The Network Is Your Customer: Five Strategies to Thrive in a Digital Age

335 Pages·2011·1.69 MB·English

by  David L. Rogers

Advance Praise for The Network Is Your Customer
Rogers’s work is thought-provoking and practical. It’s important reading
for any marketer trying to engage the ever-evolving consumer in the
digitally networked space. His synthesis of vast amounts of information
and application of deep analytical rigor deliver a strategically grounded,
highly relevant, and, most important, applicable operating model.
—Antonio J. Lucio, Global CMO, Visa Inc.
The Network Is Your Customer shows in real terms how networks have
changed our lives as customers as well as citizens. The book explains
how marketing and customer service demand constant engagement and
commitment to customers, and it shows you how any business can meet
that challenge for better returns.
—Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist
This book will shake up your business and change the way you think about
the Internet. With more than a hundred real-world cases, Rogers shows
how customer networks impact the bottom line of every business and how
you can make them work for you.
—Bernd Schmitt, CEO of the EX Group, author of Big Think Strategy
In this groundbreaking new book, Rogers reveals the science and the psy-
chology behind our ever more connected lives. More important, he shows
how to build the products, services, and organizations of the future that
your customers will fl ock to join.
—John Gerzema, Chief Insights Offi cer, Young & Rubicam, and best-selling
author of The Brand Bubble and Spend Shift
Every marketer who wants to stay relevant should read this book. Rogers
shows fi ve strategies for how customer networks can drive bottom-line
results at companies of every size and industry. Tap into the digital world
and make the network work for you!
—Sandy Carter, Vice President, Software Business Partners, IBM Corporation
Your customers are changing your business model. Looking for answers?
This book holds key insights to understanding customers in a digital world.
With its fi ve strategies and straightforward advice for responding to change
in your own business, it’s a must read for any manager.
—Jeff Fleischman, Chief Digital Offi cer, TIAA-CREF
Rogers weaves great storytelling, compelling examples, and real business
insight into an important book that transforms our understanding of twenty-
fi rst-century business and what it will take to win in this new customer-
powered reality.
—Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive
Don’t miss this book. The Network Is Your Customer is a great choice for
anyone, from entry-level worker to CEO, who wants to cut through the
clutter and discover brilliant ways every marketer can create value in
the age of the Web. With dozens of inspired case studies, Rogers clearly
illustrates how smart brands are using digital channels to satisfy the need
for individuality in consumer choice.
—John Mayo-Smith, Chief Technology Offi cer, R/GA
For anyone looking to understand the future of customers in the digital
age, Rogers has written a fascinating business guide. He focuses not only
on the technological speed warp we’re living in but on the behaviors and
motivations that give it meaning and what organizations should be doing
about it now!
—Lisa Hsia, Senior Vice President, Bravo Digital Media
I call it Listenomics. Others call it The Relationship Era. You can think of it
as salvation. What Rogers details in this compelling book is that the very
forces that are destroying mass marketing—that is, the digital revolution—
also power the bright and bold future of commerce.
—Bob Garfi eld, host of NPR’s On the Media, editor for Ad Age, and author
ofThe Chaos Scenario
Rogers uses great real-life case studies to show you how to stop thinking
about your customers as a mass audience and start leveraging the knowl-
edge and conversations in their networks.
—Francois Gossieaux, founder and partner, Human 1.0, and author, The
Hyper-Social Organization
In a hyperconnected world, a great switch has been fl icked: the power
formerly vested in boardrooms is surging to the people formerly known as
consumers. Asking your customers, then, to connect with you only in yes-
terday’s terms—through the practice formerly known as mass marketing—
is a surefi re recipe for irrelevance. So if you want to understand why your
customers might be tuning you out—and how to start tuning into the thicker,
stronger, more meaningful signals they’re already listening to—then this
thoroughly practical book should be your guide.
—Umair Haque, Director, Havas Media Lab
The Network Is Your Customer
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The Network Is
Your Customer
Five Strategies to Thrive in a
Digital Age
DAVID L. ROGERS
New Haven & London
Copyright © 2010 by David L. Rogers.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the
U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without
written permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational,
business, or promotional use. For information,
please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. offi ce)
or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce).
Designed by James J. Johnson and set in Electra type by
Integrated Publishing Solutions.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rogers, David L., 1970–
The network is your customer : fi ve strategies to thrive in a
digital age / David L. Rogers.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-16587-6 (clothbound : alk. paper) 1. Business
networks. 2. Social networks. 3. Digital media—Social aspects. 4. Digital
media—Economic aspects. 5. Strategic planning. I. Title.
HD69.S8R646 2010
658.8(cid:2)12—dc22 2010029162
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my family, my most cherished network
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
How to Read This Book xvii
PART I: A New Model for Customers in the Digital Age
chapter1: The Customer Network Revolution 3
chapter 2: Network Science and Lessons for Business 27
PART II: Five Strategies to Thrive with Customer Networks
chapter 3:Access: Be Faster, Be Easier, Be Everywhere,
Be Always On 53
chapter 4:Engage: Become a Source of Valued Content 80
chapter 5:Customize: Make Your Offering Adaptable to
Your Customers’ Needs 106
chapter 6:Connect: Become a Part of Your Customers’
Conversations 133