Ask the Experts: Where do you find your customers online? [Part 2]

I absolutely *love* getting a sneak peek behind the curtain of the businesses of some of my favorite people online. It always sparks an idea for my own business with the added TMZ-flare of finding out successful entrepreneurs “secrets.”

This is a follow-up piece to the hugely popular first installment, Ask the Experts: Where Do You Find Your Customers Online?

I couldn’t fit everyone I admire around the web into the first post, so I was psyched to get the chance to come back for a round two of asking some of my favorite entrepreneurs where they find their customers online.

Where do you find your customers online?

1 – Jenny Shih

“Technically, I don’t find my customers, they find me! And to make it easy for them to find me, I first focus on doing great work with my current clients. Then, I find ways to go out into the world and do more great work. I blog and engage in social media. I give away great free resources on my site. I guest post and do other things to grow my list. In all of those ways, and by showing up and being of service, perfect customers come my way.”

I wanted to know more, so I asked Jenny a follow-up, what has been her biggest surprise success or biggest surprise failure in helping your customers find her?

“The thing that has surprised me the most about helping my target customers find me is the power of a great online reputation. And by great online reputation I don’t mean you have to be rich and famous. Instead, the people who show up with a good attitude and help people who ask for it quickly become known as helpful, insightful, and caring – and those qualities attract clients faster than anything.

I try to spend 5-10 minutes a day on Facebook answering questions about business, life, or anything else. That small, but powerful and targeted presence has brought me a ton of clients and subscribers and turned many into raving fans.”

Jenny is the girl to go to if you’re looking to work less but earn more in your business. She is the systems queen and really walks her talk.

Why ask Jenny? Jenny is booked solid with clients, new clients can’t start working with her before 3 months out according to her current services page. Oh and she also grew her list from 0 to 1,000 in just 6 months.

2 – Laura Roeder

“Our customers find us – we spread great content and the customers follow. That means we’re very active on social media sharing not only our own original content but anything and everything that our customers would find interesting. We look beyond social media to help solve all of the frustrations that our customers are going through every day.”

As the founder of LKR Social Media, Laura works to help small businesses stop wasting time on social media and start using it to actually generate business for themselves. She’s also the creator of Creating Fame – a premium program all about how to stop the feast & famine business cycle by getting business famous.

Why ask Laura? Laura is a social media powerhouse. LKR Social Media has over 24,000 fans on Facebook and @lkr has over 23,000 on Twitter. You can find Laura at www.lkrsocialmedia.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lkrsocialmedia.

3 – Tara Gentile

“My customers generally come through relationships, even online. I work hard to build relationships with people who align with my point of view and values set. Those people link to my writing, recommend my books, allow me to guest post, and send along personal referrals. Those relationships have delivered more qualified and exciting clients than any other source.”

Again, I wanted to know, “What’s been your biggest surprise success or biggest surprise failure in trying to build relationships online?”

“My biggest surprise success has been just how often genuinely “targeting” people who are interesting has resulted in really productive relationships. My relationship building process is very slow, often starting on Twitter or Facebook, and very casual. But over & over again, the people who I’m interested befriending have become clients and then referred multiple clients to me, as well as created value for my business in countless other ways.”

Tara is synonymous with the New Economy, she coaches entrepreneurs on how to have more impact with less hustle. Her latest endeavor is the Art of Growth.

Why ask Tara? Besides being a best-selling author and regularly speaking at sold-out live events, Tara has a tremendous online following – including over 7,000 on Twitter at the time of this post. You can find Tara at www.taragentile.com or on Twitter as @taragentile.

4 – Chris Guillebeau

“I don’t find my customers online; they find me. It’s much easier that way.

:)”

Given Chris’ fun but somewhat cryptic response, I asked a follow-up, “What’s been your biggest surprise success or failure in helping your customers find you online?”

“That’s the thing – I don’t necessarily try to help them find me. I mean, I use social media, I try to be available, etc. But mostly I try to be helpful. In the long-run, that strategy is more successful than any other.”

Chris challenges the world to think about a different way to do things – in life and in business. His tribe has been following him on his epic journey to visit every country by the time he’s 35 – a task he’s just about to complete. His latest creation on the topic of unconventional living is the $100 Startup – a book that challenges your notion of what it actually takes to start a business and live the life you’ve always to live.

Why ask Chris? Chris has a humongous following. His annual conference, The World Domination Summit, sells out in mere hours. Besides being a best-selling author, Chris has a huge online presence – with over 53,000 fans on Facebook and over 104,000 followers on Twitter. You can find Chris at www.chrisguillebeau.com or on Twitter as @chrisguillebeau.

5 – Erika Lyremark

“Where do I find my customers online? Actually, my killer app is to create raving fans OFFLINE. I built my business by pouring my heart and soul into Free 15-Minute Business Whippings conducted on the (gasp!) phone, in personal conversation with my prospects… where I not only solved their most pressing problems, but had them upgrading to my paid program.

Using this and other high-touch referral methods, EVERY course of mine sold out and I made 6 figures my first 6 months in business for myself.”

Erika Lyremark is the creator and mastermind of Daily Whip and author of Think Like a Stripper: Business Lessons to Up Your Confidence, Attract More Clients & Rule Your Market. If your business needs whipping into shape, Erika is your girl.

Why ask Erika? She’s sold out every one of her courses. EVERY course.

You can find Erika at the www.dailywhip.com or on Twitter as @dailywhip.

6 – Anne Samoilov

“I find them everywhere really.  The 3 top places I find customers online – excluding my own site – LKRsocialmedia.com, Facebook, and directly to my site – either from my my mailing list or from Google.”

I asked Anne the same follow-up, what’s been her biggest surprise or biggest failure in trying to find customers online?

“Customers most often always come as a result of me personally connecting with them – directly by email, asking a question that catches their eye on Facebook or even writing a blog post that clicks with them personally.  It’s always about the personal, individual connection…”

Anne lives and breathes launches. She’s the creator of Fearless Launching – a course for entrepreneurs that need a little push to launch and who want to launch their own way.

Why ask Anne? She’s been the powerhouse get-it-done gal behind a lot of big online names. On Twitter, she’s amassed over 3,000 followers.

You can find Anne at www.annesamoilov.com or on Twitter as @annesamoilov.

7 – Nathalie Lussier

“I find my customers through a number of different marketing channels: social media, search media, and word of mouth. At the end of the day, I use email marketing to nurture relationships with new prospective customers, and I just make sure to create an amazing experience for them.

When it comes to creating content that attracts my ideal customers, I like to think that I’m great at putting myself in their shoes and figuring out what they are looking for.”

Nathalie is a digital strategist who helps small businesses get the techy stuff online. Before her current business, she started online out as the Raw Foods Witch, a business that still earns her a regular payday every month.

Why ask Nathalie? Nathalie’s 1-on-1 consulting is sold out – as in you-can’t-get-it-even-if-you-wanted-to. She also has quite the following online, including over 6,400 on Twitter.

You can find Nathalie at www.nathalielussier.com or on Twitter at @nathalielussier.

Your Turn

What about you? Where do you find your customers online? Have you tried any of the strategies outlined by the experts in this post? Let me know in the comments!

Not sure what’s working? Make sure you have Google Analytics set up for your site. After a few tweaks you can get it to tell you exactly where the *quality* traffic is coming from – the kind that gets you more leads and more customers. If you want help with that, check out Google Analytics: The Missing Manual.