The value of retaining good customers should be common knowledge. Various studies show that acquiring a new customer costs five to seven times more for a business than retaining an existing customer. Meanwhile, existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend around 30% more compared to new customers. And satisfied, long-term customers are the engine behind a golden pipeline of referrals, which are the lifeblood of most photography businesses. Put simply, investing in customer retention usually results in higher profitability.
One way to invest is through practicing relationship marketing, which means focusing on creating true connections with clients as people versus thinking of them as just a sales target. Building authentic client relationships is “absolutely critical” for any small business, says Heather Capps, founder and CEO of Dallas, Texas-based marketing agency HCK2. “My company has been in business for 27 years, and there’s probably not a week that goes by that I am not evangelizing about building client rapport, client retention, and client engagement,” she says, adding that her staff has a “client experience manual” that includes some of the processes and protocols below (and see sidebar “Connecting, Not Selling”).
Mark Morin, owner of the Stratégies marketing agency near Montréal, Quebec, and a keynote speaker on relationship marketing, calls the concept transformational. “Businesses that start focusing on relationships as opposed to transactions can revolutionize their business in terms of volume and stability, and reduce the dependence on spending money in media to attract clients.”
Capps and Morin share insights on how to build strong client relationships and, in turn, a more successful and profitable business.
DOCUMENT YOUR CLIENTELE
The first step in launching a relationship marketing campaign is documenting your clientele in a database that includes more than just their contact information but also where they live, what they like, what types of services you’ve provided, and what kinds of opportunities you might have noticed during past interactions with them.
To get organized, you could use one of the many customer relationship management (CRM) systems designed for small businesses, including some that are built into studio management software. CRMs are helpful for organizing your client database and automating communications. You could even use a basic spreadsheet. “The important thing,” says Morin, “is to have access to organized information so that you have all the data at the ready.”
CREATE A FRAMEWORK
Establish a framework for your client communication, including a list of the types of media you’ll use (such as email, social media, printed documents, or good-old-fashioned phone calls). Your framework will include the type of reach-out, for example an email to all the clients you saw last month or a phone call to the family whose newborn images you made. Look at your calendar and determine throughout the upcoming weeks and months who you want to reach and how, and note these activities on the calendar itself. “You need to be systematic about it,” says Morin. “You can’t just fire off an email every once in a while and hope that you’re going to reap huge rewards. You have to be constant and present in your clients’ lives.”
BLOCK OUT THE TIME
“Scheduling [your communication with clients] and the intentionality behind scheduling is something that’s really important,” to build those solid relationships, says Capps. This could be as simple as blocking time on your calendar, like an hour the third Wednesday of every month, to reach out to some clients and invite them to coffee. “Setting aside time like this is a great way to make sure that a goal turns into an action item.”
MAKE IT PERSONAL
“In relationship marketing, the goal is to make your marketing communication indistinguishable from personal communication,” says Morin. Messages should be personalized and customized, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be automated. Let’s say you have an automated email that goes out on a client’s birthday or an outreach message on the anniversary of your last session. You can set those up to run automatically, but also customize them with dynamic content like links to their past galleries or the addition of a personal message.
APPROACH TO HELP
If you think about your interactions in terms of how you can help your clients, it changes your perspective. After all, you are the professional and your clients need your help. That perspective helps many photographers get past the anxiety of client outreach because, done correctly, you’re trying to build a relationship by helping to make clients’ lives better. For example, that newborn you photographed is having their first birthday. Your personal birthday message could remind the clients how much they would love to have a milestone portrait for their baby’s first year.
REMEMBER THAT PATIENCE PAYS
There is no doubt that building an authentic relationship with another human being who is also, hopefully, a long-term client, takes an investment of time and money. “But a lot of people get lost due to a preoccupation with getting more business,” explains Capps. “When this happens, the messages come across with a tone of desperation. So, it’s about getting out of the headspace about selling and turning it into a new frame of mind around connecting. If you can do that and demonstrate the patience to let the process play out, the business will come.”
Jeff Kent is editor-at-large.
Tags: marketing marketing strategy
