To develop relationship marketing, I first had to find out who the readers of Keltainen kirjasto are, and how they would hope Keltainen kirjasto communicate with them. To find out answers to these questions, I will look at theories about relationship marketing and try to find out which methods will be effective for developing the marketing communication of Keltainen kirjasto.
Introducing Keltainen kirjasto
The purpose of the series editors is to find and include strong, prolific and consistent writers whose entire body of work could be published in the series. My intention is to build this community and strengthen its relationship with the series and its publisher.
Background situation
Keltainen kirjasto author John Irving's novels sold 80,000 copies via book clubs in the 1980s - all this market has now disappeared (Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö 2020). For these reasons, not all of the books in the series have been made into audiobooks, so they don't even have a chance to be part of this market.
Aims and objectives of this research
The key concepts for this study are relationship marketing and customer integrated marketing communication. I will also find out which aspects of relationship marketing could be useful for the marketing of Keltainen kirjasto.
Relationship marketing: development, main concepts, and principles
Bringing customer relationships to the center stage
While transactional marketing is short-term, relationship marketing aims to create long-term customer relationships (Bruhn 2003, 13.). These are interesting questions that should be considered when planning the relationship marketing of Keltainen kirjasto.
Reconceptualizing relationship marketing
In what way will the concepts of perspective taking and the success chain influence the conceptualization of relationship marketing. Gummesson (2008) points out that relationship marketing is often presented as the opposite of transaction marketing.
Relationship marketing readiness
R4-R17 are the special market relations, interactions in the service encounter or customer as a member of the loyalty program. As a result, all the company's employees can be called part-time marketers, since every contact is part of the promise given to customers.
IMC: Creating a more customer-centric perspective
- Creating a suitable environment for IMC
- Tools for customer-integrated marketing communication
- The new relationship marketing: blending offline and online strategies
- Engaging the customers
Finne and Grönroos (2017) have developed a customer-driven perspective on integrated marketing communications (IMC) that I find useful in the case of Keltainen kirjasto. For this to succeed, the company must understand the reality, network and ecosystem of its customer (Finne and Grönroos.
Summary and development ideas based on literature
One aspect that is mentioned in almost all of the above theories is the advocates (Gummesson) or superfan (Smith) or spokesperson for creating credibility (Fill and Turnbull). User-generated content, UGC, (Fill and Turnbull should definitely be used, especially when it comes to creating content for social media accounts. Finally, when it comes to creating Keltainen kirjasto's relationship marketing according to the principles presented in this literature review, it all starts with getting to know the customer and their ecosystem better.
In the following chapters, I will then review the objectives of my case study and explain the context, research methodology, time frame, and methods of data collection and analysis.
Objectives of this case study
The need for more customer insight can be formulated in a question: Who are the readers of Keltainen kirjasto. The survey will also provide answers that can help determine the objectives of my next research question: How would the readers hope that Keltainen kirjasto communicates with them. Based on the results of the survey and pilot projects, I will answer the most important research question: How to develop marketing communication of Keltainen kirjasto to strengthen the relationship with the current and potential readers.
It will be interesting to see if these findings apply to the customers of Keltainen kirjasto.
Introducing research strategy, paradigm, research logic and ethics
He also says that sufficient rigor can be achieved in a case study if the philosophical approach is established at the outset and data collection and analysis justified at each step of the research. By observing the results of the implementations, the theory will either be confirmed or disproved. As a series, Keltainen kirjasto is very special and its readers are not necessarily representative of the entire population.
However, to ensure the privacy of respondents, personal information will be collected as a separate file that cannot be linked to survey responses.
Scope and schedule
Case study allows the combination of quantitative and qualitative data, which is one of the reasons for choosing it for this topic. This research will be qualitative in nature, but I will also collect some quantitative data to build the picture. The data collected in the survey will not include personal information that could harm the respondents.
The year 2019 is the 65th anniversary of Keltainen kirjasto, which is a perfect time to bring about new ideas and implementations.
Data collection and analysation
The survey will reveal two types of data: quantitative (customer age, gender, number of books purchased, etc.) and qualitative (open questions and feedback). A focus of the study will be to find answers to my research question 3: How would readers hope that Keltainen kirjasto communicates with them. Since the survey is the basis of my work, I will use Chapter 4 for its analysis.
The survey will be analyzed question by question; when it comes to quantitative questions, I will draw charts of emerging trends.
Survey results
To find out which offline activities would be worth organizing, I asked: What kind of activity organized by Keltainen kirjasto would you like to participate in?. What kind of event organized by Keltainen kirjasto would you like to participate in?. The last question was What would you like to say to the editors of Keltainen kirjasto?.
Some phrases were used in Tammi's spring catalog in 2019: "This is what readers have to say about Keltainen kirjasto".
Conclusions based on the survey
Several mentioned Joël Dicker's The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair as a book not high enough for the series. The survey revealed more demographic information about readers of Keltainen kirjasto and details about their ecosystem. The study presented in the previous chapter provided useful tools for planning relationship marketing of Keltainen kirjasto.
The survey showed that readers of Keltainen kirjasto are active people who read and buy more books than the average Finnish.
Developing the newsletter
Every month I measured the progress of my project by looking at the diagnosis of the newsletter. October 2018: The offer of the month is three Keltainen kirjasto pocket books for 15 euros plus an additional Keltainen kirjasto pocket notebook. Offer of the month is Keltainen kirjasto pocket books at 40% discount and a notebook for the price of 1 euro.
This time the offer is quite good, and that is reflected in the open rate of the web store link.
Regular events for the friends of Keltainen kirjasto
The book's translator, Lotta Toivanen, talked about the book's themes and the social situation in which it was born. Nyqvist talked about the history of the award, and the audience was asked to take part in a quiz. I and the editorial staff were there to advise and discuss the books.
However, I plan to produce a podcast and event focused on the graphic design of the series.
Social Media
It is also economical to use the same content in different channels in slightly different forms – an example of this would be the reader of the month article which can be shared on the Keltainen kirjasto website, Facebook, newsletter and Instagram. During the anniversary year, a rare copy of a Keltainen kirjasto title signed by an author was distributed every month. It can be concluded that this pilot was successful, as the number of followers of Keltainen kirjasto on Facebook, as well as the number of comments, has increased constantly.
This account also shares material produced for Keltainen kirjasto on their Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Other actions for increasing the membership of Keltaisen kirjaston ystävät
The Keltainen kirjasto Instagram account was created in November 2019 and now, a year later, has 827 followers. A simple line of text was added to the inside cover of Keltainen kirjasto books: "Add to Keltainen kirjasto's friends here!" with a link to the web page where one can subscribe to the mailing list. Now all books in Keltainen kirjasto have these two lines on the inside of the covers.
Flyers saying "Join the Friends of Keltainen kirjasto" were produced and distributed at every event and book fair.
Assesment of results
In their new flagship store, a large display of Keltainen kirjasto was established when the store opened in November 2018, and it is still there. These actions seem to have worked, as sales of Keltainen kirjasto titles increased (confidential figures, presented in Appendix 4). The number of followers of Keltainen kirjasto on Facebook also increased from 4541 to 5622, and the reactions and comments to posts on the page are much more active than on the company's other pages.
Based on the theories of relationship marketing and CIMC, I was able to create a hypothesis that relationship marketing would be suitable for the marketing of Keltainen kirjasto.
Answering my research questions
This was a surprisingly high number, which is already proof that readers are eager to work with the publisher of the series. In summary, the readers of Keltainen kirjasto are active people who read a lot, buy a lot of books and want to learn more about books and discuss them with other like-minded people. Compared to what was thought, the research found that readers are younger, more adventurous when it comes to new inventions and feel very positive about the series.
For marketing communications, this means that the content provided is relevant, interesting and comes from trusted sources.
Discussion against literature
Referrals are an important factor in relationship marketing and it seems that through social media customers are happy to make recommendations to each other. These principles also followed the further steps, as the customers were then differentiated, after which I began to interact with them and create a dialogue. These relationships were then stabilized and intensified with regular contact via newsletters, social media and events.
Based on the enthusiasm of readers observed during events and in the comments on social media, mutual value was created.
Suggestions for the future
We can conclude that the process followed the hypothesis created on the basis of the theory. They could include big international stars who would never travel to Finland, such as Ken Follett and Elizabeth Strout, who is a very popular author in Keltainen kirjasto. Keltainen kirjasto is a well-respected brand and all the people I asked to be readers of the month agreed to do so without payment.
This type of collaboration is something that could be explored further in the future.
Validity and reliability
It is good that I have practiced streaming events during my studies, as that knowledge can now be used when developing virtual events. However, it still seems like a good concept, and may be implemented during the 70th anniversary in 2024. Other companies and institutions were willing to work with Keltainen kirjasto, such as Helsinki Lit and the National Audiovisual Archive.
Reflection on my own learning
Considering I had no official background in marketing and communications before that, this seems like a good achievement and certainly taught me a lot. It was also great to notice that other development processes have sprung up besides mine, such as the Tunnustan lukeneeni podcast. All these efforts will strengthen the Keltainen kirjasto brand and attract new readers, also in the future.
The New Relationship Marketing: How to Build a Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web.
Keltainen kirjasto survey, Spring 2018
The top authors and titles in Keltainen kirjasto
Reader of the month concept, list of readers
Sales figures of Keltainen kirjasto
