Today’s technology has created a challenging and dynamic environment for businesses. In an age where change happens quickly and often, modern marketers need strategies that allow them to adapt.
Agile marketing doesn’t just allow you to adapt to change – it allows you to use change as an effective marketing tool. While your marketing efforts should be composed mostly of pre-planned moves, you need to leave room for spontaneous actions to keep up with your target market.
One of the most popular examples of agile marketing is when Oreo used the 34-minute blackout during the Super Bowl to create a tweet that got retweeted 15,000 times in just 14 hours. This was not a planned marketing move; Oreo was simply alert and agile enough to see an opportunity and grab it.
Here’s a list of the most important factors to focus on when shifting to agile marketing strategies.
Accurate Data and Reporting
With so much going on in the digital marketplace on multiple channels and platforms, the key to a successful agile digital marketing strategy lies in using the right technology to monitor the playing field accurately. Staying on top of all your marketing channels to get the latest social media updates and market data is a crucial step toward creating an effective agile environment. The valuable insights you can gain from consistent monitoring and reporting can help you create personalized strategies that adapt to your audience’s changing needs and preferences.
Integrated, Cross-Functional Teams
Traditional, hierarchical team structures limit your company’s ability to act on new information or data. Instead of building teams and processes in hierarchies, build them around your customers. Allowing the different individuals and teams involved to interact with one another directly reduces the amount of time and effort spent on going through different communication channels just to get the work done.
A Creative, Action-Oriented Culture
Cultivating a culture geared toward action and creativity is an important step in developing an agile work environment. Encourage your teams to focus on getting work done instead of producing lengthy documentation or wasting time in unproductive meetings. Limit brainstorming to only 10 minutes per day, and allow your teams to come up with creative solutions to any changes that arise instead of restricting them to standard procedures.
It’s easy to get left behind when you fail to adapt your marketing strategies to suit your audience. Joining the agile marketing movement will allow you to achieve long-term growth in spite of the constant changes in technology and customer preferences.
Jobelle Omang is the Marketing Specialist for TrueLogic Online Solutions, Inc. Part of her job is to deliver tactical online marketing strategies, campaigns and content programs for TrueLogic and other internal brands. When not working, you can see her either reading, writing, painting, drawing, or teaching kids.
May or may not be obsessed with Doctor Who.
