5 Strategies To Advance Agile Marketing For Tangible Business Outcomes

Why do some firms use agile approaches and achieve achievements similar to these, while others just act theatrically? What does this imply for agile’s future, too?

Five recommendations for an improved future for agile

1. Pay Attention To Results and Value Provision

Delivering value and concentrating on results are the two most important aspects of an organization’s agile implementation success. The other components of agile are meaningless if companies don’t take this action.

A martech specialist is misguided if he believes that his sole responsibility is to install and maintain the various components of your marketing stack. Delivering competitive advantage, as determined by business results and value delivery, is his responsibility.

A content marketer who uses agile in the hopes of producing more content more quickly finds that it doesn’t work. Whether it takes one new piece of content a week or twenty, her job is to grow pipeline, conversions, or whatever business measure is critical to the company.

Regardless of their position, effective agile adopters pinpoint the key performance indicators for their company and use those indicators to gauge every action they do. Give up using agile just for its own sake.

2. Ditch Agile Buzzwords In Favor Of The Language Of Business

Take out of your lexicon the terms ARTs, PI planning, RTEs, epics, sprint, kanban, and scrum. Inform all relevant parties—including stakeholders—that you are introducing a new, more visual method of workflow management that involves fewer reports and status meetings when you use kanban. Inform everyone that you are now planning in one- or two-week cycles to increase your attention and accountability if you use scrum and sprints.

Refer back to the first principle—outcomes and value delivery—while describing the modifications. Instead of implementing agile, you are altering your workflow to produce more value and better results. Give up using evocative language and adopt a formal business vocabulary.

3. Give Up on Transformations and Gradually Transition To Agile

Changes are unsettling. If they don’t take the initiative and manage the change, nobody wants to be transformed. Agile adoption is best executed in an agile manner, i.e., by embracing what works and discarding what doesn’t gradually and experimentally.

You take off whenever you hear about a company announcing a significant agile transition. These significant changes have a startlingly low success rate. By making small, consistent changes, concentrate on providing improved results and value.

People are in favor of things they contribute to and that assist them solve challenges. Do your marketers have too much on their plates? I assure you that they are. Put your attention on ending the overload. Is it the case that your marketers are unable to complete tasks because they operate in silos with disparate agendas and methods? Create interdisciplinary teams or rearrange to prioritize value delivery. Do your marketers require assistance in bridging the execution and strategy gaps? Assist them and impart planning and prioritization skills for tactics that reinforce strategy.

4. Tailor Agile To Your Particular Situation

Agile isn’t a “fits all” approach. It must be tailored to the particular needs of every company. This does not imply that companies should arbitrarily select components of agile. Agile methods ought to be chosen by them based on what functions well and poorly.

Try out several agile methodologies. Start with kanban first since it creates the least amount of interruption and you can apply the lessons you learn to scrum or scrumban as well. Experiment with various sprint lengths.

Expand your horizons beyond agility. Utilize lean manufacturing methods. When creating customer experiences, adhere to the design thinking concepts. Try out AI and include it into your toolkit.

5. Admit That Your Customers Come First

According to a 2022 Bain & Co. survey, up to 80% of businesses think they offer a better customer experience, while only 8% of their clients concur. Businesses create this disconnect between their perceptions and customer reality when they talk the talk but don’t act on it. This is known as lip service to customer centricity.

To effectively target your marketing efforts, you must first gain a thorough understanding of your target audience. This may be done by collecting data on their behavior, preferences, and expectations. Regular communication with consumers and a voice of the customer program that informs the rest of the organization about their needs are essential components of customer centricity.

Create and provide outstanding customer experiences. Consumers are not interested in goods or services. They want their demands fulfilled and their issues resolved according to their schedule. Make experiences that are so unique and amazing that clients tell others about you and your business grows through word-of-mouth.