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Marketing Project Management

7 Qualities of Highly Effective Agile Marketers

June 7, 2013

A lot has been spoken about agile marketing in recent times. Borrowed from the agile development philosophy, agile marketing gives precedence to flexibility and adapting to change rather than sticking to a rigid plan. It also focuses on marketing plans that are like ‘sprints’ which allow marketers to assess their ROI quickly and change track if required.

I believe Agile Marketing is a productive way to approach marketing planning & execution and agile marketers themselves are typically the ones able to pivot and leverage existing trends to improve their campaigns in real-time. So what differentiates agile marketers from traditional marketers?

Here are the 7 qualities of highly effective agile marketers:

They’re adaptable

The number one quality that distinguishes agile marketers from other marketers is their ability to be adaptable and pivot when necessary. A great example of being adaptable is newsjacking.

Newsjacking is an effective content marketing tactic and is highly beneficial for SEO as well. Effective agile marketers give themselves enough room in their content or social media plans to allow for newsjacking and make the most of this super effective trend.

One of my favourite newsjacking examples that I’d like to mention here is Oreo’s now famous blackout tweet during the American Super Bowl earlier this year. Do you think a traditional marketer would have been quick enough to cash in on a national sporting event and uphold the brand’s image at the same time? I think not.

They’re data driven

Another inherent trait that agile marketers possess is being data driven and measuring everything. And I mean EVERYTHING!

Agile Marketers understand that facts and figures are more likely to tell them if their campaigns are effective or simply a waste of time. Moreover, because they’re adaptable they’re able to take quick decisions based on data analysis to tweak campaigns and ensure success.

They’re customer focused

Agile Marketers, like their development counterparts are heavily focused on consumers and their needs.

They’re more likely than traditional marketers to listen to users on social media, monitor sentiment and respond in real-time to customer concerns. Agile Marketers are also more likely to listen to user feedback and present it to development teams for future feature updates.

They test like their life depends on it!

Agile Marketers love A/B testing. Whether it’s the copy on a landing page or the CTA of an email campaign, agile marketers believe in hardcore data for marketing decisions.

They focus on delivering

Agile Marketers believe in perfection but they believe more in delivering results. For instance, Agile content marketers deliver content faster and have a preference for a shorter timescale.

They also prefer shorter planning cycles to allow for changes and easy measurement.

They’re always learning

Agile Marketers understand the importance of innovation and are always learning to ensure they can come up with fresh, unique ideas to connect & engage with customers.

They’re usually the ones that read top marketing blogs, engage in discussions on social media, attend industry events and connect with other marketers to broaden their perspective.

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