Relationship Marketing Must Be Sincere To Succeed

Many sappy cliches are associated with relationship such as "appreciation wins over self promotion" and "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care". Well, my advice is not to get involved in the relationship marketing aspect of marketing if you are not prepared to be sincere about it. You want people to like and trust you, yes, but then you must be absolutely sure that you can be liked and trusted. There is a simple way to get people to like and trust you and that is to show appreciation genuine appreciation. When you say thank you, you had better mean it. If you don't mean it, rather don't say anything at all.

You might think I am being melodramatic or too extreme when I say you should be sincere but it is a known fact that one of the two top facts that people stop using the services and products of a business are as follows: in the first place they feel their business was taken for granted. In other words, the sincerity had gone out of the business relationship. Let's face it, everyone says "thank you" to their clients on the conclusion of a transaction. It's when the evidence of gratitude is not present, i.e. the sincerity that things fall apart.

The second reason people stop doing business with other people is that they forget about them! After trying one's utmost to win a new customer once we have them we tend to neglect them. It's human nature. Yet it takes so little to write a personal card to someone reflecting sincere sentiments. Ask anyone when last they received a card from someone they did business with (not a birthday, holiday or special occasion) and it wasn't a business card or branded logo? The chances are no one ever has.

Relationship marketing means staying in touch with the people that you've done business with and showing sincere appreciation and gratitude on a daily basis. This does not mean sending out self-promoting mailings, email and newsletters. People don't care how great one or other product or service is. They only want to know how it can benefit them personally. What is more, they don't want their patronage taken for granted. If you are looking for relationship marketing techniques here are some and remember to be sincere. Otherwise it's better not to implement them at all.

1. Every day you should send out one unexpected card to a prospect or an existing customer. Remember you need to be sincere and it must be a real tangible card that goes by mail or courier, not an ecard. It must show genuine appreciation or gratitude. Forget about logos and business cards and don't even talk business. A thinking-of-you type card does just fine. Do this daily and see the results.

2. When you communicate with your clients ask yourself what you would do with the piece of mail, email, newsletter, if you received it. If you would appreciate it and keep it to show to others, then go ahead and send it. If you would throw it away then don't bother sending it. You should keep your sincerity detector working overtime. Really care about your customers and their businesses and you will have friends and customers for life.

About the Author

James Copper is a writer for http://www.marketinglinx.com

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How Smart Companies are Opening New Multi-Channel Markets

The race is on.Brick and mortar companies are rapidly shifting to multi-channel markets primarily through e-commerce sites targeting customers locally, regionally and nationally.E-commerce is not eliminating brick and mortar stores but opening up new venues or other ways to sell products and services.

In the process these companies are eliminating ineffective traditional marketing and using search optimization and search marketing instead.These companies are searching for online solutions that automate the buying process and create 24/7 sales.

The relationship of online sales to offline sales is becoming more blurred and more complicated.For some products, especially high consideration products like automobiles, consumers research online to learn what they need to know and then purchase offline.

Other products are researched offline and bought online; this is a strong trend that many specialty stores are now seeing.The consumer will get the look and feel of a product and then buy it cheaper online.

Many of these specialty stores are finding it increasingly difficult to remain competitive as their cost of sales is greater than e-commerce stores.

Flexible entrepreneurs are now using their offline presence to drive online sales.Others are using their online presence to drive offline sales.Many companies are now doing both.

Companies now have these new options thanks to search technology and especially "local search".Companies can now target local, regional and global prospects and customers by using organic and pay-per-click marketing campaigns.

The initial beneficiaries of this new technology are those companies using local search; geocentric local search technology has now made it much easier to market across a region instead of just a locale.Many brick and mortar stores are finding innovative ways to leverage search technology to boost their brick and mortar products and services.

For 25 years Mike Fine ran Fineline Screen Printing before expanding into Cheapfasttees.Mike had been doing business only locally because marketing outside his immediate area was prohibitively expensive.

Using search technology and his existing screen printing facility, Mike now offers a discounted volume product he can sell throughout the United States.It all began as Mikes local market stagnated he began looking at ways to utilize the excess capacity of his equipment.

"When I looked at my equipment over a 24 hour period I found that most of the equipment wasnt being used most of the time," said Mike, "and since I was paying for it all of the time, it occurred to me that it wouldnt cost me more to use it more and expand my sales through an e-commerce website.Cheapfasttees was the natural business evolution for me."

Many companies already have a good infrastructure in place with fully operational phone and computer systems.

Only minor changes in inventory tracking and bookkeeping are needed to accommodate new online business.

Strangely the biggest challenges many of these companies face is psychological.

E-commerce and search marketing have advanced so quickly many companies have found the necessary mental adjustments difficult and at times impossible.E-commerce requires some degree of computer sophistication but the biggest challenge is implementing effective search marketing campaign strategies.

This requires a change of mindset or a shift in the Gestalt as managers and owners are faced with the new realities of search marketing.Search marketing must be developed and implemented internally and old style managers often resist taking on these new tasks.

But many entrepreneurs now realize that if they dont take control of their search marketing strategy their competitors will and beat them to it.This is because the markets are unforgiving of those that decide search marketing is optional.

Even local businesses are discovering they are losing business to competitors that are able to run effective local search marketing campaigns.

"Its simply a matter of being found by those that are ready to buy," says Mike of Cheapfasttees.
About the Author

Jack D.

Deal owns JD Deal Business Consulting, Carmel and Santa Cruz, California 95062 831-457-8806.Related articles, ideas, strategies, tactics and tips can be found at

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