Did you know that customer retention has been found to be even more critical to your company's success than customer acquisition? Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company found as little as a five percent increase in customer retention can result in an increase in company revenue by 25-95%.

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In fact, no matter if you’re a team of one or leading a scaling enterprise, you can build customer relationships with your existing audience without the typical costs associated with acquiring new customers. The key is strategic relationship marketing.

What is relationship marketing?

Relationship marketing refers to the marketing strategy of cultivating more meaningful relationships with customers to ensure long-term satisfaction and brand loyalty. Relationship marketing isn't about short-term wins or sales transactions — instead, it focuses on delighting customers for the long haul.

Diagram on what brands can do to be successful at relationship marketing

Especially since, as Adobe learned, returning customers spend more than newer customers. Why? Because existing customers understand the value of your products and services and they're invested loyally in your brand. If a customer feels satisfied with their interaction with you, they’re more likely to turn to your business for their needs, again and again.

“But isn’t all marketing relationships marketing?” Not exactly. Some marketing strategies are solely about gaining traffic and conversions to get potential customers into the customer flywheel. From there, you’ll have even more marketing tactics that get that potential customer to make their first purchase like customer acquisition.

The perfect time to start a relationship marketi