The four core concepts of agile marketing

This infographic shows the four core ‘pillars’ of marketing agility; sensemaking, iteration, speed and data. In dynamic markets agile marketing has shown to deliver competitive advantage for many organizations.

In the image the components of agile marketing are shown to follow one another however this is not the case in reality. For example, data informs sensemaking but data is also the output of the activities of sensemaking.

Sensemaking

Sensing what needs to be done, from a marketing perspective, entails analysing data (i.e. making sense of the available data) and understanding the competitive environment. The data may be qualitative or quantitative or mixed-method.

Iteration

Iteration is the understanding to release or go live with individual marketing efforts as they reach an MVP (minimum viable product) stage. Once the marketing effort is live we use the output data to make sense as to whether the marketing effort should evolve, be retired, or stay the same. If the effort needs to evolve then we make changes as necessary and start the process of making sense again.

Speed

Speed and iteration are closely aligned. In order to be able to iterate we need the understanding that speed is of the essence. As an example, in COVID lockdowns UberEats react very quickly with their promotions when a new lockdown is announced; they realise that speed is of the essence and possibly the marketing communication won’t be perfect (iteration).

Data

In agile marketing, data is critical for informed decision making. Data refers to raw data attained through various methods such as surveys, purchasing data, data in relation to social media engagement, reviews and so on. Accurate data is critical to the success of agile marketing.