How to communicate with your customers in different stages of their relationships with you?
Purpose of relationship marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers and other parties at a profit so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is done by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises.
Customer relationships can be considered in terms of a series of relationship development phases:
o Customer acquisition which is characterised by search, initiation and familiarisation.
o Customer development which is characterised by the seller attempting to reduce buyer risk and enhancing credibility.
o Customer retention is the most profitable phase, where the greatest level of relationship value is experienced. It will last as long as both the buyer and seller are able to meet their individual and joint goals.
o Customer decline is concerned with closure of a relationship.
Marketing communications can play an important role throughout all relationship phases and at all stages of the customer lifecycle.
During the acquisition phase, marketing communications need to be geared towards creating awareness and access to the brand. Communications will need to differentiate and inform, and personal selling and direct marketing will be used.
During the development phase, marketing communications need to reduce buyer-perceived risk and to enhance their own credibility. They will inform and persuade using personal selling, public relations and direct marketing.
During retention phase, marketing communications are truly interactional and based on dialogue. Messages need to be relational and reinforcing. In b2b markets, personal contact and key account management are crucial to maintaining interaction, understanding and mutual support. Communications will need to reinforce and inform, using personal selling (and KAM), public relations and direct marketing.
During decline phase, if it happens over some time, marketing communications will reinforce and persuade, using direct marketing.
Jack Williams is a marketing expert that has been involved in many projects, some of which being Adsense Revenue, Beltronics RX65, and Garmin 255WT.