Why Relationship Marketing is Important

Who doesn’t love getting more business opportunities? But it demands to go beyond your transactional intentions and think purely in terms of fostering a relationship with customers. In recent years, as the customer’s first mentality expanded, marketers coined the term “Relationship Marketing”.

Your ability to build an emotional connection with the customers determines the longevity of your company’s success.

Relationship marketing is the new elevator pitch to get your message heard. Choosing the right pitch weighs heavily in positioning your brand value.

Selling mostly happens to be a one-time transaction, but how to keep them loyal? Relationship marketing is the way out. The essence lies in finding the best way to communicate the value of your product while embracing empathy.

It incorporates refining your perspective about customers. Simply put, What successful companies understand and strive toward is a facet of marketing recognized as relationship marketing.

What Is Relationship Marketing

Thinking beyond the short-term goals like customer acquisition and sales led companies to define the term “Relationship Marketing”. By not focusing on nurturing a deep relationship with customers, you already made it easy for your competitors to steal them by just floating a discount.

Now, It is what it is!

As humans, when we are emotionally attached to a product or brand, we tend to bear a higher price or even stay in long lines to buy it. For context, Apple has engraved such a deep relationship with their users that we see their loyalists roaming around everywhere.

That kind of bond is established by focusing on the people that you have built the business for. When it comes to relationship building there’s no hard and fast rules for it but compounded by different nurturing and relationship-centered strategies that you put in place.

As you start streaming your marketing efforts, adding value to the customer at each interaction constructs the perception of a company that actually cares.

True Intent and efforts predominantly matter and act as the key elements in the success of any strategy. 

Importance of Relationship Marketing

Acquiring new customers and converting them to your brand loyalists is not a piece of cake. What’s way easier is to sell to your existing customer base. Relationship Marketing not only helps to cultivate a deep connection with clients but also enhances the quality of relationships with internal, referral & supplier markets.

Its importance can be understood by internalizing the simple fact that when you provide a better user experience for them as they interact, it starts the snowball effect of sustaining existing customers and acquiring new ones along the way. Ultimately, makes you profitable from both ends.

Five Benefits of Relationship Marketing

The notion of relationship marketing is untied in the following tidbits of information. Read on:

1.  Client Retention

5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75%  (Forbes)

Organizations that are aligned across all touchpoints seamlessly answer inquiries to ensure customer’s needs are tackled properly. The way you showcase your business and treat the people builds your company’s persona and determines the odds of retaining customers in the long-run.

When your focal point is to add more value to the prospect, eventually you end up closing the deal even if it’s not on your radar. Relationship Marketing practices do wonders when it comes to retention and a higher customer lifetime value (CLV).

This group of loyal users becomes your brand ambassadors & associates. Thus, it becomes the tool to get your word out. Besides, relationship marketing teams strive together to create a happy and satisfied user experience which leaves a outsized impact on people’s minds.

2.  Ensure Better Feedback

Humans love to gather guidance about companies before parting their money. Hearing what other people think of a particular product shapes your opinion. Hence, you make informed decisions. Feedback may vary from positive to negative depending on the relationship that exists between you and your customer.

In this digital era, you can leverage your customer base to its best and worst. Relationship marketing allows you to effectively engage with your consumers and ask their valuable feedback in the areas that might need to improve. 

It all boils down to asking yourself one simple question. Can you take out the time to reply to those who you had built the business for? 

Great reviews are testimonials that entice everyone.

3.  Build Loyalty

This one is the most discussed and predominant reason why relationship marketing matters. Entrepreneurs often confuse Quality with Loyalty. A product is successful not only because of its quality (it has its place) but more importantly of its positive relationship with clients. People do business with you because you have treated them well.

Customers who enjoyed a consistent experience floats this information in their circles. These voluntary advocates are called brand evangelists. In Evangelism Marketing, a specific set of loyalists deliberately promotes your brand to get your word out.

Personal advice is more likely to influence behavior than an advertising ad. The most hardcore example exists is of Guy Kawasaki who had turned Apple’s wheel and changed the way we perceive Apple Computers today.

Relationship Marketing has truly made it easy to turn customers into a mouthpiece for advertising,

4.  Enhance Your Uniqueness

In this noisy world, it’s so essential to differentiate yourself from others. One of the benefits of employing Relationship Marketing is facilitating you to find your brand’s voice and cut to the chase.

Relationship with customers enables you to systematically care about customers. By applying these baby steps you make yourself Stand-out among other competitors, this is one of them. This way, the entire process refines your uniqueness.

5.  Leads to New Business Ideas

Having a strong communication culture sets the foundation for new ideas to thrive. Knowing what your customer’s needs enables you to fix them. Often, new ideas are born out of this funnel. 

Most companies expand into other ventures by leveraging some critical information they collected from their customers. Having the luxury of an effective relationship translates to numerous new business opportunities. 

For example, The decision of Starbucks offering free Wi-Fi was born out of customers’ suggestion and miraculously led to millions in profit. A good rapport always pays off.

Many companies have deployed the practice to send prototypes to Brand Evangelist in an attempt to earn their honest feedback.

Takeaways

• Thank customers through a special gift or social media posts
• Ask Customer Feedback to create a positive impression that customer opinions are valued
• Initiate loyalty programs for Evangelists
• Special offers focused on long-term or repeat customers. 

Brands that are killing Relationship Marketing game?

Starbucks rewards customers by loyalty programs & incentives to keep them engaged. Some other efforts they do to build a relationship with consumers include writing your name on your cup, free wifi to name a few.

Final Words

Relationship marketing, as you found out, is being proactive and truly connecting with the customer in identifying their needs and designing a powerful framework in which communication thrives.