Relationship marketing is key to finding loyal customers in an increasingly digital world. Find out how you can do that here.
Laura has been an entrepreneur for 20 years.
She spent the first 15 years of her career in a brick-and-mortar business – a children’s portrait studio that opened in 12 locations. At some point, she even accepted wedding photography gigs.
Later on, she realized she wanted to make a career shift.
And now, Laura has opened a consultancy firm for various clients. She has worked with many well-known influencers, book authors, thought leaders, and even nonprofit groups.
So, what’s the secret that allowed Laura to build her business so fast and successfully?
It’s just one thing. And that’s none other than relationship marketing.
Laura was able to build a successful business and shift from photography to consulting thanks to creating lasting relationships with the people around her. She has become an expert at relationship marketing, which allowed her to grow her business the way she wants.
And the best part? You can do it, too.
In this article, we'll talk about what relationship marketing is and four tips from Laura on how to get started with relationship marketing.
What is Relationship Marketing?
Lasting and genuine relationships built on trust is the backbone of relationship marketing.
Simply put, relationship marketing is about being able to create genuine connections with the people that surround your business. These include everyone you interact with, not just your clients.
Of course, you should create lasting relationships with your clients so that they will want to stay with your business. But relationship marketing is more than that. It also involves forging strong ties with your team members, your collaborators, and other business owners you interact with.
By creating genuine relationships with those you interact with, you create partnership opportunities that ultimately benefit all of the people involved.
When you engage in relationship marketing, you must learn how to give and take, just like in any genuine relationship. This spirit of mutualism allows trust to grow… And it makes your relationship stronger.
But therein lies the problem.
Relationship marketing is one of the simplest but often ignored ways to do business… at least by today’s entrepreneurs. And the reason why this is happening is that many business owners started in the ‘money in, money out’ era of paid ads.
Many are well-versed in lead generation through cold communication as a result. But this isn’t really their fault. They are just conditioned to think that every interaction is a direct response marketing opportunity.
But the truth is… business doesn’t really work that way.
4 Tips on Building Better Relationships in Your Business
Tip #1: Make sure you have a pipeline
Relationship marketing starts with a pipeline.
In the context of relationship marketing, a pipeline is simply a list of names of the people you’re in touch with. Then, you will identify the people whom you want to establish a good relationship with and go on from there.
Having a pipeline sets you up for success when it comes to relationship marketing. Because if you take note of who you communicate or interact with and how you do it, building a relationship with them gets a whole lot easier.
Tip #2: Don’t just think about your next lead
Let me tell you this:
Many business owners underestimate how impactful the people they already know, like, and trust are in their business. So, they are constantly looking for the next lead or cold contact.
What they don’t know is that if they just nurtured the people who already knew them, they would have the business of their dreams.
The important part here is to turn to the people whom you’ve already contacted and stay on top of their minds. Take note of them and make sure that they won’t forget you.
Laura shared that whenever someone comes into her consulting certification, she gets them to make a list of all the people they think would be a good fit for consulting.
Most of the time, her clients respond by saying they know nobody.
To this, she responds by asking her clients to visit their LinkedIn accounts and start making a list. Oftentimes, these clients do come up with lists that are filled with ideal clients.
That initial hesitation or doubt is really just the way our brain works. We’re always looking for the new instead of really loving what we already have.
But we have to move past that if we want our business to succeed.
Tip #3: Learn how to show gratitude and appreciation
If you want to build better relationships with the people in your business… you need to learn how to show gratitude and appreciation. This means that you should be empathetic toward others’ wins and losses.
It’s about letting others know that they can count on you. It’s about lending a helping hand without expecting anything in return. And it’s about getting in touch and asking any of the following questions:
- What are you working on right now?
- Is there anything I can help you with?
- Are you looking for a connection?
- Is there anything that you are searching for in your business right now? I know a lot of people, and I can help you.
Tip #4: Be genuine
Relationship marketing works by adding a personal touch.
This is the kind of marketing that’s about being genuine and customizing interactions with people, depending on who they are and what they are to you. It’s also about creating real conversations and real relationships with people who matter to you in your business.
Remember this:
Being genuine about wanting to build a relationship is necessary for relationship marketing to work.
Otherwise, you’d fail at building solid connections. Or, you’d only end up building a relationship with the wrong people who’d only be there for you if you gave them something in return.
Learn How to Systematize Building Connections Today
Now that you know what relationship marketing is and what it can do for your business, let me give you one last piece of advice:
Learn how to systematize building connections.
Use everything you learned today to create a system so that you won’t neglect to forge strong connections with the people in your business.
If you need more help on how to start building relationships in your business, you may schedule a free strategy session with us. Book a call here: www.stacytuschl.com/call.
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