The Network Is Your Customer; Five Strategies to Thrive in a Digital Age

There is no shortage of books about digital media, but what has been missing is a strategic take on how business owners can utilize the most powerful asset of the digital age: customer networks. Whether shoppers, business clients, charitable donors, or election voters, today's customers are harnessing digital tools to connect to, communicate with, and contribute to businesses. InThe Network Is Your Customer,digital strategy expert David Rogers shows business owners and company leaders how to think strategically about customer networks and harness their power to create new opportunities for any organization. By identifying the five core behaviors of networked customers--accessing, engaging, customizing, connecting,andcollaborating--he uncovers five core strategies that any organization can use to create new value. These strategies can be used not just for communications and social networking but to drive sales, enhance innovation, reduce costs, gain customer insight, and build breakthrough products and services that rewrite existing business categories. With clear analysis and practical frameworks, Rogers shows how any organization can apply the five strategies to meet its own key business objectives. He presents a wealth of case studies from numerous business, consumer, and nonprofit categories. And he offers a clear process for planning and implementing a customer network strategy. Whether they sell shoes or news, software or healthcare, any business leaders who want to succeed in our digital age will find the answers they need inThe Network Is Your Customer.

David Rogers is executive director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School, in New York City.