Today’s world is filled with savvy consumers. They know how to find the best deals. They’re up on all the latest trends. And if there’s a hot new product on the market, they don’t want to miss it. So how do you keep people connected to your brand? By creating the ultimate customer experience, says Scott Deming, author of The Brand Who Cried Wolf. Here are five simple ways to build customer loyalty:

1. Separate yourself from the pack. When businesses get mired in sales quotas, short-term goals, statistics, and so forth, the people inside those businesses become robotic. Their eyes are focused not on how the brand is doing, but on what the numbers tell them. When it comes to your customers, always be proactive.

2. Realize that perspective is everything. To really know how things are going at your company, you’ll have to step out of your own shoes and take a walk in those of your customers and employees. “When you [do this], you enlarge yourself,” Deming says. “Your perspective widens, and so does your concern about what’s important. The benefits you receive from changing your perspective will far exceed those reaped from a narrower focus that includes only the bottom line.”

3. Face the facts. You may or may not be aware of the Lake Wobegon effect, but it is a phenomenon from which many of us suffer. It’s the human tendency to think we are better than we actually are. And in business, the effects can be devastating. When you think your business is the best, you don’t work as hard to keep making it better.

4. Understand your company’s reach of influence. It’s important to focus on actions that show you understand your customers’ needs. Doing this will help your brand-building strategy and create customers who are ready to sing your praises.

5. Know that the easy way isn’t always best. Strategic communication tools such as email and instant messaging do not give you an opportunity to create emotional connections with your customers. Effective use of technology should help you streamline your operations, create new opportunities, reach a broader customer base, and reinforce your carefully developed brand identity marketing strategy.

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