Relationship Driven Internet Marketing
This is part nine of the Business Owner’s Guide to Internet Marketing. The other posts in the series are:
- Introduction
- Is Internet Marketing Right for My Business?
- What’s In a Website?
- Internet Marketing Opportunities
- Why Search is Powerful.
- How do Search Engines Work?
- What is SEO and What are Opportunities for Your Business?
- Pay Per Click Marketing and Opportunities for Your Business
- Relationship Driven Internet Marketing (this post)
Today we are going to focus on relationship driven internet marketing, simply meaning, using internet tools to cultivate relationships with clients or potential customers. This is opposed to relying on search engines or paid advertisements to bring customers to your business.
Some prime examples of relationship driven internet marketing are email newsletters, Twitter and Facebook. Those three means of marketing can be powerful tools because they allow you to cultivate relationships with your customers in a personal way. Email is the most widely used tool on the internet. Twitter and Facebook have become super popular in the last few years. With all of them, your customers have to choose to sign up for your emails, follow you on Twitter or friend/fan you on Facebook. Their choice to opt-in creates a personal connection and allows you to develop clients, not just customers.
Email Marketing
I have had probably about a dozen dentists and doctors through the years. Some have been family friends, others were just the ones my family had always used, and sometimes they were just the one the insurance would pay for. I felt comfortable to come and go as I pleased and switch whenever I felt like it.
This feeling lasted until my last dentist appointment. Why? The dentist set me up on their email newsletter. It comes on my birthday and tells me Happy Birthday. It comes every time I need a new teeth cleaning. It is impersonal, it has my name misspelled and most of the time I don’t even read it all. But it consistently reminds me of the dentist’s name and company and it makes me feel like I am personally connected to them, and that my business matters to them.
We are all looking for some place to belong, to feel like we are part of a community, and as simple as it may be, these emails that I get make me feel connected to the dentist as a client, not just a customers.
They also build familiarity with his brand.
Almost 1/3rd of Americans choose a business to purchase a product or service from based on their familiarity with the brand.
In the study by TMP on internet search and local businesses, they questioned participants “What factor caused you to choose the business you purchased a product or service from?” The different colors on the bar graph represent the different means people used to find information- General search (like Google), Internet Yellow Pages, local search pages, and overall. Across the board, outside of business location, the item that won people’s business the most was familiarity with the business. Almost 1/3rd of the participants in the survey identified familiarity with the business as the deciding factor in their choice.
How much more could this dentist have me hooked if he had spelled my name right, sent me updates from time to time on topics like “How to tell when your toothbrush needs to be changed,” or “How to choose the best toothpaste”?
The possibilities are endless here. Email Stat Center reports that in 2009 the ROI on email marketing for every dollar spent is $43.52.
Is email marketing right for every business? Probably not, but it does offer huge rewards to businesses who develop clients and invest the time to cultivate the program.
Twitter offers many of the same rewards as email marketing as far as brand awareness and developing a personal relationship with a customer.
Some other benefits Twitter offers include
- Notifying customers of new products or specials
- Searching through Twitter to find people looking for your product or service
- Developing relationships with Twitter users in your zip code
But the bottom line is that Twitter allows you, like email marketing, to develop customers into clients through repeated, personal interaction.
Facebook is another relationship-driven marketing tool. The interesting thing about Facebook is that it allows you to bridge into your customer’s friendship circles. If a person chooses to “fan” your business, that choice gets sent out many of their friends and can be included when their friends go to add new friends.
Thus, win one fan on Facebook and you have an opportunity to get in front of all their friends and friends can see other friends who have become your fan.
Again, your market might vary on this, but if you are a local business it seems there are many powerful opportunities available through Facebook.
This wraps up our series on a Business Owner’s Guide to Internet Marketing. Hope it was helpful for you.
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