You would never consider yourself to be in relationship with a person you did not know. You may know the man down the streets name but do you know his history, family life, or needs? It is safe to say that if you know nothing about him then you are not in relationship with him, you just know who he is.

For relationship marketing to work effectively requires that you know a little something about the people you are planning to market to, not simply their name and contact information.

Meet and Greet

You obviously cannot send out a mass email asking for a bunch of personal information. That could actually get you in a lot of trouble legally. However, you can get to know potential customers by going to the social sites that they visit.

Spend some time on discussion boards, forums and meeting places getting to know what people need and want as well as why they want it. With this information, you will be able to develop marketing strategies that address the issues close to their hearts.

Make this process really work for you by using some of their own language in your posts, articles, and advertising. This will make you look and sound like one of the gang, so to speak, and will instantly create familiarity with your readers.

Marketing

Once you have established a rapport with people who are looking for your product or service you can better create the marketing that will draw them to you. Create better newsletters and emails based on the information you’ve learned.

For instance, if you know that a group of mothers are worried about germs that their children might pick up in the grocery store, you could create a newsletter outlining the germs found in public places and the illnesses they can cause. At the end of your newsletter you will of course offer to solve their problem with you, latest and greatest (fill in the blank).

Relationship is Born

After spending some time with potential customers, you will be able to gauge what they need and why they need it. You may not know all their children’s names or where they were born but, for the purposes of internet business, you will have established a relationship that will grow into customers and/or subscribers who are loyal.

Selling

What you have done, again, is sell yourself and created a relationship that leads to effective marketing. You show yourself to be a concerned human being who can understand the needs and wants of whomever it is you are marketing to. People would much rather purchase something from someone who understands them and the trials they face, such as childhood illnesses from the above example.