Monday, June 06, 2005

Outside the Book - W.O.W.!

This week begins my first in a series of W.O.W's, or, (Marketing) Words of the Week. The way I see it, it helps to know the lingo so that you can think, and act, in the world of marketing.

So today's W.O.W. is one I've been wanting to talk about for a while, Relationship Marketing: "a practice that encompasses all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful customer relationships." (from CRMToday)

In relationship marketing, the product or service is only part of the equation. Librarians should also seek to form lasting bonds with their patrons that will survive beyond single transactions. Besant and Sharp wrote an article about this very topic called, "Libraries Need Relationship Marketing". One of my favorite books on the topic is by Christian Gronroos called, Service Management and Marketing : A Customer Relationship Management Approach (2000).

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