Valentine's cards in shop
Radical innovation
Sometimes a new idea changes the landscape, and even well-established companies struggle to cope. DVDs, digital cameras and Google are all examples of radical innovation.
Flat sales
With its core product losing ground, can a new, ethical approach save them, or is Coke losing its fizz?
Supercharge your career
Want to find out more about business or money? Get the lead on your competitors: take it further.
Negative relationships
Some relationship-building tactics have been heavily criticised for destroying relationships rather than building them. Indeed, not all relationships are positive and some are forced against the will of the consumer. Negative relationships can happen because of situations such as a limited availability of the product or service due to a monopoly market or convenience for the customer where alternatives are not feasible. In a classification of relationship marketing, one category can be described as ‘pseudo relationships’. In other words, this is not a true relationship and none of the characteristics of a relationship are present.
Many organisations miss the point about relationship marketing and seek simply to lock customers into loyal behaviour without considering what actually constitutes a relationship. This can mean that the only relationships they should expect to build, at best, are pseudo relationships. For instance, a dog owner may take always their pet to the same veterinary surgery. The owner may not in fact consider themselves loyal to the practice or even be totally satisfied. However, because of factors such as the convenient location or an ongoing course of treatment, the owners keep their pet registered with the practice.
Pseudo relationships exist because of barriers to exit, social bonds and switching costs established by the organisation. In many cases, it can also be questioned whether customers’ loyalty is to the firm or to a scheme. This has implications for assessing consumers’ attitudes and opinions where loyalty may be wrongly construed to represent satisfaction or a positive disposition when, in reality, it is merely a consequence of rational economic behaviour.
There are two types of loyalty: true long-term loyalty, and false loyalty. False loyalty is attained by having barriers to exit such as high switching costs, government regulations, proprietary technology and loyalty programmes. They argue that once customers are in a position where they are free to choose or where there are no longer barriers to exit, only ‘totally satisfied’ and not ‘merely satisfied’ customers will remain. Therefore, current loyalty does not necessarily imply commitment to future loyalty.
Relationship marketing frequently uses metaphors to explain interactions between a firm and its relationship partners – such as the friendship metaphor outlined above. These usually tend to take the form of interpersonal relationships, particularly love and marriage.
However, it could be argued that the marriage metaphor has outlived its usefulness and that in the real world human relationships can be dysfunctional and so metaphors for relationship marketing should include stalking, rape, prostitution, polygamy and seduction to describe the full range of relationships between an organisation and its customers. The customers’ perception of the relationship they have with a company or brand is not necessarily positive and the efforts of a relational programme do not necessarily lead to true loyalty.
Relationships between customers and companies are often troubled: customers can feel confused and stressed because of an insensitive and manipulative market-place where they feel trapped and victimised. The massive increase in targeted direct mail or phone calls as a means of building a personalised relationship has led to customer backlashes, where individuals may be concerned about how organisations have obtained their details and as a result can become alienated from the firm that is trying to attract them. Sometimes, details are obtained not only from database-building agencies but also from the sale of customer databases by companies with whom the individual has had contact.
Legislation varies between countries regarding the use and sale of customer details. Some countries are regulated by government or through self-regulatory trade associations (such as the Direct Marketing Association in the UK). Generally, however, the onus is on the consumer to indicate if they do not want their details forwarded or sold. This option is usually ‘in the small print’ at the end of contracts, loyalty scheme applications, orders and customer detail forms. Consumers can often opt out of receiving unsolicited mail and telephone calls although, interestingly, relatively few do.
Personality in relationships
A brand team can decide on a specific personality to represent the brand. This symbolic feature is about bringing the brand’s values to life through association with a personality or a lifestyle. If this is successfully enacted, it should help consumers select the firm’s brand since it represents values that are important to consumers.
The response of the consumer’s peer group to the consumer when they buy or use the brand gives a much clearer meaning to the brand. A classic example of this is how a consultant, when alone, might pay for lunch using their NatWest Mastercard because of the air miles this credit card offers. Yet, when the same consultant is paying for dinner with a Valentine date they want to impress, they use their Jaguar Visa credit card.
Thus, even though clear ideas emerge about a suitable personality from such an exercise, once a communications programme has been devised to associate the brand with a personality, research is then needed to appreciate how consumers have negotiated and constructed a meaning for the brand. If necessary, changes may be made to the communications programme so that the desired brand personality is recognised, and consumer interactions result in endorsements. A good example of this is the way Interflora developed its brand around the value of personal love and used communications programmes to show loving appreciation as flowers were given in different situations, which always evoked a positive endorsement.
Some relationship-building tactics have been heavily criticised for destroying relationships rather than building them. Indeed, not all relationships are positive and some are forced against the will of the consumer. Negative relationships can happen because of situations such as a limited availability of the product or service due to a monopoly market or convenience for the customer where alternatives are not feasible. In a classification of relationship marketing, one category can be described as ‘pseudo relationships’. In other words, this is not a true relationship and none of the characteristics of a relationship are present.
Many organisations miss the point about relationship marketing and seek simply to lock customers into loyal behaviour without considering what actually constitutes a relationship. This can mean that the only relationships they should expect to build, at best, are pseudo relationships. For instance, a dog owner may take always their pet to the same veterinary surgery. The owner may not in fact consider themselves loyal to the practice or even be totally satisfied. However, because of factors such as the convenient location or an ongoing course of treatment, the owners keep their pet registered with the practice.
Pseudo relationships exist because of barriers to exit, social bonds and switching costs established by the organisation. In many cases, it can also be questioned whether customers’ loyalty is to the firm or to a scheme. This has implications for assessing consumers’ attitudes and opinions where loyalty may be wrongly construed to represent satisfaction or a positive disposition when, in reality, it is merely a consequence of rational economic behaviour.
There are two types of loyalty: true long-term loyalty, and false loyalty. False loyalty is attained by having barriers to exit such as high switching costs, government regulations, proprietary technology and loyalty programmes. They argue that once customers are in a position where they are free to choose or where there are no longer barriers to exit, only ‘totally satisfied’ and not ‘merely satisfied’ customers will remain. Therefore, current loyalty does not necessarily imply commitment to future loyalty.
Relationship marketing frequently uses metaphors to explain interactions between a firm and its relationship partners – such as the friendship metaphor outlined above. These usually tend to take the form of interpersonal relationships, particularly love and marriage.
However, it could be argued that the marriage metaphor has outlived its usefulness and that in the real world human relationships can be dysfunctional and so metaphors for relationship marketing should include stalking, rape, prostitution, polygamy and seduction to describe the full range of relationships between an organisation and its customers. The customers’ perception of the relationship they have with a company or brand is not necessarily positive and the efforts of a relational programme do not necessarily lead to true loyalty.
Relationships between customers and companies are often troubled: customers can feel confused and stressed because of an insensitive and manipulative market-place where they feel trapped and victimised. The massive increase in targeted direct mail or phone calls as a means of building a personalised relationship has led to customer backlashes, where individuals may be concerned about how organisations have obtained their details and as a result can become alienated from the firm that is trying to attract them. Sometimes, details are obtained not only from database-building agencies but also from the sale of customer databases by companies with whom the individual has had contact.
Legislation varies between countries regarding the use and sale of customer details. Some countries are regulated by government or through self-regulatory trade associations (such as the Direct Marketing Association in the UK). Generally, however, the onus is on the consumer to indicate if they do not want their details forwarded or sold. This option is usually ‘in the small print’ at the end of contracts, loyalty scheme applications, orders and customer detail forms. Consumers can often opt out of receiving unsolicited mail and telephone calls although, interestingly, relatively few do.
Personality in relationships
A brand team can decide on a specific personality to represent the brand. This symbolic feature is about bringing the brand’s values to life through association with a personality or a lifestyle. If this is successfully enacted, it should help consumers select the firm’s brand since it represents values that are important to consumers.
The response of the consumer’s peer group to the consumer when they buy or use the brand gives a much clearer meaning to the brand. A classic example of this is how a consultant, when alone, might pay for lunch using their NatWest Mastercard because of the air miles this credit card offers. Yet, when the same consultant is paying for dinner with a Valentine date they want to impress, they use their Jaguar Visa credit card.
Thus, even though clear ideas emerge about a suitable personality from such an exercise, once a communications programme has been devised to associate the brand with a personality, research is then needed to appreciate how consumers have negotiated and constructed a meaning for the brand. If necessary, changes may be made to the communications programme so that the desired brand personality is recognised, and consumer interactions result in endorsements. A good example of this is the way Interflora developed its brand around the value of personal love and used communications programmes to show loving appreciation as flowers were given in different situations, which always evoked a positive endorsement.
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