Marketing has gone from being an element designed to manipulate customers to a process that builds relationships while serving customer needs. Regis McKenna, author of Relational marketing, points out that marketing relationships are aimed at creating, rather than controlling, the market. This process is built through education, incremental improvement, and ongoing processes, rather than simple market share tactics, gross sales, and one-off events.

Like a good marriage, being transparent can leave a person or organization vulnerable. However, it leans towards trust and a much deeper relationship. If we assume that relationship selling is good, then relationship marketing can be even better.

However, many organizations fail to fully understand marketing concepts and how to use it. Marketing is not about creating a product and hoping someone will buy it. Yes, some companies operate this way. However, its success is not long-term because it lacks the rigor that a hyper-competitive environment demands. Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller, authors of MarketingManagementThey advocate the critical need to understand marketing throughout the organization, not just marketing professionals.

Furthermore, companies that want the future must implement their marketing holistically, at all levels. Consequently, marketing is a critical element in getting customers to buy. Personal selling is related to the Marketing Mix (4 Ps of Marketing) from the promotion aspect. In fact, Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of relationship sellingShare that an organization uses integrated marketing communications to ensure that the message is consistent throughout the organization.

Paul Peter and James Donnelly, authors of MarketingManagement, further argue that organizations should seek to communicate with customers for several strategic objectives, which are: (a) create awareness, (b) build positive images, (c) identify prospects, and (d) build channel relationships. Therefore, departments such as human resources, marketing, operations, and sales must work together effectively to produce a clear marketing message.

From the largest to the smallest in an organization, everyone must sing the same song. Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of relationship selling, argue that departments within an organization convey the same message throughout the value chain. In fact, internal variation on the company’s message is not a good thing for customers.

Organizations that have a large BMI have salespeople who deliver a consistent message to customers, thus strengthening the relationship. Peter and Donnelly point out that the goal of integrated marketing communication is to coordinate and integrate all promotional elements—advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and publicity—to present a coherent message. Therefore, being on message to everyone is critical!

(c) 2013 by Daryl D. Green