You’ve most likely heard that it is more cost effective to retain a customer than to find a new one. The cost of grabbing a new customer’s attention in today’s world of marketing overload can be very high. So when you do reach a new customer and they purchased your product or service, you should do everything to retain these customers and build a relationship. This is where Relationship Marketing comes in. It will save you money on advertising, increase your sales through repeated purchases and also open up possible referrals from a very happy customer.
According to Buchanan and Gilles, The cost of acquisition occurs only at the beginning of a relationship, so the longer the relationship, the lower the amortized cost.
What is Relationship Marketing?
Relationship marketing was first defined as a form of marketing developed from direct marketing campaigns which emphasize customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a focus on sales transactions.
(We posted two blogs last week on Direct Marketing which can be found HERE and HERE.)
Relationship marketing acknowledges the value of a learning about your customers’ needs and preferences and building a long-term customer relationship. By understanding what your customers want you can add value by providing personalized products and services of most value. Relationship marketing techniques include internal markets, supplier markets, recruitment markets, referral markets, influence markets, and customer markets. See the Relationship Marketing Wikipedia page for more. I will focus on two segments in customers markets called Personalization and Live in Marketing in this blog.
Personalization
By learning about your customers’ preferences it gives you the opportunity to personalize your offerings to them. Your marketing efforts can then be a direct personal message to your customers letting them know about your latest deals. Consider the difference between these two SMS Marketing messages.
‘Hi, Full selection of premiership jerseys for the new season has arrived. 20% off until Friday’
And
‘Hi John, The new Arsenal jersey for next season is in stock now and we are delighted to offer you 20% off as a valued customer if you decide to purchase before Friday.’
Which would you be more likely to respond to if the above message was personalized to yourself?
Live-In Marketing
This technique involves allowing your customers to sample some of your products over a period of time, providing feedback and feeling part of the development journey of the product. While more expensive it does build brand loyalty.
About Sendmode
SMS Marketing is one of the relationship marketing techniques which business owners use to promote their offers directly to customers. With a 98% open rate and messages delivered in second the results are unbeatable. We’ve been in the SMS marketing industry for almost 10 years and serve over 30,000 customers worldwide. If you would like to try SMS Marketing (or switch from your current provider) please clicking the image below, check out our super low prices.
Thanks,
John
