|
|
If the key to business truly is personal relationships, the relationship marketing paradigm answers marketing’s call for change: “On marketing’s backburner for so many years, relationship marketing now sits on the front burner“ (Berry, 1995, p. 237).
Relationship marketing is the process of establishing, maintaining, and enhancing relationships with customers and stakeholders for mutual benefit (Berry, 1983; Grönroos, 1994; Morgan & Hunt, 1994). Already implied by the definition, this approach is vastly different from its mass-marketing ancestor because of relationship marketing’s long-term, customer-oriented view. Relationship marketing theory may in part be a conceptual descendent of social change in a postindustrial society. In this networked age, there is a growing movement among citizens, investors, and companies to break free of short-term thinking and to move toward sustainability for survival and success. Whereas mass marketing assumes a win-lose economic paradigm, relationship marketing pledges win-win success.
Instead of bringing as many customers as one can to the products, relationship marketers start with their customers and bring products suited to them. Marketing becomes less a battle for market share and more an effort for greater share of all of the customer’s business or “share-of-customer“ for life (Peppers & Rogers, 1993, p. 18).
Even the important factors in relationship marketing may be very different from the traditional marketing factors such as packaging, mass-media channels, product function, promotions, and so on. Keeping customers requires a very different approach than does getting customers.