By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer
Although “Agile” has been a tsunami in IT project management circles for many years, its value as a strategic business tool has led to enterprise-wide adoption. In a world of fast-changing markets, Agile allows companies to keep focused on strategic goals while allowing teams to adapt their approaches rapidly as conditions change.
Consider that an Agile two-to-four week project “sprint” contrasts sharply with timescales of traditional project management that stretch into months and even years! On the basis of speed alone, Agile seems to be the perfect approach for managing marketing projects that usually have a small window of opportunity to achieve the best results.
According to Jim Ewel, marketing consultant specializing in Agile, the process also “increases the predictability, transparency, velocity and adaptability to change of the marketing function. It leads to marketing that is done in a rapid, iterative, experimental, don’t-be-afraid-to-fail fashion that complements and provides input to agile product development.”
However, Agile has its own jargon, its own complexities, and a steep learning curve. So, Jim suggests that companies start small, learn through experimentation, define “success,” measure what’s working and what’s not, and adapt.
Improving Customer Outcomes
As a starting point, look for an opportunity to improve customer outcomes over time. For example, you might consider an educational project designed to help a target audience become educated on the benefits and the options of choosing a product in your category so that it can make informed decisions.
Finding a project with the right level of risk/reward – pick an effort that is medium risk, says Jim: one where improvements and the impact of better marketing will be clearly realized.
Next month, we will dig into Agile marketing implementation a bit more. Please free to contact me with questions or comments or any other fleet marketing topics at [email protected].
