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.

Relationship Marketing in Action

I got an e-mail a couple of days ago asking about my book-to-Kindle conversion and marketing services. Although my response contained the basic “canned” information about my services and fees, I looked for a way (as I always do) to make a more personal connection.

In this case, I noticed from his area code that he lived in a city I had recently visited. In the e-mail I told him that I had just been there, a few of the things I had seen, and how much I’d enjoyed the trip. Can you guess what his response was?

Yes, he signed up for my service . . . . but just as importantly he told me how much he appreciated my “friendly” e-mail. When he needs more Kindle or book marketing services, do you think he’ll come back to me?  I’d bet on it.

One Last Thought: Being Genuine

My “friendly”  response to potential clients is genuine; yes, I believe it’s good marketing, but I also think if you try to cram B.S. “warm and fuzzies” into these types of e-mails, the client will know it’s bogus. I’m pretty good at spotting an insincere salesman, aren’t you?

How do you handle those incoming letters of inquiry? Autoresponder or personal response.  Do you believe you can build rapport with an autoresponder?  Love to hear your thoughts.

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!)

Note: Presentation was via MarketingProfs

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?

I stumbled across a WordPress Plugin that rewards people who comment on your blog: When a comment is left, the commenter will receive a link back to their site, embedded in the SEO keywords of their choosing.

How cool is that!

In brief, when you leave a comment (like I hope you do below), instead of just putting your name in the NAME box, put your name@ your SEO-rich keywords, i.e. Nancy@web 2.0 writing strategies   Then, add your URL as you normally would. When you submit your comment, your keywords are displayed, hyperlinked to your site.

You can download the KeywordLuv plugin here.  After download and unzipping, follow the easy installation instructions. I was fortunate in that the plugin worked seamlessly with my Thesis theme.

Here’s the deal, though.  You also have to install a DoFollow plugin – otherwise the comment will default to a NoFollow. Where’s the love in that!  I went hunting around, and found SEM-DoFollow.  I installed it without a hitch, and was off to the races.

A major  2009 goal is relationship marketing – building win-win partnerships with my clients, and any time I can find a tool, plugin, or new approach that fits my goal is going to get some luv from me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the election returns yesterday – and why Barack Obama was so successful. The reasons, of course, are many. Economy, war, hopelessness, being mired in a broken political system–all messages and issues that will get out votes in just about every election.

But beyond that, I attribute at least part of the success to the Obama campaign’s brilliant use of relationship marketing. Yes, they did the big TV ad blitz . . . but they added a strategy (and philosophy) not seen in campaigns in my lifetime. Building a voting base one person at a time.

Through word of mouth marketing, massive person-to-person canvassing, and crafting messages that spoke directly to “we the people” this campaign was wildly successful. Plus, the strategists realized that part of the relationship we want to build with a new administration was one devoid of negativity, divisiveness, exclusion, and dirty tricks.

Congratulations to President-elect Obama, and best hopes for a new era of how we do business with one another.