A common misperception is that customer retention is the domain of sales, account management or the services department. Yet, marketing departments are key to nurturing and building a continuing relationship with existing customers in many ways, including the development and enhancement of the brand perception, expansion of customer share, and product marketing.

Marketers must partner with their fellow departments to learn what customers really want from your organization. With this type of communication, information sharing and collaboration, you can be better equipped now than ever before to deliver on both your customers' wants and needs, and your businesses' bottom lines.

Sometimes all we need is a trigger that helps us get out of the day to day. Something that helps remind us that it's not all about goals, revenue, etc. If you don't have a relationship with your clients going forward, you're vulnerable.

Consumers are far more creative than we give them credit for and in that creativity, you will find smart ideas. Accelerate your innovation and product development efforts by creating a "voice of the customer" system that allows you to collaborate on new products and get instantaneous feedback on new ideas.

A website that is integrated into the overall marketing program in a seamless and cohesive fashion can be the most powerful lever in a marketer's toolbox. This result does not happen randomly, however, and requires a thoughtful and structured approach. The benefits of thinking about your website as an extension and broadening of your marketing program transcends the online venue -- it can transform your entire marketing experience.

Linking marketing programs to contact center intelligence and self-service usage may hold the key to building a brand and making it profitable at the same time. Seems like a great opportunity for making self-service more personal.

Calculating the True Lifetime Value of a customer.

While it may sound harsh to suggest you purposely cause your prospects pain, pain is a powerful motivator. Pain is what drives people to action. Pain will create opportunities for you to provide solutions. Solutions results in profits for both you and your clients.

For marketers, positioning is not about a feature-function battle against competitors; it's about building a common understanding between the market and the company, relative to the share of the market that it serves best.

Is anyone going to blog about a free meal after 10 stamps on their punch card? Or better yet, tell their friends about their experience? Probably not. But people will blog about getting a free lunch, and they will tell all their friends about it. Guaranteed.