A New Era of Brands and Customer Relationships

During the past decade, we have witnessed radical transformation of nearly every aspect of marketing, as it has been practiced over the past 50 years, creating a new paradigm. Many marketers, and advertising agencies continue to use mass communication as the foundation and support of their brand building efforts. However, in the new era of big data, and powerful methods to connect with customers, the focus must shift to building customer relationships.

Brand marketers have never had the powerful technologies as we have today to build lasting customer relationships. Consumers have subsequently, never had the opportunity to interact so deeply with brands, and each other to influence the development of the products and services they connect with. As a result, to succeed in the interactive digital age, businesses must shift from counting transactions to maximizing the lifetime value of their customers.

Serving customers in relevant, and meaningful ways requires you to know them, and their behavior on a more personal level and creating emotional connections. Competitive advantage is not about features and functions with cheaper products, but serving customers in ways that are unexpected and highly valued. The customer is now the center of the attention with brands organized around them rather than the conventional theory of the customers organized around the brand. It is time to connect.

The Wilmington Consulting Group is a Brand Management Agency.