The internet is certainly the largest user base the world has to offer and offers many advantages over traditional communication channels.

In fact, looking for new customers through physical advertising channels such as leafleting, posting posters or promoting local initiatives is an expensive activity that limits your reach to a confined geographical area.

If, on the other hand, you want to expand your communication to a wider area, you can focus on the mass media, for example by making TV commercials or advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

But who can guarantee that these advertisements will be seen by an audience that is truly interested in your products and services?

The answer is no one. Even if you buy a space in a trade magazine, you can’t be sure that it will only be read by people who are really interested in you.
So what is the most effective way to find new customers? Today the answer is definitely the internet.

The beauty of online advertising is that your ads will only target the right audience for you.
On the web you can outline the target customers to whom you want to show your advertisement or your ad with extreme precision, obtaining better results in terms of return on investment (ROI).

But how do I find new customers on the internet? How do I reach people who are really interested in my products or services?
You can use two very important channels to promote your business on the web:

• Advertise yourself through active search on search engines (Google, Bing, etc.).
• Select an audience on social networks to show your advertising to.

Keywords on search engines

In the first case, it will be relatively easier to identify future customers because all you need to do is draw up a list of keywords that your customers can search for on the web.
So, in fact, you are involving people who are already actively interested in your products and services, you just need to understand what language they use and that’s it.

Let’s take an example: if you are an architect specializing in renovating businesses, it is likely that your customers’ online searches will contain phrases like “Renovate a shop” or “Renovate a bar”.

The difficulty, therefore, lies precisely in identifying the right phrases and words, which, once found, you will need to structure an SEM promotional campaign.

All those who search for those phrases or keywords on search engines, will come across your advertisement and can then become your customers.

Interests on social networks

As far as social networks are concerned, the process is generally a bit more complicated, because you have to show an ad to users who don’t yet know they need your products or services.
If you are good and your communication is effective, these passive users will have a need to purchase and you will have managed to convert them into customers of your company.

So how do you do social media advertising? Easy, start at the end.
Do the reverse process and start by creating your typical customer, the buyer persona, the type of customer who is definitely interested in your products and services.
To do this you can think of customers you already have, or imagine your target from scratch, the important thing is that it is defined in detail.

Some examples of questions to answer are: How old is he? Where is he from? What does he do for a living? What is his family like? How much do he earn? Does he have hobbies? What are his interests? Where do clients get their information? What language do they use?

The more detailed the description, the easier it will be to identify the right target to address your online communication.

Create the campaign on social networks

Once you have defined the user you will have to create your own paid campaign developed ad hoc on your buyer persona.
At this point you will have to communicate with him in the most correct way:

• Select the platforms she uses – There’s no point spending money to advertise you on platforms not frequented by your buyer persona, is there?
• Speak her own language – Try to involve your buyer persona and show yourself friendly or formal depending on what they expect from you.
• Adapt your style – Modify your communication according to the platform you are advertising on. For example, hashtags work well on Instagram, less well on Facebook, Twitter prefers short texts and Pinterest favours images and videos.

Only if you can do all this will your communication be credible in the eyes of people and your message will be effective.
The people you reach will then develop the need to buy your service or product, and they will turn into customers.
At this point you won’t have to find customers, but customers will come to you.