The Key to Successful Marketing - Relationship-Building

Come with me into a farmer's market - you're about to get a hands-on lesson on why relationships make such a difference in marketing... and how to create them...

Look around you: Mountains of vegetables - ruby beets with the tops still on, beautiful heads of lettuce ruffled, wavy, lime green and deep pine green. Apples with names like Sops of Wine, Winter Banana and Westfield Seek-No-Further. Fresh bread, crust crackling, pulled from the oven this morning... I've got you salivating already...

But while the food is the main attraction, look beyond the merchandise being sold. Look at what's going on between the buyers and sellers. People are animated, talking, asking questions, smiling - sometimes greeting each other with a sense of familiarity, even by name.

This is one of the big reasons people enjoy going to the farmer's market. And in fact, it's the same thing they are looking for in every purchase experience - a relationship.

What people love about the farmer's market is meeting the people who have grown the food they are about to eat. They can look into their eyes and ask them questions about their merchandise. They feel comfortable - no, excited - to buy something from someone they feel they know.

As many market analysts have pointed out, the increasing appeal of farmers markets and local foods is not just based in ideology or a commitment to shrinking carbon footprints. It goes to a deeper human need - to connect. People are looking for places where commerce is not just an exchange of goods and money - but keeps them feeling human.

Sure, it's about trust - that's a big part of it. But it's more than just trust. People like spending money when they feel they're getting more than just a thing, but purchasing into an experience or a community. They are seeking connections in their purchases.

And while you can't show up at your customer's doorstep with dirt under your fingernails and offer them a fresh sample with your own hands, you can still build something comparable with strategic marketing.

Here are four strategies I use regularly as a marketer and copywriter for the health market. Some of them are covered in my free report, "17 Health Copywriting Tips for a Tough Economy" listed below.

1. Build Trust Through Self-Revelations:

You can build trust with your customers by telling them more about your company. Let them know what inspires you, what your mission is, and what your expertise is.

Careful, don't turn this into a chest-pounding speech about you. Weave it into communications that focus on your customers' needs, concerns and interests.

And let some of your character through, even reveal a few weaknesses. If social marketing has taught us anything, it's how much people respond to marketing that feels like it comes from a real person.

2. Build Trust Through Regular Communication:

Your kids' bus driver, the guy you buy the morning paper or coffee from, your colleague in the next cubicle. For better or worse, these people are regular fixtures in your life... And - unless they've given you cause to think otherwise - they slowly but surely claim some of your trust just by being familiar to you.

Make your marketing do the same thing. Find regular ways to communicate with your customers. Maybe it's through an e-newsletter (yes, people are still opening and reading e-newsletters), maybe it's through your Facebook page or tweeting.

Maybe it's simply that you send them a catalog regularly. There are a couple catalogs I receive that I enjoy looking through just for the extra snippets of info and observations.

Through testing you can find that sweet spot of enough communications to build familiarity without becoming overbearing.

So make it a regular thing - gain some trust with your customers just by virtue of being part of their regular "neighborhood".

3. Build Relationships Through Giving

This is no time to be stingy. With tighter budgets, people are looking for freebies and bargains. But this is not just something for tough economic times...

In general, people feel a need to give back to someone who has been generous. Social researcher, Robert Cialdini, Ph. D. in his seminal book Influence, noted how consistently people gave more donations to the Hari Krishna fundraisers who gave away free flowers. Even if they didn't want a flower, they felt a need to give something in return.

So think about what you can give to your customers. And I'm not just talking about free samples or two-for-one deals. You can still mind your budget and keep your value-laden products fairly priced.

See, people love useful information they can get for free. Perhaps it's a well-researched, informative e-book, a calendar, or a simple recipe. Provide some free entertainment that changes their perspective - an inspiring or humorous story.

How do you get it to them? A downloadable white paper, good content in your newsletter or blog, an insert when you send your products off or an info-frosted magalog.

Give something extra to your customers and, in turn, they'll feel even more disposed to give you their business.

4. Build A Relationship By Bringing Down The Hype

Marketing is changing with the advent of social media. And the number one shift that social media experts like to point out is that no longer can you deceive your customers. Be transparent or be doomed. Like the wizard of oz, the little dog of social media will swipe that curtain away and you'll be exposed to millions of accusing eyes for the charlatan you are, if you go that route.

But wait, back up a minute, this really isn't that new.

If you hype up your sales pitch, advertising a masterful piece of art and then your customers get a plain ole postcard, do you think they are going to buy from you again? No way.

Sure, communicate your excitement about your product. Highlight the benefits, but don't mislead your customers. Make them feel exceedingly pleased with their purchase, confident that they weren't hoodwinked and eager to buy from you again and again and again.

In fact one of Zappos' customer-securing maxims is to underpromise and overdeliver. So sure, you want to entice with your marketing materials. But consider being a little humble here and there so your customers can experience the thrill of purchasing something that is even better than they imagined. Think about how this will hook them on your company and get them to sing your praises to everyone they know. Think about it...

Relationship marketing is about... relationships. Yeah, that's pretty evident. But determining what goes into a good relationship is a little trickier. And how to translate that into the wheeling and dealing world of marketing can be even harder.

Take these four ideas, combine them with some genuine excitement about solving your customers' problems, and you've got a sweet mix for building some good rapport with your prospects.

For more ideas on how a good natural health copywriter can help you build strong relationships with your market go to http://www.healthymarketingideas.com. There you can get a free report on "5 Online Marketing Mistakes And How To Fix Them For Ecommerce Success".