Agile project management in marketing

Agile marketing is based on lean marketing

Agile marketing is based on lean marketing. The concepts of USP (Unique Selling Proposition), MVP (Minimal Viable Product), Problem Solution Fit and Product Market Fit can all be successfully applied in agile marketing. There is no contradiction here with the classic marketing set-up. But not only these concepts can be applied in marketing. The situation is similar with the concept elements from agile working principles, such as Scrum.

Agile project management: why shouldn't Scrum work in marketing?

If you work in the IT sector, you will certainly be familiar with the concept of Scrum sprints. Scrum is originally a project and product management process model for agile software development. Scrum offers the opportunity to successfully launch products with a high rate of change in requirements and a large number of people involved in the development process in good quality and within a defined time frame.

Why shouldn't this work in marketing? Think of a multi-channel campaign for the launch of a new car series on classic and digital channels. The requirements are perfect for Scrum:

• New channels à la TikTok or entire communication genres are constantly being added, such as reputation management, which increase the complexity.
• The number of companies and specialist partners that need to be coordinated is constantly increasing.
• Quality is always an issue, otherwise you won't get through to the customer.
• The media plan threatens with the first live dates.

This often pushes the organizational structure of marketing departments (preferably matrix) - with their reporting lines (solid and dotted lines) and RACI charts already more than challenged - to the limit.

Scrum sprints in marketing

In Scrum, the sprint is defined as an event with a fixed time interval. In a sprint, one or more coordinated teams (in Scrum terminology: "squads") focus on the conception and production of a deliverable within a fixed time interval.

The conception and implementation of campaign parts such as a social media campaign as part of the umbrella campaign are also suitable for agile marketing. If you can set up several squads to work towards a common goal, you can manage larger projects.

The sprint principle can be used in various areas of marketing. For example

• Product development
• Development of a basic creative idea (campaign idea)
• Fine concepts: Implementation of the basic creative idea for the channels
• Graphic processes and design
• UX and CX design
• Provision of infrastructure
• Research and studies as groundwork

Examples of marketing campaigns that are suitable for one-week marketing sprints:

• SEA campaigns (e.g. Google Ads) as part of an overarching campaign
• Facebook Ads campaigns
• Social media campaigns
• Influencer marketing campaigns
• Building landing pages in conjunction with one or more of the above activities
  

Agile project management in marketing using an example: Creating a social media campaign with Scrum in one week

This guide to agile project management in marketing assumes four sprint days. Each sprint day is assigned a specific goal, a process and a desired result with which the day is concluded. The credo for campaign development is: focus on the essentials. Or - as Smart said when introducing the car brand: rttm - reduce to the max. This means:

• a project for the team
• a communication goal
• a creative umbrella concept / campaign idea / leitmotif
• a detailed concept for the respective marketing channel, derived from the umbrella concept
• a week's time budget for conception and implementation

The compulsion to choose is a key to success here. This allows the team to focus their attention on one activity and one goal. The exact sequence of the working day depends very much on the goal and character of the campaign. It will be very different when working on a newsletter campaign with a conversion goal than for a reputation management campaign. The basic assumptions for the sprint days remain unaffected by this. This is what it looks like: from Monday to Thursday:

Day 1: Monday - strategy and research day

The results of the first day are the basis for the marketing plan, the creative umbrella concept and the production of the necessary marketing assets. Top priority is given to defining a well-defined campaign objective, selecting the target group and describing the persona. The marketing activities within this day are based on this. On this basis, the team can start thinking about the campaign concept:

• Creative basic idea/the leitmotif that should reach the persona
• Graphic implementation that best matches the appearance of the campaign
• Marketing channels that are used by the personas
• Asset formats (e.g. video, text, visuals, video, text). (e.g. video, text, visual, email, etc.) that effectively reach the target group via the selected marketing channel

This is also part of agile project management in marketing: on the first day, a detailed plan is also drawn up for the following sprint days. How detailed? It should contain all the tasks that need to be completed during the remaining sprint days. Each task is defined with a goal and result, contains a call to action and names the person responsible. The sequence of tasks is clearly defined and prioritized in a plan with deadlines (day, time of day and/or time).

A concrete case study should serve to illustrate this: the creation of a Facebook Lead Ads campaign. On the strategy and research day, the activities include, for example, selecting the campaign types, determining the target group and media planning.

Day 2: Tuesday - Let's do it: Conception and production of the assets

On the second day, all members of the team focus on creating and collecting all the materials that will be required in the following days. This includes not only the usual assets such as graphics, visuals and texts, but also accounts, databases, templates for the channels to be used, checklists, lists of stakeholders who need to be involved, available tools, test designs and the like. In short, everything that is necessary for testing and executing the marketing campaign. Images, visuals and graphics should be simple, striking and clear. They should primarily correspond to the target group and have sufficient viability for the defined channels.

H3: Bring all assets into the form of a concept

All the collected assets should be brought into the form of a concept and structured in such a way that the whole thing is applicable. All materials resulting from the marketing plan should be prepared. If the marketing plan also includes communication with those responsible for the media and channels, they must already be forewarned on this day.

In the practical example of the Facebook Lead Ads campaign, the results of this sprint day would be, for example, the basic creative idea and the detailed concept of the ads (text, image, video). However, the structure of the ads and setting up the necessary accounts also fall into this section.

Day 3: Wednesday - test day

Tests determine the actual applicability of the previously produced concept. The selection of marketing channels, the graphic format, the posts, the desired interactions and much more are put to the test on the test day. Testing before the start of the campaign improves the result of the campaign and reduces the risk. Surprisingly, the importance of testing is still underestimated by companies of all sizes. Budget and time are the most common reasons given for not doing so.

With this concept of the marketing sprint, the opposite should be the case: Because a sprint is dynamic. Tests and interactive adjustments to a campaign are absolutely necessary. They are one of the advantages of agile project management in marketing, because tests improve the results in a tight time frame and in a dense atmosphere. They increase the output of the campaign. In addition, they also enable optimization of the campaign process itself.

What should you test? For example, graphic and text assets, the suitability of marketing channels, claims and taglines. Preference should be given to analysis tools that provide real-time information on the effectiveness of campaigns. Google Analytics provides some data after three hours, while other data is only updated after 24 hours. It is worth taking this into account when planning tests.

At the end of the test day, the team should make a decision on the final look of the campaign and the assets used.

In the example of the Facebook Lead Ads campaign, for example, this evaluation would consist of the preview, various application tests, a UX test, fine-tuning of the campaign based on these tests and finally the approval to go live.

Day 4: Thursday: Launch Day - Day of Truth

The aim of this day is to create momentum for the campaign within the team and to reach the target persons with the message. This day usually starts early for the team. This is because everything should be ready for the highest morning reach.

Once the campaign has started, it's time to put your foot on the gas pedal. The campaign needs to run until proper momentum is achieved. All opportunities and occasions should be used to create interesting content (e.g. intensive discussions with users, interesting quotes from the media) and generate hype around the campaign.

The creative potential of the conception phase should be exploited. Over time, the campaign should be expanded with activities and new ideas that arise from the progress and testing of the campaign. The maximum momentum of the campaign usually only emerges in the second part of the day. The entire team should be available for this second half of the day and further strengthen the momentum of the campaign.

In the case study, the campaign would be launched on this day, initial results would be recorded through monitoring and documented for management. A/B testing could be used here to check which designed content works more successfully with the end customer after the campaign launch and where adjustments would be necessary. Another example: at the start of the campaign, it may turn out that the lead ads were not as effective as planned. The campaign is therefore adjusted and the focus is placed on a new lead type. This only works during ongoing operation through constant, dynamic adjustment.

Fridays are not suitable for going live. If bug fixes are necessary, there is a natural delay of two days over the weekend. If the launch takes place on Thursday, the first revisions after the campaign launch can be made before the weekend.

Conclusion: Agile project management in marketing with Scrum

• Agile project management in marketing is a wonderful way from old organizations to modern multi-channel marketing.
• Principles of Scrum allow completely new things to emerge.
• Marketing sprints enable great benefits: results can be achieved faster, cheaper and more reliably.
• But: you need courage to try everything new.

About the author:
The author has been working as Interim Manager and Consultant in Digital Marketing since 2003. The multi-award-winning marketing expert and certified Scrum Master has many years of experience in the field of digital transformation. His expertise combines classic brand management and digital marketing - with a focus on companies in the financial and automotive sectors.