Creating customer value with relationship marketing: An application example on tourism sector

Nowadays, businesses are facing more difficult competitive conditions and they are being unsuccessful while fighting with their rivals through traditional marketing concepts. For that reason, they have started to search new marketing strategies in order to cover the needs. As a result of this process, relationship marketing has entered to literature as a paradigm shift. By relationship marketing concept, new customers would be gained, continuity would be ensured as well as providing persistence. Persistence of the customers would only be possible by making the customers feel valuable after purchasing the products and services. New approach of marketing theory and practice which was brought by relationship marketing concept is focused on keeping the existent customers and moving them to long term relations. Customer centred way of thinking which is focused on long term relations and used especially by service industry is also spread to other sectors. Therefore, businesses should create customer portfolios which are more satisfied than their expectation for build long term relationships. It is important for the continuity of businesses to understand and implement the concepts of relationship marketing just like as valuing customer and satisfying them. Business must have to take care about creating differentiation in products/services and provide better quality services for customers. By doing so, they can demonstrate customer value and build customer loyalty. The main objective of this dissertation is to primarily understand the fundamental steps of both relationship marketing and customer value then investigate the effect of relationship marketing on demonstrating customer value. First and second parts of dissertation consist of theoretical background of marketing concepts. Stages of marketing approaches, their development processes, adoption of businesses about focused on customer needs and significance of relational marketing in customer relations have been discussed through literature in this section. In order to describe these things in more detail, arise of relationship marketing, focused on relationship changing in marketing, content of relationship marketing concept, its various dimension, strategies, consumer value concepts and diversion of creating value for costumer also have tried to handled. Businesses are now preferred retaining old and loyal costumer rather than gaining new costumer no longer. So, businesses have started to use relationship marketing concept for building positive and long term relations with their customers. Today studies are being done which costumers can feel worthy themselves thanks to presented variety and value that make them satisfy by relationship marketing. In this study, strategies and the importance of effect on creating consumer with relationship marketing was handled for gain competitive advantage and present different approach in today's conditions. In the research part (third part) of the study, the importance of demonstrating customer value by applying the concept of relationship marketing was discussed. Also, efficiency of relationship marketing on customer value was taken into consideration in the tourism sector. Confidence and commitment size have detected the greatest impact in customer value dimension as a main finding of study. Staff, interaction and integration, intentions, expertness, physical appearance and the technology have identified with its minimal impact respectively too. We could see the customer value creation power of all these dimensions are how high from the rate R2=0,731. It is also shows that all these dimensions affect the customer value creation by 73,1%. According to this rate, we can say "hotel businesses must have to use relationship marketing for demonstrate customer value and to ensure the continuity of their customers in this way". Therefore, the hotel businesses must take these dimensions into account and needs to improve. Key Words: Relationship Marketing, Customer Value, Tourism