Customer relationship marketing is powerful in theory, but troubled in practice. We need to take time to figure out how and why we are undermining our own best efforts.

Perhaps we're overlooking the fundamental elements of a good customer relationship program. With the means to connect with customers easily, maybe we're rushing to cash in on the potential rewards, while forgetting the essentials of all relationships: intimacy and trust.

Close examination reveals that relationships between companies and consumers are suffering. U.S. satisfaction rates are at an all-time low. Complaints, boycotts and growing unhappiness with big corporations are strong indicators that most CRM isn't working.

Ironically, the very steps marketers are taking to build relationships with customers are often responsible for destroying these connections. Companies may delight in learning more about their customers and providing services to please them, but customers are fed up. They're tired of irrelevant survey questions, overwhelming product choices, features they'll never use in phone plans and cars, and rebate-driven buyer reward programs.

The New Frontier: Mining the Internet

With the proliferation of online stores that complement traditional outlets, companies now have a tremendous source of information about consumers' preferences. Because a traditional store may not always have a product on its shelves, purchase results are not always a good measurement of desires. Online stores can track consumer demand patterns more precisely, as they offer extensive ranges of products to national and global customers.

The web is more than a sales channel; it is a powerful means of collecting data in real time. The Internet is truly the new frontier in connecting with the customer, offering a huge opportunity for companies to improve customer relationships.

The New Social Marketing: Buzz and Word of Mouth

Where does marketing enter the mix? Some experts claim the old days of "push" marketing are over, where a company shoved a one-way message to customers via print or TV. Corporations are asking themselves just how much return on investment there really is from a 30-second Super Bowl commercial.

Consumers are turning away from media and, instead, tuning into each other. Engagement and word of mouth marketing are the buzzwords of this new era. Customers are doing their market research online and listening to each other. Unfortunately, many marketers continue to look at engagement in a one-sided way.

Corporate blogs have become an excellent resource for CEOs and others to connect with customers in a personal manner. In spite of the possible pitfalls in opening two-way communication between the public and employees, there is much to be gained by being personable, accessible, authentic and transparent.

Customers are already communicating with each other online about products and experiences with your company. If you can join the conversation in a real way, in real time, you'll have an advantage over those who remain silent and inaccessible behind corporate doors.

Now there is finally a way to discover what customers want, and a way to connect with them authentically. But there are risks involved in being honest and transparent. Will you and your company take the risk?

Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D.

Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., of Customized Newsletter Services, and The Blog Squad, is dedicated to assisting professionals create and maintain quality newsletters, ezines and blogs, as well as to leverage their online presence through intelligent marketing strategies and automated systems.

Patsi has a doctorate in psychology and experience in journalism. She is author of hundreds of articles available for use in coach/consultant newsletters. She custom designs ezines and blogs.

She is author of ?Secrets of Successful Ezines?, ?Build a Better Blog System? and "Confessions of a Reluctant Blogger: from Boring to Brilliant in 30 Days," with Denise Wakeman.

Together as The Blog Squad, Patsi and Denise hold weekly teleconferences, ?Conversations with Experts: Building Your Business Off and Online?. They also run the Blog to Book Project, an online private tutorial blog for professionals to write and create a book using a blog.

She is a graduate of San Diego State University and the Sorbonne in Paris France where she lived for 18 years. She lives in Del Mar CA and Ajijic, Mexico near Guadalajara. She and her husband Rob are avid tennis players.

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