh tactics to keep your brand on the cutting edge. 

1. Live Selling/ Commerce Adoption

Live commerce will make up 20% of total e-commerce by 2026, making early adoption a game-changer. 

Combining entertainment with instant purchasing through live selling is transforming how people shop.  

Explore live commerce avenues on platforms like TikTok, FB & IG, Amazon, and Poshmark, and unique apps like WhatNot, Buy With, Bambuser, Chanelize, and Livescale. Some of these apps are shopping platforms that allow you to go live on SM or your own Shopify website and some of these apps are their own Shopping platform where you can expose your brand and products to entirely new customers. If you’re short on staff, collaborating with influencers on these platforms that live in your area to do the live product showcases for you is another fantastic way to capture new markets and shine the spotlight on your brand. 

2. Diversifying Marketplaces

Explore alternatives like Nift which is kind of like a match-making platform but instead of finding you a date for Friday night, it will find you the perfect outfit, handbag, and perfume for your date. It matches customers to products. Also utilize the marketplaces already tailored for resale businesses, such as Vestaire Collective, Depop, Mercari, Vinted, Rebag,  Poshmark, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, eBay and there are a bunch more but those are the big main ones.  

3. Focus on Zero and First-Party Data

Gathering customer data even from places like Facebook/Meta Insights is diminishing due to privacy policy changes. Focus on collecting direct customer data through engaging quizzes texting and MailChimp surveys.  

In this era of privacy changes, direct data collection becomes your golden ticket to crafting tailor-made customer experiences. Stop trying to guess what your customers are thinking or what your SM followers are thinking. Stop trying to determine how much they will or won’t pay for shipping and what they will or won’t buy. Start asking through surveys and engaging SM quizzes that are fun, and interactive and bring home the data!  

Alongside data gathering utilize the integrations between MailChimp or Constant Contact and Shopify. As you add customers to your email database send them Welcome emails and incentives to purchase. You can set up Customer Journeys which are tailored offers based on your Customers’ actions, for example sending a very enticing offer to customers who haven’t purchased yet or sending thank you offers like a Gift With Purchase to Customers who have purchased. You can also welcome back customers who haven’t purchased in 4 months by sending automated emails with an incentive to come back and buy online.  

We are currently working with our MailChimp Rep to see if we can even go deep into this personalization and be able to send customers targeted emails based on products they have purchased such as a sofa or a Louis Vuitton handbag. But until we get there, get as personal as you can with Welcome emails, thank you emails and we miss you incentives.  

4. Innovate with Partnership Marketing

Explore collaborative marketing efforts to unlock new customer segments and shared value. We’ve seen this on a large scale with brands like Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins, Peleton and Lululemon, Nike, and a zillion brands they have collaborated with.  

Joint promotions and offers can enhance the shopping experience and offer mutual benefits.  

Strategic partnerships offer a cost-effective way to reach new customers while adding value to existing ones. 

One way to go about doing this is to create an ad fund and hire a website developer to create a landing page. The landing page contains the information and links to the websites of the businesses participating in the ad collab. The ad fund pays for Google Ads, FB Ads, or even other local advertising to drive customers to that landing page.  

5. Create Buzz with Limited Releases

Generate excitement and drive sales through scarcity and exclusivity. Utilize limited releases to create urgency and exclusivity around your products.  For example, if you purchase luxury from companies like Le Prix when you get your shipment in, do a big unveiling. Plan it out with some marketing ahead of time. Let’s say you’re not 100% of the date just put teaser ads out there like “Coming Soon – Huge Luxury Drop.”  

Too Good To Be Threw located in San Antonio, TX is about to debut its Rodeo Fashion Round-Up – which we launch about 3 weeks prior to the start date of the San Antonio Rodeo. All year long they welcome in on both consignment and Buy Out Right Rodeo items. They always have a small Rodeo collection for sale at all times, but they hold back the majority of it for the big Rodeo season.  

If you get in a large closet from out of state or a boutique buyout, do these as specialized drops or unveilings.  

Limited releases can fuel customer interest and provide a compelling reason for immediate purchase and by promoting ahead of time you will gain new customers who are interested in that brand or those products or who you have attracted simply from the buzz.  

As you navigate the customer acquisition landscape in 2024 try coupling your traditional marketing of Google Ads, Yelp Ads, FB & IG Ads, alongside one or more of the unique strategies we talked about live commerce, marketplace diversification, data-centric marketing, innovative partnerships, and exclusive product releases will position your brand ahead of the curve in the dynamic digital landscape.

These are just 5 outside of the box ideas but when you think outside the box the ideas are endless so share in the comments below other unique ideas you have used for finding new customers.

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