No matter how much we like to believe we can ‘do it all’ ourselves, that is just not the case. Networking and relationship building is absolutely vital within the business world. We have to constantly be thinking of our presence affects others and how theirs affects us. We’ve talked before about how having a solid foundation of networks pretty much guarantees a boost your profit.
Let’s discuss the idea of relationship marketing, shall we? When one googles the term, you come up with this definition:
“Relationship marketing is a facet of customer relationship management (CRM) that focuses on customer loyalty and long-term customer engagement rather than shorter-term goals like customer acquisition and individual sales.”
That sounds like something all of us would be interested in, right? Obviously!
Kim Garst with Boom Social wrote a solid list of reasons why relationship marketing is important and we want to share it with you now.
- “Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor” We’ve heard this a lot, but do we follow through? Building up our reputation as a likable and trustworthy source is so important to our marketing strategy. Think about your own life. Do you like buying things from unknown and random online sources? We certainly don’t! Would you hire someone you knew nothing about? Probably not… We have to go above and beyond to make sure our brand awareness is out there in a positive light. We know that we can achieve this with active social media attention. Create a relationship with your followers.
- “Word of Mouth Referrals” Word of mouth is a company’s best (& free) asset! Delighting your customers should be priority number one in your handbook. Loyal customers are worth ten times more than their first purchase. They trust the business so they tell others about how great you are. When people see how much you care about their opinion, they will spread the word about your great customer service, thus garnering you more business. Building a relationship with your customers, you are setting yourself up for success.
- “Create Business Opportunities” Creating relationships will do a lot of good for you. Not only does it help with customer involvement and loyalty, it also helps bring in new opportunities. Personal connections leave much longer-lasting impressions. This ties in with the word of mouth referrals we were just talking about. When people know and like you, they will refer business ventures your way.
- “Stay On Top of Your Audience’s Needs” Part of building relationships is active listening. When you know what your audience wants from you, you can give it to them! Sounds pretty simple if you think about it.
- “Add Your Own Flare” We live in a very competitive world. It can be difficult trying to ‘make it’ in the business world, even if you are following all the proper steps and engaging in the right strategies. It’s more than that. You have to set yourself apart from the sea of sameness. Make an active effort to spice up your strategies. Stand out and go the extra mile to make lasting relationships.
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