Practical Marketing (Second Edition)

Author: Fu Yan, Lei Lihua / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features:
2. Relationship marketing integrates public relations and marketing to form the concept of relationship marketing, which originated from the marketing practices in European industrial and service markets in the 1980s. This theory holds that certain functions of marketing elements (e.g., advertising) are not important in the marketing process of industrial and service markets, while the key lies in the mutual relationships and interactions among all parties involved in the market exchange. It also argues that the interaction and relationship between businesses and customers do not occur solely among professional marketers but also among other employees and departments within the company. In many cases, the relationship between customers and non-professional marketers is particularly important. Relationship marketing is built on trust and mutual benefit, aiming to maintain and develop good partnerships with customers and other stakeholders to achieve the goals of all parties involved in the market exchange. It is well-known in modern marketing that the cost of retaining an existing customer is far lower than acquiring a new one. When a customer makes a verbal or written complaint to a company, it can lead to dissatisfaction among 326 customers. This is because when one customer complains, it affects 26 silent customers, who in turn negatively influence 10 friends and family members each. Approximately one-third of these friends and family members will then spread the negative word to another 20 people, creating a chain reaction: 1 × (26 × 10) × (10 × 33% × 20) = 326 dissatisfied customers.
With the faster pace of new product updates and increased market competition, customer consumption habits are more prone to change, and brand loyalty is declining. Therefore, maintaining customer loyalty has become one of the focal points of modern marketing. Relationship marketing builds on traditional transaction marketing, service marketing, and other concepts by incorporating the perspective of public relations: it emphasizes the mutually beneficial relationships between market participants, particularly between people. It considers the core and key of marketing activities to be establishing good relationships between the company and its customers and other stakeholders.
Relationship marketing has two distinct characteristics:
1. It places the company's marketing activities within the broader socioeconomic context, rather than limiting them to the product transaction market. Marketing is a process of interaction between the company and a series of stakeholders. The company survives and thrives through exchanges of entities or information with these environmental factors. Exchanges generate relationships, and the state of these relationships will either favor or hinder exchanges. The state of the relationship is the sum of emotions, impressions, dependence, and mutual needs formed during the exchange process. Therefore, companies must leverage relevant functions to establish, coordinate, and develop relationships with the environment, maintain effective communication with it, and preserve a positive relationship with the environment.
2. It views public relations as the key to the success of corporate marketing. The essence of corporate marketing is exchange. Companies must ensure that customers genuinely experience the mutual benefits of the exchange, develop positive feelings and impressions, and foster a sense of mutual dependence. Only then can exchanges be successfully realized. This success, however, depends on a combination of factors such as the company's product brand, design, functionality, quality, reputation, and service. Therefore, the realization of exchanges cannot be achieved solely by the company's marketing department or professional marketers; it relies on all departments and employees aligning their work with marketing, adopting a market-oriented and customer-centric mindset, and working together to achieve marketing goals.
Regarding the connotation of "relationship marketing," we can draw the following conclusions:
① Relationship marketing is a social process composed of multiple management "relationship" activities.
② The focus of relationship marketing lies in the communication among stakeholders, forming stable and mutually trusting relationships.
③ The ultimate realization of relationship marketing depends on the mature, smooth, and high-quality exchange of products or value.
④ All activities in relationship marketing are aimed at achieving certain marketing goals.
From a practical perspective, relationship marketing has completely moved beyond the simple relationship between businesses and consumers, extending to suppliers, intermediaries, and other social groups, government departments, and individuals with direct or indirect connections to the company. P.32-34