Customer retention is job No. 1 for every marketer. Unfortunately, customers don’t always feel the same sense of urgency to align themselves long-term with particular brands, products, or service providers. And for good reason: There is no incentive, no reward for doing so. That’s the observation of Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels and author of Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience. When it comes to building brand equity with customers, Tisch says, companies must embrace new strategic communication tools and deliver deeply rewarding experiences. FuelNet caught up with Tisch during a break on his recent book tour.

FuelNet: Why have old methods of creating customer loyalty become so ineffective?

Tisch: Customers are turning to new [communication] modes because of their stressful, hurried lives. Traditional customer loyalty techniques of marketing and advertising are losing their potency, while electronic forms of strategic communication, such as email and blogging, are growing in importance. Unfortunately for leaders, these new communication tools are forms that organizations have little or no control over.

FuelNet: Has the Internet impeded customer relationship marketing?

Tisch: If used properly, the Internet can be a tool for improving customer relationships, by making it possible for organizations to stay in close, direct touch with their most loyal customers, rather than relying on middlemen like retailers and professional service providers.

FuelNet: You talk about the importance of being “customer-centric” in your book. What exactly does that idea mean to you?

Tisch: A customer-centric organization realizes it is providing not just a product or service, but a total experience, beginning with the first moment that a person considers becoming a customer and extending until that experience becomes a memory.

FuelNet: How can you tell what level of service customers now expect?

Tisch: The best way is for senior management to monitor what their competition is doing. Then you know how your customer is being seduced. Go out in the field, visit Web sites, visit touchpoints — see what your competitors are doing. The Internet has made that much easier to do. You can easily and anonymously go to a competitor’s Web site or check out blogs to see not only what’s being written about your company, but what’s being written about the competition.

FuelNet: What are some of the best strategies for loyalty marketing and making a company’s products or services stand out?

Tisch: There are many, but the big ones are respecting the customer’s desire to be in control, creating opportunities to link with customers directly, planning your business around your customers and not your goods or services, and making sure your customer feels like an individual and not one of the masses. Consumers want a relationship with an organization that will truly enrich their lives. It’s up to marketers to provide them with experiences that are unique, memorable, delightful, comfortable, and deeply rewarding.

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