Part 2 of 3: Agile Manifesto and Marketing. what is the connection?

As promised in my previous blog , this is my part 2 of the blog series on Agileisms and Marketing.

As I sat through my Agile 101 training, I got indoctrinated into the agile manifesto. It reminded me of the 25-point manifesto of the Nazi Party (okay may not be that dramatic.). It clearly spoke about how Agile differs from the traditional way of developing software.  I found the below 4 to be the most striking, and most relevant to how marketing teams need to function.

·      Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

·      Working software over comprehensive documentation

·      Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

·      Responding to change over following a plan

The use of agile methods in marketing teams has become very popular and for many good reasons. Some teams, however, are not using it to its full potential. In order to get everything out of this method, your team should become as agile as possible. For this lets connect agile manifesto to what we marketers do.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

A good marketer always builds a good network and influencer base. The network and the influencer base are usually the sounding board to see what will work and what wont. Let me tell you my own experience. I was involved in a project, and I was trying to apply the concept of customer experience across a hi-tech enterprise. I tried to visual and see how to map the digital (mind you can be daunting) to the customer facing and the back-end operations. I was constantly hitting a dead-end and could not get my mind around it. I then had a brainstorm session with a senior consultant we had on board. This individual not only nudged towards some of the obvious approaches, but also helped me firm up the arrow heads I could take to market. Only when you have interactions and can use your network to test your messages for impact, can one be actually effective in communicative. Processes and tools can only follow if this first part of the statement hold good.

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Strategy and plans are extremely important. They are just to ensure that the marketer has some discipline in carrying out activities in-line with the corporate objectives. The key is execution on the plan and in the team, we need more executioners and not arm-chair strategists. The execution should always be measured. Impact on every dollar spent need to be measured to see what works best and what should be repeatable. Hence having detailed plans but not having anything executed any of it does not help the organization in getting its messages to market.

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Customer-centric marketing is not just about building “better” relationships with your customers (although longer-term csat is a likely outcome). It’s also a source of lasting competitive advantage for marketing teams. This leads to 4 key benefits – loyalty (creating greater customer stickiness), efficiency (Invest in the acquisition channels, campaigns, and partners that will help you acquire high-value customers), agility (Engage with customers at the right time, on the platform that’s most relevant to them, with the message that’s most likely to resonate at any given moment in time) and differentiation (Stand out in a crowded marketplace by moving past generic offers and messaging).

Responding to change over following a plan

63% of marketing leaders indicate agility as a high priority, but only 40% rate themselves as agile. No plan in marketing is ever laid in stone. Its constantly about seeing what works, understanding ground realties and also fine tuning your plan to create the right impact. Hence responding to constant change takes higher priority when compared to following a plan.

Following this methodology will not only make you and your teams more productive and get things done faster, but you will also create a better communication between you, the team and the market.

Let me know your views or share your experiences on this..