Are You Using Creative Relationship Marketing?

If you’ve been in business on the Internet for any length of time, you are probably coming to the conclusion that the same old, same old just doesn’t sell the way it used to anymore.

That’s because customers are savvier than ever. That doesn’t mean they’re not buying.  It just means they are going to think a bit more about you and what your offering before handing over their hard-earned dollars to you.

You see, when we’re in business for a while, we learn how to sell, but somehow it starts falling flat.

And the reason why is that we start focusing on the numbers (that is, how many sales) instead of the people we’re selling to. To be successful – and to stop leaving money on the table, you need an eye on both.

That’s where creative relationship marketing comes in.

Creative relationship marketing is a strategy designed to foster customer loyalty, interaction and long-term engagement.

It’s designed to develop strong connections with customers by providing them with information directly suited to their needs and interests and by promoting open communication.

This approach often results in increased word-of-mouth activity, repeat business and a willingness on the customer’s part to provide information to your business to actually improve your offerings.

But don’t be fooled.

We’re still talking about marketing here.

Don’t fall so in love with the relationship that you forget about the marketing.

Just because the word relationship in is in the term ‘creative relationship marketing’ doesn’t mean you’re going to focus on completely building a connection with each and every prospect you have. (That would be exhausting as well as impossible.)

Creative relationship marketing is about getting the customer to stick around long enough to keep shopping with you. And it’s about making sure that customer comes back next time to buy more stuff.

So where does the creative part come in?

As much as relationship marketing hasn’t changed much in decades there is something that IS new. It’s the creative use of assets and the way we build relationships with prospects and customers.

It’s not about pushing a marketing message through as many ways as possible. It’s about pulling – or attracting – the right prospects to you.

It is a fact that people do business with people, and that they find it far easier to do business with people they like.

So, a deadpan ‘this is who we are, this is what we do and you can fill this form in to contact us’ type of site no longer cuts the mustard as far as the modern consumer is concerned, because they want so much more from you.

And this pulling through creative relationship marketing instead of pushing gives you your competitive advantage. It’s what differentiates you from others in your field and gets people liking you.