Mobile App or Mobile Website?

As the use of Mobiles is rapidly increasing every year, the use of mobile apps and webs also becomes more advantageous to marketers.  A mobile App is defined as a software application that runs on a smart phone like the Android and Apple apps; while Mobile web is basically а slimmed down version of a normal website that is enhanced for smaller display areas such as on mobile phones; to enter a website on your mobile you will have to open a browser application such as safari and Google chrome

Which one should І choose for my Business?

A business should first understand that the best decision to choose between mobile app and mobile web can only depend on the nature of its business, its audience/ target group and its marketing budget.

Business nature:

Mobile apps can be personalized to the needs of your business and your customers. Example, for a takeaway restaurant in Hamilton, A consumer would find it much easier and quicker to pick an order from a push button ordering menu, than accessing the website from the browser and having to look for the order button.

Audience/Target group:

A business should think about how frequent its target group uses or engages with its brand or business, because an app requires someone to discover it in order to download it. And people are likely to download apps only for things that relate to their everyday lifestyle, an example would be Facebook app, where by people download it just instead of logging through the mobile website, because most of the people check it regularly and often on a daily basis.

Budget:

In terms of costs, creating and maintaining a website is said to be more cost effective over a mobile app, this is because mobile sites are built using HTML which was discussed earlier by Waheed on this blog, whereas apps must be written specifically for one or more of the leading mobile platforms such as Apple iOS, Window mobile, etc.; in which the cost is therefore tripled and the process therefore takes a great deal of time.

http://businessseo.com.au/mobile-apps-to-market-your-business/

http://www.hswsolutions.com/services/mobile-web-development/advantages/

http://www.adobe.com/inspire/2012/02/mobile-websites-vs-mobile-apps.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBUzCja6fmE

http://www.adobe.com/inspire/2012/02/mobile-websites-vs-mobile-apps.html

Mobile Marketing: What Does the Future Hold?

The world is going mobile. Time spent on the mobile device (for texts, music, gaming, and applications use) has more than doubled within the last 2 years (Forbes, 2012). With over 75% of the world's population using some sort of mobile device daily, the business world is capitalizing on marketing to this large target population. Mobile Marketing involves communication from business to consumer by way of mobile device sending either advertisements, sales promotions or general marketing messages to get the consumer to enter their store or visit their website (Quirk, 2012). There are many different ways to advertise to consumers via mobile device such as Short Message Service (SMS), Media Message Service (MMS), or on mobile internet browsers and specific applications. So with all that, what does the future hold?

Think of the future more like the mobile phone becoming the mini-laptop. Anything you can do on your computer, you will be able to do on your phone. This opens many doors for marketers to penetrate their respective markets very effectively. Online shopping is one of the major additions to the mobile world because not only does it directly generate sales, but brings opportunity for businesses to advertise. Following sales, businesses could have the ability to SMS text or email their consumer if the right information is attained at the point of sale. Some businesses are already conversing with their consumers in this manner (ie. Online stores send post-purchase messages). Companies will also be able to provide discounts to their mobile consumers. Another rising application that marketers have and will continue to take advantage of is "Scan". Scan is an app which generates information on a product with a single barcode scan. This application is very versatile which makes it useful for many marketers in different markets, as long as there is a code to be 'scanned'. For example, a shopper can go into a retail store, scan the barcode of an item with their mobile device, and the app will provide all information of that item (size, price, materials used, etc.). 

Mobile shopping is just one of the many things the future could hold for Mobile Marketing. With most mobile devices coming with a GPS system upon purchasing, what if businesses can advertise to consumers based on their location? What if this is already happening? What if consumers could make their order while waiting in line by placing an order through a voice activated mobile application? (Mashable, 2012). Companies can also be rated by consumers on their mobile device. Does this mean that consumers will be making their final choice before they arrive at their shopping destination? Only time will tell what the future holds. One thing is for certain; there is plenty of opportunity for marketers to gain and retain new consumers.

Resources:

http://mashable.com/2012/08/15/sonic-notify/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/10/29/mobile-marketing-the-elephant-in-the-room-for-marketers/

http://www.quirk.biz/resources/mobile101/281/What-is-Mobile-Marketing

Mobile Marketing Channels

Mobile Marketing is define as any marketing performed on or to mobile devices. It has many different forms and channels that can be used to advertise to all kinds of people well all people that own mobile devices. Phones and other mobile devices have become a large part of who we are we have them with us all the time mine is sitting next to me well I write this.

Like most forms of marketing, mobile marketing was met with a negative opinion of it's target audience, but how could marketers pass up the idea of marketing to us with one of our more beloved possessions.

Mobile Marketing in it's many forms

SMS
Short Message Service
My god these were irritating. It's a short message sent to your mobile device it only takes a few minutes to read and if your like me you text them to stop sending directly after you read it. The messages are sent out to the cell phone numbers that the advertiser has purchased similar to an auto dialler used by telemarketers but a little less irritating.

MMS
Multimedia Message Service
Kind of similar to SMS but with a few major differences. MMS is not limited to text messages they are mostly audio, video and images Example: Flash mobs. They encourage that you share the marketed ad with others and make, add, and share your own content. MMS is one of the better channels I can name it encourages creativity and they are the most entertaining ad campaigns I can think of.

Push Notifications
More modern version of SMS key difference it can be turned off greatest feature ever. They are like texts received on your phone but somewhat different in that they aren't texts just messages that appear on your phone. One problem they do pose is that they can interrupt your current activities on your device. But that brings me back to my first point you can turn them off that's just awesome.

QR Codes
Quick Response codes
QR codes are like a bar code that your phone scans. Now we are all business students and I'm pretty sure your aware of this video but if your not or you want to watch it again here it is. You can't tell me you don't want to shop this way.

There's a few more channels I didn't mention because lets face it's crunch time and I got my required word count. If you are interest in more I suggest you look them up on Wikipedia or another information source.

Brand Evaluation Task #9

Today we discussed metrics.  For this task, list 2 objectives you think your brand may be trying to achieve via their website or any other online marketing channel.  Position it as a SMART objective – you won’t know what their real SMART objectives would be, but if it was your job to develop them for your brand, what would they be?

Next, list the corresponding metrics that would be needed to measure each objective – think about the task that you are asking the visitor to complete – what would you need to evaluate in relation to this task to identify if it was successful, if you could improve, if you should change anything in the future.

This task is worth 5 marks.

Segmentation Metrics

            As marketers, it is important to know what groups of consumers you are targeting and how best to reach them. The way to measure and analyse this type of information is through segmentation metrics.

What are Segmentation Metrics?

       Segmentation metrics are numbers used for evaluation or assessment of business success within given segments. 

     

In regards to marketing on the web, there are three primary forms of segmentation:

1.    Page-based information

2.    Visit-based information

3.    Visitor-based information

Page-Base Information:

Using page-based information is usually the easiest method of collecting metrics. It is a way of grouping similar pages together into categories and sub-categories to better understand web-site performance. For example, a website may cover several different topics. Using page-based information can inform the marketer or company what pages and topics are performing up to their standards, and which pages are not.

Visit-Based Information:

Visit-based information refers to the data collected concerning things such as how many individuals visited the site, saw specific content, or purchased a certain product. This information can be valuable in many different ways. Most importantly, it allows the marketer to adjust the website navigation to accommodate their specific goals.

Visitor-based Information:

Visitor-based information is widely regarded as the most important form of web-based segmentation metrics. The better a company understands its online users, the more prepared it will be to gain their business and earn customer loyalty. These segments help marketers better understand what types of individuals are visiting their sites and what their needs are. This information is usually broken down into typical demographic segments such as age, gender, occupation, and geographic location.

            There are web services available which can implement performance reports on things such as site traffic, web page performance, and various other segmentation metrics. Below are links to a few examples of these services:

• http://www.google.ca/analytics/

• http://www.alertsite.com/index.html

• http://statcounter.com/

Posted by: Arthur Cobham #000284171

Web Analytics

Audace Mpoziriniga

Web Analytics

Definition and Meaning

"Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage.” Web analytics is a strategic internet tool used to collect data and provide a report that allows its users to detect problems so that they begin the process of resolving them. It is a key tool for implementing effective business strategies such as Marketing, Budgeting and financial operations. Also companies use web analytics when they need to introduce customer loyalty program and increase sales.

For a company to reach its goals, marketers must use a web analytics to monitor customer behaviour, value marketing campaign performance and improve marketing decision making accordingly.

By analysing different metrics, marketers should identify the best product categories for their clientele, which elements of their website were most popular, and how well marketing campaigns and product promotions were working.

Different areas to monitor

Enterprises software firms provide database, analytics, and mobile solutions to customers for their analytics oriented. Every company selects specific aspects of its business depending on what they want to improve.  By following the most important measurement to your business, you can improve the results and grow your business, which is ultimately the goal of reading metrics.

Examples

·         Sales

An ecommerce storefront is supported by how many sales are completed. A great metric to track for an ecommerce site is how many people drop off without finishing their purchase. While you might think that visitors would be the most important metric, if you notice that there is a huge difference between visitors and customers with completed sales, you will realize that getting the people who come to your site to finish their purchase is more important.

·         Marketing

 With marketing analytics, you have a good, solid look into the direct relationships between your marketing channels. It's great to be able to see how each of your individual channels (e.g. social media, blogging, email marketing, SEO, etc.) are performing, but the true power of analytics comes into play when you can easily tie the effect of multiple channels' performances together.

For instance, let's say you did an email send to a segment of your leads. Marketing analytics can not only tell you how many people clicked through from your email to your website, but also how many of those people actually converted into leads for your business when they got there. Furthermore, you can compare the impact of that individual email send with other marketing initiatives. Did that email generate more leads than the blog post you published yesterday? What about compared to your social presence?

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31705/Why-You-Need-Marketing-Analytics-Not-Web-Analytics.aspx#ixzz2CpfvtKYI

http://online-behavior.com/analytics/definition

http://webdesign.about.com/od/analytics/qt/what_to_track.htm

Student Post- Website Evaluation Tools

Website Evaluation Tools

              The internet serves many purposes, such as an instrument for communication and as an entertainment device but at its most basic level it is a way for many people to obtain information. The internet is a growing part of the business world, an important one too and not all websites are created equally, so marketers and website programmers have website evaluation tools to help them designing better websites.

                                                    

A websites usability is of the upmost importance to its success. A websites usability has to do with how easily the user can navigate through the site, the sites ability to deliver to the user what they need and the overall user experience. One of the main tools used to evaluate a websites usability is a usability test. To sum up usability testing, it is a measuring aid to see how the website measures up to the expectations of those in the websites target market and how ‘user friendly’ the website is.

                                                                             

Usability testing can be broken down into three steps:

Concept testing is the first step of usability testing and it does not actually deal with the site’s content, but rather the general idea or theme of the site and how it will be presented to the end user. At this stage in the usability testing the website has not been designed and marketers are only interested in people’s opinions on how practical they feel the website setup would be. Marketers will use general ideas and themes at this point in the testing because the website itself has not been programmed yet.

Prototype testing is the second step in the usability testing. At this point the site will have been designed and the programmers will be taking steps to making the website functional. At the prototype testing stage marketers and researchers are able to get some feedback about the site, what people like and dislike. Prototype testing is when many changes to a webpages visual appearance will be altered.

Full usability testing is the final stage of usability testing and it takes place when the website is complete and fully functional. This part of the usability testing only takes place once a website has been uploaded to a server and is the last step before the website is opened to everyone. At this point the website will be setup in a way that the programmers and marketers feel the user would like it to be, and how they would expect the site to be.

                                                   

The general performance of a website is also important, people want information and they want it quickly. There are several tools that monitor websites and record how long a user was on the page, what they clicked on and even if they hovered over a link and did not click on it. An example of one of these website evaluation tools is ClickTale. www.clicktale.com

Sources:

·        http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webeval.html

·        http://sixrevisions.com/tools/useful_web_analytics_tools/

·        Internet Marketing: Integrating online and offline sources

·        http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=website+evaluation+tools&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1W1ADFA_en&biw=1344&bih=721&tbm=isch&tbnid=xVgLq1gVf3XokM:&imgrefurl=http://www.w3.org/Talks/wai-components/all.htm&docid=h3suH_vT5vi1TM&imgurl=http:/

·        http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=website+evaluation+tools&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1R2ADRA_enCA492&biw=1344&bih=721&tbm=isch&tbnid=Gnopa7MeqaAorM:&imgrefurl=http://prwt2

 

Mike Rizzetto #000124208

 

 

Customer Service & Technology

by: Robbie J Halloran

As all business owners should know, customer service is a crucial and necessary part to any business operation. With multiple products competing in a given category, reducing any cognitive dissonance in the consumers post-purchase will be essential for marketers hoping to retain their current cliental from switching brands.

With the growth in web-based technology, using the internet as a customer service medium has become more and more appealing to businesses than traditional methods. Its popularity is a result of the wide reach and 24/7 accessibility to consumers with mobile and computer systems, as well as the innovative and cost-effective programs available. The internet has also helps businesses better anticipate their consumer’s needs. By monitoring their usage and patterns on the brands webpage, these businesses can tailor the web-page to increase satisfaction with the interface and populate it with more desired information. An opportunity to collect valuable feedback exist through forums and online service centres. Businesses that collect this kind of feedback from consumers can use it to optimize products and marketing communications to accurately suit the needs of consumers in various markets.

With the combination of database technology, web-self-service (see: Techtarget.com definition of web self-service) has become the most popular form of e-based customer service. Frequently asked questions can be compiled into Q and A formats under a section of the webpage - increasing the consumers’ empowerment and ability to solve their own problems - all in way that increases the businesses savings (opposed to telephone calls to service representatives).  Using e-mail is also an effective customer service application. Through this service, businesses can directly solve consumer problems when a personal touch is required and self-service methods fail.

(5 ways online businesses can satisfy shoppers)

Lastly, the quality of these online strategies is important. Regularly updated help sections need to implement to ensure newer and current problems are fixed, as well as to ensure that the business appears to be actively servicing the consumer. Communicating the support available will increase assurance with your customers purchases, just by having them know that your business still cares about the consumer post-purchase.

Websites - The Next Generation

Hello fellow classmates. Today I would like to discuss Websites, but not just websites. Websites are the next generation of marketing. How? Allow me to tell you.

Since the internet bubble burst, companies have found that the internet is a vital way to market their products or services to consumers. Through the rise in popularity of the internet, more websites have changed and more and more companies have hopped on the bandwagon of changing their websites.

Through drastic changes to their websites, companies can change their company sales and customer traffic. To be successful companies must be aware of the following:

-Is the website easy to use?
-Is it easy for a visitor to get lost?
-Is it user friendly?
-Does it have too much or too little information?
-How does the website suit our brand?

It is important for companies to be aware of these because if a website is difficult to use, or visitors are getting lost it may not have the desired effect that you would like. The world is changing, our society is all about the next generation- websites.

If a consumer wants to know more about a brand they expect to be able to do a fast web search and be able to locate that brand's website. By finding that website, they are going to learn more about that brand and this may lead to more sales.

In the ever expanding world of the internet a good website is vital to almost any company. It increases consumer awareness which turns into a more competitive company. In the 21st century, websites are the next generation. We have said good bye to tools such as phonebooks, and research books. We have said hello to online phonebooks and online encyclopedias. Technology continues to grow and that means websites will continue to grow.

Websites are the next generation.

Brand Evaluation - Task #8

For this task, create a site map schematic for your brand using word or excel.  How many layers deep is your site? (5 marks)

Next, what is your site objective?  Is it informational or transactional? (3 marks)

Last, what features is your site using to create a positive customer experience?  Tell me what changes you would recommend for your site?  Remember to think about the structure/function of the site as well as the content.  (7 marks)

This task is worth 15 marks total

Websites, the customer experience.

Hello fellow classmates, my topic to be discussed is websites, the customer experience.

Since the coming of the Internet age websites have been evolving immensely. In the beginning a companies priority when it came to their website was simply having contact information and a few graphic elements. Today companies/teams/individuals who create a web page understand that much more is expected.

On a typical website there are basic elements that a consumer expects to experience. A web page will generally have several  tabs for easier browsing. I will go through a list of typical tabs on a company web page that give the consumer the ultimate and easiest experience possible.

First a company or individual will have basic contact information including location, phone number, email, and possibly links to other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. With the development of technology many of these contact outlets are more then just text. With the address many people use Google location services which provides the consumer with an actual map and direction to their location. The email is usually a link which will send you directly to your mail box to set up your message. As well if using the website on your phone the telephone number is usually able to call directly from the site. The ease of these features makes it a much simpler experience for basic information.

Next a company should and usually do offer a current news section. This is to keep consumers updated on all information happening within the company. This is a good outlet for companies to post about events, community involvement or items related to what is happening with the company.

More and more companies are realizing that consumers want more individual attention. To give the consumer the best experience possible many websites have member only sections which require you to sign up via the website. This gives a consumer access to discounts, contests, newsletters and exclusive emails sent to them personally.

Online shopping has become the current way to get products. It allows a consumer to shop from the comfort of their home. This is a standard expectation of all websites to have this option.

Lastly to give the consumer the best experience possible companies will use videos, links, photos and information about products and services. This allows the consumer to be interactive with  their company.

Listed below are companies websites I have found that include all or basically all of these features and have great success with their audience.

http://www.muchmusic.com/
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/
http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/home.aspx


Thanks for reading!

Do's and Don'ts of E-Commerce Websites

When a company or business is considering developing an e-commerce website, there are many “Do's and Don’ts" that one should take into consideration.  Whether its products or services being sold locally, or nationally, here are some key elements that should be taken into account in order to insure success and positive feedback from customers that are using your e-commerce website. 

Do’s:

1)      Security: You should definitely have a security certificate, which is called a SSL Certificate, on display throughout all the pages of your website.  This will help grow trust and confidence amongst consumers that their private information is safe and protected.

2)      Test, Test, Test : When designing and running e-commerce websites, companies and businesses must remember to always make sure to test and maintain their sites consistently, in order to insure that they are running smoothly and up to expectations. This includes while you’re designing the website and also includes making it a daily responsibility while it is running.  Consumers will get frustrated and possibly not trust your website, and if that happens; No purchases, no sales.

3)      Word is Your Bond: Nothing kills a consumer’s motivation to repeat buy from your website if you do not deliver on your delivery promises.  When delivering many websites over exceed the time promised to the customer, which will result in angry emails and comments direct at your service or product.  Many websites are over selling the time frame to customers, so when the product shows up a few days earlier, it generates a feeling of reliability between the consumer and the company.

Don’ts

1)      More Than a Sale: After the sale, don’t ignore customer reviews or questions.  Customer service is just as important as the sale itself, and is a huge part of the customer’s decision process whether they will return and purchase again.   

2)      Don’t Sell Everything: Don’t sell your customers information! They have trusted you with their private information and user privacy is very important to people.  If you get caught selling information to a third party, a bad reputation will be the last of your worries, because you will no longer have any people willing to purchase through your website and/or company.

3) Left in the Dark: Don’t leave out important information and links on your website.  Some Companies and businesses make the mistake of not posting contact information for the customer.  You should always have your linking information visible and easy for the user to use and locate.

 

These are just a few “Do’s and Don’ts” to follow when creating and running an e-commerce website.  If you would like to know about business and e-commerce websites, you can watch the videos of Matt Winn on Matt Winn's business Tips.

Chris Haney - Web Developer

Top 100 Do's and Don'ts of E-Commerce 
IMPACT Branding & Design

Brand Evaluation - Task #7

Today we discussed lead generation and CRM.  Does your brand appear to be doing anything to generate leads via the Internet?  Are they capturing data and using it for CRM?  If so, explain.  If not, what would you recommend they do if they wanted to use the Internet to generate sales leads?  How could they use and improve their existing tactics/channels to support a CRM strategy?

This task is worth 10 points.

CRM OPEN TOPIC 

              The full form of CRM is Customer Relationship Management. This business strategy designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer loyalty. CRM brings all the data together within an organization and give each customer information. This will allows only in field of sales, customer support and marketing, with these sales executive can make quick decision regarding cross selling and up-selling opportunities to target marketing strategies to competitive positioning tactics. 

               There are Three key elements to a successful CRM: 1-People 2- Process and 3- Technology. These three elements are most important elements in CRM, because every single business CEO  and employees depends on customer data and it should be easy to use for the employee.

                Here is the image which gives the knowledge about how CRM looks like. Every business designed their own CRM software.

                            

                             

There are different types of CRM like Sales force automation, Marketing, Customer service and support, Appointment, Analytics, Integrated/collaborative, Small business, Social media, Non-profit and membership-based. CRM is developed to learn more about customer's needs and also developed strong relationship with them.We can not consider CRM only technological way, CRM is process that will help bring together lots of information about customers, sales, marketing and also market trends.If customer relationships are the heart of the business success, CRM is the valve the pumps a company's life blood. Three elements people, process and technology gain insight in to behavior and value of the customers. This will allows for improves increased call center efficiency, cross and up-sell opportunity, improved customer profiling and targeting and customer service.

http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/Daily-News/What-Is-CRM-46033.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management#Market_structures          

The Future of Customer Relationship Management

The Future of Customer Relationship Management

By: Tyler Meinzinger

What is CRM?

According to http://canadabusiness.ca/eng/page/2650, customer relationship management is a strategy for understanding your customers and their needs in order to optimize your interactions with them. This philosophy leverages technology to create stronger relationships with former, current and prospective customers while maximizing your marketing and customer service capabilities.

CRM will allow you to effectively manage your customer relationships in a manner than is both strategic, and organized. This means developing and understanding your companies methods, operating internally, and using software to properly interact with your customers. Thus, leading to better relationships with your customers, resulting in a more profitable business.

With a CRM system, you can keep track of all the data you collect from your customers. Data such as contacts/accounts, purchases, preferences, communications, etc. Once you have this data in your system, you can then use it for purposes such as identifying your best customers, analyzing the data for marketing campaign purposes, creating and implementing personalized ways of communicating with your customers.

With all of this being said, it leads me to what the future of customer relationship management may hold. As you already know, social media networks are very popular today, and they are increasing drastically. Many businesses have evolved and started to utilize these sites for their CRM efforts. As you can see in the chart below, CRM has changed, and is continuously changing. Social media networks are a big reason for these changes. SCRM is much more effective than traditional CRM for many reasons. To name a few, the customer sets the hours rather than the business hours of 9-5. Transactions can happen due to interaction through social media. Assigned departments in a traditional CRM plan, now involves everyone with SCRM.

After researching the future of CRM, I found a page on Dell's website stating why they engage in social media CRM. http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/about-dell-social-media. As we learned in class, Dell uses social media networking to listen to customer opinions and insights, and improve their products to meet customer needs and wants more effectively.

As you can see after clicking the link, Dell believes that their customers have the best ideas and insights. Through social media, they engage in 25,000 conversations about Dell every day! Dell believes that social media is more than a tool, it's an extension of their brand. 

CUSTOMER RELATION MANAGEMENT (CRM) PROCESS: WHAT IT’S AND WHY?

 

CRM can simply be defined as a method by which business keeps track of and organizes contact (priority profile) of both its current and potential customers. By doing so, business aims at increasing the volume and level of services provided and at the same time developing and maintaining potential markets and customer engagement and hence increases profitability and sustainability.

HOW AN OPTIMAL CRM CAN BE DEVELOPED AND MAINTAINED?

Scholars and interest business groups have developed and introduced several methods by which businesses can implement desirable CRM levels. These methods can be organized into five major steps, also known as processes. These are:

1. Identification of targeted market and value proposition. This can be achieved by creating data base of priority customer profile in which individual customers are organized such that the most valuable ones are listed on the top of the hierarchal order, followed by the least valuable, and so on and so forth.
2. Defining CRM strategy: at this stage, businesses should choose the best customer relation and services type that suit them. This can be done through, for example, building a dedicated online social community of CRM.
3. Handling individual customers: this can be achieved in accordance to customer priority profile data base as well as the chosen strategy of the business.
4. Measurement of performance. This is often done by selected software such as SAAS (Software as a service delivered online). It is well documented that this software reduces cost to its minimum for most businesses.
5. Developing and maintaining re-engagement of customer: Keeping customers engaged is one of the most challenging tasks for most businesses. However, the most effective and recommended methods by sustainable customers engagement can be achieved are customer satisfaction surveys; email and; social media.

In age of virtual media where there are millions of businesses competing with one another I wonder how would this situation affect the way we visualize CRM and how we can overcome these new challenges?

http://www.goldmine.com/wp-content/uploads/10-Steps-to-CRM-Success.pdf

http://thinkaboutcrm.com/crm-process-step-by-step

 

Class update

Hey everyone,

I haven't been able to get anything to save into eLearn since Thursday including any updated marks, blog topics or the class lecture from Friday.  I will keep trying and hope it is back up and working properly by Monday.

Christina

Brand Evaluation - Task #6

This is the first task for Part B of your Brand Evaluation assignment.  As mentioned in class, make sure you comment on specific details about your brand so I can easily identify that you are evaluating your brand.

How is your brand doing with their search marketing?  What page are they on when you use common keywords?  How do they rank compared to their competition on the top 3 search engines?  What types of on-page and off-page tactics are they using?  Try using some of the tools discussed in class - tell me what they are doing well and how you think they could improve.

This task is worth 15 points. 

Strategic Customer Relationship Marketing

In the past, a customer was defined by a transaction, simply put, they were what they bought.  Once they handed over their money in exchange for a good or service, our relationship as a company with that customer ended.   This type of marketing is known as transactional marketing, where the business focuses on maximizing its sales efficiency through increasing the volume of individual sales. 

http://www.ravenwerks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/retail02.jpg

In the modern world, global competition has become much more intense and as a result of this increased competition, customers have gained significant buying power. Therefore, businesses have been forced to look for more sustainable sources of competitive advantage, better separating themselves from their competitors.  This has led to the introduction of relationship marketing. Relationship Marketing involves developing a deeper ongoing relationship with your customers post-transaction, where the business focuses on their customers’ loyalty.

There are various practices of relationship marketing that companies use in today’s society:   

• Loyalty Programs – Rewarding their consumers with points for every transaction that can be accumulated into cash value towards a purchase. i.e. Shoppers’ Optimal Points
•  Email Marketing – Sending out frequent emails notifying customers of promotions or store-offerings. i.e.  American Eagle’s All Access Membership
• Social Media Marketing – With the explosion of social media, it has made it easier for businesses to create a 2-way communication channel between its customers; i.e. blogs, Facebook, Twitter, mobile apps
• Information Technology/Databases – Although expensive and difficult to implement, companies can implement technology systems that track employees’ purchases; used to gain a better understanding of which operational components add value and which do not, making your company more efficient.

The objective of relationship marketing is to gain loyalty and trust from your current customers, the following video demonstrates the four behaviours of building brand loyalty.

There are various benefits associated with relationship marketing initiatives, both economical and reputational.  Companies can realize higher profit margins with long-term customers, in fact, according to surveys, the top 16% of the company’s customers account for 105% of its profits with the bottom 28% eroding profits by 22%[1].  Furthermore, these loyal customers provide stable cash flows and generate word-of-mouth referrals to other prospective customers.  For a more detailed explanation of the advantages that can come from implementing relationship marketing click here, this website provides statistical proof.

Hope this blog has provided you with a better understanding of Strategic Customer Relationship Marketing! 

Thanks for reading J

 Darcy Davis

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[1] www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDMQFjAC&url=http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=9240&ei=StOVUOmeBOru2QXO_4DABA&usg=AFQjCNFWqknEM8ZDFqDNtPfm2dkL3aVIZg&sig2=YK3tj5_6C-C3Ir9_VzY6Gg