Relational Marketing (What it is, Objectives and How to Apply it)

Keeping existing customers can be more beneficial than acquiring new customers, so when you focus on attracting customers it is important not to neglect current customers, for this it is necessary to help yourself of the relational marketing.

Know what is necessary of the relationship marketing, the elements that form it and how to apply it can be the first step to establish a long and beneficial relationship with customers.

What is the relational marketing?

Also known as relationship marketing, it is a concept born from a strategic change in the orientation of marketing, which changes from the need to attract customers to the need to achieve comprehensive customer satisfaction over the long term term.

It is a way of doing business, which is based on the strategy that seeks to attract customers in order to establish a relationship of trust and loyalty with them in the long term. That is, it tries to conceive pleasant, profitable relationships with clients, which in the long run connote benefits for both parties. Since a satisfied customer buys again, an understood customer recommends the company, in In general, a client with whom a good relationship is established is one who will help grow the business.

In general terms, it can be said that relationship marketing, is the business process that integrates customer service, with quality and marketing, in order to establish and maintain lasting relationships with clients that are also profitable.

Relationship marketing according to scholars

According to López-Pinto, relationship marketing is the process by which the company identifies, establishes, maintains and strengthens its relationships with customers and other stakeholders in a profitable manner, favoring the achievement of the objectives of all the parties involved.

For Dvoskin it is a method that uses technological tools to build customer loyalty. It is based on the idea of ​​establishing learning relationships with clients, which improve with each interaction.

Continuing with Dvoskin, it is necessary to consider a series of steps to develop a good relationship marketing program, these are:

• Customer identification: It requires more effort than the segmentation process, since within the process of relationship marketing each client constitutes a segment, after knowing each one, it becomes possible to classify them into groups.
• Customer differentiation: Each customer has a value for the organization, which varies according to their frequency when making purchases, the amounts of the purchases and the date of the last purchase.
• Interaction with clients: keeping a classification of clients according to profitability, facilitates reduction transaction costs and the relationship with customers that are below the levels provided.

Objectives of relationship marketing

Relationship marketing requires an entrepreneurial mindset that emphasizes building relationships. customer relationships, relationships in which interactions go beyond the framework of exchange commercial.

Therefore, it supposes the sustainability of the effort over time and responds to the understanding of the competition in the market. The objectives of this effort are:

• Create lasting and satisfactory relationships with key entities, such as consumers, suppliers and distributors, with the purpose of obtaining and maintaining the preference and business with them.
• It pursues a relationship that is beneficial for all parties involved, that is, it seeks to build and develop relationships that are profitable for the company and beneficial for the client.
• From the meticulous analysis of what said relationship with a client brings, it allows us to conclude if it is necessary to end any relationship.
• It strengthens social, economic and technical ties between the members of various organizations, reducing the time of transactions and their costs.
• It allows the construction of a collaboration network between different companies that make up the value chain.

Relationship Marketing Best Practices

· Talk to people

It is necessary to establish a more human relationship, that customers identify themselves and appreciate that they feel that they are more than consumers or a number in the marketing strategy of a company.

You must change the way you talk to customers and especially change the way you think of them. Each client has their own needs and perceptions, so it is important to personalize communication with each of them.

In addition to modifying messages and campaigns, it is vital to replace bulk or automated email campaigns with specific actions for each user.

Segment mailing lists

Contacts should be separated into small groups or segments and based on their similarities to facilitate the creation of more personalized content. With this segmentation, customers can be shown that they are not treated with general or random messages, but that their needs are considered.

This helps convert potential customers into repeat customers, it also makes it easier to convince existing customers to buy more.

· Create a conversion funnel adapted to the process with the client

This is what is known as a sales funnel, and it is nothing more than the path taken by potential customers from their first interaction with the company until the moment they make a purchase or go more there.

 Elements of relationship marketing

Marketing

Never forget that one of the main objectives as a company is to achieve maximum customer satisfaction.

· Quality

A great campaign, excellent marketing is useless if the quality and after-sales service is bad. It is necessary to maintain quality in each process related to the client.

· Customer service

The relationship with the customer, his experience with the brand, the product and the company must be excellent.

Finally, it is necessary to mention what many experts say "Everything begins and ends with the client and their satisfaction", something that is not new, but is fundamental within the relationship marketing.

The customer must be the center of interest of the company, identify it, know it and satisfy its needs is vital for you to buy and stay with the brand for a long time as happy customers are customers profitable.