Business owners everywhere incorporate marketing tactics every week and every month to tell the world about their mission and their products or services. Without marketing and without millions of dollars in your advertising budget, not a single soul would know you have a business, never mind want to make a purchase with you.
Why? Because people purchase from those who they know, like, and trust. They want to know that you’re a real person with real feelings instead of someone who only cares about the almighty dollar. They want to know you’re not a scam artist who will steal their last dollar without providing a product. They want to hear recommendations from others who have purchased before them to be sure your product delivered what it promised.
People with purchase power want a relationship with you before they buy.
Relationship-based marketing gives you:
1. Visibility
In order to have a relationship with a single person or large audience, you need to interact with them. Get to know THEIR likes and dislikes, know what problems they are experiencing, and think about how you can help them solve their problem. In order to learn this information, you’ll be forced to be consistent with your interaction, whether on social media or in real life, naturally giving you more visibility. In the article Build Trust by Being Consistent with Your Marketing, you will find more tips to improve your consistency.
2. Authority
Do you share your knowledge with your audience, or do you save that only for paying customers? Sharing your knowledge, practical experience, and even case studies for free will position you as a knowledgeable authority figure and an expert in their field who cares about helping others. Platforms such as social media, podcasts, YouTube videos, or writing an ebook or short reports are all ways to both increases your authority rank and your visibility.
3. A stellar reputation
Can you see how Visibility and Authority build on each other and lead to a Stellar Reputation? As you interact with people and become an authority figure, your audience will naturally form an opinion about you. If you over-deliver with your products or your signature programs, your reputation will continue to shine. Overall, a stellar reputation will shorten the length of time it takes you to earn the trust of your audience or new followers.
4. Happy and enthusiastic fans
You’ll know you’ve made it when fans are clamoring for your latest product and tell all their friends how wonderful you are! This is the ultimate result of relationship marketing and worth all the time and effort it takes to reach this destination. I highly encourage you to start collecting online reviews from your happy clients.
One key to remember is to never stop the process of building relationships. Like gears in a clock, you must find a way to consistently interact, show your authority, improve your reputation and take care of your happy fans. Keep these gears working to consistently grow your business for years to come. Relationship marketing should be a win-win situation for both parties involved. You should gain visibility, authority, and happy fans, and your audience should be thrilled with the value that you deliver to them. If you want to get more in-depth into relationship marketing and the steps you need to make this tactic work for you, then you’ll want to check out my on-demand video, How to Manage Your Social Media with Constant Contact. Do you want more courses to learn about social media marketing? Click here to check my library where you will find email, social media, and other forms of digital marketing-related videos!
Tracey Lee Davis, founder of ZingPop Social Media, turns busy small business owners into online marketing rockstars! A social media expert and Certified Solution Provider for Constant Contact, she coaches entrepreneurs in how to grow their business using social media and provides total management for their email marketing campaigns. Tracey Lee is also a featured speaker for associations and business groups. She is Alignable's 2021 Local Business Person of the Year for San Jose, a Certified Content Marketing Strategist, and the Co-Owner and Vice President of the Women’s Networking Alliance. She also really, really loves cheese.