Companies often drag their heels when they know they need to establish a customer advisory board or brand community. Here’s some statistics that can help the medicine go down.

Inside 1to1: Pfizer, British Airways Personalize Loyalty, 2006-Jul-17, by Christoper Helm

Some companies are starting to make inroads to a deeper customer connection. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, for example, built up a 50,000-member community of "Advocates" and "Super Advocates" to engage influencers and generate customer dialog. Members take part in interactive online insight/discovery sessions and they receive early product announcements, newsletters, and coupons tailored to their preferences. Pfizer found that consumers in the Advocate community purchase 20 percent more products and recommend Pfizer three times more than general consumers.