Relationship marketing is one of the easiest ways to connect with your target audience and foster a growing and profitable relationship.
In fact, relationship marketing is directly tied to:
- Higher customer retention
- Increased positive reviews on and offline
- Enhanced word-of-mouth marketing
- Repeat purchases of incrementally higher value
- Brand loyalty and ambassadorship
- Collaboration opportunities
How To Create Customer Loyalty
Creating customer loyalty is one of the easiest and least expensive marketing tools your business has at its fingertips. Here are 6 simple ways to create customer loyalty, one relationship at a time.
1. Focus on the Customer
Customer service is one of the greatest tools a business has to build relationships, trust, and a lifelong customer.
Providing personalized customer service is key to standing out against other businesses that rely on automation to manage customer relations. Do your best to engage customers directly when possible. Focus on them and try to see things from their perspective.
2. Master Communication Skills
Whether they engage with you or your staff, how customers feel during and after their buying experience often makes or breaks the relationship.
Mastering skills like active listening, empathy, and motivation all play a huge role in how people feel when they interact with your brand. Even your online presence can have a direct impact on how customers feel. Make sure your business is consistent, positive, and customer-focused to ensure customers have the best experience.
3. Use Tech Wisely
Tech is an important part of business.
Automation can help streamline processes and make your business accessible to a wider audience with greater ease. However, tech should be used wisely and not take the place of a one-on-one experience. Customers respond to tech that allows them to make purchases and get answers with ease. But it can quickly become burdensome or frustrating when they want to speak with someone directly. Make sure you offer a balance between tech-based and live customer service.
4. Be Genuine
People are savvy and they can tell when you aren’t invested.
Be sure your relationship marketing is genuine. If you ask for engagement, be sure to be engaged. When you conduct a poll, be sure to follow up with the results. If you’re hosting a relationship-building event, be sure to be inclusive and likeable.
5. Provide Value
Your goods and services are valuable, but there are other ways to provide value to your customers. Referrals, access to information, tutorials, behind-the-scenes information, and other resources provide additional value to your customers and build their trust.
6. Overdeliver
It’s more common than ever to deliver the absolute minimum.
It’s understandable since the costs of doing business are often skyrocketing and many customers don’t understand the shrinking margins. But overdelivering is a key to relationship marketing. It doesn’t have to be a monetary delivery. Overdelivering can include following up after the sale, offering a discount on a future purchase or giving a customer a shout-out on social media. Get creative and find ways to offer your customers even more than they expected.
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