Ongoing Marketing Success

It takes a lot more time and a lot more money to get a new customer than to keep an existing one. Add to that the fact that repeat customers tend to spend 33% more than new customers and repeat customers generate more referrals and it is clear to see that maintaining existing customers should be a top priority in your marketing efforts.

There are five basic reasons a customer discontinues a relationship with a merchant. These are as follows:

· Pricing is too high or not fair

· They have an unresolved complaint

· They took a competitor’s offer

· They feel you didn’t care about them

· They have lost the excitement or you are not meeting their needs

Pricing must always be compared with the area market. Although it is not always in your best interest to be the lowest priced provider, you must be competitive or offer something which greatly increases the value of your product or service as compared to competitors. This is not a one-time exercise, as economies and local markets change frequently, so be sure to plan regular market research in this area and act accordingly.

Many times a customer will have an unresolved complaint that causes them to boycott your company. I didn’t shop at Sears for fifteen years after an unresolved complaint about a set of tires. If you stay in touch with your customers regularly, you will have a better chance of knowing if there is a problem. Then you must be sure to go ahead and address the situation to the customer’s satisfaction.

A competitor will often offer specials and incentives do drive new traffic to their doors. Their target market includes your customers. While you can’t prevent a customer from taking advantage of a competitor’s offer, you can make sure that you deserve their loyalty and perhaps offer to match any competitor’s offer they receive.

If a customer does not feel that you care about them, they will go elsewhere even if you have everything they are looking for. We are social animals and we need to feel that people like and care about us. How many times have you become frustrated and left a store because the staff was indifferent or could not stop their personal conversations long enough to tend to your needs? When a person makes the time and effort to visit your facility, whether in person or on-line, they need to know that you are glad they are there and you want to do anything you can to help them feel welcome. As our world becomes more and more technology oriented, that personal touch can make a huge difference.

If a customer has lost excitement for your product or service or feels you are no longer meeting their needs, you need to look at your overall offerings and how you present them. Chances are that this is not the only customer who is bored or frustrated. Use this as an opportunity to beef up your program to bring in new blood and re-excite the existing customers. Also, you can do special things for existing clientele only – special discounts, early sales, bonus purchases, etc. You need to become exciting again, whether you sell plumbing supplies or bungee jumping. You need to have what people are looking for – the newest product line or best delivery system. This exercise will also re-invigorate your own enthusiasm and give your business new life.

Remember too that word of mouth is the greatest sales tool available to you. If you keep generating excitement, surprise and delight for your customer, they will spread the word faster than any marketing program you can generate. I hope you will share your ideas with others in this class on ways to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction so we can all benefit from the collective creative mind.

Happy Marketing! - Donna Holmes #cgs2069

World Economy/Internet Marketing

I can’t help but reflect on how long our economy has been in terrible shape. I was wondering where it is all going to end up as. Wave after wave of foreclosures continues. Record number of people are jobless. The stock market is all over the place with uncertainty and volatility. College graduates are falling behind or defaulting on record numbers of federal government backed student loans because they can’t find jobs. Given all that, one of the most despairing sights is the number of businesses closing – large and small. I haven seen that happening even now. And, as a country we are in more debt, at levels that seems to be having a serious impact on not just us, but the world economy.

What really could turn this economy around is entrepreneurship. America was founded, and has flourished over the long term, mainly as a country of small businesses. Sure, one small business hiring a few people is not going to save our economy, but it is not just one small business…it could be thousands and thousands – and that represents a real force to be reckoned with. What built this country will save it. Small business is the heart and soul of America. I am sure other countries have their small businesses as well but their economy is pretty bleak too from what I hear.

The truth is, people who has online experience with internet marketing don’t realize how much power they have to help the economic situation. The internet keeps growing; it is not the bleak world off line people are dealing with. If you have any level of experience at all go out and work with local and small businesses. Even if they think a Facebook Fan Page is about rock stars, you can probably help by showing how it can generate business for them…..and if you like, get paid for fostering this held back desire I sense in the entrepreneurs of America. They have the will but not the know-how to do internet marketing. Each small business you can help will save our economy, one step at a time.

Rebecca Williams
CGS 2069

Virtual Imagination

Have you ever wanted to go somewhere where you don’t have to be yourself, there is a place that is fairly cheap to travel to and you don’t even have to pack your cloths there already waiting for you. Are have you been on a business trip and thought that there was a better way of sitting up meetings without traveling thousands of miles across the glob to meet your client. Well there is a way to do all that and more and it’s with virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds have been around for a long time and a lot of us have been in one and didn’t realize it. Some would call it an online game, but in fact it was a virtual world what I’m talking about is places like Runescape , Guild Wars , Ragnarok Online that caters to the gaming side of people, but they are a place to socialize and come together with friends both the ones made online and in the real world.

There is also a side to virtual worlds that is most times overlooked that’s the businesses and marketing aspect of using virtual worlds like Second Life Active World. These are more social and cater to more of the creative side of people. Some have already started using these two for
online business purposes like meeting clients that reside in another country. The internet has a
multitude of resources that we can use like Face-Book and Twitter; virtual worlds are just one more thing that can be used for personal are internet marketing, are what the heck you could use it for both.






Harry V. Adkins

Virtual Worlds for Education

Virtual Worlds for Education

We all know Virtual Worlds are used for socializing, E-Commerce, to hold business meetings and gamming; especially the gamming. The use of MMORG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games) have skyrocketed. Microsoft reported that during the first week of its release Halo 3 players racked up more than 40 million hours by the end of the first week. While virtual worlds do all of the fore mentioned they are also used for education. They can be used to play fun educational games, to teach in a virtual classroom or share and learn from your peers. For a student with disabilities virtual worlds can be a great learning resource.

Being a student can be a daunting task especially for students with disabilities who face physical obstacles, social rejections, academic failure, medical issues and bullying. One of the most powerful aspects of virtual worlds for students with disabilities is that everyone’s avatar has the same virtual abilities. Everyone can run, jump, fly, swim, whatever the task the virtual world makes it possible no matter your handicap. Think about the impact this can have on someone who is handicapped, to see your avatar running and jumping over things to save the princess and win the game. Just to be on the same playing field as everyone else has to be a huge confidence builder. This is such a powerful tool not just for those with disabilities but for all students to learn and help develop self-esteem. Virtual worlds for education are a win win situation, the student gets to have fun interaction and spend a little extra time on their times tables or spelling words whatever the case may be they are learning and engaging in a positive educational experience.

There are many numerous educational worlds for students to visit, create and play. From the simplest to the advanced here is a small sampling to check out

http://www.webkinz.com/
Where you take care of a virtual pet and play games
http://www.jumpstart.com/
A mix of virtual world with typical interactive learning
activities in a game to earn awards
http://www.clubpenguin.com/
Virtual world from Disney that includes filtered chat
and live moderators
http://www.dimensionu.com/
Virtual world targeting math, science, and history
http://www.avatarstorytellers.com/
A multiplayer online educational virtual world designed
for classroom students ages 9-12
http://www.zulaworld.com/
Virtual exploration of science, math, and astronomy


Cindi Davis
CGS2069