Module 1: Boosting Brand Visibility Through Top-Funnel Relationship Marketing Unit 1: Meeting Inbound Marketing Demands with Content Credibility
A 5% improvement in retention will boost lifetime customer profits 25% to 95%.
Cost Reduction
Price Improvement
More Purchases
Referrals
Baseline profits
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Source: Bain & Company
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Relationships are more important than the four P’s (product, price, promotion, and placement). For decades, marketers focused on the 4 P is to compete. However, as the Internet revealed our strategies, these methods became less effective. Brands sought a new competitive edge through relationship marketing. As demonstrated in the Bain & Company study results above, building lasting customer relationships significantly boosts lifetime profits and provides a more secure investment compared to short-term value propositions. This approach, popular in the US in the 1960s, is still prevalent in many collective cultures, such as those in Latin America, Southern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. We know trust is central to relationships. So, why isn't this reflected in our marketing strategies? Building relationships through trust, akin to a marriage, is still unfamiliar to many brands.
For instance, employee evaluations and departmental accountability often focus on short-term results. Few companies measure the impact of trust building. Consequently, the marriage metaphor does not align with decades of marketing focused on switching costs and deal-making. Additionally, the factors that build trust are rarely discussed in boardroom planning sessions.. What drives trust? A challenge facing many digital marketers is having to: • Embrace behaviors like benevolence (non-opportunitistic behaviors), two-way communication, and social bonding. • Reveal attributes like shared values, credibility, and customer orientation. This is a drastic departure from the deep- rooted marketing practices of “bag ‘m, tag ‘m, automate ‘m, and get rid of ‘m.” Social media offers a superior route to trust building . The growing customer demand for brand relationships is reshaping a marketing landscape that favors inbound marketing especially when executed through
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