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Greg Kihlström is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, and serves as an advisor and consultant to top companies on marketing technology, marketing operations, customer experience, and digital transformation initiatives. He has worked with some of the world’s top brands, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, FedEx, HP, Marriott, Nationwide, Victoria’s Secret, and Toyota.
He is a multiple-time Co-Founder and C-level leader, leading his digital experience agency to be acquired by the largest independent marketing agency in the DC region in 2017, successfully exited an HR technology platform provider he co-founded in 2020, and led a SaaS startup to be acquired by a leading edge computing company in 2021. He currently advises and sits on the Board of a marketing technology startup.
In addition to his experience as an entrepreneur and leader, he earned his MBA, is currently a doctoral candidate for a DBA in Business Intelligence, and teaches several courses and workshops as a member of the School of Marketing Faculty at the Association of National Advertisers. He has served on the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Mentorship Advisory Board, the University of Richmond’s CX Advisory Board, and was the founding Chair of the American Advertising Federation’s National Innovation Committee. Greg is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certified, is an Agile Certified Coach (ICP-ACC), and holds a certification in Business Agility (ICP-BAF).
Greg has had multiple best-selling books, including his 10-part Agile Brand Guides series on marketing technology platforms and practices. His most recent book, the best-selling House of the Customer (2023) discusses the 1:1 personalized customer experience of the future, and how brands can organize the people, processes, and platforms that enable it. His award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, now in its 6th year with over 450 episodes and 2 million downloads, discusses brand strategy, marketing, and customer experience with some of the world’s leading experts and leaders.
Greg is a contributing writer to Fast Company, Forbes, MarTech, CustomerThink, and CMSWire, and has been featured in publications such as Advertising Age and The Washington Post. Greg has been named #1 on its list of the Top Global Marketing Thought Leaders by Thinkers 360, was named one of ICMI’s Top 25 CX Thought Leaders two years in a row, and a DC Inno 50 on Fire as a DC trendsetter in Marketing. He’s also participated as a speaker at global industry events and has guest lectured at prominent universities and colleges.
Available For: Advising, Authoring, Consulting, Influencing, Speaking Travels From: Washington, DC Speaking Topics: Customer Experience, Marketing Technology, Digital Transformation
Customer experience has become the primary method of competitive differentiation between most brands today. While most companies claim that customers and their needs drive decisions and priority within their organizations, when it comes time to prioritize customer needs, it can often be more difficult and less clear exactly how and what to do. There are several reasons for this, and these reasons form the foundation of Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience. The talk provides guidance on how to create a customer-centric culture that prioritizes customer needs while aligning internal teams around a common goal.
First Party Marketing: Staying Agile in an Experience-First, Privacy-Conscious, Customer-Centric World
Customers expect personalized experiences from brands, yet are increasingly concerned about how their data is being used. As consumer preferences shift, and data regulations increase, brands are caught in the middle. The solution to these challenges is to create a first party data strategy that enables the type of personalization that customers want, yet protects customer data in a way that anticipates future trends.
Agile Digital Transformation
Great customer experience (CX) is more than something that is nice to have. It is now one of the chief points of competitive advantage for many brands across a growing number of industries. One of the biggest roadblocks to providing a more seamless experience to customers is the need to digital transformation within the organization. Whether the transformation helps the direct interactions customers have with your brand, the operational aspects behind the scenes, the measurement of CX, or all of the above, it sometimes takes large-scale organizational change to enable a better customer experience.
Digital transformation enables benefits beyond CX, including smoother operations, a better employee experience, as well as a more streamlined method to collect, analyze and improve organizational KPIs. All of these combined with a customer-centric mindset, and an agile approach to implementation and improvement can help companies succeed in their digital transformation efforts.
The Metrics of Customer Experience, Part 1
Thinkers360
August 06, 2022
The first part in a 7-part series on customer experience measurement, based on ideas and insights from Greg Kihlström’s recent book, Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience.
Tags: Analytics, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation
Publications
1 Academic Course
ANA: Marketing Measurement and Analyutics
Association of National Advertisers
October 01, 2023
Analytics isn’t just about capturing data; it’s about uncovering insights from that data for better decision-making. A brand’s approach to data, measurement, and analytics can make the difference between category leaders and those left behind. Whether offline or online media, single- or multi-channel, the performance within a brand’s portfolio is important as it contributes to the whole. Brands need to meaningfully measure the performance of their work while supporting the needs of the business and uncover the best insights about their customers, products, and services so the business will pull ahead.
This course will cover how to establish and prioritize the right marketing KPIs that align with the business KPIs, how to work with internal teams to gather the right data to measure properly, and review how to analyze and interpret the analytics for insights to ensure both marketing and overall business alignment and growth.
Founding Chair, National Innovation Committee, American Advertising Federation
American Advertising Federation
June 01, 2018
Greg was Founding Chair of the AAF's National Innovation Committee, bringing together advertisers, agencies, and martech platforms to talk about opportunities and challenges in the industry.
Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Industry Mentoring Board Member
Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business
April 03, 2017
Greg was a member of the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Industry Mentoring Board, consisting of industry experts that advised on both curriculum as well as other issues related to the Marketing Program at Virginia Tech
Trust for the National Mall National Advisory Council
Trust for the National Mall
January 04, 2010
Was a member of the marketing committee for the Trust for the National Mall's National Advisory Council. The Trust for the National Mall is a partner of The National Park Service.
CMSWire: Customer Journey Orchestration in an Open World of CX
The Agile Brand
December 06, 2024
Much like two-dimensional games like Super Mario Brothers gave way to the open worlds of modern video gaming, so has “if this, then that” marketing given way to reaching customers in an open world of omnichannel customer experience. This article was written by Greg Kihlström for CMSWire.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
CMSWire: 4 Big Takeaways for Marketers from Opticon 2024
The Agile Brand
November 29, 2024
In-person conferences allow attendees to reconnect with colleagues and partners, meet new people with shared interests and gain new insights to help them in their professions.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
MarTech: How to use post-campaign data to make your marketing better
The Agile Brand
November 17, 2024
In previous articles, we’ve explored the role of data-driven strategies in the planning and execution phases of marketing initiatives. Here, we’ll focus on using data to analyze and improve decision-making after launching a marketing initiative.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Prediction: Creating Strategies That See Around Corners
LinkedIn
November 15, 2024
In this article, we discuss how predictive analytics helps identify market shifts, how to use data to align with future trends, and how scenario planning can prepare organizations for emerging opportunities or threats.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
CustomerThink: Maximizing Marketing and CX Team Impact Through Data-Driven Collaboration
The Agile Brand
November 12, 2024
As marketing becomes more data-driven, collaboration between marketing and data teams becomes more and more essential for building effective strategies. Yet, a gap often exists: marketers may lack the data literacy needed to fully engage with their data-focused colleagues. Thus, by embracing data literacy, marketers can bridge this gap, align on shared goals, and improve team impact—the trifecta of data-driven collaboration. Let’s explore how a solid understanding of data allows marketers to actively contribute to data goals, enhance cross-functional teamwork, and maximize overall impact.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Forbes: Understanding The Components Of A Customer Data Platform
The Agile Brand
November 06, 2024
With increasing talk about artificial intelligence (AI) in all corners of the business, including marketing, data is on everyone’s mind. Yet customer data has always been important for businesses to prioritize. The move away from third-party cookies and an all-too-heavy reliance on third parties in general has accelerated this.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Understanding The Components Of A Customer Data Platform
Forbes
November 05, 2024
With increasing talk about artificial intelligence (AI) in all corners of the business, including marketing, data is on everyone’s mind. Yet customer data has always been important for businesses to prioritize. The move away from third-party cookies and an all-too-heavy reliance on third parties in general has accelerated this. So, too, has AI and the promise of using approaches such as generative AI and predictive analytics to give customers a better experience that is more tailored.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Leveraging data to enhance alignment
The Agile Brand
October 28, 2024
Organizations are inundated with vast amounts of data generated from various customer interactions across multiple channels. While the abundance of data presents a significant opportunity for businesses to enhance customer experience (CX) and drive customer loyalty, it also poses challenges, particularly in terms of alignment within the organization
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Prediction: Building Capacity for Prediction
The Agile Brand
October 19, 2024
In this article, we will discuss the top strategies for cultivating a predictive mindset across your organization. We’ll cover three main points: fostering a culture of continuous learning, conducting effective environmental scanning, and implementing scenario planning to stay ahead of industry shifts.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Clear roles and responsibilities improve results
The Agile Brand
October 16, 2024
In any organization, clarity of roles and responsibilities is paramount to fostering a productive and harmonious work environment. When roles are ambiguous, conflict and friction are likely to arise. Let’s explore how clearly defined roles can significantly reduce conflict, enhance collaboration, and ultimately drive organizational success.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Medallia Blog: CX Day: Industry Experts Share Their Best Insights
The Agile Brand
October 11, 2024
This was written by Greg Kihlström for the Medallia Blog. I recently had the pleasure of hosting Medallia’s virtual event to celebrate CX Day. This year’s theme was all about deepening our understanding of customer experience through insights and actionable strategies.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
CustomerThink: The Case for Customer Lifetime Value as a Core KPI
The Agile Brand
October 10, 2024
This article was written by Greg Kihlström for CustomerThink. Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a crucial metric that businesses should prioritize in order to drive sustainable growth and profitability. CLV refers to the total value a customer brings to a business over the course of their relationship. It takes into account not just the initial transaction, but also the potential for repeat purchases and long-term loyalty.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
MarTech: 3 ways to use predictive analytics to make better decisions
The Agile Brand
October 04, 2024
This article was written by Greg Kihlström for MarTech. In the era of big data, businesses have recognized the value of collecting vast amounts of information about their customers, operations and market trends. But, many still struggle to transform this data into actionable insights.
Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Marketing
Achieving operational improvement by leveraging data
The Agile Brand
September 30, 2024
The future of manufacturing lies in agility, responsiveness, and a commitment to innovation—principles that are at the heart of effective change management. By leveraging data for operational improvement, organizations can not only enhance their internal processes but also position themselves as leaders in their respective industries. As they navigate this transformative journey, companies must remain focused on engaging their stakeholders, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and embracing the wealth of insights that data has to offer.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Strategy, Part 2
The Agile Brand
September 24, 2024
In order to effectively prioritize and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of business, organizations must understand the significance of differential adaptability. This capability allows them to identify and allocate resources based on the relative importance and urgency of threats and opportunities they face.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Strategy, Part 1
The Agile Brand
September 17, 2024
The concept of a priority mindset in organizational culture revolves around a collective belief and approach that hones in on strategic importance, rather than getting caught up in trivial tasks or distractions. This powerful mindset empowers individuals to prioritize their work and resources based on the greater purpose and mission of the organization, rather than simply reacting to urgent demands.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Staying Agile with Your Marketing Strategies
The Agile Brand
September 12, 2024
The ability to remain agile in marketing strategies is more crucial than ever, including the importance of adaptability and responsiveness to consumer needs and market dynamics. As brands strive to connect with their audiences, they must embrace an agile mindset that prioritizes ongoing learning, flexibility, and a deep understanding of their target demographics.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Looking at Business Lifetime Value (BLV)
The Agile Brand
September 06, 2024
With the pressures that most brands face to show wins against the competition and gaining access to new markets, businesses are increasingly focused on short-term gains, often prioritizing immediate profitability over long-term success. However, sustainable growth and enduring success require a more holistic approach, one that considers the total value a business can generate throughout its entire operational lifespan
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
CMSWire: Why Continuous Improvement in Your Digital Experience Platform Matters
The Agile Brand
August 31, 2024
This article was written for CMSWire by Greg Kihlström. Does your organization think of website experience optimization as something that needs to get revisited every couple of years at most? When you want to make revisions to the experience and test new changes, are you met with resistance, and a “didn’t we just redesign the website?” If so, you aren’t alone, but you are right if you are thinking there is a better way to approach
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
A "Hack" Isn't a Sustainable Solution, Part 2
The Agile Brand
August 25, 2024
The sixth principle of priorities that I explore in my book, Priority is Action is that the methods, tools, and other approaches used to achieve our initial success will almost never work to get us to further and greater success in the future. Thus, we need to have the humility to admit we don’t have all the answers, and the curiosity to try new things.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Real-time data drives customer experience
The Agile Brand
August 22, 2024
Real-time data plays a crucial role in driving customer experience in today's digital age. The ability to access and analyze data instantly allows businesses to deliver personalized and timely interactions with their customers, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Let’s explore how real-time data drives customer experience and why it is essential for businesses to prioritize real-time data handling in order to stay competitive in the market.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
CMSWire: What Now? First-Party Data Strategies in the Cookiepocalypse Apocalypse
The Agile Brand
August 19, 2024
There has been a lot going on in the news cycle of late, but one thing you surely caught was Google’s announcement that it is abandoning its plans to fully deprecate third-party cookies, though the company claims to remain committed to its Privacy Sandbox project that has been exploring alternatives to using cookies to track users to enable digital advertising. The headlines, however have been spelling it out pretty clearly: Google has abandoned its plan to kill the cookie.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
A "Hack" Isn't a Sustainable Solution, Part 1
The Agile Brand
August 15, 2024
The sixth principle of priorities that I explore in my book, Priority is Action is that the methods, tools, and other approaches used to achieve our initial success will almost never work to get us to further and greater success in the future. Thus, we need to have the humility to admit we don’t have all the answers, and the curiosity to try new things.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
MarTech: Mastering data-driven decision-making in the strategy phase
The Agile Brand
August 12, 2024
This article was written for MarTech by Greg Kihlström. The ability to have the tools and information to make data-driven decisions is no longer a “nice to have” but a necessity. Teams relying on gut instincts and anecdotal evidence for planning are falling behind more sophisticated brands using predictive analytics and data insights.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Building a brand with privacy and trust
The Agile Brand
August 09, 2024
Privacy and trust are critical components of brand evangelism in today's digital landscape. As technology continues to advance and data becomes more valuable than ever, brands must prioritize privacy and data integrity to build trust with their customers.
House of the Customer | Data-driven collaboration
Linkedln
November 26, 2024
As marketing becomes more data-driven, collaboration between marketing and data teams becomes more and more essential for building effective strategies. Yet, a gap often exists: marketers may lack the data literacy needed to fully engage with their data-focused colleagues. Thus, by embracing data literacy, marketers can bridge this gap, align on shared goals, and improve team impact—the trifecta of data-driven collaboration.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | The components of a CDP
Linkedln
November 12, 2024
With increasing talk about artificial intelligence (AI) in all corners of the business, including marketing, data is on everyone’s mind. Yet customer data has always been important for businesses to prioritize.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
From Silo to Network: 10 Steps to Break Down Silos, Part 2
Linkedln
October 30, 2024
Let's continue our 10-step review of how to breakdown silos in any enterprise. This includes creating cross-functional teams, rethinking processes with collaboration in mind, and updating your tooling with a networked mindset.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
From Silo to Network: 10 Steps to Break Down Silos, Part 1
Linkedln
October 16, 2024
Breaking down silos requires a strategic, step-by-step approach. Start by establishing a clear, collaborative vision and securing leadership commitment. Success depends on leadership support, employee engagement, and measurable improvements in collaboration.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
From Silo to Network: It's About the Customer (and Employee) Experience
Linkedln
October 02, 2024
Silos damage both the customer and employee experience by creating fragmented, frustrating interactions. A networked organization, on the other hand, leads to a more cohesive customer journey and a better employee experience.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | Why Continuous Improvement in Your Digital Experience Platform (DXP) Matters
Linkedln
September 30, 2024
Does your organization think of website experience optimization as something that needs to get revisited every couple of years at most? When you want to make revisions to the experience and test new changes, are you met with resistance, and a “didn’t we just redesign the website?” If so, you aren’t alone, but you are right if you are thinking there is a better way to approach digital experiences.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Action: Priority is Strategy, Part 2
LinkedIn
September 26, 2024
To effectively prioritize and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of business, organizations must understand the significance of differential adaptability. This capability allows them to identify and allocate resources based on the relative importance and urgency of threats and opportunities they face.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
From Silo to Network: What To Expect When You're Networking
Linkedln
September 19, 2024
I admit that I've painted a rather rosy picture of the networked organization while contrasting it to your potentially current siloed situation. So does all of this sound too good to be true? As with anything in business (or in life), there are a few potential pitfalls to watch out for amidst all the good when moving toward a networked organization.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
From Silo to Network: What To Expect When You're Networking
LinkedIn
September 18, 2024
I admit that I've painted a rather rosy picture of the networked organization while contrasting it to your potentially current siloed situation. So does all of this sound too good to be true? As with anything in business (or in life), there are a few potential pitfalls to watch out for amidst all the good when moving toward a networked organization.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Leadership
From Silo to Network: So What Do We Mean By "Network" Anyway?
Linkedln
September 04, 2024
Like the ideas here but not sure where to start? I can help. This is what I do: I help organizations build omnichannel CX from the inside out. Contact me for: giving a talk, running a workshop, assisting with strategy, evaluation and platform selection, and working alongside your teams. =>Let's talk.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | First-party data and the cookiepocalypse that never happened
LinkedIn
August 17, 2024
Welcome to the House of the Customer newsletter with insights and ideas for #marketing and #CX professionals who are building the personalized experiences of tomorrow.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
From Silo to Network: Identifying the Painpoints of Silos so We Can Move Forward
Linkedln
July 24, 2024
Like the ideas here but not sure where to start? I can help. This is what I do: I help organizations build towards omnichannel customer experiences from the inside out. Contact me for any of the following: giving a talk on the topic, running a workshop, assisting with strategy, evaluation and platform selection, and working alongside your teams to implement changes.
House of the Customer | Does AI enthusiasm outpace your organization's understanding?
Linkedln
July 23, 2024
TL;DR: Many organizations overestimate their understanding of AI, which risks strategic errors. This requires more AI education to bridge knowledge gaps and enhance strategic fits.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Action: Success in the Future Doesn't Look Like Success in the Past, Part 1
The Agile Brand
July 18, 2024
The sixth principle of priorities that I explore in my book, Priority is Action is that the methods, tools, and other approaches used to achieve our initial success will almost never work to get us to further and greater success in the future. Thus, we need to have the humility to admit we don’t have all the answers, and the curiosity to try new things.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | Let's get ethical with AI in our MarketingOps
LinkedIn
June 25, 2024
AI-powered tools and techniques can enhance efficiencies, personalization and data-driven decision-making. However, implementing them in your organization involves carefully upholding ethical standards, maintaining customer trust and supporting a responsible workforce transition.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
AI isn't a goal (or a strategy): The "horizontal" nature of Artificial Intelligence
Linkedln
June 24, 2024
Let’s face it: AI is here to stay, and despite the hype, it’s really good at a lot of things. However, amidst the fervor for adoption, it’s crucial to remember that AI itself is not the ultimate objective for any marketing strategy. Instead, it serves as a powerful means to achieve broader business goals. So, in this newsletter, we’re going to look at leveraging AI as an augmentative tool rather than an end goal in itself.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Action: Experimentation is the Only Way Innovation Happens, Part 1
LinkedIn
June 20, 2024
The fifth principle of priorities that I explore in my book Priority is Action is that experimentation is the gateway to improvement and innovation. This means that not every experiment will yield stellar results, so we need to get used to both good and bad results.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | Continuous Improvement of the Customer Experience
Linkedln
June 11, 2024
TL;DR: With consumers having unprecedented access to a plethora of competitive brands, businesses must adopt a customer-centric approach to design and measure success, thereby creating exceptional user experiences.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Linkedln
May 14, 2024
Building agility into your team’s approaches can help your organization adapt to fast-changing conditions from within or even external ones. A key part of this that has benefited many of my consulting clients over the years is prioritizing a continuous improvement culture.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
If Everything’s a Priority, Then Nothing’s a Priority, Part 2
The Agile Brand™
April 27, 2024
As we started to discuss in the last article, the second principle of priorities that I explore in my book, Priority is Action is: if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. You have to make decisions, and often tough ones. But if you can assess which decisions need to be made (and when), the payoff is worth it. Let’s keep exploring this.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Action: If Everything’s a Priority, Then Nothing’s a Priority
LinkedIn
March 28, 2024
The second principle of priorities that I explore in my book, Priority is Action is that if everything is a priority, then nothing is truly a priority. You have to make decisions, and often tough ones, but if you can assess which decisions need to be made (and when), the payoff is worth it. Let’s explore this some more.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | Implementing Customer Journey Orchestration with an Agile Approach
Linkedln
March 19, 2024
With competitive pressures mounting and customer expectations continually rising, organizations are under constant pressure to provide personalized and seamless experiences to their customers across various touchpoints. Customer journey orchestration (CJO) has emerged as a pivotal strategy in achieving this goal, allowing businesses to design, manage and optimize customer journeys in real-time.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Agile Brand: Pay Transparency and the Employee Experience
LinkedIn
March 11, 2024
While we mostly talk about marketing and the customer experience on this show, as we all likely know, employees and the employee experience directly affect customers, so today we’re going to talk about salary transparency and key ways business leaders can successfully take a more modern approach to HR and navigate pay transparency within their organization.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Martechipedia: Weekly Recap (Mar 8)
LinkedIn
March 08, 2024
Each week, we will be giving an update on the conversations and articles that enterprise professionals need to know before taking a well-deserved break.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
House of the Customer | Tying Customer Lifetime Value to Financial Performance
LinkedIn
March 05, 2024
The strategic management of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) has become increasingly critical for securing both short-term gains and long-term financial performance in the enterprise. Both first-hand findings and recent research sheds light on the nuanced relationship between effectively measuring and improving CLV and its consequential impact on an organization’s financial performance. This article will discuss how modern businesses can leverage CLV insights to foster financial success.
The Agile Brand Guide: Digital Experience Platforms: 2024
Amazon
August 05, 2024
Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) enable marketers to create more engaging digital experiences on mobile and desktop devices, and form a core part of a brand’s marketing technology infrastructure. While customers interact with brands on a multitude of channels, an organization’s website and the platform that powers that site are still a critical hub in a brand’s customer experience. This is one of the reasons a DXP is so important.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Using AI in Marketing: An Introduction
Mercury Learning and Information
June 26, 2024
In today's dynamic marketing landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) stands at the forefront of innovation, offering unprecedented opportunities for marketers. This book enables marketing professionals to harness the power of AI, featuring in-depth discussions on key topics such as generative AI, personalized customer experiences, team and workflow augmentation, and data analysis optimization. It is divided into four parts, each addressing a different aspect of AI and marketing. Part I covers the fundamentals of AI in marketing, including machine learning and generative AI. Part II explores growth areas for marketing and AI, using generative AI and customer journey personalization. Part III goes into detail about how to use AI, particularly generative AI tools, to enhance the marketing function. Part IV is about integration and optimization, providing insights on when and where to invest in AI and how to prepare your team for an AI-driven marketing future.
AI isn't a goal (or a strategy): Why AI shouldn't be positioned as a goal
LinkedIn
May 18, 2024
I remember the early days of social media and the rush by marketers to utilize those platforms for marketing purposes. There was so much of a focus on understanding Facebook, Twitter, Myspace (yes, remember them?), YouTube, and a few others, that many lost sight of the problem they were trying to solve.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Priority is Action: 7 principles for better strategies, decisions, and outcomes
The Agile Brand
January 16, 2024
What do our words truly mean, whether they are posted on a website, spoken on a shareholder call, projected on a wall in an internal meeting, or shared with a customer? While eloquently written prose may inspire and engage any audience for a short time, it is our actions that define both our priorities as well as our future success.
Our priorities are what we do not what we say we’d like to do. This premise forms the foundation of Priority is Action: 7 Principles for Better Strategies, Decisions, and Outcomes. In this twentieth book from best-selling author Greg Kihlström, readers are given a reality check on the difference between a strategic priority and business realities. The book is centered around seven principles that separate leading organizations from laggards, and the mindsets and ideals that make the difference between achieving important goals and getting mired in bureaucracy, groupthink, and a focus on the wrong things at the wrong times.
These seven principles are explained in terms of what we should be striving for as well as some of the myths that often plague otherwise high-functioning teams. Mixing real-world examples and stories with some hypotheticals, Kihlström has created a business book that offers practical advice and actions that readers can take immediately.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with some of the world’s top brands, as well as hundreds of interviews with Fortune 500 customer experience leaders and industry-leading platform marketing technology executives and thought leaders for this book and his podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, the blueprint to achieve a customer-centric, sustainable platform for growth is made tangible.
Priority is Action is Kihlström’s twentieth book, following the internationally best-selling House of the Customer (2023), and his best-selling The Agile Brand Guide series of short-read books on marketing technology platforms and concepts. The House of the Customer will be available in January of 2024 in print, digital, and audio formats.
The Agile Brand Guide: Generative AI: Effectively using artificial intelligence to create compelling content at scale (Agile Brand Guides)
The Agile Brand
November 04, 2023
While there is a lot of conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential applications in marketing and customer experience, there are still more question than answers around how to use it effectively. Within this realm, Generative AI tools that create text, images, or even music and videos are increasingly being evaluated and used by marketing professionals.
There remain several aspects to consider when utilizing these tools, however. What is the best way to create scalable content that still stays true to a brand, what about intellectual property concerns? What should be disclosed to customers about the origins of content used for marketing purposes? These and many other questions should be top of mind for marketing teams, in addition to exploration of many benefits, which include the greater scale and personalization that Generative AI tools can provide.
In this latest book in the best selling Agile Brand Guide series, the successful planning, implementation, and optimization of Generative AI-based tools and platforms is explored. The Agile Brand Guide: Generative AI by best selling author Greg Kihlström gives marketing professionals a solid overview of the space in a short guide format. The book features a foreword by Bernadette Nixon, CEO of Algolia, plus contributions from thought leaders at Optimizely, Pega, Infinum, and other companies at the forefront of generative AI.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with top organizations, and his ongoing conversations with leaders in marketing and customer experience as part of his award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, this guide provides insights and ideas that both beginning and seasoned leaders can utilize to be successful in evaluating and implementing Generative AI solutions for their teams, and it includes insights and interviews with some of the thought leaders in marketing and customer experience.
The Agile Brand Guide: Marketing, Measurement & Analytics: Prioritizing, Integrating, and Utilizing KPIs and Metrics to Drive Customer and Business Growth (Agile Brand Guides)
The Agile Brand
October 10, 2023
Data and measurement are critical aspects of any marketing strategy, and how this is approached can make the difference between category leaders and those that are left behind. The performance of each individual channel in a brand’s portfolio is important as they contribute to the whole. This means that brands who are able to have the best insights about their customers, their products and services, and their business will pull ahead.
In this latest book in the best selling Agile Brand Guide series, the successful measurement of single and multi-channel marketing efforts is explored. The Agile Brand Guide: Marketing Measurement & Analytics by international best selling author Greg Kihlström gives marketing professionals a solid overview of marketing measurement and a winning framework to do it successfully, and will be available in print, digital, and audio formats.
This book gives marketers of all skill levels the knowledge and understanding to meaningfully measure the performance of their work while supporting the needs of the business and incorporating omnichannel customer behaviors into their view of marketing success. It also features a foreword by JR Sherman, CEO of RainFocus, an influential leader in the experiential technology space.
Tags: Analytics, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Center of Experience, Second Edition
The Agile Brand
July 24, 2023
We find ourselves at an inflection point in the relationship between brands and their audiences, where customers and employees are demanding better and more valuable experiences. Companies must keep up with this demand in order to remain competitive. This includes competition for both customers as well as employees. More importantly, while many organizations have traditionally focused on external-facing initiatives first, it is the ones which start internally that have the greatest potential to provide long-term positive benefits.
The book provides a blueprint for organizations to implement a center of excellence incorporating brand experience, or the combination of customer and employee experience. Each property of experience is articulated and explained in detail, including brand, governance, culture, platform, measurement, and environment. The book also provides recommendations on how an organization can begin to implement a Center of Experience of their own, and how success is measured.
The Center of Experience features a foreword from Diane Magers, Former Interim CEO for the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) and Founder and CEO of Experience Catalysts, and pioneer in the discipline of experience.
This second edition provides additional insights from during and after the pandemic, and clarifies many of the book’s points to focus the reader on tangible first steps. It serves as a companion piece to Kihlström’s Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience (2022), and the internationally best-selling House of the Customer (2023).
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Agile Brand Guide: Marketing Operations: Building and Optimizing High-Performing Teams, Processes, and Platforms for Marketers
The Agile Brand
July 11, 2023
The demands on marketing teams within the enterprise continue to compound as rising expectations from stakeholders and consumers require improvements in results from marketing efforts while improving the efficiency with which they are performed. Marketing Operations is thus becoming a more critical function within high-performing marketing departments focusing teams on optimizing marketing processes to increase efficiency and effectiveness in meaningful and sustainable ways that benefit customers and the business.
In this seventh book in the best selling Agile Brand Guide series, the successful planning, implementation, and optimization of Marketing Operations is explored. The Agile Brand Guide: Marketing Operations by international best selling author Greg Kihlström gives marketing professionals a solid overview of the Marketing Operations and how to best approach and implement it successfully in a short guide format and will be available in print, digital, and audio formats.
The book explores how marketing leaders and aspiring leaders can be successful in their implementation of high-performing and continuously improving marketing teams and includes insights and interviews with some of the thought leaders in marketing and customer experience. It features a foreword by Tommi Marsans, Verizon Business Group Transformation Lead.
Tags: Digital Transformation, Marketing, Project Management
The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing Implementation
The Agile Brand
May 02, 2023
Marketing moves at a faster pace than ever. Many teams have implemented practices utilizing Agile principles, such as Scrum, Kanban, or similar methods, to varying success. While the principles of Agile approaches offer the prioritization, collaboration, and focus on continuous improvement that can provide great results, many teams struggle with implementation of these methods.
In this fifth book in the best selling Agile Brand Guide series, the successful adoption and improvement of Agile marketing practices within an organization is explored, and both challenges and opportunities are illustrated in practical ways that marketing teams can factor in as they implement Agile Marketing in their organizations.
The book explores common best practices and things to avoid as marketing leaders and their teams strive to be successful in their implementation of Agile Marketing. This includes recommendations on working with other teams (whether they utilize Scrum or other Agile practices or not), as well as special considerations to be made when large-scale initiatives such as digital transformations are currently in progress. The book also features a foreword by Anthony Coppedge, Business Agility Lead, Digital Sales at IBM.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with top organizations, and his ongoing conversations with leaders in marketing and customer experience as part of his award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, this guide to Agile marketing implementation provides ideas and insights that both beginning and seasoned leaders can utilize to be successful.
The Agile Brand Guide to AI & Marketing
The Agile Brand
March 29, 2023
Artificial intelligence, while certainly not new to marketers, is having a moment. Whether through generative AI that creates original imagery or text, the automation of repetitive tasks, or determining the propensity of consumers to take action, artificial intelligence is becoming indispensable for leading brands and their marketing teams..
In this fourth book in the best-selling Agile Brand Guide series, the successful planning, adoption, and optimization of artificial intelligence tools to improve marketing results is explored.The Agile Brand Guide to AI & Marketing by Greg Kihlström is now available in print and digital formats.
The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing Fundamentals
The Agile Brand
February 01, 2023
The work of a marketing team continues to expand to include more channels, quicker response times, and more variations of content, offers, and campaigns that personalization demands. Agile marketing can help brands be more nimble and adaptive to both internal and external pressures.
Doing this requires a combination of people and processes that utilize methods like Scrum and the related practices and roles associated with creating, managing, and completing work utilizing Agile principles.
In this third book in the best selling Agile Brand Guide series, Agile marketing, and concepts surrounding implementing Scrum as a marketing team are defined and demystified. The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing, Part 1: Fundamentals by Greg Kihlström is now available in print and as an ebook.
House of the Customer: A blueprint for one-to-one, customer-first, employee-driven business transformation
The Agile Brand
December 12, 2022
Between consumer demands for more personalized and greater data privacy and competitive pressures to provide better omnichannel customer experiences, brands are faced with a dilemma: build a foundation for the future of customer relationships or lose relevancy in a crowded marketplace.
Doing this, however, is not without its challenges. While many enterprises a engaging in digital transformations in order to modernize and anticipate future changes, these efforts are often fraught with challenges, and many fail to deliver the results promised.
The way to do this forms the foundation of House of the Customer. In this new book from best-selling author Greg Kihlström, readers are guided through the elements of a 1:1, customer-first, employee-driven enterprise that includes seven key elements, why they are important, and how to implement them. These seven elements are explained in terms of building your brand as a “house” for your customers and aligning, people, processes, and platforms in a customer-centric manner driven by strategic key performance indicators (KPIs) and measured by tangible business outcomes.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with top organizations, as well as dozens of interviews with Fortune 500 customer experience leaders and industry-leading platform marketing technology executives and thought leaders for this book and his podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, the blueprint to achieve a customer-centric, sustainable platform for growth is made tangible.
House of the Customer is Kihlström’s eleventh book, following Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience (2022), The Center of Experience (2020), and his Agile series, which includes The Agile Brand (2018), The Agile Consumer (2019), and The Agile Workforce (2021).
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CDP for marketers - audiobook
Audible
November 18, 2022
The current marketing technology landscape has thousands of platforms, with a continually growing set of feature sets, functionality, and potential. It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine how to approach marketing technology growth in the best and most relevant way. Agile Brand Guides are created to help marketers evaluate, buy, and implement critical pieces of marketing technology infrastructure most effectively.
Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) are increasingly important in a marketing landscape where one-to-one personalization based on a customers behaviors and preference is key to achieving long-term customers. This, balanced with an increased need for data privacy and transparency over how customer data is used, make CDPs a critical part of a brand’s marketing technology infrastructure.
In this first Agile Brand Guide, Customer Data Platforms are explored and demystified. The book explores marketers’ need for a Customer Data Platform, as well as the roles a CDP should play, the different types on the market, as well as how to evaluate and implement a platform once you have selected it.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with top organizations, and his ongoing conversations with leaders in the marketing technology industry as part of his award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, this guide to CDPs provides insights, ideas, and guidance for marketers of all experience levels as they work to successfully implement Customer Data Platforms in their organizations
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Digital Delight: Second Edition: Planning, measuring, and optimizing great digital customer and employee experiences - audiobook
Audible
November 17, 2022
We are living in the age of experience. With the proliferation of tools that allow better and more holistic design of customer experience and employee experience, comes an increased ability to measure, analyze, and optimize. This new age of increased integration means that successful CX and EX involves many teams and departments within an organization to become successful.
Best-selling author and advisor Greg Kihlström shares thoughts based on his work with Fortune 500 companies and countless conversations with leading experts on his podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström.
In this expanded second edition, Digital Delight is explored in terms of both customer and employee experience, and both leaders and aspiring leaders can gain inspiration and ideas as they plan and implement important changes in their own organizations.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Journey Orchestration : Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CJO platform for marketers
The Agile Brand
November 15, 2022
Customer Journey Orchestration (CJO) enables marketers to create more engaging customer experiences that span online and offline channels, and generate greater customer loyalty and purchases over time. Consumers’ demands for more consistency in the way that brands communicate with them, combined with the increase in channel switching between devices and methods by customers means that brands need to provide a personalized, omnichannel experience in order to stay competitive.
Doing this requires a combination of people, process, and platforms that enables brands to meet their customers where they are, and to adapt and optimize this omnichannel approach over time.
In this second Agile Brand Guide, Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms are explored and demystified. The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms: Evaluating, Buying, and Implementing a CJO for Marketers by Greg Kihlström is now available in print as an ebook.
The book explores marketers’ need for a customer journey orchestration, as well as the roles a CJO platform should play, the different types on the market, as well as how to evaluate and implement a platform once you have selected it. It also features a foreword by Mark Smith, SVP of Digital Experience at CSG and former President at CJO industry leader Kitewheel.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with top organizations, and his ongoing conversations with leaders in the marketing technology industry as part of his award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, this guide to customer journey orchestration provides insights, ideas, and guidance for marketers of all experience levels as they work to successfully implement Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms in their organizations.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CDP for marketers
The Agile World
September 15, 2022
The current marketing technology landscape has thousands of platforms, with a continually growing set of feature sets, functionality, and potential. It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine how to approach marketing technology growth in the best and most relevant way.
Agile Brand Guides are created to help marketers evaluate, buy, and implement critical pieces of marketing technology infrastructure most effectively.
Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) are increasingly important in a marketing landscape where one-to-one personalization based on a customers behaviors and preference is key to achieving long-term customers. This, balanced with an increased need for data privacy and transparency over how customer data is used, make CDPs a critical part of a brand’s marketing technology infrastructure.
In this first Agile Brand Guide, Customer Data Platforms are explored and demystified. The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, Buying, and Implementing a CDP for Marketers by Greg Kihlström is now available in print as an ebook.
The book explores marketers’ need for a Customer Data Platform, as well as the roles a CDP should play, the different types on the market, as well as how to evaluate and implement a platform once you have selected it.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with top organizations, and his ongoing conversations with leaders in the marketing technology industry as part of his award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, this guide to CDPs provides insights, ideas, and guidance for marketers of all experience levels as they work to successfully implement Customer Data Platforms in their organizations.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CDP for marketers
The Agile World
August 20, 2022
The current marketing technology landscape has thousands of platforms, with a continually growing set of feature sets, functionality, and potential. It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine how to approach marketing technology growth in the best and most relevant way.
Agile Brand Guides are created to help marketers evaluate, buy, and implement critical pieces of marketing technology infrastructure most effectively.
Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) are increasingly important in a marketing landscape where one-to-one personalization based on a customers behaviors and preference is key to achieving long-term customers. This, balanced with an increased need for data privacy and transparency over how customer data is used, make CDPs a critical part of a brand’s marketing technology infrastructure.
In this first Agile Brand Guide, Customer Data Platforms are explored and demystified. The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, Buying, and Implementing a CDP for Marketers by Greg Kihlström is now available in print as an ebook.
The book explores marketers’ need for a Customer Data Platform, as well as the roles a CDP should play, the different types on the market, as well as how to evaluate and implement a platform once you have selected it.
Drawing on Kihlström’s experience working with top organizations, and his ongoing conversations with leaders in the marketing technology industry as part of his award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, this guide to CDPs provides insights, ideas, and guidance for marketers of all experience levels as they work to successfully implement Customer Data Platforms in their organizations.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
The Agile Workforce: Automation, Decentralization, and Their Role in the Future Workforce
The Agile World
March 25, 2021
We live in an agile world. Incremental growth and continuous improvement have brought about change in just about every field imaginable. The workforce and work as we know it has been changing for a while, and it's about to undergo a major shift.
With continued globalization, an increase in the use of artificial intelligence to perform both routine and complex tasks, and the rise of outsourcing and contracting in new industries, the Agile Workforce is here.
The book discusses the future of work, and how humans and AI-driven machines will work together to create our future. It also describes the rise of the freelance economy, and how remote work, gig workers, and a global mindset will transform the traditional workplace into a hybrid model where the best of all worlds can be combined for the benefit of individuals and companies alike.
The Agile Workforce is the fourth book in Kihlström's Agile series, which started with 2016's The Agile Web, exploring how the agile methodology applied properly website design, can create dramatic improvements in their efforts. 2018's The Agile Brand explored how brands that embrace consumer feedback and create a "living" brand that evolves over time while staying true to its values. In 2019, Kihlström released The Agile Consumer, which gives practical examples of how agile thinking and approaches, as well as a shift in consumer behavior are changing the brand-consumer relationship with the opportunity for better outcomes for both.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Future of Work
Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience
The Agile World
January 11, 2021
Customer experience has become the primary method of competitive differentiation between most brands today. While most companies claim that customers and their needs drive decisions and priority within their organizations, when it comes time to prioritize customer needs, it can often be more difficult and less clear exactly how and what to do.
There are several reasons for this, and these reasons form the foundation of Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience. The book provides guidance on how to create a customer-centric culture that prioritizes customer needs while aligning internal teams around a common goal. It also provides a framework to create a system of meaningful measurement that can not only improve the customer experience by holistically looking at the customer journey, but provide a sustainable method for analysis and optimization with a more agile approach to continuous improvement. This provides internal teams with the metrics and justification they need to continue improving the customer experience, creates a collaborative, customer-centric culture aligned around common goals, and ultimately benefits the customers, who buy, buy more, buy more often, and tell others about their experiences.
Drawing on Kihlström's experience working with top organizations, as well as dozens of interviews with Fortune 1000 customer experience leaders for this book and his podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, the secrets of planning, implementing, analyzing, and improving great customer experience in a sustainable way are demystified and made practical.
The Center of Experience: A blueprint for creating the experience-led enterprise
The Agile World
January 28, 2020
We find ourselves at an inflection point in the relationship between brands and their audiences, where customers and employees are demanding better and more valuable experiences. Companies must keep up with this demand in order to remain competitive. This includes competition for both customers as well as employees. More importantly, while many organizations have traditionally focused on external-facing initiatives first, it is the ones which start internally that have the greatest potential to provide long-term positive benefits.
"With honest expression and stimulating, provocative thinking, Greg comes from a place of passion and understanding of what it takes to achieve value. You'll be reading words from someone who has been there and done that. Who has a vision and a plan for the "how to" rather than just theory," says Diane Magers, CEO of Experience Catalysts.
The book provides a blueprint for organizations to implement a center of excellence incorporating brand experience, or the combination of customer and employee experience. Each property of experience is articulated and explained in detail, including brand, governance, culture, platform, measurement, and environment. The book also provides recommendations on how an organization can begin to implement a Center of Experience of their own, and how success is measured. The Center of Experience features a foreword from Diane Magers, Former Interim CEO for the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) and Founder and CEO of Experience Catalysts, and pioneer in the discipline of experience.
Tags: Change Management, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation
The Agile Consumer: Navigating the Empowered Economy and the Future of Customer Experience
The Agile World
August 04, 2019
We are living in an agile world. What started with technologists and marketers has spread across entire organizations, and didn't stop there. Consumers are thinking agile as well. They are more willing to be part of product development and the process of building brands than ever before, due to a number of social, technological, and economic factors. Also, as employees, they are also more interested in sharing values with the companies they work for, and are looking for new types of management and work environments. All of this adds up to the makings of an Agile World led by newly-empowered consumers in an evolving economy.The book gives practical examples of how agile thinking and approaches, as well as a shift in consumer behavior, are changing the brand-consumer relationship with the opportunity for better outcomes for both. As brands become more sophisticated and consumers have an increasing amount of choices, the power dynamic in the brand-consumer relationship has shifted to giving consumers more control than ever before. While this is a shift from the early days of branding and marketing, it is one that provides new opportunities for consumers and positions brands as facilitators of an evolving creative economy. It provides examples of how companies like Procter & Gamble, ING, Google, Betabrand, LEGO, and others are shaping this new dynamic while achieving innovative and profitable outcomes.The book features a foreword from Lisa Nirell, Chief Energy Officer of EnergizeGrowth and author of EnergizeGrowth NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company and The Mindful Marketer: How to Stay Present and Profitable in a Data-Driven World.The Agile Consumer is the third book in Kihlström's Agile series, which started with 2016's The Agile Web, exploring how the agile methodology applied properly website design, can create dramatic improvements in their efforts. 2018's The Agile Brand explored how brands that embrace consumer feedback and create a "living" brand that evolves over time while staying true to their values.
Digital Delight: Planning, measuring, and optimizing great digital customer experiences
The Agile World
April 16, 2019
We are truly living in the age of customer experience. With the proliferation of tools that allow better and more holistic design of customer experience and consumer journeys, comes an increased ability to measure, analyze, and optimize. This new age of increased integration means that successful customer experience involves many teams and departments within an organization to become successful.
Marketing, Customer Service, Technology, Operations, and HR are now all on the front lines in an effort to provide the absolute best experience that draws new customers in, and keeps existing customers coming back.
Digital Delight uncovers the methods, approaches, and measurements needed in order to compete in a customer-centric world. The book gives practical examples of how to plan, build, measure, and optimize a successful customer experience platform, as well as how to prepare an organization for such an effort.
Digital Delight is Kihlström’s latest Ebook, following Ever Seeking: A History and Future of Search. These have been completed in addition to his Agile series of books, which started with 2016’s The Agile Web, exploring how the agile methodology applied properly website design, can create dramatic improvements in their efforts. 2018’s The Agile Brand explored how brands that embrace consumer feedback and create a “living” brand that evolves over time while staying true to its values.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Ever Seeking: The History and Future of Search
The Agile World
October 17, 2018
Starting from the origins of the classification of information, to early Web-based search engines, and finishing with predictions about the future, this book discusses search and its impact on marketers and society.
The Agile Brand: Creating Authentic Relationships Between Companies and Consumers
The Agile World
June 17, 2018
Brands have evolved over several centuries from simple tools for recognition to something much more nuanced and sophisticated in the modern age. Being an agile brand means taking part in a relationship with consumers. While this means giving up some control over your brand, it rewards you with loyal long-term customers. The Agile Brand follows the story of branding from its beginnings to the authentic relationship with brands that modern consumers want, and gives practical examples of what you can do to modernize your brand in meaningful ways.
Tags: Business Strategy, Customer Experience, Marketing
The Agile Web: A Challenge to Re-Examine the Methods and Processes Used to Plan, Enhance, and Optimize Websites
The Agile World
October 02, 2016
By tracing the history of software development back to its beginning, this book forces a re-examination of the website design, development and optimization approach that many organizations take for granted.
Building upon agile software development and agile marketing practices that are still evolving, author and agency founder Greg Kihlström walks the reader through new ways to look at the way we treat websites, and plan for their redesign and optimization. The life of a website becomes a marathon with incremental improvements over time, instead of a sprint that ends when a new website is created to replace the previous one.
Kihlström builds on his experience designing and marketing interactive experiences for top brands, and running an agency since the early 2000s and provides a unique vision for how marketers can create websites that continue to grow in sophistication and effectiveness over time without the need for a continual process of redesigns.
This book is aimed at the marketer who wants to create the most effective website possible, and is willing to take a fresh look at how they approach their organization’s online presence.
Utilizing Agile to Improve Marketing & Digital Transformation
Association of National Advertisers
October 03, 2022
With a foundation of Agile principles and an Agile marketing approach, organizations can move more quickly and achieve greater transformation with a stronger focus on customer experiences. Adaptive approaches with continuous feedback loops and iterative methods allow advanced types of marketing to be more effective and efficient. These include increased personalization, customer journey orchestration, and increased use of machine learning and next best action approaches.
The approach outlined in this course was created to help marketers take advanced steps towards omnichannel, 1:1 personalization, and next best action approaches to the customer experience. Led by an industry expert, best-selling author, and keynote speaker with 20+ years in the marketing technology and customer experience profession for Fortune 500 companies, this course will walk you through how to be successful in utilizing Agile approaches in your marketing campaigns and initiatives.
Introduction to Customer Data Platforms
The Agile Brand Academy
September 28, 2022
Customers continue to demand a more personalized experience with the brands they trust and support, going so far as to switch brands when they don’t receive the level of service they expect. While the expectations from consumers are increasing, the data privacy demands that eschew third party data harvesting and identity stitching are also growing more complex.
All of this adds up to a need for brands to create a first-party data strategy that allows these companies to collect information directly from consumers and provide world-class customer experiences in return.
And this need for a first-party data strategy means the brands need a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to help them enable this.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
Agile Marketing in Collaborative Environments
Association of National Advertisers
August 01, 2022
Why are some organizations better able to adapt to changing consumer and external market conditions than others? The ability to be Agile in approaches from marketing to customer experience and beyond allows brands to anticipate and adapt to rapidly shifting internal and external needs. Agile organizations set themselves up to learn quickly and evolve as needed, in a climate of continuous change and improvement and allow teams that frequently work together, such as marketing, technology, and others to collaborate and achieve greater success. While the goals of customer growth and increased revenue remain constant, the methods and approaches to reaching those goals adapt as conditions demand.
The approach outlined in this course was created to help marketers enable their organizations to become more Agile and encourage cross-team collaboration using Agile principles and approaches. Led by an industry expert, best-selling author, and keynote speaker with 20+ years in the marketing technology and customer experience profession for Fortune 500 companies, this course will walk you through how to be successful in utilizing Agile approaches in your marketing campaigns and initiatives.
Practicing Agile Marketing
Association of National Advertisers
July 01, 2022
While many organizations may embrace the philosophy of a more iterative, agile approach, they struggle to implement the methods, processes, and roles that unlock its true benefits. Using frameworks such as Scrum, which is built upon agile principles, can enable marketing teams to be more efficient, effective, and provide opportunities to learn and improve more quickly.
The approach outlined in this course was created to help marketers take agile principles and the related Scrum framework to create better ways of approaching marketing. Led by an industry expert, best-selling author, and keynote speaker with 20+ years in the marketing technology and customer experience profession for Fortune 500 companies, this course will walk you through how to use agile roles and methods within your marketing campaigns and initiatives.
Introducing Agile Marketing
Association of National Advertisers
May 01, 2022
Most organizations struggle to keep up with the pace of change, whether that is consumer behaviors, the rate of technological advancement, or other movement in the market. An approach based on Agile principles helps marketers within an organization maintain the ability to adapt to changes, learn from continual testing, yet still maintain a focus on their overall goals. This course will provide marketers with essential knowledge and tools that they can use to begin implementing Agile marketing within their organizations.
The approach outlined in this course was created to help marketers better and more quickly realize value from their personalization efforts. Led by an industry expert, best-selling author, and keynote speaker with 20+ years in the marketing technology and customer experience profession for Fortune 500 companies, this course will walk you through Agile fundamentals and how they can be directly applied to your marketing efforts and the team implementing them.
On Demand Course: Measuring and Improving the Customer Experience
Association of National Advertisers
October 13, 2021
Customer experience (CX) is quickly becoming a key competitive differentiator for brands, yet many marketers and CX practitioners do not have a clear understanding of how measurement (establishing the right KPIs, methods, and processes necessary to make meaningful improvements) can bridge the gap between ‘good’ CX and one that consistently drives sales, brand affinity, and lifetime value.
Enabling great experiences for customers supported by people, processes, and technology within an organization is a game-changer for those companies that succeed. The speed at which these practices are applied could mean the difference between steady growth and losing out to the competition. A critical step to success is the ability for an organization to understand what, where, when, and how to measure customer experience.
The framework outlined in this course was created to help marketers with the tools, methods, and processes needed to measure customer experience with the goal of continuous improvement. Led by an industry expert, best-selling author, and keynote speaker with 20+ years in the marketing and customer experience profession for Fortune 1000 companies, this workshop will walk you step-by-step through the processes and methods needed to successfully measure and optimize customer experience efforts.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
2 eBooks
Forever Unified: Customer and Employee Experience
Medallia
August 22, 2022
More engaged employees create more engaged customers, benefiting everyone, including the business. Leading companies understand customer and employee experience as a unified element, and benefit from a lift that occurs when both are done well and in coordination with one another.
Download our latest guide and learn how to achieve growth in ways that other companies can’t replicate by connecting employee and customer experiences.
What’s inside:
How a unified view of customer and employee experience contributes to revenue growth
Tips for continually gathering and measuring feedback
Best practices for ongoing experience improvements
How to turn experience measurements into action
Tags: Business Strategy, Customer Experience, Future of Work
Ektron to Drupal Website Migrations: A Guide
Acquia
August 03, 2016
In January of 2015, Accell-KKR, a private equity firm, combined Ektron and the Swedish company Episerver into a single company and CMS platform.
Between the high cost of an Episerver license upgrade and the fact that the open source landscape had evolved significantly over the prior decade to the point where many enterprise organizations (from private and public corporations to government entities) had embraced Drupal and the open source community, this has caused many organizations to choose to migrate off of the Ektron platform and onto a CMS like Drupal.
As one of the top three most-used Content Management Systems across the Web, Drupal is a natural choice for many organizations based on its popularity alone.
But there are several other reasons that Drupal earns top consideration. Since you are reading this eBook, we assume you are either considering a switch from Ektron to Drupal or are perhaps already decided and looking for some further advice. Let’s briefly discuss some of the benefits of Drupal versus Ektron, or in choosing a different licensed Content Management System.
Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Marketing
3 Founders
Digics
Digics, Inc.
July 01, 2020
Co-founded in 2020; acquired in December of 2021 by Alef Edge Inc.
SaaS-based freelance hiring platform utilizing AIML that we built and grew to an audience of over 850,000 freelancers.
We graduated through the Newchip Accelerator Program in late 2020. In January 2021, we acquired Moonlighting, a complementary SaaS platform that enabled strategic growth for the platform.
Founder and Principal, The Agile World, LLC
The Agile World, LLC
January 01, 2018
Founder of The Agile World, LLC which runs both The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast as well as GK5A, a strategic consulting company that helps organizations with digital transformation, marketing technology, and customer experience strategy.
Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Project Management
ICP-BAF Business Agility Foundations Certification
ICAgile
January 04, 2019
Achieving the ICAgile Certified Professional in Business Agility Foundations (ICP-BAF) demonstrates an ability to articulate the values, principles, and dimensions of business agility. Business agilists can formulate an action plan for applying agility in their workplaces and can appraise and use a variety of frameworks, tools, and techniques to jumpstart the organizational and individual transformation towards a more responsive, value-driven reality.
Credential ID 17-11869-6bfd45e1-d913-47d9-90e1-5083aa28e4d5
HERE ARE ICMI’S TOP 25 THOUGHT LEADERS FOR 2023
ICMI
December 21, 2022
Each year, we ask the contact center community to nominate their choices for the ICMI Top 25 Thought Leaders of 2023. From several hundred nominations, we present the 25 thought leaders for the coming year. Please click on their LinkedIn profiles below, and be sure to congratulate them for their service to the CX and contact center industries
25 Best Marketing Technology Podcasts
Feedspot
August 01, 2022
The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlstrom featured on Feedspot's 25 Best Marketing Technology podcasts.
The best Marketing Technology podcast list curated from thousands of podcasts on the web and ranked by traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness.
ICMI Top 25 Thought Leader of 2022
ICMI
January 13, 2022
Greg Kihlström was named a Top 25 Thought Leader in Customer Experience by ICMI
Those who make a good career in the contact center industry are often happy to share their knowledge to help others grow. That’s one of the great things about this field.
Each year, ICMI puts out a call for nominations for the Top 25 Thought Leaders in the spheres of contact center management and CX; those nominated share their wisdom on social media so others might benefit from what they’ve learned.
From the many nominations we’ve received, we’ve hand-picked this final list of thought leaders. Click on their names to find a link to their Twitter or LinkedIn account, and be sure to thank them for collectively offering professional development for the contact center professionals.
Operationalizing AI in Your Organization
CIMPA
November 03, 2023
Greg Kihlström spoke at the CIMPA annual conference on the topic of artificial intelligence and how to adopt a winning philosophy and adoption strategy.
DSF 23 - CX Governance Workshop
Document Strategy Forum
May 23, 2023
206 POWER SESSION: PART 1 - Initiating Change: How to Create Greater Customer Experience Success
The ever-changing business landscape has forced companies to find new ways of engaging customers, providing superior experiences and staying ahead of their competition. Consumers have become increasingly sophisticated, expecting a level of service that meets their individual needs and wants. This means that businesses must be prepared to adapt and evolve in order to remain successful. In this interactive group discussion, we’ll share how to overcome internal and external obstacles, how to prioritize efforts and how to create agile, iterative approaches to reach a goal. Attendees will learn from their peers and from real-world industry changemakers on how to propose and implement change initiatives that lead to better customer experiences (CX) within an organization.
The Metrics of Customer Experience, Part 1
University of Richmond CX Advisory Board
CMSWire: Customer Journey Orchestration in an Open World of CX
CMSWire: 4 Big Takeaways for Marketers from Opticon 2024
MarTech: How to use post-campaign data to make your marketing better
Priority is Prediction: Creating Strategies That See Around Corners
CustomerThink: Maximizing Marketing and CX Team Impact Through Data-Driven Collaboration
Forbes: Understanding The Components Of A Customer Data Platform
Understanding The Components Of A Customer Data Platform
Leveraging data to enhance alignment
Priority is Prediction: Building Capacity for Prediction
Clear roles and responsibilities improve results
Medallia Blog: CX Day: Industry Experts Share Their Best Insights
CustomerThink: The Case for Customer Lifetime Value as a Core KPI
MarTech: 3 ways to use predictive analytics to make better decisions
Achieving operational improvement by leveraging data
Priority is Strategy, Part 2
Priority is Strategy, Part 1
Staying Agile with Your Marketing Strategies
Looking at Business Lifetime Value (BLV)
CMSWire: Why Continuous Improvement in Your Digital Experience Platform Matters
A "Hack" Isn't a Sustainable Solution, Part 2
Real-time data drives customer experience
CMSWire: What Now? First-Party Data Strategies in the Cookiepocalypse Apocalypse
A "Hack" Isn't a Sustainable Solution, Part 1
MarTech: Mastering data-driven decision-making in the strategy phase
Building a brand with privacy and trust
House of the Customer | Data-driven collaboration
House of the Customer | The components of a CDP
From Silo to Network: 10 Steps to Break Down Silos, Part 2
From Silo to Network: 10 Steps to Break Down Silos, Part 1
From Silo to Network: It's About the Customer (and Employee) Experience
House of the Customer | Why Continuous Improvement in Your Digital Experience Platform (DXP) Matters
Priority is Action: Priority is Strategy, Part 2
From Silo to Network: What To Expect When You're Networking
From Silo to Network: What To Expect When You're Networking
From Silo to Network: So What Do We Mean By "Network" Anyway?
House of the Customer | First-party data and the cookiepocalypse that never happened
From Silo to Network: Identifying the Painpoints of Silos so We Can Move Forward
House of the Customer | Does AI enthusiasm outpace your organization's understanding?
Priority is Action: Success in the Future Doesn't Look Like Success in the Past, Part 1
House of the Customer | Let's get ethical with AI in our MarketingOps
AI isn't a goal (or a strategy): The "horizontal" nature of Artificial Intelligence
Priority is Action: Experimentation is the Only Way Innovation Happens, Part 1
House of the Customer | Continuous Improvement of the Customer Experience
House of the Customer | Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement
If Everything’s a Priority, Then Nothing’s a Priority, Part 2
Priority is Action: If Everything’s a Priority, Then Nothing’s a Priority
House of the Customer | Implementing Customer Journey Orchestration with an Agile Approach
The Agile Brand: Pay Transparency and the Employee Experience
Martechipedia: Weekly Recap (Mar 8)
House of the Customer | Tying Customer Lifetime Value to Financial Performance
The Agile Brand Guide: Digital Experience Platforms: 2024
Using AI in Marketing: An Introduction
AI isn't a goal (or a strategy): Why AI shouldn't be positioned as a goal
Priority is Action: 7 principles for better strategies, decisions, and outcomes
The Agile Brand Guide: Generative AI: Effectively using artificial intelligence to create compelling content at scale (Agile Brand Guides)
The Agile Brand Guide: Marketing, Measurement & Analytics: Prioritizing, Integrating, and Utilizing KPIs and Metrics to Drive Customer and Business Growth (Agile Brand Guides)
The Center of Experience, Second Edition
The Agile Brand Guide: Marketing Operations: Building and Optimizing High-Performing Teams, Processes, and Platforms for Marketers
The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing Implementation
The Agile Brand Guide to AI & Marketing
The Agile Brand Guide to Agile Marketing Fundamentals
House of the Customer: A blueprint for one-to-one, customer-first, employee-driven business transformation
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CDP for marketers - audiobook
Digital Delight: Second Edition: Planning, measuring, and optimizing great digital customer and employee experiences - audiobook
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Journey Orchestration : Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CJO platform for marketers
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CDP for marketers
The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, buying, and implementing a CDP for marketers
The Agile Workforce: Automation, Decentralization, and Their Role in the Future Workforce
Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience
The Center of Experience: A blueprint for creating the experience-led enterprise
The Agile Consumer: Navigating the Empowered Economy and the Future of Customer Experience
Digital Delight: Planning, measuring, and optimizing great digital customer experiences
Ever Seeking: The History and Future of Search
The Agile Web: A Challenge to Re-Examine the Methods and Processes Used to Plan, Enhance, and Optimize Websites
Utilizing Agile to Improve Marketing & Digital Transformation
Introduction to Customer Data Platforms
Forever Unified: Customer and Employee Experience
Founder and Principal, The Agile World, LLC
Signal Awards for Podcast Excellence
HERE ARE ICMI’S TOP 25 THOUGHT LEADERS FOR 2023
DSF 23 - CX Governance Workshop
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