relationship marketing

Benefits that ongoing relationships with key customers can bring to an organization. Although the idea is a well-established one in business, the term became common currency during the 1980s. It was used, notably by US marketing guru and chairman of management consultants the McKenna Group, Regis McKenna, to describe a phenomenon witnessed in the hi-tech community in Silicon Valley, California. The idea is that, rather than market to a customer in the usual way, it is desirable to develop a strategic relationship based on mutual trust and continuous dialogue, almost as if the company was a part of its customer's organization.