Relationship Marketing: A Potent Tool for Achieving Competitive Advantage in the Face of Economic Downturn
1Bello, Babatunde S., 2Nwokenkwo, O. B. 3Abdullahi, F. H. & 4Mohammed, Amina D
1, 2&4Department of Marketing, Federal Polytechnic, Bida
3Department of Business Administration & Management, Federal Polytechnic, Bida
Email: connekt2tunde@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Ask any frequent flyer that enjoys flying with and always chooses his favorite airline as to why he insists on using the same airline every time he is to travel. The answer will be that he is happy with the Customer Service provided by the airline. The airline spares no efforts to ensure that he is comfortable and enjoys his journey. The airline recognizes him as a valuable customer and has built a relationship with him over a period of time. It is this relationship, the comfort of being recognized, looked after and cared for individually that has resulted in loyalty in the relationship. This descriptive research aims to employ qualitative data to examine how managers/entrepreneurs can exploit relationship marketing as a weapon to achieve competitive advantage over their trade rivals in the face of economic downturn. Resources for this paper were purely sourced from existing literature (secondary data) that allowed the writers to extensively deal with the subject and discovered that firms are now turning to relationship marketing as a means of differentiating their offerings (as evidenced in the Telecommunications industry today). The writers concluded however, that managers should continue to establish good relationship with their customers in order to gain competitive advantage that will earn them the trust, empathy and commitment of customers and prospects.
Keywords: Relationship, Marketing, Potent, Competitive advantage, Economic meltdown, Empathy, Prospects
