What is more direct than to be ONE with your costumers? Here is five steps to start working towards becoming ONE.

1. Don’t be an Anti-brand
The brands and elite of the business world are today’s aristocracy. Consumers have started to rise up and demand their fair share of what they have helped to create. This time the French revolution is a global consumer revolution. Many anti-brands may soon be staring up the business end of a guillotine. The difference is that today’s guillotine is much sharper and in the hands of mass media working with consumers and the Internet. Some heads have already rolled: Enron, WorldCom, Shell, and Exxon. Who’s next? Microsoft, Nike, McDonalds?

2. When did you last meet a CEO with a company tattoo?
The gap between consumers and corporations is as wide as the Grand Canyon, full of missed opportunities just waiting to be converted into big business. What channels do you have for input from consumers – open door a big success factor in the open source that today’s consumers live in today. Open up for consumers to show and share their passion for your brand.

3. Consumers will not be reduced to10110010101101011100
The computer has made it possible to barcode consumers. CRM and One-to-One was born with a whole new set of rules for today’s marketers. Work with the consumer from the start and include their passion for your brand.

4. Work with not against the transparence market
In today’s transparent market, bad marketing can sink even the unsinkable Titanic company. Intel was close to going under because one consumer complained about its Pentium processor. Small fishes swim together for safety. ONE shows how both corporations and their customers can swim together to prosper from the coming consumer revolution. Two examples of companies that swim well with their customers are Dell and eBay. Consumer power has also become a major component in the increasingly sensitive stock market. Positive buzz and enthusiastic consumer support can raise stock prices. A few percentage points can mean billions of dollars for many companies.

5. Leave your office today!
History has shown us that when the bicycle came to the village, in-breeding disappeared. Villagers now had a larger area in which to find mates. Today, there are unlimited opportunities for finding new mates when it is easier to move from company to consumer.

More steps are found in my book, ONE – A Consumer Revolution for Business.