New tools of relationship marketing for innovative projects of machine-building enterprises: crowdsourcing and crowdfunding

The aim of the article. The aim of the article is justification of theoretical provisions for determining the nature and use of relationship marketing in innovative projects of machine-building enterprises. The results of the analysis. Today there are a lot of reasonable thoughts on the fundamental principles of relationship marketing concept origin. Generally, in our opinion, relationship marketing is a communication strategy intended to keep existing customers and to attract potential customers and key business partners. The peculiarity of the current development stage of information technologies is the widespread use of the following specific tools for development and commercialization of innovative projects: crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. These tools have already become a widely implemented in world practice and are vivid examples of a new interaction among subjects of innovation activity. Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are relationship marketing tools by which a reduction of commercial risk innovative products is provided through attracting consumers in the processes of creating, testing, financing and promotion of new products, and so on. These tools use profound social nature of man, the desire to be "trailed" to something new (interesting, fashionable, promising, etc.). Marketing benefits of using crowdsourcing and crowdfunding for innovative projects are: - identifying of consumer preferences in the design stage of a new product; - the possibility to reduce the financial, intellectual and time spent on research, design, marketing research, etc.; - receiving of prior order and (or) the advance payment for the projected product; - increasing customer loyalty, obtaining active "promoters", project's "attorneys" as the clients; - the possibility of renewed interest in existing projects (food); - increasing interest in the innovative project on the part of other market entities (partners, investors, etc.) on the basis of existing demand among end consumers. Conclusions and directions of further researches. Relationship marketing is a new marketing approach by which development and commercialization of innovative project is done by establishing long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with marketing environment entities through an integrated influence of the set of marketing tools on their market interaction. The relationship between market entities in terms of relationship marketing of innovation projects should not be limited to the implementation of purchase / sale transactions. Main attention in relationship marketing is paid to strategic aspect of cooperation and to receiving of profit in the long run. An important part of relationship marketing is loyalty development and increasing the value both for customers, and partners in the market. Therefore further work should closely examine loyalty buildup and new tools of relationship marketing. These new approaches to marketing will enable innovative projects to develop successfully in the market. We consider that separation of two relatively independent tools for relationship formation (crowdfunding and crowdsourcing) among different entities in the innovative process is very important for further research, because each of these areas has its own peculiarities that must be methodically justified and must be used in the general complex of relationship marketing for innovative projects of machine-building enterprises.