How to Apply Agile Marketing Strategies to Data Driven Enterprises

Perhaps due to its name, many people mistakenly think that Agile Marketing is only a realistic option for small- and medium-sized businesses.

However, the truth is that plenty of Fortune 500 companies use Agile Marketing. It’s just a matter of understanding how to implement this powerful approach while taking into consideration the complexities of a large company.

3 Ways to Implement Agile Marketing in a Large Enterprise

Fortunately, introducing Agile Marketing to your company doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cause serious headaches. These three simple techniques will make the implementation process a lot easier.

1. Be Deliberate About Your First Agile Marketing Project

For your first attempt at using Agile Marketing, take some time to select the right project. It should meet these four conditions:

• Complexity – If a project is too straightforward, Agile Marketing won’t make as big an impact.
• Metrics – You want constant feedback to inform your ensuing sprints as the project goes on.
• Limited Crossover – If you have to spend time educating other departments or outside parties about Agile Marketing, your project is going to suffer.
• Cross-Functional Team Members – For the same reason, you want a team whose members embody all the critical skills the project requires.

If you can recruit someone who’s already experienced in it, this will be a huge plus, as well.

2. Leverage an Executive

Executive buy-in is always helpful, but when you’re first trying to implement Agile Marketing, it’s absolutely vital. In fact, you want an executive who is really fired up about what Agile Marketing can do.

That’s because, even with a sizable budget, it can still be a challenge to adopt Agile Marketing practices at first. Finding that perfect project we just described is tough, especially if you don’t have anyone with experience to help out. You’ll probably need a bit of leeway, too, as the Agile approach is going to be a lot different than the conventional version you’ve been using.

So pick an executive you’re confident will be open to the idea. Explain to them what it is and show them some success stories if they require a bit more convincing.

3. Don’t Rush to Restructure

The whitepaper Scaling Agile at Spotify will also help you win over an executive. That’s because the company has been extremely successful at implementing Agile methods and scaling them without restructuring the entire company. This will definitely put the higher-ups at ease.

However, it’s just as important that you embrace this concept before introducing Agile Marketing to your enterprise. There’s no need for major restructuring to begin benefiting from Agile methods. In the beginning, all it takes is a single team and project. Eventually, it might be appropriate to make some major changes to support these new marketing practices.

As that whitepaper shows, though, this isn’t always the case. Develop Agile slowly in your company. It might turn out that, like Spotify, yours will function best with a hybrid approach.

Introducing Agile Marketing to a Big Business

Big businesses often have the reputation of being slow to adopt change, but it doesn’t take major operational disruptions to begin with Agile Marketing. Use the above steps to get started and build on each project as appropriate. Soon, your big enterprise will be enjoying even bigger results from this innovating marketing approach.