Do you often struggle to effectively connect with your customers? Are you concerned that it’s holding you back from reaching your goals? Are you ready to make a change for the better? While there is no shortage of ways to connect with your customers, it’s not always easy to devise a plan that’s easy to follow and yields the desired results. Fortunately, as you learn more about your options and experiment with each strategy, you’ll come to understand what best works for you and your customer base.

Here are three of the best ways to effectively connect with your customers:

Email Marketing

There are small business owners out there who believe the myth that email marketing is dead. You don’t want to share their stance. According to The Direct Marketing Association, for every dollar spent on email marketing you can expect an average return of $32.

Does that sound like email marketing is dead (or dying)?

There are many ways to connect with your customers via email, such as sending a weekly or monthly newsletter or sharing coupons and special offers at certain times of the year. Best yet, it’s easy to get started with email marketing, so there’s no excuse for ignoring it any longer.

Social Media

Do your customers hangout on social media? If so, it’s about time that you join them there. From Instagram to Facebook, from Twitter to LinkedIn, there’s no shortage of social media platforms that deserve your attention.

Here are some of the best ways to connect on social media:

Answer questions posed by your customers and general audience
Share professional guidance and advice
Share coupons and discounts
Publish information about your company, such as new products and services

Just the same as email marketing, there is no barrier to entry on social media. It’s free to get started. All you need is a bit of time and some ideas of what you want to share.

Distribute Surveys

Do you know how your customers feel about your company as a whole? Do you know how they feel about the service you offer? You may have a basic idea, but distributing surveys will provide you with more information than you ever imagined. In addition to obtaining valuable feedback, it’s a great way to connect with your customers on a more personal level. This is particularly true if you follow-up on the survey, such as by providing respondents with a coupon or discount code for their next purchase.

Best yet, surveys show your customers that you want to improve – and that’s something that will excite them.

For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. If any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add, please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!