I’ve spent much of my professional life trying to figure out how digital media can enhance relationship marketing programs – backed by the evolving conventional wisdom that “digital changes everything ” (for the better…presumably).
So it’s not without a smirk that I often see the best relationship marketing principles at work in completely offline situations, from unlikely sources:
On Christmas Day our mailman delivered a package from a relative – and, responding to my rather surprised stammer “you guys are working today?” he replied “yeah, today we try to deliver all the packages with hand-written addresses that we couldn’t deliver before; the printed labels we do afterwards.”
A hand-written address means personal , and, to the US Mail , personal means “priority.” If it sounds simple, that’s because it is simple. Take the trouble to understand your customers, identify opportunities to reward their involvement, and execute simply and consistently – this communicates “you’re a priority” – and engenders goodwill (and, inevitably, repeat purchase) arguably the holy grail of relationship marketing.
So I guess that digital doesn’t change everything – the fundamentals of relationship marketing are the game changers…
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