Customer–Centric Marketing: Build Relationships, Create Advocates, and Influence Your Customers

Praise for Customer–Centric Marketing

"Customer–Centric Marketing is more than just another ′how to′ guide. It chronicles one man′s journey through professional life and lays out the evolution of the field, as well as the professional. Consider it a must–read for those looking for insights on how to excel today and required reading for young people looking for a role model to emulate as they perfect their craft. Cundari′s insights are provocative and undeniable. My students will be reading it...for their course at first but more than once for themselves."
KENNETH B. WONG, Distinguished Professor of Marketing, Queen′s University, School of Business; author of Basic Marketing

"In a day and age where brands chase likes, friends, and followers, what do brands really know about their customers? Do they simply ′like′ them on Facebook or do they really know them...the way the local shoemaker in the village used to know his neighbors? In Customer–Centric Marketing, Cundari paints the perfect portrait of how businesses should leverage some of the first lessons we′ve ever learned about business and how the modern world of technology enables brands to build lifetime customers."
MITCH JOEL, President, Mirum; author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete

"Cundari′s Customer–Centric Marketing is a must–read for marketers struggling to piece together the many trends facing brands today. It not only neatly summarizes today′s market conditions, but provides a practical approach to relationship marketing, reinforced by real–world examples from his own extensive experience."
BRYAN PEARSON, President and CEO; LoyaltyOne, author of The Loyalty Leap

Introduction The Shoemaker s Story xi

Chapter 1 The Age of the Customer 1

Chapter 2 Carpe Diem 11

Chapter 3 Customer Relationships Have Changed 25

Chapter 4 From Funnel to the Journey 45

Chapter 5 Brands Will Never Be the Same 57

Chapter 6 Customer Experience Strategy 71

Chapter 7 Building Relationships with the Advocate/Sharecaster 85

Chapter 8 Innovation in Demanding Times 117

Chapter 9 The New Agency 131

Concluding Thoughts 143

Notes 147

Index 151

ALDO CUNDARI is Chairman and CEO of Cundari Group, a multidiscipline marketing agency offering traditional and digital services to global brands. The firm specializes in integrated marketing, branding and design, and interactive and software development services powered by research insights. In 2012, Cundari Group was ranked among the top 10 most awarded digital agencies worldwide and in 2014 Cundari received international recognition when two of its campaigns were included in the WARC 100 as two of the World′s Smartest Campaigns. That year, Cundari was also ranked by WARC as the #1 automotive agency in the world.