When Customers Will Really Rule

The pace of change that has reshaped our society, culture, business, and marketing approaches over the past decade will continue to exponentially shift how we do business through 2020. The reality is that marketers have never had so many media channels to choose from, but at the same time, they have never been more challenged to build enduring customer relationships that drive disproportionate shares of margin. Something has got to give. So here are some of my bold (and less bold) predictions for the next decade.

• The chief customer officer is coming. With it, a network of consumers will openly and fervently control your brand, your messaging, your pricing strategy, your design, and your innovation priorities — forcing companies to do business the way customers want. It will make understanding your influence model as important as understanding the critical moments of truth in the customer experience. Progressive, Amazon, and Hyundai will be among those brands that lead the way. Blockbuster, BP, and Research in Motion would be smart to follow.

• The "network effect" will make the role of the community only more pronounced, with peer influence, word of mouth, and trust becoming increasingly important. In this environment, customers and fans will choose to spend time with only those brands and individuals that increase their quality of life. Accordingly, customers will want to play a direct role in how products, services, and experiences evolve, leading brands, for all intents and purposes, to outsource the innovation and new product functions to customers. IBM, P&G, and Trader Joe’s will continue to lead the way, having already embraced their customers to get big ideas. It’s catch-up time for Motorola, Sears, and Myspace.

• Smart marketers hoping to make the most of the network effect will reevaluate pricey, multimillion dollar ad campaigns and invest more heavily in customer/influencer–powered networks. Look for Coca-Cola, P&G, Ford, and Best Buy to lead the way. Other companies, especially those still stuck on Madison Avenue with bloated ad budgets, would be wise to follow their lead.

• All this will translate into customers who are far more invested in their relationships with their referred brands because they’re increasingly responsible for making — or breaking — them. To win in this environment, businesses will be forced to engage in deeper dimensions of brand building, especially with the maturation of Generation G — the Generation of Generosity. Having grown up amid some of the world’s worst disasters — 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Haitian earthquake — this group has learned to give back and will push its favored brands to do the same, in a meaningful way. Authentic,  values driven businesses — think Zappos and General Mills — will engender enviably deeper levels of loyalty.

• Customers will continue to expect companies to reward them for their loyalty, but in ways they define. (Say goodbye to airline reward programs with insurmountable redemption options.) Starwood is setting the bar today, but imagine everyone from your cellular company to your insurance provider reinventing what a deep consumer-company partnership is ultimately all about.

• If the chief marketing officer is not soon rebranded the chief growth officer, charged with demand generation for the company, the legitimacy and relevancy of the role will continue to be called into question and the CMO dilemma will continue. Here’s to another decade of change. Are you ready for the journey?