Agile marketing is a process that values change, data analysis, and constant improvement over tradition, opinion-based judgements, and comfort with the status quo.
Its goal is to focus on impactful, meaningful projects, work on them quickly and collaboratively in what’s known as sprints, deploy, measure the results, see what can be improved, and then make those improvements accordingly.
The agile methodology is something that’s been embraced by both startups (like Hatchbuck!) and larger organizations not only with marketing but with project management and product development as well. But just because they’re doing it, doesn’t mean you should automatically be doing it as well. You should first ask the question: Is an agile marketing process right for my team?
Well, if the following applies to your team, then it may be time to try it out.
Your team can regularly adapt to change.
Really, this should be true of any marketing team. With sites like Facebook and Google changing their algorithms, your marketing team needs to quickly react to changes in the digital marketing space. Operating as if everything will stay the same in the digital marketing landscape is a form of self-sabotage. Marketing teams need to be able to rapidly adapt and land on their feet with new and improved creative marketing strategies in hand.
Your team feels unchallenged and unmotivated.
There’s no point in hiring the best talent if they aren’t motivated and challenged. An agile approach forces team members to be problem solvers who can generate ideas and bring them to fruition in a short space of time. Similarly, it gives team members the freedom to think outside the box and run with ideas in the disciplined, time-controlled construct of a sprint.
Your team seeks fewer silos and more collaboration.
There is usually a standup meeting every day of the sprint, which can last from one week to four weeks. These standup meetings are short (five – 15 minutes), and their purpose is to give individuals an opportunity to share any roadblocks they’re encountering and request any information they need.
Your team feels demoralized by projects that never take off.
The agile approach to marketing is an effective way to give wings to those ideas that the team never has time to develop. By committing a two-week long sprint to a specific idea, your team can put energy into the creative projects that they are collectively motivated by. Whether the project is successful or not, it’s a win-win. How can this be possible? If it’s successful, that’s an obvious win and a sign that similar ideas should be explored as well. If it’s a flop, there’s an opportunity to assess what went wrong and be better able to evaluate the validity of future ideas.
Your team wishes there was more of an emphasis on hard data.
If your team often voices frustration about projects that are dismissed with ambiguous reasoning or projects that are adopted with very little team buy-in, an agile marketing approach may be the best solution. The agile methodology prioritizes data and rigorously evaluating the quantifiable success of a project at the end of a sprint. Using the agile approach to marketing can anchor creative ideas in data and ensure project sponsorship and continuation based on measurable results.
Agile marketing is a terrific option for teams that want to be adaptable, innovative, and data-driven. While its successful implementation ultimately depends on the team’s willingness to adopt it, if your team aspires to any of the traits above, agile marketing is worth a shot