Meet the king, the queen, and the crown jewels: content, customer experience, and data

Want more revenue and profit for your business? Of course you do; who doesn’t? But what really leads to profits? And how can digital deliver on that for your business?

Good questions, if I do say so myself. Even better: I’ve got some answers for you.

Content is king
Customer experience is queen
Data is the crown jewels

Okay, so these sound clever and all. But what do they mean in practice? Well, as it happens, I’ve got an answer for that, too, for you.

Let’s consider a representative customer for a moment. Andrea is a 43-year-old vice-president of finance for a mid-sized technology company. She’s interested in hiring your company. Or, she might be anyway. Whether or not she moves from “might be interested” to “actually interested” depends on the experience she has with your company at each step of her journey. And that’s where the king, the queen, and the crown jewels come into play:

Content is king. Andrea has questions—lots of questions—throughout her journey from dream to decision. “Will your product/service satisfy my needs?” she might ask. Or “How does it work in practice?” and “Why should I buy from you?” Where will she find those answers? From you? From one of your channel partners? Or will she get the answers she needs from one of your competitors? How do you answer those questions? With your content. What makes you appear in search? Your content. What do your customers share on social? Say it with me now: content. Most customers know more about your products and services than your employees do. They certainly have more incentive to. And your content usually represents the first touchpoint in your customer’s experience of your brand. So, what does your content say about you?
Customer experience is queen. Now, if content is king, customer experience—her entire experience—is the queen. Your brand isn’t just what you say about yourself; your brand is the sum of all the experiences, all the touchpoints your customer has with your business. Deliver on those touchpoints and watch your business grow. Underperform and you’re in trouble. In chess, the queen represents the single most powerful piece on the board. Beyoncé—Queen Bey to her legion of fans—represents the most powerful force in pop music. And as with Beyoncé and chess, customer experience represents the most powerful force for building your brand—or for damaging it.
Data is the crown jewels. Of course, if you want to have great content that answers Andrea’s questions and provides her a great experience every step of the way, you must have data. Data offers you insights into precisely what Andrea needs, as well as providing you information about how well your content answers her questions and provides a great experience throughout her journey. Just as you can’t drive a car when you can’t see where you’re going, you can’t grow your business without the right insights and information.

Now it doesn’t matter whether you’re selling to a mid-sized technology company or a middle-class family, a CFO or a senior citizen, an Andrea or an Andy.

Content is king. Customer experience is queen. And data is the crown jewels.

If you struggle to put these three concepts to work, your business will likely struggle too. But get them right and great things will happen. Revenue will grow. Profits will too. And, pretty soon, you might find yourself sitting in the middle of your very own kingdom.

If you want to learn more about content and the customer experience, you should join me at The Conference Board’s 13th Annual Customer Experience Conference this May in New York City. Register by March 24th for the early bird discount. Use Biznology’s exclusive discount code (BIZ300) to save another $300. And I’ll look forward to seeing you in NYC.