how do you adopt an Agile approach to your marketing?
Lots of small businesses skim over the need to develop a marketing strategy.
They have a product, they know what it does and want to get it out there. So they skip the most important step for a business: developing a marketing strategy that documents the foundations of their business and the objectives they want to achieve.
What’s this got to do with being agile?
A key takeaway: the foundations are fundamental to determining and delivering effective, targeted and relevant marketing to an audience. But the key is that this grounding lets you adopt an agile approach to your marketing, with the bigger picture in mind.
For example:
With a clear sight of what you want to achieve over the coming year, you can assess new technologies and tools when they spring up - and adopt the right ones to support your activities.
Knowing your target audience, you can test different tactical elements in your marketing strategies to see what brings you a better return.
With a solid set of marketing objectives aligned with your business aims, you can consider new opportunities quickly and effectively, whether it's a speaking slot, a sponsorship arrangement, or a chance to contribute to a podcast.
How do you put an agile approach into practice?
Start with one marketing objective and an activity you can realistically test. You need to know what you’re trying to learn before you change anything:
Choose the question. Perhaps people read your emails but rarely click through. Would a clearer explanation of the next step help?
Make one manageable change. Try a different call to action while keeping the rest of the email broadly consistent. Changing everything at once makes it harder to understand the result.
Decide what you’ll look at. In this example, you might compare clicks to the relevant page and the enquiries that follow. Likes or opens alone won’t answer your question.
Allow time to learn. Agree on a review point that suits your activity and audience. A small mailing list may need several sends before a useful pattern emerges.
Decide what happens next. Keep what appears useful, adjust what needs work and stop an activity when there’s a good reason. Record what you learned so the next decision builds on it.
What could this look like in a small business?
Imagine a training provider promoting a workshop. People visit the booking page but ask the same question: is this suitable for someone new to the subject? The provider could make the intended audience clearer on that page, then review whether the questions and booking behaviour change. It’s a focused adjustment with a clear rationale.
Your strategy gives you something to assess those decisions against. If the business itself has changed, start by reviewing your marketing direction. From there, you can adapt your activities with a clearer idea of what you want them to achieve.