Old school marketing is rapidly on its way out. The traditional customer/supplier interaction (I make or supply a product and then as a customer you will buy it) is about as attractive as swimming through nuclear waste! The cost of doing business that way has been phenomenal and why many small businesses have called marketing a waste of time.

The future relationship with our customers is going to be a lot more sophisticated, a lot more meaningful and a lot more engaging. Customers will make decisions on our business based on:

1. Whether they feel a unique sense of belonging to the brand/business. This comes from building a sense of community and creating a social glue that people connect to. Examples, Lego and Harley Davidson.

2. Customers will need to feel that they and your business have a common purpose. Has your business got a strong customer focused approach? Are you passionate about your products/services? Do you uphold morals and ethical practices? Like Eden Project and The Co-operative.

3. How authentic the business is? How it upholds it’s principles? Demonstration of honesty and truthfulness where transparency of engagement with the client is at the forefront of doing business. Everything is exceptional.

4. Consistency. Providing stability in an increasingly unstable world. Probably one of the most difficult things to achieve when we want change but predictability. Companies that do this are Nokia, Honda and Premier Travel Inn.

5. Integrating the customer into your product/service development. Building products and brands that customers can relate to by providing channels and mechanisms for customers to shape and form future products/services.

6. And for some of us….mystery! The more mystique a brand can cultivate, the stronger the possibility of becoming a sought after and admired product or service. Coca-cola did this with their recipe.

There are others but being able to incorporate these ideas into your marketing decision making process makes for interesting ways of taking power from your competitors and generating some excitement about your business.