Gartner Releases Key Steps to Successful Agile Marketing

Agile marketing is very “in” right now. It’s still relatively new, but its wildfire-esque spread across the businesses world speaks volumes about its effectiveness. For those out of the loop, agile marketing is essentially a strategy where your team convenes each day and works in hyper-focused chunks with team members working on that which suits them best. That is a very bare-bones explanation on it and a more detailed account of it can be found here.

In a recent report, analyst house Gartner, Inc. broke down a few of the best techniques CMOs should be using to effectively implement agile marketing. “The agile approach is still new for even the most seasoned CMOs,” said Elizabeth Shaw, research director at Gartner. “To shift to agile methods, the modern CMO must have the ability to awaken, harness and develop trust and commitment from their organization. This means having the right balance of hard skills and soft skills.”

Among those “soft” skills Shaw mentions is developing a good trust among your team. Gartner’s very keen that trust among a marketing team is cornerstone to successful agile strategy. A lot of agile relies on teamwork, and you need to be comfortable with your team to be comfortable with agile. Additionally, Gartner encourages CMOs to develop a deep sense of empathy, creativity and compassion to better connect with the rest of the team and help them operate more cohesively.

Gartner makes clear that successful agile marketing departments have a clear and concise vision related to their end goals. More directly, that vision should be developed collaboratively by peers, partners, and executives, to achieve optimal results. “It should be viewed as a living organ, vital to the body of the organization,” the article reads.  “…one that is constantly nurtured and updated to keep the organization moving forward.”

Last, but certainly not least, agile marketing hinges on constant collaboration. One of the key aspects of agile is the daily meeting, where your team convenes and sets the goals for the day and gets everyone up to speed how their work has been going since the last meeting. This collaboration allows everyone to be on the same page and let’s everyone input their thoughts.

Ultimately, it seems that Gartner’s advocating for a much more team-work focused atmosphere to make agile marketing work. By developing more finely tuned “people” skills and operating as an efficient unit, marketers can turn into more productive agile marketing departments. And even if agile isn’t something you’re interested in, you’d be hard-pressed to say taking these steps would be detrimental to your marketing efforts.

For a more detailed look at Gartner’s take on agile marketing, read the full report here.