It used to be businesses relied heavily on direct marketing, radio and sometimes TV. The Internet has changed all of that. It has put any business with a Web presence literally at the fingertips of clients and potential clients. The middle men have been removed and businesses have complete control over how information is disseminated and presented. It’s a fabulous time to be a small business owner. Social Media has taken over the way we interact as a society. If we are curious about something, we no longer go to the library or phone book. We Google it. Today, a business without a Web presence is severely handicapping itself. When consumers look for products or services on the Internet they have a plethora of choices. Getting them to choose you is what relationship marketing is all about; as is keeping the clients that do choose you.

So how can you start implementing relationship marketing into your business if you’re not already doing it or strengthen an already existing plan? The easiest way is to take advantage of the many Social Media venues available. It goes without saying that every business should have a Facebook page. Businesses used to rely heavily on email campaigns to reach clients but that technique has fallen by the wayside and is now seen as a very passive way of reaching clients. Something like Facebook is very interactive, allowing clients or customers to interact with you and you them on a much timelier and intimate level.

Small business owners can use Facebook and other social media outlets to nurture relationships with their customers. People buy from people they like and trust. Familiarity tends to build trust and in turn a relationship that a savvy company can successfully market to. You may hear relationship marketing referred to as branding and while that is true, branding is only a small part of the overall plan. Building an identity, image, reputation and brand are all key elements and once that is in place it certainly helps create continuity for your clients.

What are you doing to make sure your clients and customers are happy? Do you have a strategy for dealing with upset or frustrated clients to be sure that they don’t damage your online reputation? Think about the plan you have in place to reach out and build relationships with your clients. Are there things you could be doing to enhance their experience, offer them new information, or improve their day? If you can, do it. That’s relationship marketing and it will go a long way toward growing and improving your business.

On the other hand, there is no expectation that a business owner or employee should have to suffer the wrath of an irate customer. In fact, a customer taking that approach cannot be considered right nor that behavior condoned.  Faced with a situation like that, it behooves the business to side with and support their employees. That stance will go a lot further in promoting relations with current and potential customers.

Finding the balance between the two is the key and the challenge for many small business owners. The livelihood of their business often depends on very small client base that can be swayed by bad reviews. Even strong verbal recommendations from trusted colleagues sometimes cannot sway a potential client from the effects of a bad review. However a skillful approach at addressing the issue while establishing the importance of employee relationships will likely mitigate the complaint. In fact, employees who feel supported often provide much higher levels of customer service under their own motivation and that is evident in customer relations.

Customers want to know they have been heard and their issue or problem has been addressed. But, it cannot be denied that sometimes a customer is just plain wrong. The key there is to handle it with tact and professionalism. If executed correctly, a caring and supported employee can carefully and succinctly communicate the error to the customer while somehow shifting the blame of the misunderstanding on the business. This is more times than not very satisfying for the customer and leaves them with a feeling that not only have they been heard, but something may change because of their difficulty. A dissatisfied consumer will tell between 9 and 15 people about their experience and 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. Make sure your customers are satisfied.

How you handle your customer complaints is crucial to building and maintaining your business. Be sure you have processes in place to train employees on efficient and effective ways to deal with difficult customers and forget the idea that the customer is always right and adopt the philosophy that as a business you will make them feel as though they are right to the best of your ability.

While social media has been around for years, its popularity and use over the last two years has exploded. Individuals have been using it effectively to plan events, connect with friends and family and network for jobs, employment and all sorts of various interests. Now businesses are realizing the benefits of using social media to grow their client base and increase their overall awareness in the world. Sites such as Facebook can be a great tool for driving traffic to your own site and generating additional revenue for your business. The majority of Facebook users are younger and demographics dictate that they make up a large percentage of a business’s consumer base. If you can connect with them and build relationships around your products or services, they will flock to your site and because they like you, tell their friends about you.

The number one reason a customer or clients leaves a business or stops buying a product or service is because they experience of feeling of indifference. It’s similar to the personal friendship in that when we feel ignored or unappreciated by a friend, we don’t like that and will often end the friendship and look for new more satisfying friendships; ones that are mutually beneficially. The same is true of business relationships. When customer and clients like you, they stay with you. If there comes a time when they don’t like you, your services or products or something you’ve done, you may lose them unless you are paying attention and intervene quickly and efficiently. It all comes back to effective relationship marketing, knowing what you’re talking about, listening to your clients, getting to know them and getting them to like you. All critical success factors in today’s global environment.

If you’re not already doing it, take advantage of all the benefits of Social Media. Connect with your clients and get them to like you by listening and responding to their issues and concerns. When your clients like you, your business is more likely to succeed.

Listen to what your clients are saying and ask questions. You’ll get to know them very quickly. You’ll discover what they like and don’t like and what they want and don’t want. Take advantage of the tools at your fingertips and reach out to them. Having said that, don’t inundate them with information and posts. That can drive otherwise committed customers away. We all know that nagging family member that we love, but when she/he starts talking, we don’t really listen. Well, the same is true for business relationships. Be careful not to stalk your customers or send them too much information. If you’re paying attention, it will be clear what you should do.

Learn from your clients always and know that the relationship will always be changing. They may be happy at one point in time, yet experience some dissatisfaction at another point. Knowing how to handle the dissatisfied client efficiently and effectively will keep your business running smoothly and your client base intact. Loyalty is an important aspect of every relationship marketing program and it is only earned by getting to know your client and then meeting their expectations and needs.

A satisfied client will happily introduce you to other clients and so on and so on. Knowing how to reach your clients, listening to them, and responding to their issues, problems and concerns demonstrates that as a business you know and care about your clients. It goes a long way to developing customer and client loyalty. Think about ways strategies you have developed in your business to get to know your clients and how you can improve of those ideas. Be sure you’re listening to your clients because listening truly is the best way to get to know someone.

There are several ways to develop yourself as an expert including joining forums and organizations and making speeches and presentations on your topic. You can also write articles and post them online or in local publications to gain recognition as an expert in your field. Talk to other experts in your field and pick their brains. Ask them questions you have and take advantage of their experience and background. Take advantage of your own experience and background as well. You are likely more of an expert than you think on various topics. Customers and clients will trust what you say and what you’re selling if they believe you to be an expert on the topic. When they Google you and discover countless articles and references to things you’ve written, said or done on the topic, as well as your associations with other experts in the field they are convinced.

Whatever or wherever your interest lies, explore your existing knowledge, delve into your background and examine your experiences and really contemplate your abilities and you’ll be well on your way to marketing yourself as an expert. It is critical that you understand yourself completely if you are going to purport to be an expert in your field. You must know your weaknesses as well as your strengths and be open to learning from others.

Businesses rely on experts to keep everything going – personnel experts, safety experts, public relations experts, financial experts … and on and on. These experts were not all experts when they started but a combination of education, experience, skill, networking, and dedication to life-long learning made that transition possible.

This whole idea of “walking the walk and talking the talk” is critical when it comes to relationship building in the Internet Age. Businesses must have experts at all levels interacting with customers and potential customers to maintain the image, identity, integrity and stability of the business. While the Internet has made it easier for businesses to reach their customers and build and maintain their share of the marketplace, it is a double-edged sword in that a few disgruntled clients or even employees could damage a company’s reputation rather quickly. It has been established that people buy from those they know and trust. Knowledge is easily gained while trust is easily lost. Developing an expert approach to all levels of your business is critical to successfully building and maintaining it for the long-term.

If you are not already, you should be examining your strengths, how you can minimize your weaknesses and how you can capitalize on your knowledge. You are likely to be surprised at just how much you know when you sit down and think about it. Make sure people believe you know what you’re talking about!

Remember the key with all of these expertise based marketing strategies is the repurposing of content. For example, an answer on linked in becomes a blog post, which is posted as an article and added to your newsletter. From this information you can also create a number of twitter tips and you have the great start of a teleseminar or webinar.

Don’t try to make too much work for yourself. A few simple changes, a couple of tweaks, some “exclusive” content and people won’t realize one article can be used in so many ways.

A shorter newsletter which is setup with the possibility of skimming has the best chance for being read. This is best done by the use of bold for key words and by utilizing bullet points. I also suggest the more frequently you send out your newsletter, the more likely your reader is to remember you. Remember the goal of your newsletter should always be to build your list and the best way to do this is to provide enough value someone would want to pass along your newsletter to a friend.

If you would like to learn more about the power of an ezine, I suggest you download my friend Ali Brown’s (aka the Ezine Queen) report Ezine Publishing Profits.

A great resource for finding reporters who are looking for experts on a variety of topics is helpareporter.com. Once you signup you are provided with a daily listing via email and you can apply to help a reporter in a variety of ways, through a variety of media outlets on a variety of topics.

Oh and when you do get media exposure I would love to hear about it!!

Remember too after a seminar you can utilize the recordings as giveaways, incentives or even as a future product sale to increase your passive income.

If you are interested in exploring this marketing strategy I would suggest you start small and try a free teleseminar first. Having a webinar or dedicated teleseminar room can be costly unless this is a marketing strategy you plan to implement on a regular basis.

Here are a few sites you can look into further so you are sure you find the one that is best for you:

• FreeConferenceCalling.com
• FreeConference.com
• InstantTeleseminar.com
• GotoMeeting.com
• Webex.com

When you are trying to determine which of these are best for you, don’t be afraid to ask your colleagues and friends, or feel free to let us know your thoughts below if you have tried one of these methods successfully or unsuccessfully.

Another tool you may want to consider is posing your own questions of your target market. This will really give you the opportunity to gain some valuable insights into the questions and problems which are hindering your potential clients.

Good luck and don’t forget to connect with me when you get there!!