For years, marketers have played the role of the golfer, taking out a separate club for each target, and driving their message home as forcefully as possible. Marketers were more concerned with what they said than what the target heard, creating an endless series of monologues that fell on deaf ears.

Marketers who continually support their customers through the course of life, providing value in each communication, will find themselves scoring big in 2008. This value exchange can come in many forms, but only if the marketer truly understands the needs and aspirations of its target and commits to engaging in a genuine dialogue at every point of contact. Now is the time for marketers to be the caddie and to treat marketing as a service, to deliver real value to customers and prospects alike.