Customer service is not a new topic in marketing. Although most marketing texts cover customer service in some form or another, the topic is generally not given the attention it deserves. In a society where customers are becoming more informed, more protected and more demanding than in the past, it makes good business sense to ensure that your customers receive a high level of customer service. After all, a happy customer is a satisfied customer, and a satisfied customer will remember the experience and purchase from you again and again.

Customer Service draws together the important issues regarding customer service. It addresses all the key elements which need to be considered when developing a service strategy for a business. The text is not only written with undergraduate students in mind, but also for the entire spectrum of businesses – both large and small – and for employees at all levels.

This book:

• Considers the topic of customer service within the context of its role in marketing strategy
• Stresses the importance and role of verbal and non-verbal communication
• Highlights the role that physical evidence plays in supporting a service strategy
• Addresses the causes of service failures and how to fix them
• Provides guidance on how to develop a service system
• Shows how technology can be used to enhance customer service
• Gives advice on how to develop and train staff to deliver exceptional customer service
• Addresses the important issues of quality, value, expectations and satisfaction and why they form the foundation of a service strategy
• Outlines the concept of customer experience management and how to apply it to a business

Offering a critical approach to digital marketing strategies, this innovative book introduces the ‘phygital’, a new ecosystem that creates a continuum between physical and digital settings to aid the design of successful customer experiences. Combining theory with practical case studies, it provides a timely prediction of the evolution of customer experience and effective means of brand communication in an increasingly phygital era.

Delineating how digital and physical experiences differ, this book characterizes the role of digital, AI, and extended reality technologies in creating successful and engaging phygital experiences and the customer values they engender. Chapters identify the underlying mechanisms for designing a compelling phygital customer experience and how it is enhanced by digital tools, devices, immersive technologies, chatbots, AI, and robotics. The book concludes by addressing how these technologies can help businesses create the ultimate brand experience in a phygital-driven context by rethinking their strategies and tools.

Providing new market research tools and frameworks to better understand digital transformation, this book will prove vital to practitioners, students, and marketing scholars. Advising how to design compelling customer experiences that connect physical and digital settings, it will also prove a valuable resource to a vast range of businesses and consultants.

ESSENTIALS OF MARKETING RESEARCH, provides a concise, yet complete guide to the design, execution, analysis, and reporting of marketing research to support smart business decisions. This proven resource provides valuable business context while introducing both traditional research methods, such as designing questionnaires, and the latest technological advances, including current data collection devices, basic data analysis tools, practical approaches to data analytics, and the impact of social media and artifactual online data.

Reflecting the latest trends and issues, market-leading BUSINESS MARKETING MANAGEMENT: B2B, 12e delivers comprehensive, cutting-edge coverage that equips readers with a solid understanding of today's fast-paced B2B market. Highlighting the similarities--and emphasizing the differences--between consumer goods and B2B marketing, this proven text focuses on market analysis, organizational buying behavior, relationship management, and the ensuing adjustments required in the marketing strategy elements used to reach organizational customers. Its managerial approach ties chapter concepts directly to real-world decision making. The new edition also includes additional emphasis on automated B2B practices and the impact of the Internet.

Marketing: A Global Perspective is the much-anticipated EMEA edition of Grondslagen van de Marketing, the market leader in the Netherlands for over 25 years. In this bestseller, Dr Bronis Verhage strikes the right balance between marketing theory and practice. The text features perspectives from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the wider world, embedded in a global context, offering a cutting-edge review of new priorities in marketing, as illustrated by a diverse selection of analyses of world-class companies' customer-focused strategies. This attractively-illustrated, full-colour edition includes a range of case vignettes assessing small and medium-sized enterprises and large global corporations such as L'Oreal, Philips and Google, encompassing the entire field of marketing, including services marketing, B2B and green marketing.

Today, companies are competing on a daily basis for their consumers' attention and spending power. This has become increasingly difficult as new companies enter the marketplace offering the same or very similar products and services, making it difficult for consumers to differentiate between them. To overcome this, companies use branding to create a favourable and memorable perception in the mind of consumers. However, not all companies manage to achieve this, as brand management is an intricate process. Brand management provides a comprehensive understanding of brand management by detailing how branding can be used to develop favourable brand equity. Brand management is unique among other textbooks of its kind in that it provides a southern African perspective but compares it with other contexts, thereby presenting a more comprehensive explanation of brand management and its importance. Each chapter consists of various examples as well as a scenario or case study, applying every element of the theory. Brand management is aimed at undergraduate marketing students.

Marketing planning as a process of analysis, thinking and action is essential for survival and long term success. Marketing planning is widely adopted by businesses from all sectors, service companies, manufacturers and public sector/not for profit companies. The process of marketing planning encapsulates elements of marketing management: marketing analyses, development of strategy and the implementation of the marketing mix. It is a systematic process for assessing marketing opportunities, helping organizations to stay in touch with marketplace trends and to keep abreast of customer needs - all designed to help firms compete more effectively. In addition the marketing plan plays a key role in informing the organisation about the agreed marketing strategy and actions required for implementation. The plan also provides details of resource allocation, responsibilities and timelines, and should address potential obstacles to success. The marketing plan is a road map, providing direction to help the business implement its strategies and achieve its objectives.

Export, Thrive, Change the World is a practical guide for small business owners who would like to export but are unsure how. Jennifer addresses the major concerns she has encountered whilst working with small business owners including Brexit. Then shares her seven steps to export success. Jennifer intends to provide business owners with all the tools and resources necessary to export.

The growth of digital marketing is the most important yet unpredictable trend in marketing today. How can the online world be harnessed by the companies of today and tomorrow to grow their marketing impact? What role do information and databases have to play in this system? And why do some non-digital means of direct marketing still remain so powerful? Alan Tapp's successful text has long been a leading authority on direct marketing, and for this fifth edition he is joined by Ian Whitten and Matthew Housden for the most up-to-date book yet. The authors all bring great expertise across direct, database and digital marketing to provide comprehensive, compelling coverage of the key theory and debates of the fields. The fifth edition includes comprehensive coverage of all recent developments in digital marketing, including analysis of the seemingly relentless rise of Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media. It has a range of thoroughly updated case studies covering companies and organisations from sports teams to car manufacturers and non-profits and contains a new chapter on Data Protection legislation and its impact on marketers.

Book of Branding is a creative guide for new businesses, start-ups and individuals, which puts visual identity at the heart of brand strategy. The conversational, jargon free, tone of the book helps the reader to understand essential elements of the brand identity process. Offering first hand experience, insights and tips throughout, the book uses real life case studies to show how great collaborative work can be achieved. Book of Branding is an essential addition to the start-up toolkit, designed for entrepreneurs, founders, graphic designers, brand creators and anyone seeking to decode the complicated world of brand identity.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business, and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction explores strategies of pricing products (goods and services) that can be employed by a firm. The analytical techniques and data necessary for implementing the pricing strategies are described in an easy-to-understand manner, along with examples. Pricing strategies covered include cost-plus, reference value pricing, product line pricing, pricing product bundles, pricing over time, pricing under competition, and subscription pricing. Key Features: Analytics for implementing price strategies and practice of auctions and several novel pricing strategies such as pay-what-you wish pricing, freemium pricing, and neuro pricing Exploration of the concept of willingness to pay Review of important behavioral aspects useful in designing and implementing pricing strategies Business students, both undergraduate and MBA, professional pricing executives and marketing managers alike will appreciate the depth of knowledge provided in this Advanced Introduction to Pricing Strategy and Analytics.

The new rules for persuasive messaging. When it comes to messaging, what worked in the past won't work today. Our noisy, digital world has undermined our ability to focus. For a message to grab attention and persuade, it now has to pass the SAUCE test and be: Simple, Appealing, Unexpected, Credible, and Emotional. Secret Sauce shows you how to transform unconvincing messages into compelling copy. It comes with a 15-question SAUCE test and a Heat Gauge which allows you to precisely measure the persuasive impact of your messages. Short, easy to read, and packed with visuals, Secret Sauce provides: Clear examples of what works and what doesn't * Fascinating insights from behavioral and neurological research * Powerful lessons from successful and failed campaigns Less than 10 percent of marketing messages are truly compelling-engaging the head and heart. Secret Sauce helps you weed out the clutter and craft messages that stick.

Get into the contemporary European Consumer mindset with this industry-leading text. Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective, 7th Edition is the latest version of this market-leading textbook, providing the most comprehensive and engaging introduction to the field in Europe and around the world. Well known for its accessible, reader-friendly writing style and contemporary approach, this textbook is ideal for Second and Third-Year Undergraduates, as well as Master's students who study relevant courses. The latest version includes new examples and case studies from the European consumer viewpoint, aiming to retain the content's character. The extensive European material also comprises a number of extra advertisements that will help you study the different theoretical characteristics of marketing applications. The book does not limit knowledge to the European market, however: it also discusses the broader global consumer scene, with American and other non-European examples illustrating various similarities and differences. Key features include: 'Marketing Opportunity', 'Marketing Pitfalls', and 'Multicultural Dimensions' Boxes throughout the text illustrate the impact of Consumer Behaviour on marketing activities. 'Consumer Behaviour as I See It' Boxes feature marketing academics talking about the relevance of Consumer Behaviour issues in their everyday work. Brand new Case studies about European companies and topics offer a better insight into the world of Consumer Behaviour. New coverage of sustainable consumption and emerging technologies is integrated into the text. Extensive analysis of the new world of digital consumers, social media, and online behaviour. From theory to practice, this ultimate guide on Consumer Behaviour will support your understanding and critical thinking skills, offering the tools necessary to get into the contemporary European consumer mindset and excel in the field.