If you’re running a marketing team based on Agile principles, you’re probably spending a lot of your days agonizing over the choice between what is right and what is easy.
Making the right choice, the Agile choice, is often tough.
It’s tempting to fall back into our old ways, to put on a command-and-control attitude just this once to get stuff done, or to spend weeks planning our next project so we can be sure it will turn out just right.
So to help you make the right choice and stay on your journey towards ever greater marketing agility, I present this solid, data-driven collection of the benefits of Agile marketing.
Bookmark this page if you need to, and come on back the next time you’re tempted to listen to that anti-Agile devil on your shoulder.
Here are a couple general agile marketing benefits to get us started:
98% of organizations say they’ve experienced success with an Agile project. (VersionOne)
23% of senior marketers say Agile delivers higher marketing metrics and KPIs.(Aprimo/Forbes)
Looking for something more specific? Let’s check it out.
Agile Marketing is Fast
Let’s go ahead and get this one out of the way first. Everybody associates agility with speed, and the data supports this connection.
Agile gets marketing campaigns into the market faster, say 27% of marketing leaders (Aprimo/Forbes)
93% of CMOs who employ Agile practices say their speed to market for ideas, campaigns, and products has improved. (Forbes/CMG Partners)
17% of marketers can get things released faster by using Agile marketing approaches. (Wrike)
Roadblocks, problems, and scheduling issues show up sooner when marketing teams use Agile, according to 13% of marketers. (Wrike)
More projects are completed on time following the switch to Agile marketing, say 28% of senior marketers. (Aprimo/Forbes)
93% of Agile CMOs said they’re now able to switch gears more quickly and more effectively. (Forbes/CMG Partners)
Marketing Agility Increases Marketing Efficiency
Ok, now that we’ve proven that whole speed thing, let’s talk about the juicier bits: Agile marketers do the right work at the right time.
Because let’s face it, just producing more mediocre campaigns isn’t anybody’s objective.
Instead, we employ marketing agility to help us adjust and adapt to incoming data in a timely, meaningful way. We want to escape from fire drill mode entirely, not just be better fire fighters.
So let’s see what the data has to say about the potential to achieve these lofty ambitions.
21% of senior marketers enjoy more efficient marketing iterations once they’re Agile. (Aprimo/Forbes)
Agile has reduced the number of approvals needed to get work out the door, say 16% of marketers surveyed. (Aprimo/Forbes)
Agile marketing teams are more responsive to customers. 80% of CMOs said making the switch to Agile helped them deliver a better product that’s more relevant to their end user. (Forbes/CMG Partners)
Likewise, 26% of senior Agile marketers say they now have a more flexible approach to changing customer needs. (Aprimo/Forbes)
26% of Agile marketers say their teams are now more in sync about the department’s priorities. (Wrike)
Agile Marketing Teams are Happier
It’s not just output that skyrockets when teams become more Agile.
The individuals on those teams become more satisfied, loyal, and innovative. Agile marketers engage more in their work because they have control over it.
10% of Agile marketers say they enjoy a better division of work among team members. (Wrike)
87% of Agile CMOs have found their teams to be more productive following the transition to Agile marketing. (Forbes/CMG Partners)
Teamwork and morale have improved under the Agile approach, according to 14% of marketers surveyed. (Wrike)
Agile marketing can transform your marketing department, making it easier to build and maintain a team that makes marketing magic.
But remember, it works the other way too.
We’re all creatures of the system we find ourselves embedded in; even if you pull together the world’s most amazing marketing team, they can still fail spectacularly if your work management methodology hamstrings their efforts.
In case you need a reminder about what it’s like to be a marketer on a traditional marketing team, let’s take a quick look at some anti-Agile stats:
80% of marketers report that their departments are understaffed, making them feel overloaded. (Workfront)
1 out of 4 marketers say they’re “overly stressed” or “stressed to the max.” (Workfront)
So who do you think will deliver better, more impactful marketing materials? The collaborative, engaged Agile marketers, or the traditional marketers who are stressed to the max and overloaded?
Everybody Knows What Agile Marketing Teams are Up To
We’ve all had those awkward lunch room conversations — the ones where someone from another department is asking about what you’ve been doing, but it’s clear they have absolutely no idea what marketing is up to.
Working under a veil of secrecy may seem nice at times, but when it’s time to allocate annual budget you don’t want people wondering, “What on earth did marketing even do last year?”
Fortunately, Agile marketing’s focus on visibility helps alleviate this problem.
20% of senior marketers saw an increase in accountability across the marketing function once they became Agile. (Aprimo/Forbes)
In the same study, 11% enjoyed more transparency about where they were spending their money once they had shifted to an Agile approach. (Aprimo/Forbes)
In a survey of over 800 marketers, 13% saw an increase in visibility into the status of their marketing projects through Agile marketing. (Wrike)
Agile Marketing Benefits Make Hard Choices Worth It
Speed, efficiency, professional satisfaction, and visibility into marketing’s work. And that’s just the tip of iceberg.
The list of benefits of agile marketing is long and varied, but hopefully this collection of hard data will help you when it comes time to choose between what is Agile and what is easy.
The post Benefits of Agile Marketing: 21 Stats You Need to Know appeared first on The Agile Marketer.
