Peter Kim, Senior Analyst with Forrester Research led the opening session at the Forrester Marketing Forum here in Miami, FL. I was fortunate enough to catch Peter speaking about the reinventing the marketing model at Mplanet last year (session review). Peter's report on reinventing the marketing model served as the inspiration for much of this event. It seemed fitting then that he should lead things off.

Peter said that this entire conference has been organized around you/us (the attendees). The conference could have been held in Boston or New York, but we thought of you...so we're in Miami.

Wanting to be customer-centric is different than actually doing it. It's the details that count. Customer-centricity is easy to say, hard to do. But here's the secret...it's in the details.

Peter hopes to cover three major points: Why now? How are marketers doing it? How can you make it real?

Why now? Customer expectations have changed. People expect immediate service. When you call or send an e-mail, you expect quick service. There is also social computing. Customer can now create content, talk with each other, etc.

The stage is set for more vocal consumers. However, marketing is not ready for change. Marketing organizations are broken. Increasingly the marketing department only controls one of the Four P's....promotion.

A few lessons: Don't try to own the customer. Build relationships with IT, HR and other departments.

How Are Marketers Doing It? Do you have a customer-centric culture? USAA does. USAA provides insurance and financial services to members of the armed forces and their families. When USAA trains new employees they educate them about the military. USAA makes sure that their staff understands the life of their customers. USAA has adjusted their billing cycles to match military pay periods so it's easier for their customers. Everything USAA does is for their customers, and it builds a strong customer relationship.

Technology can assist with customer-centric programs. Del-Monte has been using blogs to engage dog owners to listen & learn. They are developing products that their customers want and need. That makes marketing much easier.

How Can You Make it Real? Build functional relationships. Customer advocacy creates customer empathy. Use technology to make what exists better. Listen and learn. Focus on the details.

Here are a few other links from Peter's session: Forrester Recap, Q&A