We as marketers always try to secure  the customer at the center of our universe.   We learned this basic truth from early years as marketers but often times we stray from that guiding principal.  We get distracted by product development, product innovation, chasing that next shiny object and the buzz we can get out of technology.  All these distractions keep us away from the customers needs and wants.

How do we stay centered with our customers?  Turn your passion centered on your customers.   Well known retailer of fruit and gourmet gifts for many years, Harry &  David has been reborn from bankruptcy with a customer centric marketing strategy built on these three keys.

1. Organize your strategic planning around a customer view: illuminate the pathway to customer success, drive balanced scorecard metrics, guide board-level /financial disclosure and force you to think from a multi year perspective.

2. Segment your customers for more meaningful relationships: drive value to the company and customers focusing on the customer conversation, the promotional strategy and resources.

3. Measure the effectiveness of marketing programs over time: focus on long-term growth via customer nurturing, measures marketing's effectiveness versus spending and lay the foundation for developing loyalty strategies.

On October 23rd, 2013, Paul Lazorisak from Harry & David was interviewed on how analytics drives a three-step loop of strategy setting, campaign execution and marketing accountability, which is accelerating the direct marketer’s customer growth at the  SAS Premier Business Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida.  In addition, Harry & David was featured in a  conclusions paper titled "From Growing Pears to Growing Connections" going into futher detail on the marketing strategies at Harry & David.  Check out how this retailer is driving profitability through a customer centric strategy.

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