At the risk of repeating myself, consider the following statements:

1. Never before have brands had so much data about their customers or capabilities to analyse this data
2. Never before have we had customers so willing to interact with brands and each other online (social media, user generated content)
3. Yet, we are the least connected that we will ever be...

The great challenge for contemporary marketing is summed up very nicely in Rethinking Marketing (Harvard Business Review, Jan 2010):

'Never before have companies had such powerful technologies for interacting directly with customers, collecting and mining information about them and tailoring their offerings accordingly.

And never before have customers expected to interact so deeply with companies, and each other, to shape the products and services they use.'

I recently undertook the Net Promoter Score (NPS) certification course, the online version offered by Satmetrix. Overall, quite a good experience and the knowledge will come in handy as we work with our clients’ relationship strategies.

"But that's enough about me... what about you? What do you think of me?"
Source: Your most recent social gathering

Somewhere along the lines, we - as marketers - have really lost the plot. If you are reading this blog, the chances are that you already familiar with the idea that marketing is no longer a one-way (broadcast) street and that the brand is not the centre of the universe.
 

[caption id="attachment_1041" align="alignnone" width="160" caption="Don mashing-up marketing as we watch"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_751" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Australian NPS study"][/caption]

I have been doing some more traditional 1to1 database marketing recently and it has reminded me that the more things change the more they... don't.

Aligning the culture of an organisation is the task that really makes it difficult to transition from product-centric to customer-centric thinking.

Both of the clients are using best of breed analytics and campaign automation platforms, so the technical challenges are not insignificant, but these dragons are being vanquished. Much harder to get the whole organisation aligned in their understanding of;

   I love it when the lessons learned in the trenches are supported by the rigour of the professional researchers! Conducting research for the real world is the charter of the Marketing Science Institute; "Founded in 1961, the Marketing Science Institute is a learning organization dedicated to bridging the gap between marketing science theory and business practice. MSI currently brings together executives from approximately 70 sponsoring corporations with leading researchers from over 100 universities worldwide."