Marketing (Library Science)

This paper develops a music recommendation system that automates the downloading of songs into a mobile digital audio device. The system tailors the compositions of the songs to the preferences of individuals based on past behaviors. We describe and predict individual listening behaviors using a lognormal hazard function. Our recommendation system is the first to accomplish this and there is as of this moment no existing alternative. Our proposed approach provides an improvement over alternative methods that could be used for product recommendations. Our system has a number of distinct features. First, we use a Sequential Monte Carlo algorithm that enables the system to deal with massive historical datasets containing listening behavior of individuals. Second, we apply a variable selection procedure that helps to reduce the dimensionality of the problem, because in many applications the collection of songs needs to be described by a very large number of explanatory variables. Third, our system recommends a batch of products rather than a single product, taking into account the predicted utility and the uncertainty in the parameter estimates, and applying experimental design methods.

Focus groups are best suited to topics that require some type of follow-up. While typically a focus group will have a set of predetermined questions, the real benefit of this method is the ability to ask follow-up questions and related items based on the discussion. A predetermined set of core questions will aid in evaluating answers across multiple focus group sessions or across different user groups. Questions should be open-ended and appropriate for the user group involved in the session.

The paper covers the topic of marketing of library information services, which is an essential part of modern librarianship, and lists some of the specific marketing strategies and tools to enhance the activities of libraries as non-profit entities. Steps of promotional activities for different library products and services, as well as events are put together to help beginners to have better understanding of what library marketing comprises.

P rior marketing literature has overlooked the role of regulatory regimes in explaining international sales growth of new products. This paper addresses this gap in the context of new pharmaceuticals (15 new molecules in 34 countries) and sheds light on the effects of regulatory regimes on new drug sales across the globe.

The presentation covers the topic of marketing of library information services, which is an essential part of modern librarianship, and lists some of the specific marketing strategies and tools to enhance the activities of libraries as non-profit entities. Steps of promotional activities for different library products and services, as well as events are put together to help beginners to have better understanding of what library marketing comprises.

Facebook, one of the many Web 2.0 tools, has been used by libraries as a channel to reach their respective communities. Its numerous features allow library managers to publicize and market services, share content, and interact with library users. The University Library of the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD Library), through the General Reference Section of the Main Library, provides marketing and reference service through its Facebook page by uploading photos and promotional materials on the site to disseminate information on library resources and services. The social networking site facilitates reference queries via messages sent to the page and via wall posts and comments, with the majority of queries related to library schedules and access policies. Facebook has also been useful in establishing connection and association with library users by soliciting and accepting feedback. Likes, comments and shares are the indicators of how users react to the activities of UPD Library at Facebook. Challenges encountered are non-engagement, negative feedback, problematic promotion practices, environment changes and the difficulty of achieving market saturation. Libraries are recommended to offer specific reference services such as answering queries, providing current awareness and conducting readers’ advisory through Facebook. It is recommended to promote information literacy activities and market library collections, services and events through advertisements, albums, status updates and event photos. Interaction, collaboration and feedback may also be done in the social networking site.

In this paper, we develop a structural model of household behavior in an environment where there is uncertainty about brand attributes, and both prices and advertising signal brand quality. Four quality signaling mechanisms are at work in the model: 1) price signals quality, 2) advertising frequency signals quality, 3) advertising content provides direct (but noisy) information about quality, and 4) use experience provides direct (but noisy) information about quality. We estimate our proposed model using scanner panel data on ketchup. If price is important as a signal of brand quality, then frequent price promotion may have the unintended consequence of reducing brand equity. We use our estimated model to measure the importance of such effects. Our results imply that price is an important quality signaling mechanism, and that frequent price cuts can have significant adverse effects on brand equity. The role of advertising frequency in signaling quality is also significant, but it is less quantitatively important than price.

Social media has revolutionized means and modes of communication and has created a new information culture. As such social media networks have to be integrated in promoting library services and resources of the university libraries, as shown by Collins and Quan-Haase [1].  An attempt to explore the usage of social media by university libraries was undertaken.
Objectives of the research were to explore social networking tool usage in libraries with special reference to Facebook, to investigate the academic librarians’ attitudes towards the usefulness of Facebook as a social media networking tool, and to explore the problems/issues related to using Facebook as a library promotional tool. This study was designed using quantitative research methodology. The data collection methods were postal questionnaire and observations. All 19 national university librarians were taken as study population.
The response rate of 94.7% overall may be considered sufficient to allow valid conclusions to be drawn. 66.7% of the librarians were in the opinion that using a Facebook page in promoting library resources and services is important, as found by Amy Fry [2]; and another 33.3% said it is very important.
Only 16.7% of the libraries own a Facebook Page for libraries, and rest of the libraries (83.3%) do not own such a page.
Keywords: Facebook usage; Library Marketing; Library Promotion; Perception of Librarians; Social Media

T he concept of one-to-one marketing is intuitively appealing, but there is little research that investigates the value of individual-level marketing relative to segment-level or mass marketing. In this paper, we investigate the financial benefits of and computational challenges involved in one-to-one marketing. The analysis uses data from an online grocery and drug retailer. Like many retailers, this firm uses multiple promotional instruments including discount coupons, free shipping offers, and a loyalty program. We investigate the impact of customizing these promotions on the two most important consumer decisions: the decision to buy from the store and expenditure. Our modeling approach accounts for two sources of heterogeneity in consumers' responsiveness to various marketing mix elements: cross-sectional differences across consumers and temporal differences within consumers based on the purchase cycle. The model parameter estimates are fed into a dynamic programming model that determines the optimal number, sequence, and timing of promotions to maximize retailer profits. A series of policy simulations show that customizing promotions leads to a significant increase in profits relative to the firm's current practice of uniform promotions. However, the effectiveness of various promotions varies because of both cross-sectional differences in consumers as well within consumer heterogeneity due to purchase cycle factors. For instance, we find that free shipping tends to be the preferred instrument for re-acquiring lapsed customers, whereas an across-the-board price cut (via a discount coupon) is the most effective tool for managing the segment of most active customers. Interestingly, we find that customizing based on withincustomer temporal heterogeneity contributes more to profitability than exploiting variations across consumers. This is important because the computational burden of implementing the dynamic optimization to account for cross-sectional heterogeneity is far greater than accounting for temporal heterogeneity. Furthermore, targeting promotions based only on timing rather than the nature and magnitude of the offers across consumers alleviates the public relations risks of price discrimination. Implications for marketing managers are also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to review and understand the trends and characteristics of Korean library marketing studies based on a comparison of Korean scholars' viewpoints on library marketing with those of scholars' from other countries. To achieve its purpose, this study adopts a qualitative content analysis methodology. The data collected for analysis were library and information science literature focusing on library marketing. This study adopts a four-stage qualitative analytical process: segmenting, initial coding, in-depth coding, and development of themes. Through the comparison of themes in library marketing studies from Korea and other countries, five common themes were found: (a) library environment, (b) user-centeredness, (c) library marketing strategies, (d) user satisfaction, and (e) customer relationship management. The biggest difference between library marketing studies from Korea and those from other countries, is that a range of Korean studies focus on comparatively short-term quantitative results of library marketing activities, while studies from other countries focus on the long-term qualitative results. Furthermore, Korean library marketing studies lack attention to the planning process of library marketing activities. In addition, Korean library marketing studies are interested in the establishment of libraries' social value through marketing activities. Though the library marketing studies are dealing with different types of libraries and subjects, themes of the studies were very similar.

, I worked at the Tutt Library of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO. One of the more fun things I did there was to work on the Public Relations committee, which was a brainstorming group creating new ways to market and publicize library services. While not everything we did will be immediately applicable to your library, I believe that just hearing what others have done can spark creativity and enthusiasm. First, let me give you some background information. Colorado College is a private library arts college with 2,000 students located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Almost all students live on campus or very near campus. The campus is in a semi-urban setting near downtown. The school does not follow the traditional semester; rather, the school year contains 8 blocks of 3 ½ weeks each. Students take only one class each block, and the class usually meets for 3-4 hours each week day. Tutt Library (http://www.coloradocollege.edu/library/index.php/) has 26 staff members total, with 10 librarians. The PR Committee was made up of 5 librarians and the library director. This group met several times each year, to discuss ideas, approve them, and then make assignments of who was going to work on what. It was a relatively informal process, helped by the fact that the participants were all enthusiastic about the PR process. As far as I know many of these PR efforts are ongoing. We tried out many different activities. The library sponsored a book truck drill team that performed at local parades and on campus. We created a roving reference cart, with a laptop and other supplies, to enable librarians to roam campus providing information. We submitted articles about library activities to campus publications, like the faculty/staff newsletter. We also paid for ads in the student newspaper, where we publicized services like IM reference. We took part in new student orientations and parents' weekends by giving tours, providing ice cream, and having information tables at orientation fairs. Within the library itself, we created a question/answer board where students can submit questions about the library and we will answer them. At the end of some stressful blocks, we set up a "stress-free zone" with free drinks and snacks and other activities, from massages to coloring books. We started two blogs, one for library news (http://library.coloradocollege.edu/news/) and one for book reviews (http://library.coloradocollege.edu/bookends/). We tried out a variety of programs to draw users into the library. These included fiction and poetry readings, movie screenings, and lectures. We created library displays of several types with a variety of themes. We did keep track of attendance at many of these events. However, we didn't conduct any formal evaluation of their effectiveness, at least not while I was there. We judged

In certain product categories, large discount retailers are known to offer shallower assortments than traditional retailers. In this paper, we investigate the competitive incentives for such assortment decisions and the implications for manufacturers' distribution strategies. Our results show that if one retailer has the channel power to determine its assortment first, then it can strategically reduce its assortment by carrying only the popular variety while simultaneously inducing the rival retailer to carry both the specialty and popular varieties. The rival retailer then bears higher assortment costs, which leads to relaxed price competition for the commonly carried popular variety. We also show that when the manufacturer has relative channel power, it chooses alternatively to distribute both product varieties through both retailers. Our analysis suggests, therefore, that when a retailer becomes dominant in the distribution channel, it facilitates retail segmentation into discount shops, carrying limited product lines, and specialty shops carrying wider assortments. We also illustrate how retailer power leading to strategic assortment reduction can lead to lower consumer surplus.

During these tough economic times being faced throughout the country, but particularly in the Midwest, while the majority of citizens are struggling to make ends meet and making cuts to their personal budgets, the public libraries have observed an increased demand by way of patronage, public terminal usage, and circulation of materials. Yet have not received additional funding to support the needs of their patrons. Applegate District Library, nestled in the rural and picturesque Village of LaVera, is no different --serving approximately 15,000 patrons and circulation of more than 85,000 materials annually, provides outstanding service; however, there is always room for improvement and like other libraries, Applegate District Library is no different.

F irms often use a pool or series of advertising themes in their campaigns. Thus, for example, a firm may employ some of its advertising to promote price-related themes or messages and other of its advertising to promote product-related themes. This study examines the interdependence that can occur between pairs of themes in a pool (i.e., pooling effects), the impact of these pooling effects on the allocation of advertising expenditures, and the factors that can affect forgetting rates (or, conversely, carry-over rates) in a multitheme advertising environment. The study measures pooling, wear out, and forgetting (carry-over) effects for a campaign that uses five different advertising themes. To obtain these measures, I extend the linear Nerlove-Arrow (NA) (1962) model to a nonlinear model of advertising theme quality and goodwill and estimate the extended model using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and particle filtering ideas. Particle filtering belongs to a class of sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods designed to estimate nonlinear/nonnormal state space models. Results show that forgetting (or carry-over) rates may be time varying and a function of prior goodwill (past advertising) and other advertising variables. Results show, moreover, that pooling effects can reduce theme wear out and, in turn, significantly improve advertising efficiency.

We analyze the effects of combative advertising on market power. Combative advertising, a characteristic of mature markets, is defined as advertising that shifts consumer preferences towards the advertising firm, but does not expand the category demand. We propose a model for combative advertising where advertising changes the distribution of consumer preferences in a tug-of-war. We show that depending on the nature of consumer response, combative advertising can reduce price competition to benefit competing firms. However, it can also lead to a pro-competitive outcome where firms compete harder on price and make lower profits. Because of this pro-competitive effect, we further show that the cost of combative advertising could be a blessing in disguise -with a higher unit cost of advertising, the resulting equilibrium levels of advertising could be lower, leading to higher prices and profits. Further, we conduct a lab experiment to investigate how combative advertising by competing brands influences consumer preferences. Our analysis of the data thus generated offers strong support for our conclusions.

F irms often use a pool or series of advertising themes in their campaigns. Thus, for example, a firm may employ some of its advertising to promote price-related themes or messages and other of its advertising to promote product-related themes. This study examines the interdependence that can occur between pairs of themes in a pool (i.e., pooling effects), the impact of these pooling effects on the allocation of advertising expenditures, and the factors that can affect forgetting rates (or, conversely, carry-over rates) in a multitheme advertising environment. The study measures pooling, wear out, and forgetting (carry-over) effects for a campaign that uses five different advertising themes. To obtain these measures, I extend the linear Nerlove-Arrow (NA) (1962) model to a nonlinear model of advertising theme quality and goodwill and estimate the extended model using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and particle filtering ideas. Particle filtering belongs to a class of sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods designed to estimate nonlinear/nonnormal state space models. Results show that forgetting (or carry-over) rates may be time varying and a function of prior goodwill (past advertising) and other advertising variables. Results show, moreover, that pooling effects can reduce theme wear out and, in turn, significantly improve advertising efficiency.

A ccording to Jacobson and Mizik . The financial markets and customer satisfaction: Reexamining possible financial market mispricing of customer satisfaction. Marketing Sci. 28(5) 810-819], excess stock portfolio returns for firms with strong customer satisfaction are small and statistically insignificant, and if there is any above-market performance at all, it is due to a small set of firms in the computer and Internet industries. But their data seem to suggest the opposite. The returns are actually both exceptionally large and significant. Using monthly data, their portfolio consisting of strong American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) firms outperformed the market by 0.0053, corresponding to 6.4% cumulative risk-adjusted above-market returns on an annual basis over a 10-year period-a performance that would beat at least 99% of all large-cap U.S. stock funds tracked by Morningstar. Using a different treatment of risk, their annualized risk-adjusted return is a whopping 8.4% better than market. After eliminating computer, Internet, and utility companies, they find that the monthly risk-adjusted abnormal returns drop to 0.0045, which corresponds to an annual above-market return of 5.4%. This too is better than 99% of all actively managed stock funds in the population. Yet Jacobson and Mizik conclude that these returns are not statistically significant and that there is no evidence that stock returns from firms with strong customer satisfaction outperform the market over the long run.

The paper aims at answering the question how to persuade the managers of business units to use the research outcome of universities, independent research and development units, Think – Tanks and other science – oriented organizations. The basic assumption is that such an exchange should be based on short-, middle-, and long – term profits that could be realized by its both sides. The authors analyzed a group of universities and companies mainly from the Polish region of Malopolska and shared their considerations in the presented paper. The research focused on identifying the qualities that R&D units could possibly offer to business and on elaborating the mechanisms of knowledge transfer including an appropriate pay for the scientific side. The performed research led to a conclusion that an intermediary unit should be operating in order to contact R&D and science units with their future business partners. The authors described the main features and tasks of such a unit, identifying i...

In this paper, we develop a structural model of household behavior in an environment where there is uncertainty about brand attributes, and both prices and advertising signal brand quality. Four quality signaling mechanisms are at work in the model: 1) price signals quality, 2) advertising frequency signals quality, 3) advertising content provides direct (but noisy) information about quality, and 4) use experience provides direct (but noisy) information about quality. We estimate our proposed model using scanner panel data on ketchup. If price is important as a signal of brand quality, then frequent price promotion may have the unintended consequence of reducing brand equity. We use our estimated model to measure the importance of such effects. Our results imply that price is an important quality signaling mechanism, and that frequent price cuts can have significant adverse effects on brand equity. The role of advertising frequency in signaling quality is also significant, but it is less quantitatively important than price.

T his paper studies a model in which consumers search among multiple competing firms for products that match their preferences at a reasonable price. We focus on how easier search, possibly due to the adoption of search-facilitating technologies such as the Internet, influences equilibrium prices, assortments, firm profits, and consumer welfare. Conventional wisdom suggests that easier search creates a competition-intensifying effect that puts pressure on firms to lower their prices and reduce assortments. However, in our model we demonstrate that search also exhibits a market-expansion effect that encourages firms to expand their assortment-easier search means that each firm is searched by more consumers. Because of broader assortments, consumers are more likely to find products that better match their ideal preferences, improving the efficiency of the market. In fact, we demonstrate that the market-expansion effect can even dominate the competition-intensifying effect potentially leading to higher prices, broader assortments, more profits, and expanded welfare.

Social media has revolutionized means and modes of communication and has created a new information culture. As such social media networks have to be integrated in promoting library services and resources of the university libraries, as shown by Collins and Quan-Haase [1]. An attempt to explore the usage of social media by university libraries was undertaken. Objectives of the research were to explore social networking tool usage in libraries with special reference to Facebook, to investigate the academic librarians’ attitudes towards the usefulness of Facebook as a social media networking tool, and to explore the problems/issues related to using Facebook as a library promotional tool. This study was designed using quantitative research methodology. The data collection methods were postal questionnaire and observations. All 19 national university librarians were taken as study population. The response rate of 94.7% overall may be considered sufficient to allow valid conclusions to be...

When finer consumer information becomes available, competing firms sometimes target consumers too finely, disrupting scale economies prematurely. This leads to excessive product variety or to the wasteful exclusion of certain consumer types. This paper suggests that privacy concerns emerge in anticipation of these effects. This interpretation of the privacy issue yields a number of counter-intuitive but realistic implications regarding the identity and behavior of concerned consumers. Market intermediaries and consumer communities that aggregate diverse consumer types to coarsen market access provide the most adequate resolution of privacy concerns.

Multinational corporations (MNCs) often pursue global strategies that emphasize efficiency, flexibility, and learning, but globally developed strategies often clash with the environmental idiosyncrasies of MNC country subsidiary markets in which the strategy is actually implemented. Extant research pays little attention to the contingent efficacy of such global strategies from the perspective of MNC country subsidiary markets. We adopt the strategy–environment alignment principle and study how host country task and institutional environments might influence the efficacy of global strategies for MNC subsidiary performance. We assess MNC subsidiary

The paper aims at answering the question how to persuade the managers of business units to use the research outcome of universities, independent research and development units, Think-Tanks and other scienceoriented organizations. The basic assumption is that such an exchange should be based on short-, middle-, and longterm profits that could be realized by its both sides. The authors analyzed a group of universities and companies mainly from the Polish region of Malopolska and shared their considerations in the presented paper. The research focused on identifying the qualities that R&D units could possibly offer to business and on elaborating the mechanisms of knowledge transfer including an appropriate pay for the scientific side. The performed research led to a conclusion that an intermediary unit should be operating in order to contact R&D and science units with their future business partners. The authors described the main features and tasks of such a unit, identifying its financing possibilities both from the business, but also from various foundation and public funds. The awaited outcome should be a stable knowledge exchange system, dynamically adapting to the market needs, but also leaving the scientists some freedom of choosing their research topics. This should protect us from a situation where all the research would be businessoriented and possible exclusively after a company order. If implemented all over the European Union, such a system could be a useful tool for making the realization of the Lisbon Strategy more likely.

The paper aims at answering the question how to persuade the managers of business units to use the research outcome of universities, independent research and development units, Think -Tanks and other scienceoriented organizations. The basic assumption is that such an exchange should be based on short-, middle-, and longterm profits that could be realized by its both sides. The authors analyzed a group of universities and companies mainly from the Polish region of Malopolska and shared their considerations in the presented paper. The research focused on identifying the qualities that R&D units could possibly offer to business and on elaborating the mechanisms of knowledge transfer including an appropriate pay for the scientific side. The performed research led to a conclusion that an intermediary unit should be operating in order to contact R&D and science units with their future business partners. The authors described the main features and tasks of such a unit, identifying its financing possibilities both from the business, but also from various foundation and public funds. The awaited outcome should be a stable knowledge exchange system, dynamically adapting to the market needs, but also leaving the scientists some freedom of choosing their research topics. This should protect us from a situation where all the research would be businessoriented and possible exclusively after a company order. If implemented all over the European Union, such a system could be a useful tool for making the realization of the Lisbon Strategy more likely.

ABSTRACT In this research, we show that the interaction between territory allocation and sales force compensation---two key drivers of sales productivity---strongly affects the firm's profitability. We analyze an agency-theoretic model that jointly considers ...

W hile retailers have sales data to forecast demand, manufacturers have a broad understanding of the market and the coming trends. It is well known that pooling such demand information within a distribution channel improves supply chain logistics. However, little is known about how information-sharing affects wholesale pricing incentives. In this paper, we investigate a channel structure where a manufacturer and two retailers have private signals of the state of the demand. Our model identifies the presence of a pricing distortion, which we term the inference effect, when a manufacturer sets price to an uninformed retailer. Because of this inference effect, the manufacturer would like to set a low wholesale price to signal to the retailer that the demand is low. On the other hand, the manufacturer would like to set a high wholesale price so that he earns the optimal margin on each unit sold. Vertical information sharing benefits the manufacturer by eliminating the distortion caused by the inference effect, which is more profound in a channel whose retailer has a noisier signal. This result implies that when there is a cost associated with transmitting information, the manufacturer may choose to share information with only the less-informed retailer rather than with both.

This paper focuses on a case study to determine the impact of quiz competition as an effective promotion tool for marketing online databases in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Library. The quiz competition was promoted using Plan, Do, Check and Action (PDCA) tool and described briefly. Then, the study tried to make a comparison analysis based on the database statistics usage before and after the quiz competition was introduced. Two samples of databases showed an increase in statistics usage while one sample showed a decrease. The participants’ level of satisfaction for the questions in the competition and for the prizes offered was also studied using simple structured interview. This study is hoped to serve as an example of case study to show that promotion through quiz competition might help librarians to persuade the patrons to notice more about the importance of using online databases and indirectly create intangible mutual understanding among the librarians, patrons, and database vendors.

It seems everywhere you turn, you find Google. As a library instruction librarian, the number one request from the faculty I work with is:" Can you get my students to use something other than Google for their papers?!" I've noticed on some of my favorite television police procedurals that the detectives now" google" for information. And, of course, the business news is all agog about Google and the phenomenal increase in their stock.