Clarifications, first.
We all know a typical oxymoron, right? Words and phrases that seem to cancel each other out: military intelligence, jumbo shrimp, old news, practical joke, peace force.
We also know about redundancy, or saying the same thing twice, as in: basic fundamentals, actual experience, advance planning, free gift, frozen ice, general public.
These two odd word pairing categories are opposite sides of the same coin, so I will flip the coin, and you can call it in the air….
Are Relationship Marketing and Social Media Marketing the same or opposites?
You might be surprised at the answers I found!
Redundant (Heads)
Mari Smith, speaker, author, and social media guru, has recently written a (not yet released) book titled, “The New Relationship Marketing”. Considering the source’s area of expertise, it would appear that the book will be about nurturing relationships to social (online) connections and turning that into a profitable business, at which Mari has been extremely successful. Mari shares some of her life story in this video, and talks a bit about her new book which has the subtitle: “How to Build a Large, Loyal and Profitable Network Using the Social Web”. It is clear as she describes her approach to relationship marketing (in a beautiful Scottish / Canadian accent) that she would be of the camp that this is a redundant relationship. She talks about how she believes that social media marketing is about building those relationships with all people online and leveraging (my words) that relationship to be ethically profitable.
Oxymoron (Tails)
On the other side of the coin, would be Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz, who is decidedly less glamorous and more punk than Mari Smith. However, Naomi is very passionate and (apparently) knowledgeable as she has become an expert at being overtly honest and downright open on how marketing for small businesses works. Naomi’s guest blog on Copyblogger.com about Relationship Marketing, “7 Ways You’re Screwing Up Relationship Marketing”, is in line with the oxymoron stance on our topic.
The 7 ways, are easily the complete opposite of the (widely accepted)point of social media (to engage, connect, build relationships), in that she feels (strongly) that relationship marketing is solely about what makes the customer make a purchase of your product and how can you get them to do it again. It has nothing to do with relationships, communication, being social, authenticity, transparency, equality, or having a connection. It is about THE relationship of a customer to your product and their purchase of same. Period. That’s it.
What do YOU think?
What is your take on this question? Is all marketing becoming social? Should it? Or are we too caught up in this ‘relationship’ business with online media that we are incapable of talking about marketing without describing some inner bond between brands and consumers?
We’d love to hear your side, so leave us a comment!
Tags: Marketing, reno marketing, Reno Social Media, Social Media
