The oldest tactic in marketing and branding sounds so simple. Offer customers something they don’t even know they want. Okay, great – but how do you gain insight to what your customers don’t even know?

Providing customers with something new and different is not strictly about innovation, innovative products are ineffective if they don’t meet customer needs. The best brands and companies anticipate customer needs. They have their ear to the ground and finger on the pulse of culture and technology — BUT, most importantly, they know their customers. They have relationships with their customers. Being able to figure out what more you can offer your customers is impossible without a true knowledge of who your customers are.

With the mountains of data readily available, the plethora of research platforms that exist online, a growing crowd of citizen journalists, and the explosion of social media, all brands and companies, no matter what size, have the opportunity to forge customer relationships.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not that easy. Developing real, meaningful relationships with customers takes handwork (research & strategy), persistence (several rounds of failure), patience (no relationship is built over night), and skillful listening (meaningful relationships are two way streets). Deciding to develop customer relationships is big step that requires commitment, but it’s worth it.

The insights you gain from knowing your customers are invaluable, and more importantly if you’re not taking the time to build meaningful relationships with your customers — someone else will (or already is).