We often use the expression – one good thing leads to another. In recent years, I’ve had this happen unexpectedly in several custom-designed marketing programs – both of which involve relationship marketing, sometimes referred to as Human Based Marketing. Each had very specific goals, but in the end, those goals were exceeded. The resurgence of this thinking was spelled out in this Forbes piece written just before the Pandemic which advocated, “Marketing managers must keep top-of-mind the fact that customers crave genuine, transparent, intimate and authentic brand experiences — experiences that go beyond what AI, retargeting, automation and advertisements offer.” Now more than ever, it’s time to return to this discussion and in my own client engagements, reflect on what went right!
Thought Leadership to Relationship Management
A venture fund client launched a thought leadership initiative that involved creating a survey to test understand the industry’s appetite for a sector of technology – in on case Open Source and in the other Cloud Computing. To achieve the desired results of the survey, we had to reach out to a wide audience of CEO’s, CTO’s, CMO’s and other key C-levels from enterprise companies. As these were not the day-to-day contacts of the survey’s sponsor, the outreach was achieved via the formation of an industry collaboration. At times, it was a circuitous route to find the right people with whom to engage. Participation of each collaborator was rewarded with various degrees of exposure/branding to the enterprise company inside the survey, webinar, etc. The immediate result was reaching thousands more participants than could have every been achieved alone.
That, however, was a short-term accomplishment. It was the process of the outreach and the constant communication around the program, that led to the long-term impact. It turned out to be an excellent way to enhance the relationship and keep it “alive” during times when it might have been dormant. In short, the Thought Leadership Program laid the foundation of a VIP Relationship Management program.
TVP to Employee Engagement & Community
In the second case, working with an enterprise company, the goal of the project was to use various forms
of research to understand the employee brand – aka, the Talent Value Proposition. This was achieved through a combination of primary and secondary research. However, the primary research also became an important cornerstone of content – i.e., in depth stories that help the company get to know the person and their motivation and how their personal values align with the company’s. Beside creating rich content, the process itself becomes an exceptional way to achieve employee engagement and community. As I was involved in this at several different levels, it was clear that each person truly appreciated the opportunity and believed the company was investing in them by doing this on their behalf and to help grow a strong team. What began as working to create a talent 
pipeline, has also build the foundation for an Employee Engagement program.
What’s common to both of these initiatives is a return to the human side of marketing. Investing good energy in these external and internal relationships has exponential long term positive impact.
