It might seem like another buzzword but, at its core, Agile digital marketing is a tactical approach. It helps teams to collaborate and meet challenges using continual testing. When combined with the power of marketing automation, an Agile marketing methodology can really take your digital marketing strategy to the next level.

What is Agile Marketing?

Agile marketing draws from the 2001 Agile Manifesto, which summarises a work philosophy developed for the quickly shifting needs of the technology industry.

An Agile approach streamlines team structure, increases transparency, communication, and tests processes and workflow to achieve maximum performance. In the context of b2b marketing, Agile teams meet their deadlines more often and with higher quality work. They can also adjust quickly under changing market conditions.

As you might guess, this means breaking away from some pretty entrenched ideas of the traditional “big annual campaign” marketing model.

Traditional marketing is rooted in the four Ps (Price, Place, Promotion, Product). Agile marketing replaces the four Ps with the four Cs from Robert F. Lauterborn’s model (Cost, Convenience, Communication, Customer Experience).

Whereas traditional marketing assumes a one-way sales funnel from lead generation to conversion, Agile marketing recognises that purchase decisions don't follow a linear buying journey. Traditional marketing efforts seek to influence perceptions by controlling the message and customer experience. Agile marketing promotes transparency and customer engagement.

In general, traditional marketing worries about how to accommodate change. Agile marketing welcomes it as a way to explore new opportunities.

The Tenets of the Agile Marketing Manifesto

As the Harvard Business Review points out, the Agile approach is most effective under conditions where:

“The problem to be solved is complex; solutions are initially unknown, and product requirements will most likely change; the work can be modularized; close collaboration with end-users (and rapid feedback from them) is feasible, and creative teams will typically outperform command-and-control groups.”

However, what works in one industry doesn’t always apply to another. In 2012, forward-thinking marketers came together to modify the existing Agile software development framework so it better suited their purposes. The Agile Marketing Manifesto was born. This document of agile marketing foundations lists seven principles:

• Validated learning over opinions and conventions.

• Customer-focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy.

• Adaptive and iterative campaigns over Big-Bang campaigns.

• The process of customer discovery over static prediction.

• Flexible vs. rigid planning.

• Responding to change over following a plan.

• Many small experiments over a few large bets.

While short, a lot is going on in this list. Breaking down some of these points reveals why the Agile Marketing Manifesto represents a significant shift in how digital marketers approach their work. For example: 

• Validated learning over opinions and conventions: No more making assumptions about the products or services consumers want. Agile market research methodology is always gathering data and measuring results.

• Customer-focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy: Agile marketing requires the quick and easy formation of cross-functional teams that can dynamically reconfigure based on project needs. For instance, marketing, finance and legal team members meeting to work on an issue instead of wasting time passing it back and forth across departments.

• Responding to change over following a plan: Following a long term campaign can potentially lead to a bitter end if it can’t adapt to a shifting market. Agile marketing teams work quickly to get data-driven ideas out into the real world. These can then be reiterated and improved based on user feedback.

Benefits of an Agile Marketing Approach

The most frequently cited benefits of adopting an Agile marketing structure include:

• Increased efficiency

• Data-driven innovation

• Increased ROI 

• Processes that scale for growth

• Customer-focused work

While this all sounds well and good, does research support these claims?

Yes, it does.

As far back as 2015, a study in the International Journal of Project Management confirmed that:

“...the level of Agile used in a project does have a statistically significant impact on all three dimensions of project success, as judged by efficiency, stakeholder satisfaction, and perception of overall project performance.”

Additional research from McKinsey & Company in 2016 found that after implementing an Agile marketing approach:

“...even the most digitally savvy marketing organizations, where one typically sees limited room for improvement, have experienced revenue uplift of 20 to 40 percent.”

Meanwhile, in a 2019 survey about the state of Agile marketing, 53% of respondents reported an increase in their ability to change gears quickly and efficiently. Other benefits that respondents noted were increased visibility into projects, quicker identification of roadblocks and higher quality of work.

How to Implement Agile Marketing

There are all sorts of opinions on the best way to “be Agile.”

For instance, an Agile marketing Scrum framework, with its practices of week sprints and daily standup meetings, is useful for teams that are concerned with recurring incremental delivery.

Another popular choice is Kanban, a framework designed to create a visible and focused workflow that continually delivers value to the target customer.

Lean agile marketing is often recommended by those who prefer to focus on improving performance by cutting back on waste (of time, energy, resources, etc).

Don’t stress over it too much. Do some research and testing to figure out which method suits your needs as you get started. Once they’re comfortable with an Agile approach, savvy marketers will generally create a hybrid framework that allows them to be as creative as possible whilst keeping their customer in mind. Using practices from multiple methodologies creates a blend that best fits their organisation.

Going Agile with Marketing Automation

Another major benefit of Agile marketing is how beautifully it pairs with marketing automation. By becoming more nimble your organisation can take advantage of the opportunities presented by automation technology. 

We’ve previously talked about the benefits of marketing automation and how it can revolutionise your marketing process. If you’ve read those articles, you know that it’s a powerful tool for gathering data and rapidly testing marketing ideas. Which is exactly what an Agile marketing team needs!

For example, here are four ways in which automation supports Agile marketing principles to optimise performance:

• Automation takes care of routine tasks. This allows marketers to spend more time interacting and collaborating on campaign management.

• Automation gathers data throughout the entire buying journey. It provides all the customer demographics Agile marketing teams need about their target audience.

• Automation allows marketers to easily and inexpensively implement numerous small tests to create content that engages potential and existing customers.

• Automation is the tool of choice for rapidly testing iterations of content and gathering feedback about customer experience.

Now, imagine using this winning combination of Agile marketing and automation to implement a content marketing or social media strategy. You begin to see all the intriguing possibilities.

Ready to Join the Agile Marketing Revolution?

Learning how to best implement and follow an Agile marketing method takes time. However, in the long run, it can help the decision-makers in your marketing department be more efficient when planning a campaign and adapting to changing conditions.

To learn more on how to implement automation and streamline your b2b marketing strategies, contact a member of the 1827 Marketing team today.