The word “agility” is trending in the marketing world. And for good reason; this customer-centric philosophy is the future of marketing methodology. An agile approach to marketing is quickly replacing antiquated marketing techniques by helping teams focus on proactive, quick-turn marketing decisions that enhance productivity and improve processes and workflows.
Adopting this mindset has numerous benefits for marketing teams. But before we can dive into the benefits, we first need to understand what an agile marketing approach is, and why it’s important.
What is an agile approach to digital marketing?
This style of marketing truly embraces its elegant namesake. But interestingly, this methodology didn’t start in the marketing industry. It is borrowed from software developers who were looking to better adapt to their customers’ needs. In the digital marketing world, this work style focuses on making teams more efficient and better receptive to changes. This not only benefits teams internally but also helps improve customer satisfaction and trust.
An agile digital marketing strategy helps teams refine many aspects of their work, but especially the following three:
- Collaboration. Agile teams embrace transparency in their work. This enhances collaboration and brings greater value to teamwork. Some collaboration ideas include a daily stand-up meeting or roundtable discussions.
- Adaptability. Agility means quickly adapting to new or challenging situations, no matter the scope. This helps teams be more responsive and quick on their feet.
- Development. By prioritizing visibility, collaboration, and adaptability, agile marketing teams will also refine their skills and development in their field.
Agile vs. agile
When discussing agile digital marketing, it is important to understand the difference between “agile” and “Agile.” Agile Marketing is its own methodology with distinct frameworks. But agility also refers to individuals who embrace collaboration and adaptability in their marketing work. For the sake of simplicity, this article will focus on agility as a broad focus for marketing teams.
The beauty of agile digital marketing is that it can be applied to any marketing team: no niche required. Whether you represent a construction company or an IT firm, you can utilize these creative digital marketing techniques in your processes.
Why is an agile approach to marketing important?
Customers’ expectations and communication styles are always evolving. In turn, marketing agencies need to be quick to evolve and adapt to customer needs. 63% of CMOs say that traditional advertising and marketing methods are ineffective. It’s time for marketing teams to explore new ways of engaging and retaining their audiences.
An agile digital marketing strategy helps teams be proactive, anticipatory, collaborative, and quick on their feet and can help your team set and meet internal and external goals. Having an agile strategy allows you to shift your resources and efforts to where they are needed most. This ensures that you are working to achieve relevant goals and meeting current pain points.
Ready to incorporate this style of marketing on your team?
5 benefits to embracing an agile approach to digital marketing
1. Keep your marketing team motivated
Agile marketing is all about preparing for the needs of future customers. As these needs continue to evolve, marketing teams need to adapt quickly to those shifting demands. Embracing an agile mindset helps teams understand how to do this in as innovative and efficient a way as possible. An example of this is SurveyGizmo’s example offerings on their website.
By analyzing customer needs, SurveyGizmo noticed searchers were looking for, and not finding, survey examples on their site. This lack of examples was hurting their ability to convert leads. After an agile “sprint” session, they were able to produce new examples that quickly exceeded these searchers’ needs. As a result, page views grew over 250%, with conversions at a whopping 810%.
2. Encourage growth
Agile teams thrive on experimentation and evidence-based processes. This is where the most interesting aspects of digital marketing come to life. By understanding how to evolve, marketing teams can prepare themselves for any challenge the industry throws at them.
3. Set realistic and timely goals
Efficiency is key in this marketing mindset. This applies to goal setting as well. Agile teams embrace smaller bouts of intense work, called “sprints,” to test their project goals and approach. These sprints help teams understand if their approach is working, or if it needs to be refined.
4. Create proactive processes and workflows
An agile digital marketing approach not only improves the relationship between teams and customers but also improves internal workflows and communication. Agility means teams can make quick-turn decisions that streamline every aspect of their work. A great way to do this is to utilize a project management tracking software that everyone has access to, like Trello or Asana, to keep projects moving forward and eliminate bottlenecks.
5. Establish and maintain a competitive advantage
Embracing an agile mindset means marketing teams can move faster on campaigns. This is a huge value-add for customers and a key way that marketing teams can stand out from the competition. Teams that are collaborative, adaptable, and skilled in their fields understand how to attract and retain potential leads. By utilizing these forward-thinking digital marketing principles, marketers will always be thinking of what their customers want to see next.
You need a digital marketing consultancy to guide you as you implement these complex but vital marketing and communication strategies. We can help. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how agile marketing can benefit your company.