What is Relationship Marketing?

We know forming meaningful connections with prospects plays a large role in getting them to become customers. But, just because we know it, doesn't make it any easier to build lasting relationships.

 

Keep scrolling to find out how relationship marketing can reframe how you approach building meaningful connections between your business and your customers.

 

Relationship marketing is the practice of developing meaningful, long-term relationships with your existing customers. Your marketing messages would be talking to rather than at customers. Being authentic and consistent in your messaging and ensuring your messages are open to responses is essential to building better relationships.

 

In terms of the marketing flywheel, relationship marketing occupies the engage stage. You want to keep prospects engaged so that when they're ready to buy, they choose your business. If they feel a genuine connection, they'll be more inclined to continue to buy from you after that initial purchase.

 

The stages of the marketing flywheel, via HubSpot. 

 

Better customer relationships have a positive impact on your bottom line, too. It's cheaper to retain customers than it is to attract new ones, so relationship marketing matters when considering how to scale your business. You don't want to focus solely on how many new people you can bring in, but also consider how you'll improve retention.

 

Incentives like personalized offers and loyalty programs can help support relationship-building. Collecting feedback from customers shows you care about their experience and are determined to make it even better.

 

This marketing approach is all about keeping customers happy and cultivating meaningful relationships with them, which will keep them coming back to your business.

 

It saves you money to put a little more work into retaining existing customers. Loyal customers are also more likely to refer their loved ones to your business, share your social posts, and leave you reviews, so it's worthwhile to form strong relationships with your customers.