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. 

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. Let’s discuss a few key points were raised that highlight the importance of these factors in shaping the customer experience and brand reputation.

This article was written by Greg Kihlström for MarTech. Change is constant, but one thing is certain: hype cycles grab attention and influence budgets, for better or worse. Artificial intelligence (AI) is just the latest enterprise fixation, but it won’t be the last.

Feedback loops drive continuous improvement in businesses by providing valuable insights into customer experiences, identifying areas of friction, and enabling companies to make data-driven decisions. They play a crucial role in understanding customer needs, measuring success, and driving meaningful change within organizations.

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.

The fifth principle of priorities that I explore in my book, Priority is Action is that experimentation is the gateway to improvement and innovation, and this means that not every experiment is going to yield stellar results. So we need to get used to results, both good and… not so good. And yes, we can even say that an experiment failed without deeming our experimentation as a whole as a failure. Those are two very different things.

Embedding customer experience (CX) into the culture of an organization is essential for several reasons. First and foremost, customer experience is becoming increasingly important in today's competitive business landscape. With the rise of social media and online reviews, customers have more power than ever before to share their experiences with a wide audience. A positive customer experience can lead to repeat business, word-of-mouth referrals, and increased brand loyalty, while a negative experience can have the opposite effect.

This article was written for CMSwire by Greg Kihlström. We are ostensibly at the peak of AI hype, driven heavily by the rapid adoption of generative AI in both the consumer and business space. But hype does not necessarily equate to understanding, as a study of more than 500 business decision-makers across enterprises worldwide, conducted by research firm Savanta for Pega shows.

AI and humans collaborating effectively is essential in today's rapidly evolving business landscape. AI has the ability to automate repetitive tasks, personalize experiences at scale, and predict outcomes based on large data sets. However, AI still falls short in terms of the human touch, which is crucial for building relationships with customers and connecting with a brand.

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.

Automating the feedback loop with AI is a crucial step in overcoming the manual disconnects that marketers face in analyzing data and implementing learnings from that analysis.

This article was written for CMSwire by Greg Kihlström. Read the full article here. As shared at the recent Forrester CX Summit North America in Nashville, the firm’s, 2024 CX index for U.S.-based companies showed the biggest drop in recent years — 1.6% — which, compared to a .4% drop from 2022 to 2023 puts companies on a steeper decline, with 39% of brands and 10 out of 13 industries’ CX quality dropping.

Continuous improvement is a key concept that organizations must embrace in order to stay competitive in today's fast-paced business environment. The idea of continuous improvement is tied to a business’ goals of growth and involves constantly evaluating and refining processes, strategies, and goals in order to achieve better results over time.

This article was written by Greg Kihlström for Forbes Agency Council. The pressure to meet customers’ online shopping experience expectations is higher than ever. This means brands face the challenge of delivering highly personalized experiences to customers while managing vast amounts of data and interactions across multiple channels.

The blueprint for a successful transformation within organizations pivots significantly on the axis of strategic planning. The conception that underpins this approach is not merely an apprehension of industry momentum but a well-articulated vision coupled with a lucid pathway designed to actualize specific outcomes.

This article was written by Greg Kihlström for MarTech. 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.

The increasing use of generative AI has made it incredibly easy to create all types of content. Whether it's images, text, or even code, AI algorithms can generate content at an unprecedented scale and speed.

Human-centered design is key in creating products and services that truly delight customers and is essential in ensuring that products and services meet the needs and expectations of customers.

In the last article, we discussed the fourth principle of priorities that I explore in my book, Priority is Action: that we need to focus on improvement over perfection. Let’s explore this some more.

This article was written by Greg Kihlström for Forbes Agency Council. E-commerce is more than just a channel to many companies, and more brands are adding it to their business models, with subscriptions, social selling and many other flavors of retail heating up the competition for loyal customers. Thus, e-commerce is often the lifeline connecting brands with consumers. I know this from working with some of the world’s leading brands, several of which have heavily adopted all of these methods and others over the last several years.