Marketing 0

Establish Decentralized Teams
Agile marketing requires multiple small teams to work on different
things. The teams will feed on the insights generated by real-time
analytics. In agile marketing, each group is assigned to a specific task
with a timeline to complete. Thus, the teams are more accountable.

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The model draws inspiration from the scrum—an agile method most
commonly used for software development. In marketing space, the
applications of the agile approach may include new customer
experience (CX) design, product innovation, marketing process
improvement, creative marketing campaign, and new business
development.
One of the main hurdles of agile marketing is organizational silos.
Many large organizations struggle to align different functions with
conflicting key performance indicators (KPIs). Thus, each agile team
should have dedicated cross-functional members with diverse
expertise: product development, marketing, and technology. Since
the groups are small and they work on the same sets of objectives,
the silos can be eliminated. At the same time, employees are more
engaged and feel that their work is meaningful.
Aside from reducing any friction, cross-functional teams are suited
for divergent thinking, which is essential in any innovation project.
Cross-functional teams are also compulsory to bring ideas to life. The
marketing person, for instance, plays a role in interpreting insights
while the engineering person helps develop working prototypes.
Each team should have all the necessary resources to complete the
objectives independently.
Traditional decision-making models with the multilayer approval
process are also too cumbersome for agile marketing. Decisions need
to be made quickly, and delays will impact the outcome significantly.
Thus, the teams must be autonomous and empowered with
decentralized decision-making authority related to their assignment.
The flexible model requires strong top management commitment.
The role of senior management in agile marketing is to monitor
progress, give feedback at the strategic level, and coach the teams
while providing the teams with freedom. But most importantly, top
executives must integrate all agile projects and align them with the
company's overall goals.