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 customer’s behaviors and preferences is key to achieving long-term success. 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.

The Agile Brand Guide to Customer Data Platforms: Evaluating, Buying, and Implementing a CDP for Marketers is available now in print and as an ebook from Amazon and directly from The Agile Brand website at: https://www.agilebrandguides.com  

About Greg Kihlström

Greg is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, currently an advisor and consultant to top companies on customer experience, employee experience, and digital transformation initiatives as Principal and Chief Strategist at GK5A. He is also the host of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. He is a two-time CEO and Co-Founder, growing both companies, and ultimately leading both to be acquired (in 2017 and 2021). As a strategist, digital transformation, and customer experience advisor, he has worked with some of the world’s top brands, including Adidas, Choice Hotels, Coca-Cola, Dell, FedEx, HP, Marriott, Toyota, and VMware. 

He is a member of the School of Marketing Faculty at the Association of National Advertisers, currently serves on the University of Richmond’s Customer Experience Advisory Board, was the founding Chair of the American Advertising Federation’s National Innovation Committee, and served on the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Mentorship Advisory Board.  Greg is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certified, is an Agile Certified Coach (ICP-ACC) and  holds a certification in Business Agility (ICP-BAF). 

Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience (2022), Greg’s eighth and previous book provides guidance on how to create a customer-centric culture that prioritizes customer needs while aligning internal teams around a common goal. Greg’s book, The Center of Experience (2020) talks about how customer and employee experience can be operationalized into a cohesive brand experience. The Agile Brand (2018), follows the evolution 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 create a more modern, agile brand while staying true to your core values. His podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, launched in early 2019 and discusses brand strategy, marketing, and customer experience with some of the world’s leading experts and leaders.

Greg is a regular contributing writer to Forbes and CMSWire, and has been featured in publications such as Advertising Age, and The Washington Post. Greg was named one of Thinker360’s Top 10 Thought Leaders in Marketing and Customer Experience, ICMI’s Top 25 CX Thought Leaders of 2022, and a DC Inno 50 on Fire winner as a trendsetter in Marketing. He’s participated as a keynote speaker at industry events around the world including Internet Week New York, Internet Summit, EventTech, SMX Social Media, MarTech, and VMworld.