How to create business relationships online

Making and keeping happy customers

One of the key parts of the digital age when it comes to PR is creating relationships between consumers and your business. By establishing a relationship, you create a bond that not only makes it more likely that customers will purchase from you again, you also set a good precedent that encourages your customers to refer your company to others interested in similar products. Customers can also help your business by providing the vital data and feedback you need to improve the customer experience.

If you’re not sure where to start when creating a relationship between your customers and your business, here are two principles to keep in mind:

You are primarily an educator

PR pros know that you should educate potential customers not only about your service, but about the problems they want solved. You can’t sit back and just expect customers to find you on Google; you need to create educational material for each step of the buyer’s journey in order to attract customers in each stage. You can do this through blogs, case studies, e-newsletters and posting content on social media channels.

The internet lets people access a lot of information in a very short amount of time, so you need to make sure that you are creating information that can help your target customers, as well.

Educational materials should include not only information related to your product or service, but also:

Information that helps consumers identify and voice a problem they are having
Information about how to solve the problem in general (not just with your product)

Posting on various social media channels is a great way to educate prospective customers. Getting your material out there attracts people who are looking for small bits of information, whom you can then convert into leads. By posting your content on social media, you reach far more people than by endlessly talking about your product or service. Endless product talk means that the only people who are going to find your company are those who are already looking for it, and that doesn’t bring in the new customers you need to keep your business alive.

Serve the customer

When generating content, it is important to remember that you are there to serve your customers’ needs, not the other way around.

As a business, your main focus is to make sure your customers are satisfied. You’re not here to push something on them that they don’t need; you’re here to solve their problems with them. Produce content that not only diagnoses their problems, but also solves them. This content can be in the form of blog posts, social media posts, videos or any other type of content that conveys information.

These two principles serve as a solid foundation for understanding customers in the online age. With these as your basis, you can start forming and maintaining solid customer relationships, which are vital for any business.

To learn more about leveraging important business tools in the digital era, check out Axia Public Relations’ social media management guide.