Relational Marketing is a frame and a discipline. At every step of the marketing process, from high-level strategy to executing tactics, the question is asked:
“Is this right for the relationship between us and the audience?”
It recognizes that there are real humans on both sides of the business equation. It discerns what is right and what is wrong for stewarding that relationship. It says “no” when it needs to. Trust is built between two people with consistency over time, whether they are personal friends or there’s a brand’s social media account as the intermediary.
On social media, viral trends can be useful. Sometimes. But they are only useful for your business if they actually benefit your audience. You don’t need to be an SNL-tier comedy writer (Dropout.tv is better anyway, thank me later) and you don’t need to be a good dancer (unless you’re a dance instructor).
What you do need to be is authentic, and you need content which is designed to show off the real, true value you give to your clients – not the benefits. When my wife and I moved into a 20-year-old house, we didn’t just buy a new coat of paint for the interior; we bought the feeling of moving into a new house. When you work with a good realtor, you don’t buy a set of knowledge; you pay for confidence and advocacy and knowing someone’s always in your corner during one of the biggest decisions of your life.
What do you actually sell? Who are the real people who need it? What is the kind of content that will clearly and effectively connect the two and build trust?
Relational Marketing is when you prioritize the human relationship bewteen audience and advertiser.
So. Is Relational Marketing right for you?
If you sell a service of any kind – accounting, coaching, training, speaking, real estate – that’s step one.
Next, you must be committed to prioritizing the human relationship between yourself and your audience.
Then, we meet. We talk. We dance (just kidding). Through a fresh social media management plan or a brilliantly leveraged podcast, or both, we’ll make sure marketing is serving you and your people. Not the other way around.