Analysis of relationship marketing structure and case interpretation

During the development process of an enterprise, the success or failure of building its own network of relationships will often directly determine its future development trajectory.

If an enterprise wants to win the current fierce market competition, in addition to strong strength and high-quality products, maintaining good relations with all walks of life will also help a lot.

So what form does a marketing plan planned by a company using relationships take?

We call the marketing method that utilizes relationships relationship marketing . The concept of relationship marketing refers to the process of treating marketing activities as activities with consumers, suppliers, competitors, distributors, government agencies and other publics, the main purpose of which is to build and develop good relationships with the above-mentioned publics.

1. Analysis of the four main components and functions of relationship marketing

From the concept of relationship marketing, it is not difficult to find that the four major pillars for enterprises to build relationship networks are mainly government relations, industrial chain relations, internal enterprise relations, and audience relations.

Someone once proposed the following idea:

The circle in which everyone lives must include circles of three attributes, otherwise it will appear incomplete and will cause people to have different kinds of negative emotions. These three types of circles are circle of friends, circle of family, and circle of work.

The family circle allows people to feel at peace, the work circle allows people to have a regular life and develop their own values, and the friend circle allows people to spread their emotions effectively. Only those who possess the "three circles" can truly enjoy life.

The same is true for the construction of relationship networks in corporate relationship marketing. In addition, the construction of four types of relationships, namely government relations, industrial chain relations, internal corporate relations, and audience relations, also plays different roles in the process of corporate development.

1. Industrial chain relationship: Seek benevolence and gain benevolence, then you will be free

No matter what kind of physical products an enterprise produces, the processes it goes through from raw materials to the final product reaching the hands of consumers together constitute the complete industrial chain of the industry.

If an enterprise wants to develop steadily in a certain industry, it is essential to build a strong industrial chain relationship. When the industrial chain relationship is established, enterprises can get what they want and be at ease in the industry.

From a simple cola to a large automobile company, the cumbersome process involved is far beyond consumers' imagination. If an enterprise does not have a complete industrial chain network, any mistake in any link may be the most severe blow to the enterprise.

For example, the production of one or two enterprises may require nearly 10,000 spare parts. I believe that no company can guarantee that it can produce all these parts independently. Therefore, division of labor and cooperation among multiple suppliers are inevitable.

In 1993, nearly 20 key components of the 100-seat jetliner produced by McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation were completed by suppliers. Because of this, the company saves a lot of production costs.

From the two cases, it is not difficult to find that building industrial chain relationships can enable enterprises to achieve close cooperation with various suppliers and conduct corresponding key resource exchanges, which will ensure the successful launch of enterprise products and provide a solid material foundation for enterprise development.

It is as if, beneath Apple’s glamorous appearance, there are countless suppliers of different sizes and attributes that work together to create its “myth”.

2. Internal relations of the enterprise: unity and sincerity make us invincible

If the enterprise's industrial chain relationships are regarded as the accumulation of external relationships with the purpose of effectively realizing the necessary resource exchanges, then the construction of internal enterprise relationships is the foundation of all these relationships.

Someone once said: "The level of your circle of friends determines your own level." In society, many people are trying their best to get into the upper class. But if your "core" conditions do not allow it, even if you squeeze into the so-called upper class, you will soon be squeezed out. Because, for those who lack inner strength, just trying hard to maintain this relationship is already exhausting both physically and mentally.

The construction of internal relationships within an enterprise is one of the keys to the manifestation of the above-mentioned “core” values.

In fact, building internal relationships is not taken seriously by many small and medium-sized enterprise leaders. Because, in their eyes, the relationship between employees and the company is not just a simple employment relationship, where they get paid to do work. However, many large companies attach great importance to humanistic care within the company.

For example, JD.com’s earlier notice for employees to go home and spend time with their families at the end of the year fully demonstrated the company’s humanistic care. Similarly, Tencent's Ma Huateng once wrote a letter to his employees, in which he earnestly described the difficulties of Tencent's development, which created an indescribable feeling between all employees and the company.

The internal employee care of Marks & Spencer, a well-known British retail company, is a textbook example of internal relationship marketing. In this company, for example, if an employee's father suddenly passes away, the company will immediately book an airplane ticket for the employee and provide sufficient expenses; and after an unmarried employee gives birth to a child, the company will still pay her salary to help her through the difficult times because the employee has to take care of both the mother and the child even though she has not worked for two years.

The quality of a company's employees does not lie in their benefits, but in how well the company shows that it cares about its employees. What Ma Shi did vividly illustrates the relationship between corporate welfare and employee care.

Employees' trust, cooperation and understanding are the basis for the stable development of an enterprise. Similarly, only when employees trust the company can it be guaranteed that the company can safely survive any crisis it encounters in the future.

The biggest collapse of a company does not come from the outside, but from within. Only when employees are united and sincere can the company be invincible.

3. Audience Relationship: Peach and plum trees do not “speak”, but people will come to them of their own accord

It is very appropriate to use a sentence that describes the relationship between teachers and students to summarize the ideal relationship between an enterprise and its audience: "Peach and plum trees do not speak, yet people come to them of their own accord."

No matter what industry a company is in, its fundamental purpose is to make a profit. However, the key to profitability lies in the audience. Only by grasping the audience's preferences and meeting their needs can an enterprise gain a foothold in the market.

Therefore, when companies build an audience relationship system, the key lies in brand communication and the establishment of consumer relationships between the company and the audience.

Some people have proposed three major stages of relationships between consumers and enterprises: interest relationship stage, service relationship stage, and structural relationship stage.

Phase One: Between businesses and consumers, the key to maintaining the relationship between them is interest.

The second stage: The key to maintaining the relationship between enterprises and consumers is enterprise services.

The third stage: The key to maintaining the relationship between enterprises and consumers is that the brand or product becomes an indispensable part of consumers' lives. Another way to say it is that brands are the internal structures that build the framework of consumers' lives.

When a structural relationship is formed between an enterprise and its consumers, the enterprise will achieve the relationship state mentioned above: peach and plum trees do not speak, but people will come to them of their own accord.

In today's market, for most consumers, what they can perceive is this stage, the relationship marketing planned by enterprises based on audience relationships.

Only when people’s hearts support you can you be proud in the world.

In fact, when major companies today make statements in various public occasions, most of them are intended to continuously strengthen their relationship with the audience. When your brand gradually forms a sense of belonging and superiority in the minds of the audience, the company's subsequent brand communication will be a piece of cake.

4. Government relations

Maintaining proper communication with higher-level authorities is beneficial to maintaining the corporate brand image and supporting the work of relevant departments.

2. Appendix: Three marketing methods based on audience relationships

Audience is the foundation of business development. There are three common marketing methods to maintain good audience relationships through relationship marketing:

1. Member marketing: It has completely changed the consumer concept that the transaction is completed when the checkout is completed. The influence of membership allows existing consumers to have more purposeful choices, and through a simple membership system, it can closely integrate the company and the audience.

2. Fan marketing: With the popularization of the Internet, the fan economy has emerged. Fan marketing based on fan economy has greatly increased the audience's sense of belonging to a brand. Such as the common fruit noodles, rice noodles, etc.

3. Word-of-mouth marketing: It is the key to achieving brand fission-like dissemination. Good word-of-mouth building can greatly enhance the public's favorable impression of the company.

Author: PR Home

Source: PR Home