Over the last decade, the pace of change has accelerated, challenging the effectiveness of marketing strategies. As a result, traditional marketing models have been phased out in favor of more effective methods of communication with customers.
For marketing campaigns, many brands rely on traditional strategic planning. However, this method is inflexible and time-consuming, and it lacks the fluidity needed to deal with fast-moving situations like COVID-19. Agile strategic planning is a more effective method for marketers in crisis management mode to handle disruptions and seize opportunities.
In fact, according to the new “State of Agile Marketing 2021” report from AgileSherpas and Forrester, agile marketing is now used by 51% of enterprises.
All businesses need systems in place that allow for enhanced flexibility in their marketing practises and plans to prevent lurching from one crisis to the next. Here are a few best practises that can enhance agility and help keep things operating smoothly.
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Invest in reliable marketing automation
To ensure that marketers can adjust their marketing approach as needed, they must invest in robust systems that can connect to different data sources. However, they must ensure that the technology they are investing in can provide what they need, when they need it. To ensure that their martech is up to the task, they must have protocols in place to monitor their systems and track and address any issues that arise after it is implemented and throughout its lifetime.
There should be fewer manual processes
Although it may seem counterintuitive to discuss manual marketing in the same breath as automating processes, the reality is that people will always play a role. To ensure that their marketing is as efficient and agile as possible, leaders must empower their employees to examine current processes, identify bottlenecks, and resolve them. They must also verify that sign-offs and approvals are done smoothly and are not all assigned to a single person, identify repetitive tasks, and automate or eliminate them if they are done out of habit rather than necessity. To help things operate more smoothly and allow for speedier reactions and turnaround times, keep only the necessary stages that provide demonstrable results.
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Collaborative across platforms
Although there is no “one size fits all” rule for productive team structures, it is critical that teams be able to collaborate across platforms and geographies. While hybrid working is becoming increasingly common, having time to collaborate is still essential. This can be done virtually for fast check-ins throughout the day when things are moving swiftly, or it can be done physically for more creative planning and problem solving sessions on occasion.
Shifting away from a siloed approach in favour of a more collaborative approach allows team members with more time or expertise to volunteer for specific projects, help in the resolution of bottlenecks, thereby allowing marketers to play to their strengths.
Having a network of trustworthy outside partners that can support the core teams can also help organizations scale their marketing quickly when needed.
In order to be agile in marketing, marketers must have the right structures and practises in place. Businesses can integrate flexibility into their marketing plans and campaigns by integrating the right processes, people, and technology, allowing them to respond swiftly to difficulties and capitalize on opportunities that arise.
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