Customer Expectations, Specific Customers

Good advertising only accelerates the demise of poor products, brands, or companies. Volkswagen had been there, done that, and, frankly, didn’t want to do it again.

Instead, it got support from the dealerships and delivered quality standards consumers expected, understanding that a fundamental principle of taking brands from good to great is exceeding, not just meeting, customer expectations. All in all, the rebirth of Volkswagen was a triumph in marketing, branding, and engineering.

Reverse Customer Intimacy Customer relationship management (CRM) has received much attention from marketing and branding executives in recent years, with the goal being to learn more about customers in order to connect better with them and at a deeper level. This in turn allows firms to tailor offerings to specific customers or stock items certain customers prefer, all in the name of building brand loyalty.

In the CRM vein, Aerosmith monitors its fans’ behaviors during concerts, understanding that the right balance between classics, contemporary favorites, and new releases is important in keeping fans engaged during a three hour show.* Legendary bands do that better than most fledgling bands because of the depth of material they can play. In notes published on the web site of AeroForce One (Aerosmith’s official fan club), talking about their experiences on the road, Tom Hamilton admits to watching audiences from the stage, especially when performing new songs. When the crowd starts singing songs from a new album, they know they have been adopted by fans, giving the band guidance as to which songs to keep performing during the tour, which ones to add to the next tour, and perhaps when to add another new track to the set list. On that web page, fans are encouraged to learn the words to new songs, so they can sing along at the concert and participate in the experience.