What exactly is Agile Marketing?

In Germany the term Agile Marketing is used more often. However, only a few people know what to do with it. Some consider it to be a new hype, others a trend-setting development in marketing that soon no company will be able to ignore.

Marketing measures of the old school are more and more recognized as insufficient when it comes to agility and flexibility, such as in online marketing. The Internet is constantly changing and marketing measures have to adapt to this, if they are aimed at Internet customers. Everything must be faster, more spontaneous and, if necessary, adaptable when something changes. For about two years now, there has been increasing talk about Agile Marketing as a new and important discipline in marketing. In thought leadership marketing, agile management is invaluable. A thought leadership campaign is particularly successful when it interferes with current trends and events and thus achieves high relevance for broad target groups. Thought leaders take a clear stand on current events and controversial topics. This is simply an inseparable part of opinion leadership in the market. A provider of security services for car and rail traffic is not only in demand as an expert in the public eye when it comes to long-term future topics, but also very specifically when it comes to current news such as accidents. The marketing and thought leadership department of such a company, with its agile way of working, is well equipped for quick reactions and campaign adjustments.

Especially with regard to the digital transformation of processes, the buzzword "agile" comes up again and again. Agile marketing does not only mean developing viral campaigns, it also describes the ability to place relevant content in the right place at exactly the right time. This requires highly flexible internal processes in marketing and a close proximity to the target group. Agile Marketing has even been written down in an Agile Marketing Manifesto to define the successful marketing concept of the future.

Where and how can I apply Agile Marketing?

In agile marketing, timely feedback from relevant customers is essential for the permanent adaptation of marketing measures. Communication with customers via blogs and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are means to react more agile, i.e. faster and more flexible to the needs and interests of the customers.

An increasingly fast-paced environment requires marketing to react faster and more flexibly while maintaining the same high quality. New communication instruments and channels are forcing a new - i.e. agile - way of working and new necessary knowledge in marketing.

Transferring the objectives and insights from agile work to marketing results in numerous advantages:

• fast reaction to external influences during the development and implementation of marketing measures,
• structured processing of marketing projects as well as communication between the participants,
• faster implementation of marketing measures - no big "big bang campaigns", but more frequent, permanent, adaptive actions
• higher motivation through self-determination and self-organisation of the team.

Conclusion

Agile marketing is still a "delicate little plant" that is already being implemented here and there. The above-mentioned Agile Marketing Manifesto also shows that thoughts on agile marketing have already begun. Marketers must prepare themselves for Agile Marketing.

How far have you gotten with it?