Agile marketing is rightfully one of the sexiest buzzwords in martech (IMHO). But how the heck does it live up to its rep, you may ask?
When implemented efficiently, it offers businesses continuous learning, adaptation, innovation and growth (so no biggy then). Today, in order to take advantage of the boundless opportunities digital marketing enables us in meeting consumer needs, we must take speedy, competent action. Queue the agile marketing approach. In case you aren't sure exactly what agile marketing is - let's face it, we hear a billion buzzwords a day - the term describes the process of using data and analytics to identify opportunities or solutions to problems in real time. Through a series of iteration tests with this approach, businesses can correct mistakes accordingly. Simples.
You should probably note that agile marketing comes with an environmental risk factor. This generally scares the bejeebes out of larger organisations, giving enthused and innovative startups a competitive edge. I mean, risk is sexy, right?
Putting Agile Marketing into practice
So, if you're sold by this whole 'take an original, creative chance' thing, you are probably wondering how to go about making your business agile. Obviously, it is not a one size fits all kinda deal. Your approach will differ depending on the size and structure of your business. However, we have a few general pointers to shed some light on everything. First things first: the scrum methodology. This is a godsend framework, founded by genius software developers Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland in the 90s. Used by all agile businesses, and backed by industry leaders all over the world, this methodology uses sprints (short periods of intensive work), to measure the success of projects and improve their impact over time.
As long as employees diligently follow the structure as shown in the above image (known as 'scrum events'), they can adopt whichever working process collectively suits them best. This is because Scrum is primarily about helping teams reflect on and improve delivery, making sure that decisions are made based on real-world results. Shoutout to today's data-driven, marketing environment for allowing all of this to happen - we see you.
It is also crucial to become software savvy when developing your agile approach. And who doesn't secretly love grasping the reigns of a new marketing software? We recommend: Trello, Asana, LeanKit and Compendium. These softwares use agile marketing-inspired terminology and concepts; they are also backed by Roland Smart, the godfather of the modern customer experience (so their success rate can be pretty well-assured).
Final piece of advice
Our final piece of advice to you is: release the nerd from within. It is invaluable that you educate yourself on agile marketing through written work by the likes of Scott Brinker and Roland Smart. The Agile Marketer, written by Smart and included in our Marketing & Tech Book Club (because we support nerd living 100%), is a thorough guide to agile marketing which discusses the Scrum methodology in depth.
Scott Brinker, the leading brains behind all things marketing technology, explores agile marketing regularly in his blog, describing it as one of the 'greatest achievements' over the past decade, when reflecting upon mainstream marketing concepts. Brinker's novel (because it's all about the books, people),'Hacking Marketing' also deals with the topic in an informative and accessible fashion. So, just embrace bookworm lifestyle already and get stuck into learning from the greats.
Want to learn more about agile marketing? Come along to our annual MarTech Festival on the 30th October, Hawker House, London. We're welcoming Scott Brinker as the headlining key-note speaker, so it'll be pretty special! In addition to a set of fantastic speakers, the event promises great beats, booze and food.