Marketing

Labcast: What Is Relationship Marketing? A Primer

March 7, 2013

Is relationship marketing your company’s key to more lifelong customers?

In this week’s Labcast, OpenView Senior Direct Marketing Associate, Luis Fernandes answers the question, what is relationship marketing, and outlines what you’ll need to implement a relationship marketing program.
Customer relationship marketing was originally developed from direct response marketing campaigns that emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, as opposed to focusing exclusively on sales transactions.
As Luis explains, there are many reasons to pursue customer relationship marketing, particularly for B2B companies. “Relationship marketing benefits B2B organizations by extending the conversation with their customers past the first or second impression and strengthens the relationship between the customer and brand,” he explains. “This equates to greater brand loyalty and more repeat business, and can also help prevent competitors from stealing your business.”
In the podcast, Luis outlines how to implement a relationship marketing program — including all of the necessary staff, tools, and resources it takes to get up and running. Among the points he stresses are:

  • Knowing your target segment and buyer: The more clarity you have around exactly what you offer and to whom, the better positioned you will be to align with your target buyer’s preferred channels.
  • Aligning efforts with your content strategy: Audit and prioritize your content and ensure that it is in sync with with specific buyer channels and that it maps to your editorial and promotional calendars.
  • Assessing whether you have the right tools for the job: Do you have a marketing automation tool, a CRM, a CMS, and social monitoring and reporting tools? You’re going to need them for relationship marketing.
  • Understanding what success looks like: Establishing KPIs and setting up reporting dashboards are critically for monitoring and tracking the success of your efforts.

In addition, Luis also outlines some of the pitfalls to look out for when setting up a relationship marketing program and how to get around them.
For more insight into relationship marketing, listen to the full podcast below:
Labcast 101_ A Relationship Marketing Primer with Luis Fernandes

Senior Manager of eBusiness

<strong>Luis Fernandes</strong>is a strategic marketing leader with over 12 years of experience building data-driven demand generation, corporate positioning, digital marketing and loyalty strategies, improving customer experiences and driving revenue. He is currently Senior Manager of e-Business at <a href="http://www.usa.philips.com/">Philips Healthcare</a>.