On Their Toes: Why Brands Are Embracing Agile Marketing
In theory, email teams are the original agile marketers, responding to change instead of following a set plan. But are their larger marketing teams able to do that?
Some are, judging by The Impact Of Agile Marketing, a study by Ascend2.
Of those polled, 43% have adopted Agile marketing, while 12% have fully adopted it. Another 21% are currently implementing it, and 17% are planning to, while 19% have no such plans.
Of those who have adopted Agile marketing, 29% rate themselves as very successful at it, and 67% as somewhat so. Only 4% say they are unsuccessful.
The main obstacles to going Agile are:
- Identifying/implementing the right technology — 48%
- Obtaining and utilizing data — 38%
- Sustaining consistency in output — 38%
- Allocating adequate resources—37%
- Employee burnout/strain — 30%
- Testing and optimization — 28%
- Obtaining leadership buy-in — 19%
But the benefits seem well worth it:
- Flexibility and adoptability to new challenges — 54%
- Faster time to get things completed — 41%
- More effective prioritization of work — 39%
- Higher quality of work — 36%
- Easier cross-functional collaboration — 29%
- More relevant metrics — 28%
- Improved team morale — 18%
- Reduced risks — 18%
Agile is not a new idea: At least 20 years ago, software developers were saying that Agile ensured they would no longer work on a project for a year and then be told it was cancelled.
In marketing, 90% feel Agile’s importance is growing, and 22% feel it is increasing significantly.
Why switch to Agile Marketing? Marketers say the top reasons are to:
- Improve productivity—45%
- Increase competitive advantage—43%
- Improve customer satisfaction—39%
- Enhance ability to manage changing priorities—36%
- Increase innovation—25%
- Improve measurement—20%
- Mitigate marketing costs—20%
- Improve employee satisfaction—14%
- Improve internal communications alignment—12%
- Increase project transparency—10%
And what are the key components of an Agile marketing strategy?
- Collaboration alignment—63%
- Management/communication tools—54%
- Data—50%
- Structure of the team—41%
- Testing—29%
- Structure of daily meetings—14%
Finally, how do agile marketers feel about achieving their goals in the next 12 months? They are:
- Hopeful (44%)
- Confident (26%)
- Cautious (17%)
- Indifferent (10%
- Doubtful (3%)
Ascend surveyed 321 marketing professional from April 14-24. Of these, 25% were n B2B companies, 45% in B2C and 30% in B2B and B2C equally. In addition, 11% were in firms with more than 500 employees, 20% in those with 50 to 500 and 69% in organizations with fewer than 50.
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