you are relationship marketing

Have you heard of a recently new trend in marketing called "relationship marketing"? If you haven't, the simple definition is this: creating lasting, sustainable, and meaningful relationships with customers.

That sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? As a small business owner, it's probably the main source of marketing that you have always done.

Here is another great example of where you have an advantage over large corporations, in that big companies are only recently realizing the value in creating relationships with customers and are figuring out how to do it.

Since big companies don't have the opportunity to meet their customers in person as you do, they are now realizing they can use social media to help create those relationships for them.

But let's take it back to you. As a small business owner, you or your sales staff already have the benefit of knowing customers by face or name, the types of services and products they prefer, and about how often they come in to your place of business. A lot of you have also taken it to the next level, getting to know your customers' better through small talk and to learn about their interests, why they use your business over others, tidbits about their families, and so on.

The benefit to the customer is that they feel comfortable coming to your business - you know their preferences and they feel welcomed there. The benefit to you is that these customers will come back regularly and recommend you to family and friends.

So how can you make those relationships even stronger? By incorporating them into your own social media marketing strategy. Explore ways to communicate online with your customers, meet their needs more quickly and efficiently, and most importantly, provide them with the mechanism to communicate directly back with you.

I'll close the post with a great client example of honest, real life relationship marketing. A customer who had purchased her wedding cake at my client's bakery remained a customer ever since and recently celebrated her daughter's quinceanera with a cake from the bakery. That's over 15 years of customer loyalty. Is that something large companies can achieve with their relationship marketing? Is it something that you can?