You might be used to hearing fancier marketing terms in 2019 like ‘SEO’ and ‘SEM’, ‘PPC’ and ‘CPC’. All useful – but what about the relationship-building part? Sometimes it’s not enough to throw money behind a digital marketing campaign. Sometimes you need to invest in customer retention, and that is what relationship marketing it all about.
How to Start with Relationship Marketing
Customer loyalty and long-term customer retention is key to building and more importantly, sustaining a successful business. Building and MAINTAINING multiple connections (hundreds and maybe even thousands) can be tricky – but there are some tools and tricks to get started with.
Get a CRM System
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is crucial for organizing your relationships, filtering and segmenting your customers to better manage your relationships. Using a CRM, like Salesforce for example, “enables a business to deepen its relationships with customers, service users, colleagues, partners and suppliers.” Being able to see all your customers in one place online is crucial, and in 2019, a CRM is completely necessary as your business grows.
Offer an Excellent Customer Service Experience
Customer service can be easily forgotten or undermined when you’re scaling your business, but it is perhaps the MOST crucial part of a business. If the customer is not happy, the business will likely not succeed. Invest in making the customer experience streamlined, easy and comfortable.
Have an online business? A customer should not have to work hard to purchase your product online, so spend the time necessary to improve your website experience. A chat bot can also improve your customer retention, being available to help at any point. Make it easy for your customers to ask for help, and be ready to help. Even if you don’t have the time, add a simple FAQ page to your website to answer any common questions or issues. Think like a customer and iron out any pain points.
Use Email Marketing when Necessary
Retaining customers through email marketing such as biweekly or monthly newsletters is a great way to keep the customer engaged in your company and any updates that have happened recently. Newsletters are great for keeping customers in the loop and help them feel valued. Post about recent events, new team members, customer testimonials, anything that will help your customer feel part of the inner circle!
Reach Out with Surveys
Want to know how to really improve your customer experience? Why not ask the customer themselves? Send out an anonymous survey to find out what you can do to improve the customer lifecycle and how you can keep your customers retained and happy.
Try out Direct Mail
Direct mail is NOT dead – it’s actually quite the opposite! For small businesses, sending out personalized letters to customers can have a strong and positive impact – making the customer feel valued, appreciated, and more than anything – special! Do a small direct-mail campaign to target your most valued long-term customers and let them know how much they mean to the success of your business. Thank them for their part, and they might become long-term ambassadors for your business, inviting their friends to try your product and encouraging others to support your business.
Need a Hand?
Our skilled marketing professionals at Cabeza Advertising know how to build strong relationships with customers, and are here to help your business.
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