Question

Define relationship marketing and explain why you think trust & commitment are the most important elements in a relationship marketing approach, using real world examples to justify. Discuss the implications of your perspective on relationship marketing for marketing managers.

Answer 1

Relationship Marketing:

Well, there are many definitions of Relationship Marketing; we can look at below one as one such reliable definition:

“Relationship marketing is a strategically shaped tool to promote client trustworthiness, relations and long-term commitment. It is designed to expand and develop strong connections with customers by offering them with information useful to their requirements and interests and by supporting open and unbiased communication with them."

If we take another definition in consideration, then

Relationship marketing is a kind of marketing solution created/developed from direct response marketing campaigns that stresses client retention and contentment instead of just sales, targets and monetary transactions.

Relationship marketing is a system of an understanding where both the parties i.e. one who is selling and one who is buying, have an interest in a more fulfilling business exchange. Relationship marketing is a marketing activity for organizations to obtain, keep and foster effective relationships with its customers.

As the above definitions point out, we can clearly identify few most unambiguous properties or characteristics are involved in relationship marketing such as Trust, Commitment, Loyalty and cooperation etc. These really important characteristics are clearly responsible to maintain and foster healthy and progressive relationship marketing.

Two most important words here are Trust and Commitment. These are two basic pillars in developing and maintaining healthy relationship marketing. Trust paves the way for starting a relationship and Commitment help us to maintain that relationship further.

Let’s consider this with real world example, how can you get into a designing marketing campaign with a marketing agency at which you don’t have trust at all? This clearly proves that unless you have Trust in place, you can’t think of even establishing road map for relationship marketing approach.

Similarly, with respect to commitment; suppose you have started working on a marketing campaign with an agency and after few months down the road, that agency has started taking your marketing campaign lightly and started giving you substandard works. This clearly shows that the agency is not thinking to keep up commitment with your firm and wants to end the business relationship now.

Hence, it is clearly understood that the irrespective of with whom you do business, if you are not in complete trust and commitment zone, you cannot initiate and take the healthy relationship marketing anywhere further.

We can take a small example of how relationship marketing is seen in day-to-day business environment...

Let’s consider your company is a FMCG giant and at present working with around 50 odd –marketing agencies from different-different locations across world. Now being so much people working on the project it will be hard to give personal valuable attention to everyone on daily basis. Still, marketing manager of your company proposes that we should birthday greeting cards to every marketing manager we are working from all the agencies.

Now this is a very small gesture to say Happy Birthday to anyone, but focus on the moment when that person opens your greeting card (which he didn’t expect that he/she will receive from their so big client) and the kind of joy he/she will feel at that moment.

Such small gesture works as catalyst to fuel the atmosphere to maintain the trustworthy and commitment oriented relationship marketing in an ongoing business world.

  

Implications of perspective on relationship marketing for marketing managers:

In Business-to-Business marketing environment, everything is now based on the electronic data interchange systems which have enabled the growth of relationship marketing. In today’s consumer driven markets, these electronic communications help in fostering effective client relationships.

Internet has now become a means of direct and fast communication between marketer and consumer in real world. Now companies are preparing the data set where they are accumulating the whole cycle of purchasing behavior of different set of customers. Based on the customer’s taste, companies and marketer are now preparing targeted campaign to build the effective relationship with consumers. These electronic database tools are now giving a more engaging and detailed insight into the needs and wants of every customer which can then be personalized with the help of direct communications between marketer and consumer.

Another implication is that all marketing managers needs to be cautious and should put more efforts and planning into having satisfying customer with them. This is where relationship marketing comes in handy with these marketing managers. Using Relationship marketing, managers should keep focusing on building a healthy and satisfying customer relationship; because failing in customer service here will directly speed up the loss of customer for your company.

Relationship marketing is such an area which needs a long term commitment from employees particularly marketing people. But today, maintaining and taking relationship forward is not just job of marketers only; even the non-sales and marketing people should be involved and educated as how to develop relationship marketing skills among them which will eventually help company to have sustainable relationship with customers.

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