In his latest book, THE BRAND FLIP, Marty Neumeier explains how and why “customers now run companies and how to profit from it.”

Marty and I share a high regard for Peter Drucker’s insights, including those concerning marketing. Drucker once suggested that “the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.”

That will happen only when marketers understand and then apply what they can learn from Marty. He believes — and I agree — that branding is the best way to make selling superfluous. Here are several of his insights concerning the power of loyalty:

o The most loyal 50 percent of customers would pay a 25 percent premium before switching brands.

o Loyal customers spend 33 percent more than new customers.

o The probability of selling to a new customer is only 5-20 percent, whereas the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70 percent.

o Customers have an emotional connection to a company are 4 times as likely to do business with it.

o In many categories, the most loyal 10 percent of customers generates 50 percent of the revenue.

o In some sectors, a 2 percent increase in loyalty is equivalent to a 10 percent cost reduction.

o A 5 percent increase in customer retention can mean a 30 percent increase in profits.

o A 5 percent increase in loyalty can mean a 95 percent increase in profits over a customer’s lifetime.

As Marty explains, “A brand is a customer’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. But there’s more.. A successful brand can become a touchstone in a customer’s life — a vivid symbol of what’s useful, delightful, and even magical. When a product becomes a symbol, the symbol becomes the product. [And that’s true for better or worse, as was the case with the Edsel and New Coke.] It can offer tremendous value as a building block in a customer’s personal identity.”

If you are in need of cutting-edge thinking about how to create or increase demand for whatever you offer, look no further than The BRAND FLIP.