Relationship marketing is on the rise. It is a new strategy allowing companies to create a lasting relationship with their customers. As consumers or users quickly turn to networks, it is essential to move to relationship marketing. To learn more, read on!
Relationship Marketing: Definition
Unlike transactional marketing, relationship marketing aims to create or maintain a long-term customer relationship. It is a branch of marketing in which companies use many communication channels to establish a direct, personalized, continuous, and even close relationship with their customers and prospects. This strategy is also called “relationship marketing”.
The Principles of Relationship Marketing
The Pareto principle or 20/80 theory is inseparable from relationship marketing. This theory shows that 80% of a company’s turnover comes from 20% of its customer base. Therefore, it is essential to focus part of your marketing effort on your best customers so that you can get to know them one by one.
In addition to the Pareto principle, there are 2 significant principles of relationship marketing:
Identification of the Prospect/Customer:
Using different marketing tools allows you to:
-Marking your digital presence;
-Develop your sympathy capital;
-Create a relationship of trust with your visitors, prospects, and customers.
To create a dialogue, find suitable strategies to provoke positive reactions from your visitors, prospects, and customers:
– Try to help, advise, inform, surprise with special offers, even entertain or educate.
-Stay active, inventive and creative to identify your future customers.
Understanding the Customer:
Once you’ve lifted the veil on who your customers are, pay attention and observe their behaviors and habits to learn what works and what doesn’t. Learn everything about your customer by tracking and analyzing your sales statistics. This is how you can understand them and know their needs and expectations.
The Objectives of Relationship Marketing
Its main objective is to transform all visitors into loyal or potential customers. It is about capitalizing on the company’s personality so that, on the one hand, the loyalty of its customers is successful and, on the other hand, so that it is credible in the eyes of prospects. To achieve this, it is essential to :
Find effective strategies to convince them, satisfy them and improve the company’s reputation: loyalty, offers, or gifts (free delivery, packaging, discount, etc.).
Know and determine each customer’s exact needs (in quantity and quality) through their interest in the services and/or products offered.
The Tools of Relationship Marketing
With the advancement of technology, all marketing actions are carried out online. Several means and channels of communication are implemented so that each company is always present in the lives of its customers and can easily capture the attention of prospects. In other words, it is a “multi-channel” relationship (websites, billboards, posters, blogs, social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Newsletter, etc.), personalized SMS, etc.). It is essential to have marketing automation and appropriate software to send these messages. This tool allows you to send the right message to the proper recipients at the right time.
The Limits of Relationship Marketing
Cost: the availability of human and financial resources is required to establish a constant and personalized exchange relationship. However, some companies cannot meet the needs and expectations of their customers because they do not have the necessary database, computer equipment, tools, and automation solutions.
Profitability: When creating a long-term relationship, profitability must be high. Otherwise, it is better to opt for transactional marketing.
Product category: relationship marketing is mainly for companies that sell high-margin products.
The pace and form of messages sent to customers: they risk exhausting customers and driving them away if these are not well thought out.
Loyalty: too many bonuses or special offers can decrease profitability.
