What is Agile Marketing?

Creating a well-rounded marketing strategy or campaign is time-consuming, sometimes expensive, and there’s not always the promise of a reward at the finish line. Despite our best efforts, we may very well put countless hours of effort into a project, only to have it fail to accomplish what we intended. This is where agile marketing becomes a valuable option.

This technique is designed to take less time to develop than a standard marketing campaign and in addition, these marketing methods aim to generate results even if plans need to change on short notice.

Keep reading to learn more about agile marketing, including what it is, how it works, techniques to follow, and real-world examples of how other companies use agile marketing.

What is Agile Marketing?

Agile marketing refers to a marketing approach that aims to identify ventures and projects that are likely to yield better results than other options. This method focuses on project management and it involves experimentation, careful organization, and following high-quality, fast-paced scheduling. In fact, because speed is a key component of agile marketing, many of the projects agile marketers work on are called “sprints.”

Upon creating a sprint project, marketers then evaluate how well the process has gone and how the team can possibly make improvements in the future.

In practice, agile marketing is the process marketers use to determine what their audience wants and deliver that want as quickly and effectively as possible.

How Does It Work?

Despite agile marketing and digital agile marketing being a time-sensitive project management approach, careful consideration and evaluation is a must in order for these endeavors to generate positive outcomes. Following this methodology enables marketers to fine-tune their targeting practices so that the team can launch and manage laser-focused campaigns. 

Marketers using this method often make future decisions based on the results generated by experimental marketing projects. For example, if the team determines that one of the company’s quick projects failed to yield the desired results, they might collectively decide not to invest time into reworking the components of the project. Instead, the team will likely move on to try its hand at new marketing ideas. 

While marketing successes are ideal, agile marketers value the potential of failed projects as well. Because recent failures provide valuable insights into what exactly went wrong, marketing teams use these failures to foster more effective practices later.

Agile Marketing Principles

To embrace and follow agile marketing strategies, keep the following principles in mind. Agile marketing:

• embraces the idea of changing plans rather than following a process that isn’t generating results.
• values experimentation and data over opinions and unverified claims.
• makes use of small, frequent tests and experiments rather than trying to decipher massive datasets.
• prioritizes individuals and collaborative opportunities over large market behaviors and hierarchies.

Agile Marketing Tips/Techniques

If you’re relatively new to agile marketing, follow these techniques to help you and your team get the hang of how this method is supposed to work. Remember, though, not all agile marketing tactics are going to be appropriate for your business. Researching options, cycling through ideas, and adopting the ideas that make the most sense is the best way to formulate your own version of agile marketing.

Remain Flexible

Agile marketing techniques aren’t always linear, and marketers engaging in this methodology need to be able to pivot as often as necessary. As an agile marketer, it’s crucial to be flexible and open to accepting change on short notice. For example, if a project isn’t generating the results you planned, agile marketing encourages you and your team to adapt and find better ways to achieve your goals.

Try Short, Quick Planning Bursts

Speed is a component of agile marketing, but it’s not the most important one. That said, trying short, fast-paced planning sessions will likely get the creativity flowing during your marketing meetings. Keep in mind, though, it’s important to balance time and quality. You don’t want to come up with lackluster, poorly developed content just because it takes less time. You also don’t want to invest too much time into endeavors that don’t work. 

Collaborate Throughout Departments

Sometimes, coming up with new and inventive marketing ideas involves consulting with the people who keep your company running. Move beyond the marketing team and try to collaborate with colleagues in other departments within your company. These people can often provide insights and ideas that may have never come to mind when working with your marketing coworkers alone.

Run Frequent Tests

Frequently checking in on the results of your agile marketing efforts is a must because doing so streamlines the process your team needs to follow in order to improve. Regularly check on the outcomes of your marketing content releases. This way, you can keep track of your progress and intervene if the need arises.

Keep Your Goals in Mind

Though agile marketing can be chaotic, don’t allow the spontaneity of the process to compel you to lose track of your goals. Know what you want to accomplish from the very beginning of your campaign, and keep your goals in mind throughout the journey. By continuously being able to cross-reference your current results with the goals you have in mind, you’ll be able to make the most sensible alterations to your plan when the time comes.

Real-World Examples of Agile Marketing

Some massively successful companies have successfully implemented agile marketing techniques, so let’s go over a couple of examples.

• Wendy’s: This fast food restaurant took a risk when it decided to post some humorous Twitter content, and its customer base loved it. This brand has since started several small “Twitter beefs” for the sake of entertaining an audience.

• Bookseller’s Association: This literature-centric association designed buttons that small bookstores could distribute announcing the fact that the business in question paid its tax obligations. These buttons were created in an effort to subtly call out Amazon for its concerning business practices. It spread the message loud and clear throughout the literary community.

• Lego: A representative from Lego chose to respond to a young customer’s letter requesting a replacement for a mini-figure he lost. The cleverly-written response was quite heartfelt and kind, which caused the correspondence to be shared across several social media and small news outlets.

• Old Spice: This company made use of its most frequently asked questions on social media and created a quick series of videos that addressed and answered those questions for the brand’s customers.

Not every marketing endeavor has to take forever to plan, implement, and adjust. By trying your hand at agile marketing techniques, you stand to generate positive results, keep your plan more free-flowing, and spend less time plotting ideas you might not be confident in.

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