Marketing yourself in relationships is not that different from any other type of marketing, including marketing strategies used to enhance business prospects. Marketing for business is all about the importance of developing and building relationships as a strategy toward building a loyal base of customers and clients. What would happen to your relationships if you could somehow apply business marketing concepts to the creation of romantic and intimate love relationships?
The first goal is to build strong and lasting relationships by catering to the needs of the client and paying attention to the ways the client's needs might change over time.
Do you pay attention to your love interest's needs at the moment and their changing needs over time?
The second goal is to build relationships, attract new customers, and also help the customers to recognize your value and retain them as clients. Are you good at attracting new relationships, yet they seem to slip away without your understanding what happened? Are you good at retaining current relationships but seem to shy away from attracting new people into your life? Both skills are essential, even if just to keep up your self-esteem and keep your chosen partner/s on their emotional toes.
The third goal is to create and sustain long-term contracts. Are you good at creating short-term relationship contracts (girlfriend, significant other, engaged, or even married) but over time, do you either lose interest, find a way to sabotage the relationship, or feel suddenly blindsided by your partner's unexpected betrayal?
The fourth goal is to maintain your clients in a competitive market by offering good service, superior products and also letting go of dissatisfied customers as you market to and acquire new, more suitable, customers. How are you faring in the competitive side of relationship marketing? Are you a good catch? Do you have something unique and special to offer? Are you marketing yourself in such a way that your desired potential partners can easily recognize that you have something special to offer them? On the other hand, have you been neglecting to observe your competition? Are you falling short of what is available in the relationship marketplace? The next question to ask yourself is What can I do to position myself as the best catch, the go-to person, the one that stands out above all others?
The fifth goal is to attempt to retain an already established relationship because the cost (financial, emotional, time, energy) of keeping an old relationship is only 10% of the cost of pursuing and getting a new client. If a sufficient number of existing clients are retained, there is no need to acquire new customers. Do you have a sufficient supply of established love relationships (which can mean only one loving partner), or are you deficient in this area (meaning you are involved in a painful, stressful, unrewarding relationship or cannot seem to find a suitable partner)?
The sixth goal is that if you have kept your current customers satisfied, they will remain loyal to you and provide a living advertisement to others about your superior qualities or services.
So don't throw the towel out with the dishwater. If there are some areas in your current relationship that could use some tweaking, altering or even disposal, be careful to look before you leap into the arms of a new potential partner. The new partner may look good from a distance, even close up temporarily, but loyalty only develops over time as you prove to another person that you have personality and integrity that they can count on.
Think about your relationship stories in a new way. Think about each of your relationship partners as current or former customers or clients. What do you know they would say about you? Would you come highly recommended by them to their friends and associates? How do you rate in the relationship marketplace, in terms of qualities that help relationships last—as opposed to physical appearance, sexiness, or verbal charm?
Chances are, you could use some basic self-reflection and perhaps some pinpointed advice to raise your relationship marketing status to a more prominent level.
Think about your relationship stories in a new way. Think about each of your relationship partners as current or former customers or clients. What do you know they would say about you? Would you come highly recommended by them to their friends and associates? How do you rate in the relationship marketplace, in terms of qualities that help relationships last—as opposed to physical appearance, sexiness, or verbal charm?
Chances are, you could use some basic self-reflection and perhaps some pinpointed advice to raise your relationship marketing status to a more prominent level.
