While traditional advertising still commands the lion’s share of the marketing budget, companies continue to look for alternative communication platforms to enhance their brands, including event marketing. How effective is this type of marketing? Researchers Lia Zarantonello of the IÉSEG School of Management in Lille, France, and Bernd Schmitt of Columbia Business School provide some […]
Read More… from Building Brand Equity through Event Marketing
What happens when a business has more orders that it can fill? While the situation may seem to be a happy one, resolving the dilemma effectively is key to maintaining a happy and profitable customer base. The decisions must thus be made carefully: which customers should be served first? The high-margin customers might seem the […]
Read More… from Managing Customer Relations When Demand Exceeds Supply
Customers are considered a firm’s most important asset, and acquiring and retaining them is a vital concern for managers. But how exactly do managers make customer management decisions? According to the University of St. Gallen’s Dr. Johannes Bauer and his fellow researchers, little is known about the decision-making processes of individual managers when they are […]
Read More… from Using Adaptive Decision-Making in Customer Management
Online product reviews are becoming an important part of the marketing ‘mix’. In 2012, a study by Bazaarvoice found that 80 per cent of ‘Generation Y’ consumers (those born between 1977 and 1994) are heavily influenced by consumer-generated reviews from strangers when they make purchasing decisions, particularly in categories such as electronics, cars and travel. […]
Read More… from Paid-for Online Product Reviews: The True Price
Imagine rushing into a store to grab a bottle of wine on your way to a dinner party and encountering a salesperson who wants to share their extensive knowledge of wine with you. Although the salesperson is very friendly and very keen to be helpful, he is clearly unaware of your need for rapid service […]
Read More… from The Secret of a Good Sales Assistant: Reading Customer Mood
There are long been various types of communities bringing together like-minded product enthusiasts — from Corvette or 2CV car clubs to Tupperware party groups to the techies dedicated to Java or Apple. When consumers moved en masse to the Internet and to mobile technology, marketers immediately saw the potential for bringing consumers together through social […]
Read More… from Social Dollars and Online Customer Communities
Social media encompasses the activities and behaviours of communities of people who gather online to share knowledge and opinions. Social media, or otherwise ‘user-generated communication’, now represents a prevalent source of information. It has changed the tools and strategies companies use to communicate, highlighting that the information control now lies with the customer. Despite the […]
Read More… from Social Media – Time for B2B to Join the Party
A review of consumer research (based mainly in North America) and of literature from marketing and related social science disciplines confirms that marketing affects food consumption in ways beyond advertising. Pricing is one of the strongest influences. One econometric study, for example, found that a 10 per cent increase in prices at fast-food and full-service […]
Read More… from Healthy Bottom Lines – Food Marketing and Obesity Prevention
For many strategic decisions such as product development or market expansion, retailers have access to sophisticated information on which to base these decisions. When it comes to customer service, however, the information is less complete. Retailers may have extensive data on customer purchases, for example, but no data on how long those customers stood in […]
Read More… from How Checkout Lines Affect Consumer Purchases
Despite being well-managed and well-resourced, a large number of companies have failed to see adequate return on CRM investments. This is a definite concern as many invested heavily prior to the recession (between 2000 and 2005, $220 billion was spent on CRM solutions) and will be planning to invest further as the world economy improves. […]
Read More… from Failed CRM Initiatives and How to Avoid Them
