RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

https://referralrock.com/blog/examples-of-different-levels-of-relationship-marketing/

Relationship marketing  is all about building deep, personalized connections

with your customers. Instead of focusing on short-term sales and transactions,
relationship marketing focuses on increasing customer loyalty, promoting
customer retention, fostering engagement, and creating long-term relationships
with customers.
It’s crucial that you build a relationship that allows your audience to connect
with your business, and a customer experience where people feel like their
specific needs are being answered. Like all relationships, relationship marketing
is built up in levels or phases. In the case of relationship marketing, there are
five levels.

In this article, we’ll cover the five levels of relationship marketing and how they
apply to your business. We’ll break down plenty of relationship marketing
examples from marketing campaigns that use each level to help you build long-
lasting customer relationships.

The 5 levels of relationship marketing strategies

There are five different levels of relationship marketing. These levels are
sometimes called hierarchical relationship marketing strategies, or types of
relationship marketing. The five levels of relationship marketing are:

1. Basic marketing
2. Reactive marketing
3. Accountable marketing
4. Proactive marketing
5. Partnership marketing
Why is it so important to understand the five levels? Knowing them can help
identify where you are in building a customer relationship, and the next steps
you can take to further this relationship with customers. Using them correctly
can help you increase your customer lifetime value,  one of the most important
metrics for your business’ success.
Level 1: Basic marketing
Basic marketing can be compared to traditional marketing. Think of it as the
Mad Men marketing approach: It’s marketing that simply aims to entice the
customer to buy. It’s direct selling, and doesn’t include following up with
customers after they purchase a product or service. There’s no communication
or customer feedback involved. Basic marketing is when a business sells simply
for the sake of making money (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

Examples of basic relationship marketing

This Nike commercial is one example of basic marketing. It features LeBron
James, who doesn’t do anything for what seems like a lifetime. Eventually, he
laughs and “Just Do It” appears on the screen, followed by a blank screen to
end. The message is simple: Whatever sport you are interested in, just do it with
Nike.

This ad reels you in with a simple message, price, lifestyle, and promotion. It
doesn’t get much more basic than that, and no customer interaction was
involved.
Walmart also uses basic marketing. The brand maintains its low price strategy to
attract new (and maintain old) customers. Most people who shop at Walmart
choose to because of their extremely low prices. The company doesn’t use
gimmicks, but just lets the pricing speak for itself. Walmart knows that, with
basic marketing, it’s all about creating enough value to influence customers
decision to purchase.
Even though basic marketing does its job, a better way to keep users excited
about a product is to build a deep connection. The basic marketing strategy
itself does draw in people, but is it enough? Can you use basic marketing alone
for relationship marketing? Usually, you’ll have much greater success with the
higher levels of relationship marketing, where you invite the user into some sort
of conversation.

Level 2: Reactive marketing

At this level, you encourage your customers to supply feedback, be it a
complaint, comment, suggestion, or random idea. There is some effort required
to build a relationship with the customer; It’s about responding and interacting
with customers when the situation or opportunity arises.

This is not your typical outreach marketing technique and is more inbound,
focusing on after purchases reactions. You don’t resolve a specific problem
when you respond to a customer with reactive marketing, though.

Examples of reactive relationship marketing

Starbucks maintains communication with their customers through emails
showing appreciation and informing them of new offers, and even asks for ideas
from their customers on their dedicated web page. The famous coffee chain
markets their product by sharing short videos and images from their customers
on Instagram. Reposting and regramming user-generated content on their own
social media accounts creates more reactions .
And have you seen the Starbuck’s GIFs on Instagram? The strategy to get
customers to share through word-of-mouth is even more encouraged with
branded content.
Oreo capitalized on the 2013 Super Bowl blackout with a quick and timely
tweet suggesting people “dunk in the dark.” This took advantage of trendy
conversations in order to enhance their product, and encouraged their audience
to reply and react.
During the 2013 horse meat scandal in Europe , betting company Paddy Power
capitalized on the situation with witty content marketing. They created a
cookbook entitled “6 delicious horse meat recipes ” after the news went viral.
This evoked a variety of responses from people, and the humor and creativity
eventually led to massive conversations.
 Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times.
After the news headlined all over Europe, they followed their content marketing
up with a stand outside Dublin Square that featured “Free Horse Burgers.” The
purpose of the stand was primarily to evaluate the response from consumers,
and encourage social media sharing. This is a wild example of reactive
marketing, but it worked.

Level 3: Accountable marketing

As a business, it should be your duty to check on your customers shortly after a
purchase. This promotes confidence in what you offer and proves to customers
that you’re reliable. It also encourages customers’ honest opinions about your
products or services, which creates a deeper level of relationship marketing. This
is accountable marketing.

Businesses that use accountable marketing reach out to customers, remind their
customers of their purchase, and share why customer feedback is important. Or,
they might reach out and directly respond to customer feedback or known
needs.

Accountable marketing starts to dive deeply into satisfying customers’ known

needs and encourages a meaningful two-way conversation. With accountable
marketing, you deliver on your promises, creating trust and providing good
reasons for customers to choose you instead of your competitor.

Examples of accountable relationship marketing

Apple practices accountable marketing by offering training and awareness on
health and environmental concerns through conversations with their customers.
GreenGeeks offers eco-friendly web hosting platforms  as a service, a niche
others don’t fill. The brand commits to offsetting three times the power they
consume using renewable energy sources. But their accountability makes them
stand out even more. Customers rave about GreenGeeks’ outstanding support
and commitment to walking them through the website setup process.
While other similar companies may bury their customer service phone number,
Zappos places it front and center on their website , inviting customers to reach
out with any concerns. And when they do call, Zappos representatives listen
actively, have deep conversations with customers, and go above and beyond.
One representative sent flowers to a customer after learning that she was trying
to return boots meant for her father, who passed away before he could wear
them. Another has sent several baby blankets to parents who called while their
babies cried in the background, and even “once sent a Slip ‘N Slide to a family
with four little girls who needed something fun to do over summer.”
In 2014, after hearing customers complain about artificial ingredients, Panera
owned up to their mistakes and promised to address them. They vowed to
remove all artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives from their foods within two
years. Panera took responsibility and showed accountability by detailing exactly
how it would address customer concerns, at multiple steps along the process .
By 2016, they could proudly tell their customers that all their food was “100%
clean.”
LastSeat’s model is based on accountability. The brand searches the web for the
best deals on airline seats based on the price and needs you name. They even
offer price bidding, meaning you can submit a price bid and they’ll check with
the airlines to get the best possible price. Knowing that you will get a deal
based on your selected price is pretty amazing.
Level 4: Proactive marketing
Proactive marketing takes things to an even more personal level. Businesses
keep in regular contact with their customers rather than just on a one-off basis,
and use what they’ve learned to keep improving their products or services.
Proactive marketing uses data to understand your previous campaigns’
successes or failures and create more engaging opportunities for the future.

Examples of proactive relationship marketing

Tyson Foods released a hunger relief campaign, which has greatly helped
improve its customer loyalty. The company promised to donate some of its food
products according to how customers comment on their blog. Tyson Foods gets
continuous feedback, which it uses to improve its products, while feeding the
hungry at the same time.
GE (General Electric) uses content marketing  in an extremely proactive way to
satisfy and communicate with existing customers. They conduct intensive
research to find out what customers in each market need and respond to. Then,
they personalize the content pieces they write for specific local audiences, their
needs, and their socioeconomic contexts, to increase engagement and offer
value. This is a very significant investment, especially when it comes to countries
with lower revenue potential. But GE understands that relationships are more
valuable than individual transactions, because relationships create invested
repeat customers.
BetterCloud collects data on how customers use their SaaS management
software, including when they run into errors and struggles. Their “proactive
support” system flags potential issues before they balloon into a hassle for the
customer. This way, BetterCloud support staff can promptly reach out to the
affected customers first, before customers get frustrated and submit support
tickets– or spend valuable hours trying to solve a problem on their own.

“Every week,” reports BetterCloud , “a higher percentage of our support

interactions are proactive, rather than reactive. When customers experience
issues, we’re reaching out to them BEFORE they can even submit a ticket.”
Most similar companies don’t reach out to their customers as proactively and
frequently as BetterCloud, so being proactive gives BetterCloud a competitive
advantage.

Panera has used both accountability marketing and proactive marketing to

build relationships. As part of Panera’s MyPanera loyalty program, customers
are encouraged to  share their thoughts and make the Panera experience better
for all. The program also offers personalized rewards on the menu items each
individual customer loves, and even recommends new items based on their
favorites. Customers can even save and place favorite orders on the Panera app
for faster transactions and convenient pickup.

Zappos also builds on accountability marketing with proactive marketing.

Returning customers enjoy size and other tailored product recommendations
when they log into their Zappos account. “VIP members” earn loyalty program
points for purchases and for simply logging in. And of course, Zappos always
encourages customers to talk with the company about any concerns. But
sometimes, they proactively reach out with unprompted surprises, like free
shipping upgrades for loyal customers.
Amazon has dominated the internet retail industry by introducing virtual
assistant product lines and services. The Amazon Alexa virtual assistant provides
features such as home automation. It lets you control and interact with smart
home devices and appliances that are integrated the software. Additionally,
Alexa can order food from various restaurants, order Amazon products, stream
music on a variety of devices, and make calls and send texts on behalf of its
user.
Proactive marketing is data driven. Amazon knows which products sell the most.
So, all they have to do is add Alexa features to each product and synchronize,
providing easy integration for the whole family. Amazon is also able to learn
about customer preferences, recommend content and products through Alexa
based on these preferences, and use data to keep improving customers’
experiences with Alexa.

Level 5: Partnership marketing

Partnership marketing helps encourage and maintain customer satisfaction
levels through a mutually beneficial agreement with another business (or even
with an individual customer). This is the strongest form of relationship
marketing between businesses and their customers, and the deepest way to
build a relationship, since you’re bringing someone outside of your company in
to serve a specific customer need.

For instance, some SaaS products offer custom solutions for their consumers.
Still others directly involve customers in development, producing tailored
products and offering dedicated support staff.

Examples of relationship marketing with partnerships

Lay’s runs an annual contest called “Do Us A Flavor,” where they invite
customers to submit ideas for new flavors of their chips. Customers can then
vote on flavors that make the shortlist, via social media. The winning flavor gets
added to the Lay’s flavor lineup , and the customer who suggested it receives a
substantial cash prize. By letting its customers make such a significant decision
about the next decision their brand takes, Lay’s fosters trust in their brand.
Like many other companies, GE partners with customers to tell their stories in
case studies. Even though the featured customers are businesses, GE makes sure
to show the business’ human side in the story. So, the brand uses the two
deepest relationship marketing levels in its content marketing strategy:
proactive marketing and partnership marketing. These powerful relationships
help the brand resonate with other customers and make other customer
relationships stronger.
Microsoft develops the Windows phone operating system, to be used on the
Nokia Lumia devices. This is a strategic partnership between a software
company and a hardware design company. Users gain access to Microsoft’s
expertise through the operating system design, Microsoft Mail Exchange and
Microsoft Office products. Additionally, users enjoy Nokia’s hardware expertise
as they use their device. The partnership enables these two companies to
leverage their brand awareness in order to improve sales.

App API integration is now the norm. No one can provide an all-in-one solution
to satisfy every single customer, but companies like Zapier provide API
integration, creating partnerships with other software companies based on what
customers might need.
Similarly, here at Referral Rock, we don’t want you to have to switch to other
platforms just to be able to provide a referral program for your customers. So,
we offer over 50 integrations with other software programs you already use.
The next level: Hyper-personalized relationship
marketing
Although relationship marketing’s traditionally broken down into 5 levels, all the
levels are meant to lead to customer loyalty and engagement when used as part
of a wider relationship marketing strategy. And to build a relationship, there’s
often nothing better than delivering personalized gestures.

The best personalized relationship marketing efforts that companies have used
don’t always neatly fit into one of the 5 levels.  But they still offer stellar
relationship marketing examples, because they respond to individual customer
needs and concerns.

One famous example involves apparel brand Moosejaw. A Moosejaw customer

ordered a hoodie for his then-girlfriend before Christmas, but his girlfriend
broke up with him shortly before the holiday. So, he reached out to Moosejaw
to return the hoodie, and explained that he was returning it because of the
breakup.

Moosejaw seized this opportunity and sent the customer a care package with
several Moosejaw shirts, along with a personalized note saying they were sorry
that his girlfriend broke up with him. Moosejaw’s relationship marketing
strategy worked so well because it was personalized to the situation, sent
without expecting anything in return, and aimed at cultivating a long-term
relationship with the brand. I’m sure that Moosejaw’s relationship with this
customer lasted into the long term, unlike the relationship with his girlfriend.

How can marketers implement relationship

marketing?
 What else can marketers do to implement relationship marketing? We’ve
provided multiple relationship marketing examples for you to take home,
digest, and dissect. We’ll leave you with a quote and a short checklist to help
you achieve your marketing goals.

Ann Handley, Head of Content Marketing at MarketingProfs said: “Even when

you are marketing to your entire audience or customer base, you are still simply
speaking to a single human at any given time.”
In order for you to speak to a single individual when creating your relationship
marketing strategy, follow this very simple checklist:

1. Be clear, concise, personal, and relevant

 You only have a few seconds to grab their attention, so don’t start
too slow

 Appealing to buyer personas is key

2. Defy expectations and follow up

 Listen to your customers’ concerns. What is working? What changes

might they want?

 Identify what accountable/proactive marketing you can integrate,

to offer a personalized “wow factor”

3. Engage your audience

 Add calls to action

 Be interactive

 Use messages personalized for certain audience segments

 Build cohesive, immersive experiences across each of your channels