Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Relationship Marketing

Relationship Marketing


Studies of the marketing processes employed by both industrial and service firms seeking to optimize market performance have culminated in the emergence of a new school of thought, collectively known as “Relationship Marketing”.
                                                                                                                                 (Chaston, 2000)

The primary focus of relationship marketing is towards building closer relationship with customers as a strategy to overcome problems such as acquiring global competitive advantage, coping with rapidly changing technologies and reducing ‘time-to-market’ of new products.                                                                                                                 (Webster, 1992)

 RM (Relationship Marketing) consist of different dimensions ranging from tangible (monetary) to intangible (psychological) rewards awarded to consumer with the aim of motivating them to stay in a relationship.

 If we assume RM is single dimension then that is customer service, but it is not correct in this scenario.

RM is multidimensional, i.e., Customer service, Loyalty program, Customization, Personalization and Brand community.
  1. Customer service is the main dimension in managing and enhancing customer relationship. Superior customer services serves as a mode of differentiation that offers another advantage for the firm.
  2. Consumer who participated in a loyalty program might be more motivated by the program incentives to purchase specific brands repeatedly.
  3. Customization means manufacturing a product and delivering a service in response to a particular customer’s needs
  4. Personalization refers to the degree to which a firm or store or salesperson can personalize the relationship with a customer by communicating well.
  5. A brand community is a community formed on the basis of attachment to a product or marquee defined the concept as a specialised, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand.