The agile marketing playbook - Part one - B2B marketing agency for technology sector | London | Now

The agile marketing Playbook:

Get started with our simple 3 step gameplan

Written by

NOW|Sarah

In the volatile world we work in now, how do you plan your marketing when everything is changing around you?

With astronomical inflation and political chaos, introducing more agile marketing practices into your organisation could be an attractive solution. But how do you get started? How can you build your own agile marketing team, strategy and system, step by step, first getting your head around and then adopting the principles you need to follow to make agile marketing  work?

We’ve come up with a three-stage guide to help you do just that. Part one (below) helps you assemble the agile delivery team you’ll need to deliver marketing outputs and Minimal Viable Promotions (MVP’s) quickly. In part two we tackle the strategic elements of Big Room Planning and agile marketing road maps. Part three guides you through the tactical processes, like sprint planning and data driven decision making, that underpin the principles of small incremental gains and continual improvement in the agile marketing system.

Part 1: Creating your agile marketing team

One of the main challenges of applying agile for marketing is that long-term planning is essential for its success. But that goes against agile’s focus on short-term, adaptable sprints. To solve this paradox, the agile marketing team needs to be strategic in the long-term and agile in the short-term.

In order to create that balance, the agile marketing team works to a system. The system produces and works to a marketing roadmap,which comprises horizon goals, themes, initiatives, epics and stories (but we’ll get to those later).

First, let’s look at the skill sets that usually make up the agile marketing team.

Agile marketing’s core war-room team: Who does what?

First of all you’ll need to work out who does what in your agile marketing war cabinet. The key roles are usually Project manager/Campaign strategist and Scrum master – they could be taken by people within or outside your organisation.

The Directors

These guys keep the project moving and ensure the sprint planning goals are met. Project managers/campaign strategists are usually outward facing. Their job is to communicate progress by the team out to external stakeholders like the sales team or the board. They also absorb requests and needs from external stakeholders and channel these requests back into the team. Scrummasters are internal facing. They protect the team and manage outputs delivery.

The Developers

Implementing the project plans and developing the core content. These people do the tasks agreed in any sprint. The tasks they do are agreed mutually between the project manager and the scrummaster. As guardian of the team, the scrummaster’s priority is to ensure the team’s well being. As the conduit between the team and external stakeholders, project managers communicate progress and success out to stakeholders and feedback to the agile marketing team.

The deciders

The often silent partners until they’re not. Keeping these guys in the loop with worthwhile input ensures the project isn’t at risk of derailment at the last minute. These people have no day-to-day role in the agile marketing team’s delivery but they have a vested interest in the team’s success. They may be on the board or the sales team or elsewhere within the wider business. They may attend sprint planning sessions and should attend retrospective/growth planning sessions.

Getting started:

Building your agile marketing core-war room

Think about the marketing skills you already have within the business. 

Assembling the right players

If you’re the marketing lead in your operation the Project manager/Campaign strategist role may well suit you. If you’re an experienced agile manager consider the Scrummaster role.

Think about the key outcomes you need marketing to achieve in your business. 

  • What skill sets do you think you need to achieve them?
  • Which of these skill sets exist in your team or business already?
  • What do you need to create the agile marketing core-war room team that’s right for you

Enjoying this playbook?

Learn all about big room planning and the agile marketing roadmap in part two.

Read part two

Start building your own 12 month agile marketing plan, TODAY!

Download your free Agile Marketing Roadmap template now

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