Implementing Relationship Marketing Many family businesses now a day are being over-run by large corporations that have more money and manpower. This is the case in the business I’m going to talk about. The business is called “The Book Barn”; a family owned and operated business that has been selling books in the Boston area for the last 50 years. It has been loosing money for 2 years ever since “Borders”, a multi-national chain of bookstores moved next door. With the right marketing mix, “The Book Barn” could survive and even become successful. By using the first level of relationship marketing we can market the “Book Barn” in many ways.
By implementing a, buy 5 get the 6 one free deal, we could increase sales very easily. Also, by creating a frequent buyers program the company could offer the customers free merchandise or free books. This could increase customer traffic in the short-run, but to build a long-term relationship with the customers the business must offer them more. By creating a book club were people can come into the store and talk about certain books. This would bring in more people but also offer a social activity that the community could take advantage of.
They also could start publishing a newsletter that they could send to their frequent buyers. They also could have the newsletter on hand at the bookstore if first time buyers what to know more about them. By doing this, they create a bond with the community and also help there business at the same time. In the third level of relationship marketing a business tries to find out the consumers needs and wants.
By creating a web site for “The Book Barn” the company can receive feedback from its customers. Though the web site they could measure customer satisfaction and offer customers input into how to make the bookstore better. They also could pass out comment cards to customers and this would be another way to get consumer input. All of these are ways of building long-term relationships with the customers. By using these marketing ideas, “The Book Barn” can become more successful and help the community at large at the same time. Word Count: 367
