The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

This special episode is generously brought to you by TEKSystems. After decades of struggling to fully understand consumers, they now hold the key to complete enlightenment: customer data. Armed with smartphones, tablets and laptops, many consumers relinquish their personal data so that brands can provide them with unique, personalized experiences. Many brands have already figured out the digital customer experience. They brilliantly convert consumer insight into content and stylized offers that fit customers’ needs, in real time. But their success didn’t come after waving a magic wand. They first figured out how to make sense of all their customer data by aligning their processes with technology. This foundational work included putting the right people in charge, forming customer personas, creating relevant KPIs and figuring out which content management system and other technologies best integrate with all of that. Join TEKsystems Managing Director of Digital Solutions Burk Buechler for this special episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Our audience is everyone.” If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that sentence after asking a marketer or executive, I’d be a very rich man. Instead, in order for a brand to be successful, it must focus its efforts on defining its ideal audiences, even if it ultimately wants to appeal to a broad set of potential customers. I use Apple as an example of this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a brand to be strong and have lasting success, it must have substance. We can describe substance in two ways: 1) an ideology which is clearly articulated in the way an organization conducts business and communicates with its audiences, and 2) a genuine experience for the brand’s audiences that builds a memorable and meaningful relationship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When branding is done well, it differentiates your organization in a way that targets the right audiences and drives the right customers to your brand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A good brand allows potential customers, employees, and other audiences to understand what they should expect before they make a purchase. When done well, this combination of messaging and visuals helps create a better customer experience by setting the right expectations from the start. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Successful brands can create their own intrinsic value to an organization. In this episode, we discuss how the value created by a brand creates many internal and external opportunities beyond marketing benefits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While it may seem obvious, setting your brand apart from the competition is often easier said than done. Successful brands think beyond purely aesthetic or surface differentiation and find ways to meaningfully occupy an idea in their consumer's minds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gone are the days of "set it and forget it" with your brand. Instead, you need to embrace a continually evolving landscape where your customers, employees and competitors are continually in motion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Successful brands understand that customers have unlimited choices, and a two-way relationship keeps you top of mind with consumers. This is not far-fetched or unrealistic when brands approach it by solving real challenges that their clients have, and positioning themselves in a way to solve those challenges better than their competitors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Jeff Bezos famously said, "your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room." While much effort is spent on logos, brand guidelines, and messaging structures, if your brand doesn't resonate with your audiences, they will write their own version for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices