Attracting and retaining customers can take a long while for new businesses, and the world does not stop after those early days. While the time it takes to build up a strong and sustainable customer base can differ depending on industry or business type, it’s worth remembering that you are not alone in this endeavor.
In this article we highlight stories from Seller Community members about their own journeys toward building up their businesses, along with tips on how you can leverage promotional tactics, such as word-of-mouth, online, and social media advertising.
Who is your customer base?
It’s important to identify the customer base for your business. Your customer base is the group of people who purchase your products or use the services you offer repeatedly. Again, depending on your industry, your base can be a specific group or a target audience based on a buyer persona.
Once you have determined your customer base, it’s time to start getting them through the door.
Start small and build it up.
For many sellers, pop-ups or farmer markets were a great way to build their offerings and establish early connections with customers before moving into a brick-and-mortar store or a more permanent setup.
@SweetDaniB, who specializes in decorated cookie favors and platters, stresses how important this step was for her:
For me it was important to build up my clientele and steady orders before taking on the rent and responsibility of a storefront, so I did that via social media, first working out of my house and private studios for about 10 years before opening my storefront in 2017. These days our business has a very sweet and steady base of regular customers. Some of the best of our ”cookie friends” have got engaged, wedding showered, married, baby showered, and even [celebrated] first birthdays and so on with us! Xo
Similarly, @mksavage, the owner of Savage Goods cafe, talks of how starting at the farmers market plays a part in their success:
We’re a brick-and-mortar cafe, but we first started as a home bakery/farmers market stand. It wasn’t necessarily our intention, but we sold from home/at the farmers market for four years before opening the brick and mortar. And I think that has been a huge part of our success.
From the day we opened, we had a committed clientele, people who were eagerly awaiting our opening day. Since there was already some momentum/word of mouth, it didn’t take as long to get the train moving, if that makes sense. From there we’ve, of course, had to continue finding ways to reach new customers, which we primarily do through word of mouth, social media, and “experiential marketing” (basically, getting our food to as many people as possible through donations, spontaneous drop-offs, catering, etc.). The brick and mortar has been open for six years now, and just last year I felt like we had hit a critical mass where enough people know about us that we’re consistently bringing in new customers. The food industry is funny though — people have their favorites, and it takes a lot for them to try a new place. So, it takes time and consistently provides a great product/experience.
For @eatunicookies, farmers markets and events are a great place to meet new customers, get them to follow you on social media, and have them come back again at the next event:
We got our first sales from word of mouth. However, our community started growing after we joined our first pop-up market. This is when people actually began following our Facebook and Instagram, waiting for us to post our next event. The time from inception to our first fan was three weeks.
Our focus on going into this thing was to have something to leverage a platform for community. In further reaches of our business, we’d like to explore and experiment with mentorships and charitable collaborations, so pop-ups and markets have been a great way to advertise, do F2F marketing, and meet so many people from all walks of life.
Be patient.
Getting a consistent and returning group of customers does not happen immediately. Depending on the business and the services you offer, it can take anywhere from a couple of months to at least two to five years. The start may be rough, but it’s important to be patient and focus on the quality of your offerings or services instead of trying to rush things along.
As @PbAcupuncture, owner of Pins and Blossoms Acupuncture, puts it: "slow growth is still growth, and you can use the downtime to teach yourself essential skills like social media and marketing that will benefit your business in the long run."
@Bronze_Palms , who runs Bronze Palms, shares:
It took us about three years to establish a solid clientele. We now have more capital to work with, so investing in marketing resources to grow our exposure quicker for the next location [will be easier]. However, I think it is important to be scrappy at the beginning. We got our first sale by sending out 200 emails to local beauticians, educating them on our services!
From @Angiesbeauty, owner of Angie’s Beauty Parlour:
It took me approximately six months to have a consistent customer base with returning clients as well. The first few months were definitely tough.
Be ready to reinvent.
@vinesandrushes, a family-owned winery & pizzeria, shares a great reminder for food-and-beverage businesses and for all those who are starting out: “You’re continuously growing the customer base, and if you aren’t, the business is probably retracting.” As your business continues to grow, you need to be ready to make changes and adapt to customer demands. Sometimes that means starting from the beginning again or completely changing how you promote your business.
Here are some great insights and stories from our Community members.
@MudFire_Dex, owner of MudFire Studio and Gallery, shares:
We stepped into a turnkey business with clients with MudFire, which was very different than my first business. Atlanta Clay. We were fresh baby new business owners. We threw a grand opening party and made our first $800. 🙂 The customers built quickly through word of mouth and aggressive internet SEO, and I sent cold emails out nearly every day that first year. Sadly, we topped out in year three, and we just never were able to jump the hurdle of having everything in stock all of the time. More internet clay business competition and price matching were happening, and I wasn’t able to pivot enough to continue to build customers happy with what we had. In year six we gave it up.
At MudFire I changed the offering from just membership to date nights — *singular clay experiences.* We used to have one to five of them a month and now have over 200 experiences a week. Adding tools to make booking easy made all of the difference.
Learning from your previous mistakes is a sentiment also shared by @CareyJo, who runs Arctic Heat:
We’ve built both of our businesses on offering [my husband’s] skills and taking care of customers correctly. We’ve always been a boutique business and operated as such. With the first business, we could never afford advertising, and we soon realized why — we were selling to a poor market. So with our second business, we did things differently. Completely changed our business model, our target market, and went to work. We joined chambers, volunteered, got involved, and offered the community something for free with each anniversary we celebrated. We put up large posters on bulletin boards through the neighboring communities. We did the radio because of a peer who recommended it. It didn’t work. Everything that we did to be in the community and set our brand is what worked. Getting out there face to face is what built our business.
For @BalloonCelebrat, the brain behind Balloon Celebrations, the most important thing is to maintain the excitement you had:
It took about two years to build a solid client base. However, it’s always an ongoing challenge, albeit a fun one! We try to keep reinventing ourselves to some degree, to keep things exciting... Instagram has been a total game changer for us. @ballooncelebrations
When I started the company, I used to dress up in costume (with tap shoes!!) and deliver fake balloon bouquets to popular places, like the maternity ward. When I got back to my “office” (a desk I rented in another business), I would have a few orders on my answering machine. I literally tried everything I could think of to attract attention.
For many years we have had a storefront on a popular shopping street, which has been incredible as well.
My best advice would be to maintain the young spirit of your business. Keep the excitement you had when you began.❤️
Marketing never stops.
The work doesn’t stop after the first successful sale or the first returning customer. For many businesses it’s an ongoing process that will involve leveraging multiple channels, from social media and local publications to word of mouth. In addition to attracting a large number of customers, it’s equally important to reward and retain the customers you already have.
Here are some great learnings from our Community members:
From @DinaLRosenberg, owner of Amityville Apothecary:
It took us about two years, but we had COVID in the middle, which actually was critical to our success and building our customer base.
We opened in November of 2018. We immediately, at opening, began posting on social media. About a year in we hired our customer to take photos for Instagram. At that time having a cohesive page was in style (it’s amazing how things change).
Winter of 2019 we launched our eCommerce site via Square. We had no idea how important that site was going to become.
Obviously, March 2020 we closed the physical store through June of 2020. Those three months we decided to go live every single night on Instagram. We did it out of necessity to maintain the connection with our customers. Who knew those three months would have grown a customer base that we still have to this day.
If you are B2C, I cannot stress how important social media is. It’s where your customers are, and it’s FREE!
From @doc_choc, who runs Coco Chemistry:
For our business it’s a continual, ongoing process to build, and there is the natural loss, but always aiming for a net gain. Using the typical marketing mix — social media, influencers, local radio if you can get on a slot, local publications who want to do a feature on you, etc. Promotional discounts via your existing customers to refer new customers to your business is a nice one. Square Marketing has all the tools to help you achieve this. The process will never end. Just keep chipping away at it and you will keep finding new, innovate ways to build the following.
From @PeterIstrate, who runs the Munchy Hub:
[...]It took us 10–12 months (810 customers as of now). The biggest drivers were:
- Self-serve ordering (QR code), as many customers prefer to sit down at their table and use the QR code to place their orders through Square Online. As they do, they have to introduce their details in.
- Square Loyalty program since many of them like the program and want to enroll on it.
They started to enroll right away, but only after 10–12 months we could feel the impact of all the accrued customers.
You then have to leverage your SMS and email marketing. Set up as many automatons as possible, like all sort of customer reminders and triggers, so it runs on autopilot. Then also create your own marketing campaigns from time to time.
From @2baddogS, who is behind Cattledog Cookie Company:
It took us about two years to really get a following and subscriptions for our Dog Treats. We are in our sixth year now. We went to local pet stores and did some pet events and fairs. It took off from there.
We have some very faithful customers, and this is giving me a great idea...
I need to thank them for their loyalty! We are launching a new flavor for the summer, so they will be the first to receive a free bag of that flavor! Thanks for letting me brainstorm while joining in on the conversation!
Celebrate your achievements.
As you build up your business and your customer base, while it’s important not to lose sight of your goal, it’s equally important to keep track of your achievements — big or small — and celebrate them! These milestones help remind you how far you’ve come and how much your business has grown.
As @MudFire_Dex shares:
I remember so fondly all of the milestones. This year we might break $1M. 🤞 But last year was my proudest moment. In addition to paying artists in the gallery — and supporting our membership — we were able to payout over $220K to artists teaching clay classes. That feels really good.
Keep track of business milestones and celebrate them!!!
Additional Resources
For business owners who are starting out or in the early stages of their journeys, here are some additional resources you may find helpful:
- Spread the Word: How To Choose the Right Advertising Platform for Your Business
- Marketing Strategies for Small Business: How To Include Local Media in Your Marketing Plans
- 5 Tips on How To Use Social Media for Small Business in 2024 | Seller Community
A big thank-you to everyone who shared their stories and insights on how they built their customer bases. We really enjoyed your journeys and the experiences you had.
What was your biggest learning from the early days of trying to get customers? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Tra is a Seller Community manager at Square. She is responsible for several programs, including Question of the Week, Seller Groups and the Seller Community Mentorship Program.