Flexible. Swift. Adaptable. Durable. These are the terms that most people might associate with the word “agile.”
Back in the 1990s, the concept of “agile” was merged into the world of marketing. This was done to assist software creators in making platforms that choose and oversee tasks having to do with reaching out to consumers and monitoring the progress of platforms by their effectiveness of completing said tasks. This is due to “only 16% of software projects being finished in a timely manner and within budget limits” during that period, according to AgileSherpas.
What is Agile Marketing
Agile marketing is a series of techniques that takes from the belief systems and rules that software creators established in the 1990s and applies them to the way marketing works by ensuring that the process is fast, reliable, easy to understand, and can change at a moment’s notice.
History of Agile Marketing
Although the roots of agile marketing began with software creators around 30 years ago, marketers of today have created initiatives that have allowed agile marketing to have an impact in the here and now. One such initiative was the Sprint Zero conference.
During this event in the year 2012, marketers across various industries met up with each other within a 2-day period to converse about an up and coming technique called agile marketing. As stated previously, this concept was new to marketers because it had been previously only been utilized by software creators.
The mission of the Sprint Zero conference was to establish a belief system and a set of rules of using agile marketing for the marketing industry. Those in attendance also wanted to create a coalition around the use of agile marketing techniques into the future. The end result of Sprint Zero was the creation of the Agile Marketing Manifesto. This document provides a collection of an older but reliably effective set of ideologies that encompasses the true meaning of agile marketing as a concept.
Ever since the very first Sprint Zero conference in San Francisco 8 years ago, marketers have come together to exchange their thoughts, experiences, the good, and the bad around their interactions of using agile marketing techniques. But, from the Agile Marketing Manifesto created at Sprint Zero’s first meetup brought the formation of a coalition through the uptick of digital think pieces talking about converting to the “agile” way of doing marketing.
As marketers in attendance were contributing their own inputs as to what the Agile Marketing Manifesto should be, there was a decision to be made as to which input was going to be made “the standard” to be followed by all. Thanks to the inspiration of an earlier manifesto created by agile software creators in the early 2000s, an official Agile Marketing Manifesto was finally established.
Although there are still inquiries as to what exactly agile marketing is, the movement has shifted the discussion of utilizing the concept into the future of the marketing industry as a whole. Even though agile marketing is not currently used amongst modern marketers on a wide scale, due to antiquated expectations of what marketing should be from a bygone era, the pioneers and believers in agile marketing continue to defend its place within the industry.
Agile Marketing Process
- Expectations- There are questions to ask when utilizing this process like “What exactly are you looking for?”, “How can you monitor and analyze projects in a quantifiable manner?”, “Are your expectations practical?”, “Does the task that you choose to take on fall in line with the overall marketing strategy?”, and “Can the project be completed in a timely manner?”.
- KPIs-k.a. key performance indicators have to be recognized in order to know the methods of analysis to utilize when trying out your initial demo. This allows users to figure out what works and what needs tweaking.
- Backgrounds- Monitor and document consumers’ personal backgrounds based on demographics, needs, etc. This helps to know what will be needed in the creation of the initial demo.
- List It & Do It- Put together and monitor a list of duties that need to be completed in the short term and long term to keep the team organized.
- Track the Journey- Write out long term expectations while completing short term duties to assist in staying on track within the overall marketing campaign.
- Ready, Set, Go! – The agile technique is very quick that should help marketers complete a project and make an initial demo go live weeks after completing the first step of the process.
What is an Agile Approach to Marketing?
- Acknowledge and work with different outcomes instead of having a concrete plan
- Fast task completions over large marketing strategies
- Trying out and analyzing information over personal input
- Have a variety of miniscule tests instead of taking a few big risks
- Customized strategies over ones targeted to a generalized audience
- Work together instead of doing it solo
(Also Read: A Guide on Agile Development Methodology)
Agile Marketing Strategy
Scrum, a strategy most utilized by marketers that follow agile techniques, matches expectations with the goals of the company as a whole and the sales department, to enhance conversations within and throughout the marketing department, and to raise the swiftness and effectiveness of the way marketing is handled.
Common Agile Marketing Myths
- Agile marketing is the opposite of creating a plan.
- Agile marketing requires you to utilize the scrum method all the time.
- Agile marketing is a long and tedious process.
- You must be successful at utilizing Agile marketing at the first try.
Agile Marketing Examples
- SurveyGizmo utilized agile marketing in order to quickly create an example of their service, which is making surveys and templates. Doing this increased the percentage of visitors to their website and conversions.
- MarketerGizmo was able to monitor and analyze their marketing department’s capacity to make content for their website in a more succinct way. This helped them to focus on creating and showing content to the masses to increase work productivity and keep the quality of the work consistent.
- MarketerGizmo utilized agile marketing once again to ensure that no tasks went uncompleted by letting the entire team know about deadlines by conducting a meeting every day. This ensures that sudden absences, emergencies, and other outside (or inside) influences do not derail the workflow.
Agile Marketing Software List
- ClickUp
- Smartsheet
- Workfront
- com
- Sciforma
- Wrike
- Asana
- Kintone
- ProWorkflow
- Jira
Final Thoughts
Surprisingly, agile marketing is still not widely accepted in the marketing industry as a viable process to meet the needs of consumers, due to it being seen as sort of an underground movement created by the fringes of the marketing world.
In the digital age of media, agile marketing seems like the answer to the fast-paced world of interacting with consumers through social media, emails, and websites. In the old days of media, if the audience became offended with the message of a marketing campaign, the company would not have known about it until a few days later when a group of protestors was outside holding signs in front of the main headquarters.
Now, the audience can let an organization know how they really feel about a company’s message within seconds with a click of a button. With agile marketing techniques, businesses can adjust, pivot, or change any mistakes just as quickly as they made them.
