Relationships are everything. You grow relationships among peers and employees through team building. You nurture relationships with your loved ones by spending quality time and having open communication. So, how do you cultivate the relationship between your business and your customers?
Spoiler alert: It’s called relationship marketing, and it’s vital to your company’s success.
What Is Relationship Marketing & How Does It Help?
The primary objective of relationship marketing is to build and maintain long-term connections with their customers. Businesses that practice relationship marketing work to understand their customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors — and tailor their marketing efforts to match them.
The results?
- Increased loyalty
- Sustained customer satisfaction
- Reduced customer turnover
- New customer acquisition
- Stronger brand awareness
- Improved reputation
- And ultimately: Limitless revenue growth 🎉
The BxH Approach To Relationship Marketing
We believe investing in your human connections is the most important action you can take for your company. Naturally, that means we are BIG on relationship marketing around here.
Think of it this way: A customer’s lifetime value to a company is far more important than any single transaction. The latter can click “buy” and then you’ll never see them again. But the former will remember your company’s name, open your emails, and return to give you business for as long as your relationship exists.
Relationship marketing isn’t new by any means — the modern version of the concept can be traced back to the 1970s. But although we have our core methods down to a science, we’re always looking out for norm-smashing tactics to implement relationship marketing strategies based on our clients’ needs, target audience, and services they offer.
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3 Tips For Relationship Marketing
In our hyper-connected world, we are in a really freakin’ exciting time for implementing impactful, effective relationship marketing tactics.
We’ve identified the top areas where companies can strengthen their customer relationships — and build new ones — based on current trends and market research.
Make Your Brand An Experience
It’s no longer enough to just provide a good product or service. Take it to the next level with unique and memorable experiences at every customer touchpoint with:
- A clear, consistent brand identity
- This includes developing a distinctive logo, brand voice, and visual style that reflects your brand’s personality and values and makes it memorable at every interaction.
- Strong storytelling
- By telling a compelling story, you’ll be able to create a deeper sense of engagement and loyalty. Just remember, your customers are savvy and know when a brand is being authentic (or not) — so be sure you’re telling your brand’s story!
- Modern tech
- Think interactive website displays, data-driven personalized comms, and omnichannel marketing.
- Event marketing
- Nope, IRL events are far from dead. In fact, EventTrack reports 74% of consumers are more likely to buy products and 91% of consumers have more positive feelings about brands after attending an experiential marketing event.
Invest In Customer Retention
According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. If your business is serious about relationship marketing, start with your existing customers and build your audience from there.
Provide loyalty programs that inspire real loyalty
- Rewards points, referral incentives, exclusive discounts, early access, and special perks are all effective ways to incentivize customers to continue doing business with a company — but only if they provide real value. Trust us, the profit you may lose to a customer discount is a drop in the bucket compared to your ROI 🤑
Encourage customer feedback
- … and actually *learn* from it. This will help you improve your products and services and increase customer trust and loyalty. Bonus: The stellar reviews will lend public credibility to your business and inspire new customer acquisition.
Personalize the customer
- By showing your customers you care about them, you’re inspiring them to get to know and care about your business right back. Send personalized emails, offer customized product recommendations, and provide targeted offers and promotions to make your customers feel seen.
Provide value beyond your core offering
- Once you have your product/service on lock, it’s time to explore how you can supplement your value to your customers. Perhaps it’s providing educational resources, offering training, or establishing a community for your audience. Consider it your extra credit to take your biz to the A+ honor roll 🤓
Create Standout (Read: HUMAN) Customer Service Experiences
- When customers have positive experiences with a company’s customer service, they’re more likely to remain loyal to the brand, recommend the company to others, and leave positive reviews and feedback. Here’s how we’re seeing customer service excelling these days:
Chatbots & AI
- Your customers should never have to plead, “Please just let me speak with a representative,” after being on hold for an hour. Leveraging modern tech such as chatbots and AI to automate routine customer inquiries and provide instant responses will help businesses reduce response times, improve efficiency, and enhance the overall experience.
Social media support
- Say it with us: No more angry tweets going unanswered! Quick, personalized responses on social media can go a long way to help resolve issues and show customers that your business cares about them.
Self-service
- In an ideal world, your customers will get everything they need from your business’ website. Your org can help make this a reality by providing robust resources that empower customers to find solutions to their problems all on their own, including knowledge bases, FAQs, and online tutorials.
Remember, strong customer relationships aren’t built overnight — just like with your friends, family, and colleagues, it takes real time, investment, and care to build and sustain authentic bonds. But the payoff is beyond worth it 📈🎇
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About the Author: Jenny Farias
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