Testing Your Knowledge About Customer Value

• Why is it important for business owners/managers to know the value of a customer?
• If you wanted to know the value of your customers, what information would you need to gather – and why?
• Explain how you would gather the information you identified in the question above.
• What is meant by the “cost of a customer”? How do you determine a customer’s cost? Why is this important to know?
• What is meant by the “average sale to a customer”? How do you determine average sale? Why is this important to know?
• What is meant by the “value of a returning customer”” How do you determine this value? Why is this important to know?

Here’s what to do:

1.     Open a Word document. Save it as: YourFirstName_GUSTID_Value.doc. Type your full name and GUST ID at the top of the first page.

2.     Answer the questions listed above. You can write in bullet point format, or in paragraph format, but you must write in complete sentences and completely answer the questions.

3.     Make certain that you explain your answers. It’s not enough to write a few words; it’s important that you include an explanation.

4.     Do your own work . . . no two answers should be the same from different students . . . if I see this I will “flag” both tests and question you about how you and another student used the same words and ideas. Do your own work!

5.     Email the file to me before Saturday Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. in Kuwait. Subject of your email: Value.

This is a graded test that is part of your assessment category for your final grade. 

Updates: Room Change for Nov. 3

Please note:

1.  If you have a midterm for another course on 27 October, the midterm gets priority. Attend the midterm and ask your friends to take notes for you in my course.

2.  Wednesday, Oct. 29: We will study the value of a customer in Services Marketing and we will meet at the normal class times in the assigned classrooms (not the theatre).

3.  On Monday, Nov. 3. Services Marketing students will meet in W1-010 (not W6-200) for the Service Hero Midterm Presentations. Internet Marketing students will attend and write a report about the presentations -- watch the blog for details.

Speaker Series: His&Hers Blogger at GUST on Monday 27 October

Blogger Ahmad Abdulrahman was studying in Glasgow, Scotland when he got the urge to join the expanding list of Kuwaiti bloggers. That was in 2004, and his passion for blogging has continued for 10 years.

While initially he blogged anonymously, in 2009, after a year of marriage, he shared his blogging passion with his wife and removed his anonymity. That's when he introduced His & Hers, a popular Kuwaiti blog.

Ahmad will speak to Internet and Services Marketing students on Monday 27 October at 12:30 p.m. in W6-200. Your attendance is required; if you arrive after 12:40 p.m. you will be considered absent. 

Here's Your Kuwaitiful Quiz

Abdulaziz of Kuwaitiful spoke to you today about blogging, social media, and related topics. If you attended his session and signed in as present you qualify to complete this quiz. If you were not counted as “present” today, you are ineligible for the quiz and unfortunately you lose the points. You must be in the classroom (or W6-200) within 10 minutes of start time or you are counted as absent. Of course you are always welcome to come in “late” but you will not be counted as “present”.

Here’s what to do now to complete the quiz: 

1.  Open a Word document. Name the file as follows: YourFirstName_GUSTID_Kuwaitiful.doc. At the top of the page include your full name and GUST ID. Include the course and section number so that I will know if you are in Internet or Services Marketing -- if you are in both, include both.

2.  Answer the quiz questions (see below).

3.  Email the Word doc to me no later than Saturday morning, 25 October, at 11 a.m. in Kuwait.

Here’s your quiz:

1.  Abdulaziz told you that bloggers need to use a “platform” and he recommended two. Name the two platforms he recommended and tell me the advantages of each. You can write in paragraph format or use bullets.

2.  Abdulaziz told you there are 4 important things that bloggers must do. What are the 4? List the 4 things and explain them in a sentence each.

3.  Abdulaziz told you there are 3 ways that bloggers can earn money. What are those 3 ways? List the 3 ways and explain them.

4.  Abdulaziz said that in Kuwait 90% of blogs and Instagram accounts are paid “under the table” and are not transparent. Write a 2-3 sentences to explain what that means and what are the ramifications of the meaning?

5.  Abdulaziz said that blogging is “much more difficult today in Kuwait.” Write several sentences to explain why this is true.

6.  Read the Kuwaitiful blog and assess it. Why would you or would you not read this blog regularly, i.e. 2-3 times a week. Write 2-3 sentences to explain your answer.

7.  Compare Kuwaitiful to 248AM. How are they different? Which one is more appealing to you and why? Write 2-3 sentences to explain your answer.

8.  Explain 3 things that Abdulaziz could do to make his blog more appealing to readers.

9.  Compare Kuwaitiful to His&Hers. How are they different? Which one is more appealing to you and why? Write 2-3 sentences to explain your answer.

10.  Which two social media did Abdulaziz say are most helpful in Kuwait for building traffic on blogs? Which social medium did he say is not helpful if you are trying to reach a Kuwaiti audience?

Midterm Presentations: W6-200 on Nov. 3 at 12:30 PM

Services Marketing Midterm Presentations will occur on Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, 12:30 p.m. in W6-200.

Email your PPT presentation to me and to one member of your team so that it will be easily accessible at the time you are called to present. You will have 8 minutes (total time) and you must present for at least 5 minutes.

Bring audio and video files to class on a memory stick -- please put them in an envelope with your team members' names/numbers on the outside of the envelope.  

Monday 20 October: Call It Midterm "Help" Day!

Your Services Marketing midterm project is due Sunday 26 October and I have reserved Monday 20 October as "Help" Day . . . a day in which I will visit with each team individually to discuss your progress.

Teams are required to meet with me in my office or be counted as absent for the day. Meeting times begin at 9:30 a.m. and end at 12:15 p.m. Then again from 2 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. 

When you come to my office, please bring any midterm-related document/s that you would like to discuss with me . . . I will review rough drafts of your reports, for example. I'll answer questions and clarify any uncertainties. In other words, this is the best "help" you're going to get to improve your midterm grade, which is worth 25% of your final grade.

Please note that on Wednesday 22 October we will meet in W6-200, and there will be a quiz following the presentation by the blogger of Kuwaitiful.

Promoting Travel In Kuwait: Topic Of Next Speaker's Presentation

Travel is a huge service industry that depends on the Internet for marketing and promotion . . . all of you know how important travel is to folks in Kuwait, so it’s important to hear how travel is being promoted as a service business.

Abdullah Shamsaldeen is a Marketing Manager at Jumbo Tour & Travel Co. in Kuwait. He handles overall brand development and management as well as offline and online marketing. He’s also responsible for developing advertising campaigns, conducting market research, and managing all aspects of the company’s website.

He will be speaking about the importance of using Internet marketing to promote Jumbo Travel, and the challenges the company faces in marketing a service-oriented business.

Abdullah is also a writer at CityPages Magazine with a monthly investigative reporting segment covering a wide array of topics. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from California State University, Northridge. Abdullah will speak to Internet and Services Marketing students on Wednesday 15 October 2014 at 12:30 p.m. in W6-200. 

Your Midterm Oral Presentations: Monday Nov. 3

Services Marketing Midterm Assessment Oral Presentations will occur in the regular classrooms on Monday, Nov. 3.

Each team gets up to 8 minutes to present the findings of their assessment.

Here’s what’s required:

1.  All team members must participate in the presentation.
2.  One team member must email the PPT presentation to himself or herself with a cc to hayes.j@gust.edu.kw no later than 28 October at 9 p.m. in Kuwait. The team will access this file on the computer in the classroom.
3.  The PPT should consist of at least 3 slides and no more than 10. You must be able to discuss your findings within the 8 minute time limit. The first slide must include the title of your presentation and the names/GUST IDs of the team members.
4.  During your presentation, do not speak from notes, and do not read the PPT slides. You will lose points if you do. Instead, tell a story about your findings. Speak to the audience (not just to me).
5.  Prior to presenting, give me a printout of your slides (printed 3 slides to a page).
6.  Practice your presentation to make certain that it lasts at least 5 minutes, but not more than 8 minutes. Make certain that you emphasise the main points of your findings from your Focus Groups. 

Speaker Series: Kuwaitiful Blogger Coming To GUST

GUST graduate and founder of the Alexa.com ranked blog, Kuwaitiful, will speak to Internet and Services marketing students on Wednesday 22 October in W6-200 at 12:30 p.m.

Blogger AbdulAziz has more than three years of local social media and Internet marketing experience. Among his accomplishments since graduating from GUST: well, come and find out! For one, he managed Wataniya's social accounts.

Watch this blog for assignments related to this and every other speech in our series! 

Speaker Series: Hind Al-Nahedh, Monday 13 October

Hind Al-Nahedh launched her own business in Kuwait and called it Socialobby.com, which she describes as “an interesting name for an interesting market, that is so social and lobbies all the time.” The company provides numerous services including social media intelligence, training, digital marketing and advertising, smart campaigning and Lobbying, and more.

Visit Socialobby.com prior to Hindh’s presentation to educate yourself about the company and to prepare questions to ask on Monday 13 October at 12:30 p.m. in W6-200 (the Conference Center).