ANATOMY OF A GROUNDSWELL

ere are four phases of a Groundswell. But I can’t explain them without acknowledging the origins of how they were developed. You might remember that Don Peppers (my mentor and marketing master) and Martha Rogers, PhD, wrote a book called Enterprise One to One. It is one of the best books I’ve ever read on marketing. In it, they break down the three keys to marketing: get, grow, keep.

• e first step is simply to acquire (get) new customers.

• To grow your customer value, you can up-sell more to existing customers or cross-sell other goods or services. Reduce the cost of serving your customers and generate new referrals through word of mouth.

• e three activities that keep customers are: retain them longer, win back old customers who have le you, or even eliminate unprofitable customers.

I have used these key principles in every aspect of my career, and they have served me very well, sharpening my approach to client strategies. But over the next two decades a er reading Enterprise One to One, I made slight revisions in my use of these three principles to accelerate my clients in building a Groundswell.

In that time, I have worked both with national brands and directly with entrepreneurs, applying what I have learned from Don Peppers, Joe Pine, and others. I have evolved and adapted to approach marketing in my own way that is still very much rooted in Don’s preeminent work of “get, grow, keep.”