Ahhh, Relationship marketing, those two words tend to strike fear into the hearts of traditional marketing experts everywhere.
Why?
Because the concept is about more than just placing advertisements and tracking how many customers you’ve collected from them. It’s actually about building a relationship with those clients and customers.
After all, that’s why it’s called “relationship marketing, right?”
The entire idea behind relationship marketing is to make your customers feel special. They don’t want to be just another number – as in customer #5,675 – they actually want to feel as though they matter. This is where relationship marketing strategies come into play and it’s not just for brick and motor businesses! It’s important for network marketers and independent business owners as well.
While this doesn’t mean that you should give them massive discounts or anything that will cut into your bottom line, you do need to go out of your way in order to develop a relationship marketing program that speaks to each individual, while not actually coming up with thousands of different campaigns.
In addition to this, you need to make your company feel more like an acquaintance than just a faceless entity (make tweetable). If relationship marketing could be summed up in a sentence, it’s that one.
With it, you’ll gain more customers and keep the ones that you already have. Relationship marketing and the parts of it that you put into motion – relationship marketing strategies – can do this.
Look at it this way. You’re out shopping for clothes. Do you go to the store where you feel like you’re just another cog in a wheel? Do you go back to the store where the salesperson followed you around like you were going to steal something? Or do you head for the store that offers a number of different things that speak to you as a person?
You go to that second store, right?
They’ve used the best relationship marketing strategies. No matter how large your store is (online or off), you want all of your customers to end up in the latter half of that situation. That’s what relationship marketing is all about – developing those connections.
Okay, I think I’ve made my point. I’ll stop rambling! LOL!
Here are five ways that you can make relationship marketing work for you, also known as,
Top 5 Relationship Marketing Strategies That Make Your Business Irresistible
1) Develop a Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs are one of the most popular relationship marketing options. It seems as though every company out there has some sort of loyalty program that they rely on. Some give you a physical punch card that leads to free beverages or a discount, while others give you points that add up to discounts and coupons. However, if you want your loyalty program to stand out from the crowd (and help your relationship marketing efforts) then you need to get creative.
There are plenty of programs out there that can help you with this. All that you need to do is find one that best fits your clientele. These programs not only give you ideas, but they allow you to track your customers’ loyalty rewards as well. Yes, you read that right – they do most of the work for you!
2) Hold a Special Event- Online or Off
Special events are a crucial part of every relationship marketing effort. It’s even better if you can hold these events in your physical store (if you have one) as your customers will be able to come in and meet you in person. If you run your business online, you can create a group specifically for your cusomers and conduct a video Live. Really, nothing says “relationship marketing” quite like greeting your customers and actually getting to know them. These special events can be anything from your typical meet and greets to workshops and other things. It’s all about finding the relationship marketing strategies that fit your business.
3) Work on Establishing Your Brand Identity
Brand identity is a very important part of relationship marketing. One of the biggest examples out there is Nike. Everyone can identify that Nike “swoosh” from ten feet away. In order to take advantage of relationship marketing strategies, you need to develop your own brand identity.
How does this fit into the concept of relationship marketing?
Well, it literally builds the relationship between your customers and your business. All that you need is a recognizable logo or a general set of practices that differentiate your business from its competitors.
Yes, this is one of those relationship marketing strategies that requires a bit of trial and error.
4) Take Feedback into Account
Accepting feedback is one of the relationship marketing strategies that can be a little hard to swallow. Not everyone is good at this practice, since you need to not only accept feedback, you also must learn from it and make changes based on it. However, this is a form of relationship marketing that’s very important.
Remember how we said that relationship marketing builds ties between your business and its customers?
Well, when you listen to their feedback and actually change the ways in which you do things based on feedback, you make your customers feel good. They’ll come back, because they realized that you really do care about what they say.
This is relationship marketing at its finest.
5) Show That Your Business is run by a Real Person
This could be as simple as hosting Instagram takeover events where you have different people on your team show all of your followers what they’re working on. It’s one of the best relationship marketing strategies, because it’s easy to set up. You don’t want your business to be just about your MLM Company, remember YOU are the face of your business especially if you are in an MLM.
Post some pictures on social media of what you are working on. Show pics of you at your desk or showing your audience what’s new in your biz. This relatable content is a crucial part of relationship marketing. It’s all about showing the behind the scenes things. Also, this doesn’t need to be posted just on social media. You can create blog posts as well. Do whatever it takes to show this point of view.
That’s it!
As you can see, relationship marketing isn’t impossible. Instead, it’s all about coming up with creative ways to help your customers relate to who you are or what your company is all about. These relationship marketing strategies can help you meet your goals.
If you’re still finding it difficult to come up with a really good relationship marketing system, I got a good one for you! This will not only create customer loyalty but will 10X your referrals without having to beg for it! Click here to learn more
P.S If you're feeling stuck in your business even after you did everything your upline told you to do... Take a minute to Check out my 3 Step Marketing Blueprint to learn how to start marketing your business without feeling like a pushy salesman. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
April Ray
CEO/ Founder
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Email: april@theintrovertmogul
Ph: (619) 537-9864
"As an introvert entrepreneur I don't particularly enjoy chasing strangers online, networking events, talking about myself on social media or anything else you can think of that involves selling! But, because I learned how to market online the right way, I don't have to do those things."
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