While traditional marketing focuses on one-off sales, relationship marketing is all about long-term engagement with your customer base. It is about building those loyal customer relationships, which will bring more and more value to your business over time. In this post, we are going to reveal why this is so important.
Putting in the groundwork
Like any good relationship, it flourishes when both parties are committed to one and other. Think of yourself as the one doing the chasing. You need to play it just right. You must engage regularly, but you can’t bombard them. You need to add value with every piece of communication. And, you need to build the foundations for a perfect future. Do this, and you will build a loyal customer relationship with someone who is willing to give back to your company in the form of repeat business, recommendations, positive online feedback and much more. As time passes, this relationship will only get stronger and the benefits will only become more fruitful.
The true value of relationship marketing
A good relationship marketing strategy is one that focuses on lifetime customer value, satisfaction, and customer retention. Of course, it is important to recognise that you cannot do this without building a winning website that offers an exceptional user experience. Using this site builder is a great place to start. Once you have done this, you can then put the groundwork in place to start really developing those loyal relationships.
This will bring about many benefits for your business, including the following:
- Gain valuable feedback – You will benefit from valuable feedback that will enable you to take your business to the next level. Loyal customers genuinely care about your business and the service you provide, and so you will gain insightful opinions that give you the platform to do better.
- Social media boost – Social media is an exceptional platform for businesses today. Interacting positively with customers on social networking sites and receiving free exposure in terms of customers sharing your content are both highly beneficial.
- Reduce the cost of acquisition – You don’t need to spend as much on marketing, as happy customers will introduce you to new prospects.
- Free word of mouth referrals – Loyal customers will recommend your business to their family and friends. This is important because 84% of customers stated that word of mouth was behind their choice of company, rather than trusting traditional advertising.
- Business growth – Effective and sustainable business growth through repeat customers rather than one-off customers.
- Expansion becomes easier – Longstanding clients will buy ancillary products via cross-selling and upselling.
- Improve profits – Did you know that a one per cent increase in customer retention could equate to a 20 per cent increase in annual revenue?
- You can improve prices in the future – Loyal customers are less price sensitive because they believe in the quality of your service.
- Employee job satisfaction increases – Improved customer retention improves employee job satisfaction. Content employees feed into relationship marketing as a virtuous circle.
All in all, your regulars are your rock, and this is why you need a dedicated relationship marketing strategy in place. Serve your loyal customers well, and they will serve you well. This is all about engaging effectively with your customers and taking care of them. This is more important and beneficial than any billboard or website banner could ever be!