The Rise of the Platform Marketer: Performance Marketing with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, Plus the Latest High-Growth Digital Advertising Platforms

Chapter 1The Age of the Customer

Customer relationship marketing (CRM) isn't merely about the implementation of a tactical marketing plan. A true customer-centric business strategy requires a fundamental shift in the organization's framework—its leadership, its priorities, its processes, even its culture. These changes result in a new paradigm for the company's goals, its customers' expectations, and its trajectory for the future. The force behind this shift is the state of today's consumer marketplace, which can be characterized as the age of the customer.

Think back to the brand revolution of the 1950s, when the advent of national television broadcasting created coast-to-coast demand and brand recognition. The companies that had the vision and resources to seize the opportunity and take their brands nationwide were the clear winners. Brands like Tide and Chevrolet became household names across the country, triumphing over smaller companies that faded away in their wake during the age of the brand.

The channel revolution was symbolic of the 1990s and early 2000s. It exploded when online marketers like Amazon and eBay changed the meaning of “going shopping” by making Internet purchasing commonplace. And GEICO, a proven insurance industry innovator, managed to shift the buying norm by introducing consumers to a whole new way to shop for insurance. Today, 13.1 percent of Americans are considered digital natives,¹ having never known a time when the world was not at their fingertips. ...