Successful marketing depends on one basic concept. To find it, start by peeling away the corporate jargon and the pompous pronouncements of the would-be gurus. If you’re lucky, you may stumble on marketing’s core concept: focus total attention on the customer — not on the product or the company — just the customer.

To state the issue as clearly as possible, marketing fails when companies act as if telling their story is the main objective. Such thinking undermines marketing by pushing the customer out of the picture.

“We have a program that’s a perfect fit for the client,” the rep announces. This is a person who doesn’t know anything about the client except that it has nearly 50 locations throughout the region. This is the same person who doesn’t have the foggiest notion about the client’s marketing objectives, but who announces boldly that he has “a perfect fit.”

Although this is the perfect strategy for marketing failure, it doesn’t need to be this way. That said, here are guidelines for making marketing work.

Don’t think about anything other than the customer — To put it bluntly, most companies get in the way of good marketing. No matter what they say, they act as if their marketing should be about them. It should showcase what they sell or what they do. Absolutely nothing could be further from the truth.

A company serving high-end consumers developed a new website with excellent eye appeal. While it looked good, they failed to take the consumer into consideration. The website is all about the company.

Someone sold the company the website they wanted. There’s no effort to engage the customer, other than to sign up for a service and even then, there is no provision for using a credit card, let alone get more information or express an opinion.

This wasn’t done deliberately. Chances are it happened because the web designers spent their time meeting with company management. No one thought about who would be using the website — the customers. And of course, management thought it was a great site.

If anyone had asked, “What does the customer want?” the result could have been quite different.

Stop trying to manipulate customers — Attempts to get recipients to open e-mail messages with the lure of receiving “helpful information” often turn out to be nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to sell something.

Scam artists aren’t the only offenders. Well-known companies use this ploy, as well. As soon as the customer is faced with a form with 15 spaces of “required” information, the veil is lifted and the brand is damaged.

But that’s not the worst of it. The objective is finding ways to connect with the customer in a mutual value alignment that establishes a relationship. It’s out of this experience that sales are made.

Demonstrate your company’s values — As John King, a talented young branding mind at Minneapolis-based Fallon Advertising said recently in AdvertisingAge, “We believe that the future belongs to generous brands.” He describes them as “additive to people’s lives and to culture.” Then he adds, “They help build ideas in the world; they leave something behind.”

Recognize that just getting people through the door doesn’t make them customers — Macy’s is known for its “Star Rewards,” credit card-size coupons touting “Extra 20% off” or “Take $25 off.”

It sounds very rewarding until you discover that two-thirds of the back of each card is filled with tiny type listing everything you want to buy — as exclusions. The message is clear: “Hey, you suckers. Come on in.”

If the “rewards” aren’t rewarding, why would anyone want to be known as a customer? Unless there is a value proposition that connects with the recipient, there is no customer.

Don’t fall for every gimmick that comes along — But don’t avoid them, either. Just remember that your messages are out there for all to see. It’s easy to become all atwitter about Twitter, but ask yourself, “Whatever happened to MySpace?” It fell flat on its face in less than a year.

There’s another reason to be cautious about what you’re doing. It’s easy to find yourself in trouble. One person joined a “placement community,” indicating that he was looking outside his present employer. As it happened, someone who knew the employer read the message. You may be linked in more than you expected or wanted.

If you want to explore the possibility of social networking, start by blogging, building a reputation for your ideas and using Twitter and other social media to drive traffic to your blog. That may be an effective way for your company to share its thoughts and ideas.

Whatever else you do, be consistent — Even the best marketing can go bad by a lack of consistency. In 2008, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen all increased their advertising an average of 42.8% over their 2007 expenditures, according to USA Today. This occurred when overall auto sales had plummeted and other brands were slashing their marketing budgets.

While others lost market share, Kia’s rose from 1.9% to 3.1%, Mercedes went from 1.6. to 1.8%, and VW’s rose from 1.4% to 1.9%.

Modest gains? Not to these car companies. “When we invest in marketing, this happens,” VW’s marketing chief, Tim Ellis, told USA Today. “We think it’s important to stick to our roots and stick to our value message. We’re getting a higher percentage of the dwindling marketplace. And when this crazy situation comes straight side up again, we’ll be positioned to increase our share even further.” It’s no accident that VW is introducing three new models in 2009.

Consistency wins customers.

Focus on pleasing the customer — Even the most compelling marketing messages are worthless, if the customer isn’t satisfied. Several people had been patiently standing in line waiting to make a purchase at a well-known auto parts store. After waiting for about 10 minutes, no one was available to help them. Finally, a worker came by with a Coke in his hand and a fellow employee asked him if he would like to take care of the customers. His reply left everyone aghast. “I’m on my break” and disappeared around the corner, leaving the customers waiting for someone to help them.

Contrast that with a visit to an Apple store where you are greeted, assigned a knowledgeable personal shopper who is charged with the task of taking care of you for however long you are there.

In the first example, the customer leaves annoyed, if not disgusted. In the other, the customer is totally pleased. Yet, both share their experiences with others.

When the focus is on the customer rather than on making the sale, the difference is transforming. It’s what it means to make marketing work.