You are no longer in control. The balance of power has shifted.

Your company's brand is a relationship with your customers, and the nature of that relationship has changed. Once, advertisers controlled all the channels of communication because they paid for them. Now that Social Media and the internet gives everybody their own communication channels, other people have a say in your brand and what it means to them.

Are you trying to control what your customers hear, think and say about your brand like a jealous boyfriend? Well, the object of your desire has been liberated and she feels free to to explore other relationships. How can you make things interesting so she'll want to stick around?

One way is to listen better, and communicate better.

That's the power of social media. If you thought, 'oh boy, a new media channel to get my message out, and sell more', you missed the point. Nobody wants to be sold to more. But if you think of it as a new way to find out what your customers need, and serve them better, it takes on a new meaning. By informing and serving a community within social media channels, you've got the chance to demonstrate your ability to fulfill its needs. Which paradoxically can help you find more customers.

It's all about attitude

If you're confused and unsure about what to do in this new paradigm, one simple phrase can guide your program: 'How can I be of service to you?' If that attitude permeates all of your marketing activities, you can't go far wrong, even if you don't know the difference between Facebook , Twitter and MySpace. Delighting and amazing your customers is how you can take it to the next level. But those are just fancier versions of 'How can I be of service to you?'. How simple is that? Take that approach in everything you do and say in your marketing, and life will be less complicated.

There's another side benefit to being as helpful as you can to the citizens of online channels. They will be more predisposed to feel good about your offline marketing, thus making it more effective.

Also, don't forget: How can I be of service, version 1.0.

The single most effective tool ever invented for building successful companies—a unique brand promise—is still the most effective. Can you articulate what you stand for and what makes you different in the way you serve your customers? In a study by Brand Keys, cited by Jack Trout in his book ‘In Search of the Obvious’, fewer than 23% of major consumer companies had any distinguishable differentiating trait that consumers could identify. That number may be even lower in many B2B niches. What does this mean for you? It means you have an opportunity staring you in the face to show customers how you can be of service to them in a way that nobody else is.

Imagine it’s a beautiful Summer night, there’s a gentle breeze and your favorite song is playing into your earbuds as you stroll. Blissful feelings flood your consciousness and suddenly you’re connected with your deepest yearnings. The music and the words put you into an expansive, optimistic mood as if a switch has been thrown in your brain. Anyone who is a communicator must feel a pang of jealousy at the ability of rock music to mesmerize us in this way.

We all have a little rock and roll inside us

By that I mean everyone has secret longings in their heart. And the right music, the right words or the right imagery can peel back the layers of defense that we put up to hide them from the world. Rock music taps into a place in our brains where we feel optimistic, hopeful, rebellious, and where some of our fondest memories reside. Have you ever wondered ‘how can I capture some of that magic in my marketing messages’? Is there a place where your brand and these powerful feelings can overlap, just a little bit?

Major Advertisers try to do this all the time

We've all seen commercials that co-opt our favorite old songs. Everything from tampons to automobiles. But often it backfires. It makes us indignant at the advertiser for attempting to hijack our feelings, and makes us feel disillusioned with the music itself. For most marketers, it's not a consideration—we're not going to be able to afford the royalty payments on our favorite Led Zeppelin track. So what's another, more intrinsic way to put some rock 'n' roll into our messages?

Speak to the dreams in your customer’s hearts

The key is in the problems you solve for customers: Are they feeling disrespected, do they yearn for more love and appreciation? Do they want to feel cool, or smart, or feel some pride in their everyday lives—like a mom who expresses her love by serving healthier food, or the guy who feels sexy and powerful because his car is sweeter than the other rides in the health club parking lot. If your product isn't tapping into these deeper desires on some level,  you're missing an opportunity to get on the radar of your ideal customers.

Now, maybe you're really skeptical...

‘Get real’, you're thinking. What if I sell something utilitarian, like weed killer—how the hell does that have any connection to some deeper meaning? Let’s suppose the weed killer had a product benefit of killing the weeds in your lawn without harming the environment. You could appeal to the idealist in your customers by showing how environmentalism and a beautiful lawn can co-exist.

The rock 'n' roll in me wants to know how I can have the greenest lawn on the block and at the same time feel virtuous by not dumping chemicals into the environment. My logical side might later compel me to get specific product details to back it up, but by then, I’ll be pre-disposed to listen to the scientific explanation. Because the rock 'n' roll in me feels I’m joining a movement of eco-responsibility when I consider this product.

What if your product can’t make a unique promise that appeals to the rock ‘n’ roll in your customers?

If your product or service doesn’t have this kind of special sauce, your problem isn’t in your marketing. It’s in your product. A good question to ask yourself when developing your offerings is 'Have we conceived something unique enough, or built some feature into it, that will allow us to speak to the dreams of our customers?' And if you have that special difference, have you extended it, nurtured it, and protected it from competitors?

If you think about it, there are hidden reasons for almost any purchase people make. Look to those hidden reasons for the keys to your marketing messages.

The marketing equivalent of a gold record

Usually, marketing makes our defenses go up because it's unable to touch that place where our dreams live. As competitive as most marketplaces are today, we still have fertile opportunities. How many of your direct competitors position their products in a way that taps into the rock ‘n’ roll inside of us? Do a quick survey, and you’ll find that very few companies do a good job of articulating value to customers, let alone capturing imaginations and building tribes of like-minded followers. The majority of the companies you compete against have messages that are the equivalent of old, forgotten recordings in the discount bin. If you can find the rock-n-roll in your brand and tap into the inner longings in your prospects, you could have the next big hit.