Why is it important that sales associates understand written and multimedia materials that are provided by the company the manufacturer and the supplier?

Importance of relationship marketing

Acquiring new customers can be challenging and costly. Relationship marketing helps retain customers over the long term, which results in customer loyalty rather than customers purchase once or infrequently.

Relationship marketing is important for its ability to stay in close contact with customers. By understanding how customers use a brand’s products and services and observing additional unmet needs, brands can create new features and offerings to meet those needs, further strengthening the relationship.

Implementing a relationship marketing strategy

Relationship marketing is based on the tenets of customer experience management (CEM), which focuses on improving customer interactions to foster better brand loyalty. While these interactions can still occur in person or over the phone, much of relationship marketing and CEM has taken to the Web.

With the abundance of information on the Web and flourishing use of social media, most consumers expect to have easy, tailored access to details about a brand and even expect the opportunity to influence products and services via social media posts and online reviews. Today, relationship marketing involves creating easy two-way communication between customers and the business, tracking customer activities and providing tailored information to customers based on those activities.

For example, an e-commerce site might track a customer's activity by allowing them to create a user profile so that their information is conveniently saved for future visits, and so that the site can push more tailored information to them next time. Site visitors might also be able to sign in through Facebook or another social media channel, allowing them a simpler user experience and automatically connecting them to the brand's social media presence.

This is where CRM and marketing automation software can support a relationship marketing strategy by making it easier to record, track and act on customer information. Social CRM tools go further by helping to extend relationship marketing into the social media sphere, allowing companies to more easily monitor and respond to customer issues on social media channels, which in turn helps maintain a better brand image.

Benefits of relationship marketing

Benefits of relationship marketing include:

• Higher customer lifetime value (CLV). Relationship marketing creates loyal customers, which leads to repeat purchases and a higher CLV. In addition, loyal customers are likely to become brand advocates or ambassadors, recommending products and services to friends, family and business associates.
• Reduction in marketing and advertising spend. Spending on marketing and advertising to acquire new customers can be expensive. Relationship marketing causes customers to do the marketing for a brand, in what’s called buzz marketing. Customers tell others about a brand’s products and services, which can drive sales. Brands with exceptional relationship marketing programs spend little to no money on marketing or advertising.
• Stronger organizational alignment around the customer. Organizations that emphasize relationship marketing have a stronger organizational alignment around an exceptional customer experience. The teams work together to create satisfied and happy customers over the long term.

Examples of relationship marketing

There are several types of activities brands can use to facilitate relationship marketing, including:

• Provide exceptional customer service, as customers who are consistently impressed by a brand’s customer service are more likely to remain loyal to the brand.
• Thank customers through a social media post or with a surprise gift card.
• Solicit customer feedback through surveys, polls and phone calls, which can create a positive impression that customer opinions are valued and help to create better products and services.
• Launch a loyalty program that rewards customers for their continued patronage.
• Hold customer events to connect with customers and build a community.
• Create customer advocacy or brand advocacy programs to reward customers who provide word-of-mouth advertising on a brand’s behalf.
• Offer discounts or bonuses to long-time or repeat customers.