Nancy Hendrickson

If you were browsing in a bookstore and the person next to you – - let’s call him Leo – -  picked up a book you had written, you’d probably tell him you were the author, and before long a full-blown conversation would be in the works.

Leo would ask you about writing the book, you’d ask Leo about his interests . . . and a connection between the two of you would be established.  This doesn’t guarantee Leo will buy your book, but it does guarantee he’ll remember you.

Answering potential client e-mails works the same way. While autoresponders are effective tools, I don’t believe they can replace a personalized e-mail when a “Leo” is inquiring about your services. I would rather cut and paste the “canned” info into a personalized e-mail rather than having everyone who asks about my services get an autoresponder response.

Getting personal is part of relationship marketing.

I had the opportunity yesterday to sit in on a 90-minute presentation by Sandy Carter, an IBM VP who spoke about social media marketing.  I wanted to share some of my take-away gems (hint, the biggie is at the bottom):

• Marketing 2.0 is a combination of social media and traditional marketing channels
• The “secret sauce” is the right mix of of marketing venues, all dependent on your goals
• In a poor economy, you can move customers through the buying cycle faster
• It’s critical to monitor and respond to buzz about you or your business
• Look for opportunities to provide a human face to your brand
• Look for opportunities to interact with your audience
• Companies need to focus on loyalty to customers
• You statisticians this is huge for you: track what’s valuable, not what’s measurable

All valuable – - but what really hit home for me was the same thing I’ve been telling you for months – - it’s all about relationship building.  Ms. Carter said we’re moving away from the concept of B2B and B2C.  What’s really happening is P2P . . . . . PERSON TO PERSON.  (was nice to get validation from a Big Blue VP!)

I spent the last two weekends before the 2008 Presidential election in Florida, the state made famous by the 2000 “hanging chad” debacle.

While there, I had the opportunity to witness first-hand the grassroots organization built by the Obama campaign. I realized then that Obama was a master at relationship marketing.

Relationship marketing is a form of marketing that focuses on customer retention and satisfaction, rather than the “make a sale” transactional marketing. Relationship marketing recognizes the value of keeping current customers, versus the cost of constantly trolling the waters for new customers.

In Obama’s case, relationship marketing took the form of getting out the vote; specifically voters who fell within the target demographic, but who hadn’t voted for years. In effect, these voters were “current customers” in that they were registered Democrats, but in past years hadn’t made the relationship connection enough to cast a vote.

In 2008, the Obama team (at least the one I witnessed in Florida) used every campaign minute left to get out the vote; to encourage voters to take advantage of early voting, to give rides, to station attorneys in poor, rural areas where intimidation might be a factor. In most instances, the campaign was about reaching out person-to-person, not group-to-group.

So what’s the lesson here? As consumers, we want to be treated as individuals, not numbers. The big wave of e-mail list marketing that took over the Internet the last few years is on its way out the door in favor of relationship marketing.

All an Internet marketer has to do is look at Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, et al, to realize that the holy grail of word-of-mouth buzz is being fed through one-on-one relationships.

What Next, Marketer?
Pick the social network where your target audience lives. Then begin building relationships, not marketing messages. Build your fan base, be a resource, have a personality (brand), and make friends. Too easy?