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The old way of doing things focused on making more sales. The new, better way focuses on creating a better overall brand experience that will not only help you attract more customers, but retain those existing ones for the long term. The shift toward this more personal marketing approach has been driven by the increased demand of consumers who want to know that the brands they work with not only offer quality products or services, but truly care about them.
Research has shown that the longer a customer stays with a brand, the more valuable they become.
The more satisfied and loyal your customers are, the more likely they will be to refer your brand to others. The best way to achieve this is through relationship marketing. Yet, with the economy the way it is, price increases are something we all have to consider from time to time. A solid relationship marketing strategy can help make rolling out a price increase much smoother.
Whenever you need to try out a new product or propose a new service, your loyal clientele will be there to offer feedback. Ask your long-term customers.
The good news for you is that not everyone has jumped on the relationship marketing bandwagon. That alone is worth its weight in gold. By contrast, content marketing allows you to build an audience that you can keep. It should not be viewed as a traditional marketing expense since the returns for evergreen content will last as long as the thoughts stay relevant.
But content and relationship marketing as a whole go far beyond acquisition. Using content as a form of support is also marketing.
Free resources, help documentation and webinars can marketing to customers as long as the content is educational, enjoyable, and motivational. If you can get past the hype, social media can truly be a useful channel for creating relationships with customers. As an example, see how FedEx has used social media to build trust and prestige with customers and to successfully resolve issues:.
Their Twitter account has become one of the most popular online corporate accounts.
Building relationships through social media is about knowing your customers and creating a social media presence that reflects what they want to see from you. Having a clear, distraction-free channel to notify customers of these offerings is how you can elicit responses like this:.
This may become a weekly tweet. Consistently amazed by the fantastic free resources helpscout emails. Relationship marketing starts when customers opt-in.
As with every aspect of relationship marketing, creating a great loyalty program starts with knowing what your customers want and what they want to do in order to get it. Oftentimes this is simply buying more of your products. A slightly unusual example of the last point can be found in relationship marketing programs from companies like Neiman Marcus:.
This program may seem absurd to the average business, but when you are a luxury brand like Neiman Marcus and your customers regularly reach such numbers, it just makes sense. Of the many methods to gather feedback from customers , surveys offer the best way to approach customers on a large scale.