Tammy Collins: Building Relationships to Build Businesses

Relationships influence so many aspects of our lives, from home to the office and beyond. While it may not be obvious on the surface, relationships between consumers and businesses actually have the most potential to influence conversions, sales, or loyalty. They also have the potential to change the trajectory of a brand’s success.

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Forming a genuine relationship with consumers is one of the most effective— and underutilized—marketing strategies, and not enough of us are talking about it. Fortunately, industry expert Tammy Collins is initiating the conversation. Tammy maintains a client-first mentality to build business owners up, helping them grow their brands and achieve their dreams.

Tammy on Pursuing Your Passion

Tammy insists that she’s no different than anyone else. She’s a woman, a wife, a mother, and a friend. Despite her modest claim, there is much that distinguishes her from the crowd, most notably her determination to defy societal expectations and pursue her passion. The difference, she says, is that she finally got tired of being tired. 

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After several years of going through the motions in the marketing field, Tammy could feel she was meant to be doing something different. For far too long, she’d let roadblocks like scarcity mindset and imposter syndrome stop her from going after her dreams. She made a conscious decision to change her mindset and push past the fears and obstacles that were holding her back. 

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Once she decided to change course, Tammy launched her own consultancy. By rejecting the status quo and urging herself forward, Tammy was able to embrace her passion for helping others uncover their own passions and turn them into a thriving livelihood. These days, she spends her time helping countless other entrepreneurs grow and nurture their businesses. She analyzes growing brands and helps identify what makes them unique, powerful, and scalable, offering creative strategies that generate leads and drive success.

Following the Consumer’s Lead

During an interview with Pinchforth, Tammy reflected on the changes we’ve seen in marketing and the changes that still need to be made. Even before the onset of the pandemic, major media platforms were already becoming a bit crowded. Once lockdown hit digital marketing platforms were almost impossible to navigate. 

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Oversaturation, combined with the wrong marketing approach, has led to a major slowdown in the efficacy of standard practices like Google and Facebook advertisements. These strategies are still using an archaic approach to marketing where advertisers are chasing consumers down and beating them over the head with their message. 

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According to Tammy, there’s great ignorance on the marketing side of this situation. Consumers are smart, they have more tools than ever, and they really don’t want to be marketed to in the way we’ve always done it. They’re actively avoiding advertisement, so the messages being forced upon them are essentially falling on deaf ears. Today, commercials and advertisements turn consumers off in every way possible. 

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Marketing has no choice at this point but to follow the consumer lead, to take their focus off of making sales and shift it to understanding the client. Zeroing in on the customer journey and experience, and building a relationship with the consumer, is of utmost importance. 

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Tammy actually encourages her clients to look at the customer journey like a romantic relationship. While most businesses call it quits after the ceremony (the sale), better practice suggests brands should stick with their consumer long after the sale takes place and continue nurturing the connection. If you stick around and go through the milestones of your business relationship, Tammy says, you’ll have a stronger relationship and a lifetime of loyalty. 

Looking Forward

Tammy Collins has a solid grasp on the future of brand marketing, and a seamless strategy for tackling it with her clients. Marketing, she says, can no longer be done with tunnel vision. So many marketers are stuck in a silo of one aspect of marketing (like email marketing or search campaigns), that they can’t see the plethora of tools available to them. The most powerful of which is the direct relationship with consumers. 

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In order to ride the next wave of marketing, a client-first mentality is absolutely essential. Remove the sales pitch from your marketing, focus on what your client needs, and tell them how you’re ready to solve their problems.  

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Overall, Tammy believes a successful marketer has to understand—and take advantage of—the power of a natural, organic relationship with a client. It is possible to attract consumers without chasing them, Tammy claims, if you do the right branding and build a solid foundation. By speaking directly to your clients, you can bring them to your doorstep and begin your journey together. 

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If there’s one piece of advice Tammy would like to leave for her fellow marketers, it’s that we should all try harder to think for ourselves. Forget about the expectations society has for you or your career, and start focusing on what makes you come to life. Push past your fears, pursue your passion, and have a little bit of fun along the way.

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