I read a post this morning. This post –> What Vegas can teach you about Marketing. The author makes 3 key points about very public aspects of Las Vegas. I’ll reiterate just to make a few conclusions of my own.

1. The “Player’s Card” – A rewards card of sorts which gains points and rewards the more money you spend gambling in a casino. It seems like it works very much like credit cards with rewards programs. I have a credit card which gains points for every dollar I spend. Kind of depressing to look at how many rewards points I have because it directly translates to spent cash but so it goes. The key point in the situation as a marketer is to reward the behavior you desire. Go Pavlov on your customers!

2. “Comps” – Complimentary goods, services, or activities provided to customers. Similar to the Player’s Card in the sense that it is a reward of sorts. Casino give you comps to keep you in the casinos and spending money. Lesson in customer retention. Keep your customers in front of your product/service as much as possible. Do whatever it takes to keep them there, spending as much as you can afford.

3. Entry Points – Las Vegas casinos have at least half a dozen entrances. Make it easy for your customers to find you and to move on. This is my favorite and translates directly to social media.

I see the social media world on the internet as a billion points of light being born, connected, dying, and reborn again and again. By allowing users to enter and exit from as many points as possible gives maximum exposure to that which matters to the user. Even if you are not a destination on the web, being an avenue or conduit to something even better will earn credibility. Essentially that’s the model for teaching, education, the passing on of knowledge. Come into my classroom, take what you will, exit and find something even better.

As a side-note, I have a winter tire experience that I’d like to share with you. I ordered winter tires from a popular company, TireRack.com. I ordered through a phone sales agent because I’d rather talk to a person when ordering something expensive and important. Everything seemed fine until a week later and my tires still hadn’t arrived. Any calls? Nope. Any emails? No… wait… maybe one. Ah on the 7th day I received an email from TireRack stating that I am getting a refund for less than the cost of my tires. What?! I ordered tires because I want them, not because I wanted to receive a refund for less than I paid! There wasn’t even any reason on the email as to why the refund was being initiated. Turns out my dealership had closed mid-week, refused to accept the tires, didn’t call me, TireRack refunded, also didn’t call me, and I am driving around on summer performance tires in snowy, slushy blizzards. Safe to say I was pretty pissed. Talked to TireRack customer service who were very accommodating. Shipped my tires out to a verified dealer, free of freight charges. Shitty part is that I spun out on the highway, cracking my front bumper the very night before I was scheduled to get the snow tires on the car. Now that’s tough luck By the way, I love going to Las Vegas!

Relaxing, semi-ambient, semi-rocking electronic music – Album Recommendation: The Flashbulb – Soundtrack to a Vacant Life